White House strikes a low blow with Netanyahu insult
These days, it’s no secret that U.S-Israeli relations are on thin ice. Yet, as strained as the situation might be, tension doesn’t make name-calling appropriate. Several government officials don’t seem to understand that. Published last Tuesday, a column by The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg revealed that the White House is privately making negative remarks about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. One official was quoted as saying, “The thing about Bibi is, he’s a chickensh-t.”
Lili Sedano | Daily Trojan
A crude yet seemingly harmless comment that has now exploded into an online firestorm, the official’s remark refers to what the White House sees as Netanyahu’s reluctance to make bold moves for peace.
There are so many other words that could have passed with at least some decency. Goldberg himself keeps a running list — “recalcitrant, myopic, reactionary, obtuse, blustering, pompous,” and so on. But “chickensh-t” is a new one — and not in a good way. As David Rothkopf, CEO and editor of Foreign Policy magazine, told the Daily Beast, “You have to question whether it’s a constructive policy to talk to reporters and use language like that about an ally, or frankly use language like that about anyone.”
Though the “chickensh-t” comment seems to have been made off the record, chances are, this official knew where his or her words would land. After all, Goldberg isn’t just any reporter. One of the most renowned journalists in Washington, he’s a notable Middle East correspondent and a National Magazine Award recipient. Lanny Davis, a former Clinton White House special counsel, said on radio station WMAL-AM that Goldberg “really knows what’s going on inside the White House.” He’s even been known to win access to the president and his inner circle.
Considering Goldberg’s background, it’s safe to say that this isn’t a case of an accidental leak of colorful candor. The dysfunctional character of the Obama administration’s national security team seems to have been revealed in a deliberate move. Perhaps the speaker wanted to send a provocative message and found this the best way to do so. Using an anonymous quote to call someone else a coward, however, is a situation that drips with irony.
Yet again, government officials forget that they’re not just speaking for themselves, but for the people of the United States. Trash talking Israeli leadership only expounds upon the obvious — the two nations are at odds on policy. The comment, however, was a far cry from advancing the national interests of the United States, something every word of utterance from the government should strive to achieve.
Tough language can be overlooked but poor diplomacy and management — particularly during strained times — can’t be.
Profanity and disrespect is unacceptable, especially at the highest level of government in America — and especially when it comes to talking about an ally of democracy in the Middle East. The region is still broiling in volatility even after the end of the Gaza war in August, and insults only serve to exacerbate conditions. In spite of such consequences, people still chose to make comments that reflect the recklessness and immaturity of current government officials. Error in judgment is a big theme here.
If officials don’t have anything to say that will advance national interests, they need to think twice before they open their mouths. Sometimes, when it comes to words, less is more — that’s a lesson the Obama administration needs to learn.
Valerie Yu is a junior majoring in English. She is also the editorial director of the Daily Trojan. “Point/Counterpoint” runs Tuesdays.
Valerie,
The corrupt administration in Washington caters to the extremist groups like Hamas and the Palestinians. The Palestinians are an invented people and did not exist many moons ago though they will try and tell you otherwise. Obumma, as I like to call him, tries to always side the enemy instead of our allies. Israel is a long-standing ally but Obumma likes to kiss the butt of the Muslim extremists and give the finger to our allies. Obumma will never call anything terrorist though that is exactly what it is and downplays every incident. Why ask the government of Israel to give up land to idiots that say they will never recognize them and have no intention of living peacefully next to one another. The person who is “chickenshit” is Obumma for trying to force an ally to place itself in a precarious position when they are already surrounded by other nations that hate them. Its funny that so many people hate the Jews? It is no coincidence and the Jews will be a stumbling block to any nation that tries to eliminate its existence.
Are you safer from the global jihad and Islamic supremacism
than you were four years ago? Over the last four years, Barack Obama has:
•Warmly supported the “Arab Spring” revolutions in Egypt,
Tunisia, and Libya (the latter with military aid) that heralded the
installation of pro-Sharia Islamic supremacist regimes in each. These regimes
are already oppressing women and non-Muslims and striving to outdo their
predecessors in anti-Americanism. The Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt,
meanwhile, is giving out strong and repeated hints that the Camp David Accords,
and Egypt’s uneasy but 30-year-old peace with Israel, are not long for this world.
•Refused to say a single positive word about the uprising
against the bloody Islamic regime in Iran, ostensibly on the grounds that
American support would doom the uprising to failure – a possibility that never
gave him pause in his rush to praise the Egyptian, Libyan, and Tunisian
uprisings. He thus missed an opportunity to weaken and destabilize, at the very
least, a rogue regime that is relentlessly pursuing development of nuclear
weapons and has made no secret of its genocidal intentions toward Israel.
•Displayed repeated contempt for Israel and its prime
minister, thereby drastically weakening the U.S.’s relationship with its only
ally in the Middle East and encouraging jihadists who have vowed to destroy the
Jewish state – not least in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