Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon apologized. He had to. Regular Israelis, however, are exempt from such diplomatic etiquette, free to clarify to the Americans what they know anyway, as anybody who regularly deals with Israeli popular opinion polls knows: namely, that the vast majority of Israelis believe that Ya’alon, before the apology, spoke the truth. They believe he was right.
The Americans were furious. Self-appointed experts in etiquette and propriety set out to compete over rolling eyes and sanctimonious pronouncements (making sure to be widely quoted).
But, as the dust settles, the Americans deserve to know: The majority of us are with Ya’alon, the man who spoke not only what he believes, but what most of us believe too.
Ya’alon was never great at civil talk or clean speech. He may even be a little naive. Actually, he may be very naive. Ya’alon actually believed in the upstanding quality of the people at Yedioth Ahronoth, that he could speak openly without having to fear that his comments would be leaked. They promised him that. But who believes a word Yedioth says anymore? Only a very naive person.
As a politician, Ya’alon differs from the norm, so much so that he has to strap on high boots to avoid the snakes. He said what was on his mind without sanctimony. He didn’t play around. We’re not used to people telling us the truth. We aren’t used to a politician who speaks the truth. Now that Ya’alon has spoken the truth, we have to ask: What if he was correct?
Indeed, most Israelis commonly agree that the Americans have a shoddy understanding of the Middle East, and that the current administration has done a great job utilizing the so-called Arab Spring to show that it has no clue what to do, whatsoever.
If we all agree that the prime minister cannot say in public what the majority of us are thinking about Kerry’s aloof endeavors, maybe it’s fitting that somebody else took it upon him or herself to explain to the Americans that their conduct is questionable.
In the last few days, the Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, have made a show of defiance, effectively flooring Kerry’s proposal, trampling on it and squashing it. Abbas let us all know he was unwilling to compromise on anything, especially the dream of snuffing out the Jewish state.
So, what’s so evil about Ya’alon laying these concerns out on the table?
Each and every recent poll has shown that the majority of Israelis have no faith in the peace negotiations. That’s our crowd wisdom. We have no faith in Abbas, and we don’t believe that peace is just around the corner.
@ yamit82:
NU?
Boogie was right. He is the first member of the GOI to have the balls to come out with what we all know is the “emes”.
It is a shame that no one else in government backed him up and even forced him to partially recant. BB can’t help but
be BB and doesn’t take the necessary solid nationalist position across the board. My long stated opinion is there is
only one man to implement the “ZO ARTZEINU PLATFORM” and that is Moshe Feiglin. When Likud drafts him for the job he
will be there to fulfill Israel’s destiny.
@ Bear Klein:
@ yamit82:
Senator:
We Can’t Let Israel Determine When We Go to War
Senator Feinstein causes outrage after declaring that “we cannot let Israel determine when and where the United States goes to war.”
@ yamit82:
Only symbolically — not literally. (You won’t find the same proportion of Isaac’s DNA in Westerners generally that you will in most Jews generally.)
But if the West IS only symbolically Edom’s progeny, then (by the same token) the Jewish people are only symbolically — and not literally — Jacob‘s progeny.
— And that’s just not so; am yisrael are indeed Jacob’s literal descendents.
So the “Edom-is-the-West” bugaboo needs to be laid to rest; it’s long been stretched out WAY beyond recognition.
Well, of course, nobody scolded him or ordered him to apologize. Who would that be?
— He doesn’t have a boss these days — he isn’t SecDef now — and (unlike Ya’alon) doesn’t represent anyone but himself. [Du-uh!]
It was called an “apology.”
A true apology would’ve entailed, among other things, a retraction.
— He retracted NOTHING — nor should he have; what he’d said about Kerry was right-on-the-money. In fact, what Ya’alon had said about Sec. Kerry was far milder than anything Kerry (or his dickhead employer) had any right to expect.
SO, when the President started making noises about wanting a retraction, Ya’alon simply went thru the motions of saying, in effect, ‘There, there; so sorry I hurt your tender, delicate feelings when I spoke the stone cold truth. (Imagine what it felt like for me to LISTEN to the horseshit that prompted my remarks.)’
What Ya’alon said about Kerry is still out there, and everybody knows it, and it’s not going away. The fat’s in the fire, and it will burn for as long as there’s fat in there to be burned.
Habit.
ALL habits, good and bad, die hard.
I think that Kerry gets little respect in america ever since he was shown to be a liar and pretending to be a war hero. Obama’s rating is very low. My bet is that to most Americans this is just one more criticism of the obama bunch along with the rest of the world. Obama’s big noise is to make himself look big but most of the US thinks he is very small. It is a public slap in the face to obama and kerry but no apology can erase the accusation hurled at them. I wager that many Americans, outside of the Obama circle, take Yaalons criticism seriously and consider that Obama’s “peace” plans might be as fake and ludicrous as his Iran plan. Everything else about him is fake, this is just one more critic adding to the din, helping to confirm Obama as a fake and a failure. This is the right time to obstruct the Obama initiative and bring his skeletons out of the closet. If all his scandals were given media he would crumble and all his BS plans with him.
I think Yamit is right, as usual. His information tells me that Yaalon mush-muthed an abject apology about Kerry. And all this because the Jewish nation and its abject and crummy Judenrat government in Jerusalem wormed themselves into the pockets of the US government, with bullshit about how badly the United States needs Israel. All that ever resulted from this is that Washington — the real Washington — despises the Jewish nation and the Jewish state.
Nothing about this degrading example of the calculus of power will change for Israel unless and until you stand up like the men and women haShem intended you to be and break loose from this now-fading but once great empire. Stop taking their money. Stop even pretending to listen to their bullshit about where your borders should or should not be. Annex all parts of Eretz-Yisrael under your military control, and be prepared to take yet more land in the Middle East wars and will never end. Because the Jewish nation will expand in population size in Eretz-Yisrael, and future generations of Jews will need more land both for national development and for national defense. You cannot make those Arabs declare peace with you; not now, not ever. So use that as an excuse to keep pushing outward your country’s borders. That’s the way the world has worked since man first walked the surface of Planet Earth. And that’s the way it shall be until the end of this world.
So just get used to all this, and comport yourselves accordingly. Either that, or cave in and surrender your national rights, like most of the goyim expect you to do.
It’s as simple and straightforward as that. You must will yourselves to power, or the Jewish nation will die for the lack of it.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
@ Bear Klein:
I’m not a fan of Christie. He is another islamo-panderer. However, how is it that this bridge scandal may destroy his presidential ambitions but Hillary can get away with Benghazi?
Bravo Bogie!
Well, about time someone in the Israeli government states the obvious. And the obvious is that we have an ignorant and incompetent or even malevolent US administration whose ignorance/malevolence, it is almost irrelevant which, has created a trail of disasters in the Middle East with its support of the Muslim Brotherhood and appeasement of Iran. The Egyptians managed to reverse the US administration’s serial bungling, but Iran’s acquisition of the bomb due to US administration’s stupidity and obsession with the “peace process” would be catastrophic. Of course, Israel will never permit that.
But it is almost surreal that the very survival of Israel is so influenced by people who have no knowledge of what they are doing, supported by so many sycophants and questioned by so few. The American people have finally begun to catch up with the disasters Obama has created on the domestic front, but they have no idea how their electoral choice has placed the entire world under threat from an Iranian nuclear bomb.
Given the gravity and imminence of the threat we are under, it is surprising that it took so long for someone in Israel to state that The Emperor has no clothes. Finally a perfectly sane reaction to an insane and dangerous policy.
http://www.madisdead.blogspot.co.il/2014/01/bravo-bogie.html
@ yamit82:
No one in the USA except people who already do not like Israel care a hoot about this. The DEMS and their supporting media are busy trying to make sure that they sink Christy so that he does not get to run against Hillary. Christy is viewed to the DEMS as a danger man.
Israelis care far more about this than Americans ever will.
@ honeybee:
Princy Baby Kerry- Heinz
Bear Klein Said:
He did speak off the record but a veteran Journalist did not abide by journalistic ETHICS AND NORMS AND PRINTED his remarks with attribution. Question now is will Obama use this incident to sway democratic senators against voting for new Iran sanctions which Iran is threatening to quit the agreement over. So far 16 democrat senators are supporting the new legislation rendering it filibuster proof. Even Harry Reid is in favor.
Bear Klein Said:
My Lord Kerry, Duke of Heintz Catsup!!!!!!!!!!!!
@ yamit82:
there is no “freedom of speech” when one is offended!!!!!!
@ yamit82:
EXCELLENT QUESTION!
I myself, and am sure many others ponder the very same
Yaalon did NOT Recant that Kerrys plan was basically security hogwash. He said he did not mean to offend Kerry. So he stands by what he meant but only apologizes if he offended Kerry. Huge difference between this and saying Kerrys’ plan is okay with him.
Why did he let this be leaked in the first place (was wink supposed to be background) because he believes what he said and the talks are supposed to be silent except when the Massachusetts Prince Kerry lets everyone know what the truth is.
Yaalon and Israel bow before Edom
Here are some headlines you might have missed:
-A Frustrated Gates Slams Israel, 09/06/2011, Middle East Clarity)
-Gates’s gripes (Newsletter, 09/06/2011, Israel Hayom)
-Robert Gates Says Israel Is an Ungrateful Ally (Jeffrey Goldberg, 09/05/2011, Bloomberg Opinion)
-Defense Minister: Kerry is ‘Obsessive and Messianic’ (01/14/2014, Arutz Sheva)
-Yaalon: I Didn’t Intend to Offend Kerry (01/14/2014, Arutz Sheva)
-US Takes Offense at Ya’alon’s Remarks (01/14/2014, Arutz Sheva)
-US Demands Israeli Retraction of Ya’alon’s Statements (01/14/2014, Arutz Sheva)
-White House Expects PM to Condemn Ya’alon Comments (01/14/2014, Arutz Sheva)
-Ya’alon Apologizes for Kerry Comments (01/15/2014, Arutz Sheva)
—
If you remember your lessons from Tanach (Jewish Bible) and Jewish history, you will recall that the West is generally considered to be the descendant of Edom. Edom, the Tanach tells us, is Esav, the wicked brother of Jacob. Esav and his descendants hate Jacob.
Jacob went on to become the father of the Jewish nation. Esav went on to conquer the world. At one point, Rome was Esav. That is, Rome was chief among Esav’s descendants (see Tractate Avodah Zara, 2b, The ArtScroll Series, Note 7, and ibid, 8b, Notes 14, 20). Today, some say America plays that role. America, they say, is the most powerful nation the world has ever seen–and the most powerful ‘Esav’ ever to live.
Esav and his descendants hate Jacob.
In 2011, US Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, spoke before a meeting of the National Security Council Principals Committee. Jeffrey Goldberg, above, wrote that Gates made the following remarks two months before he retired; Wikipedia reports that he said these remarks two months after he had retired. At that Principals meeting, Gates declared that the US had given Israel much, but had received nothing in return.
His words were a slap in Israel’s face, for Israel in fact had given much to the US—and, according to Todd Warwick in Middle East Clarity, Gates, as Defense Secretary, should have known exactly what Israel had given to the US—valuable military advantage (see above, “A Frustrated Gates Slams Israel”, September 6, 2011). Quoting David Weinberg from Israel HaYom, Warwick writes that “Gates knows full well that recent upgrades in U.S.-Israel intelligence sharing and weapons development are to America’s benefit as much as Israel’s”. Moreover, Weinberg wrote that Israel gives extensive training to US military units. Israel has provided the US technological advances. Israel has helped the US make major leaps forward in its anti-missile system—at a serious discount to the US.
Jeffrey Goldberg wrote (“Robert Gates Says Israel Is an Ungrateful Ally”) that Gates spoke about Israel directly to his President (Obama). Gates is reported to have said that Israel had become an ungrateful—and dangerous—ally.
Nevertheless, no one scolded Gates for such a bold, galling insult. No one told him to apologize to Israel.
No one in Israel took offense. No one in Israel demanded an apology. No one in Israel announced that they expected Gates to retract his insult.
Robert Gates is Edom. He doesn’t have to apologize to Jacob.
Jacob, however, must bow to Edom.
When headlines in Israel on January 14, 2014 declared that Israel Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon had said that Kerry was obsessive and Messianic, Israel’s news wires practically melted from a series of angry responses from the US. Over several hours, the State Department, unnamed Washington officials and then the White House itself expected an apology–and then demanded retraction–for Yaalon’s ‘offensive’ remarks.
Yaalon then had to humiliate himself before Edom: first, he explained that he didn’t mean to offend Kerry. Then, when that didn’t sit so well with the US, he apologized.
Edom is arrogant. Edom demands Jewish genuflection. Jacob is afraid. Jacob must—and will–bow before Esav.
Why must Israel be afraid? Why must Israel bow? Israel cannot achieve its Destiny when it behaves with such raw fear before Edom.
Commenting as a nationalist Jew who also is a citizen by birth of the United States of America and a veteran of three years honorable military service in the United States Army, I hold in supreme contempt the current elected administration of this country, and even more so, the appointed secretary of state of that administration. Moreover, I don’t really give a damn what anybody else thinks of my opinions. Because honor and self-respect are more important to me than life itself.
So in the spirit of what I have written above, I salute Moshe Yaalon, Defense Minister of the State of Israel, in his candid and forthright opinion of John Kerry. I sincerely hope he does not water down or otherwise back away from all that he has said about Kerry, and that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will attempt neither to censure Yaalon nor offer abject apologies to Kerry, his anti-Israeli and anti-semitic US State Department, because if either or both of them should attempt to do so, I, along with much and perhaps most of the Jewish nation would have cause to consider them little more than lick-spittles of a foreign government that endlessly lies to them and to us.
And in any case, all this is more or less identical to what a majority of the non-Jewish nations that make up the population of this once great country already think of both Obama and Kerry.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
The point Israel is led by non-entities.
They’re so afraid of Obama and Kerry, they’re paralyzed with fear.
Like the old, true and trite saying has it, “You can take the Jew out of the Ghetto but its difficult to take the Ghetto out of the Jew.”
Centuries of servility to the Jew-hating world is a safe place to fall back on for Israel’s elites.
Yaalon is the man who speaks the truth but like many others from Kibutz Givat Chiam he speaks straight and without nuance.
I am curious if people think Yaalon is electable at the head of the Likud ticket. The question is not if you personally like him but if the current Likud and other right and center right voters would embrace him.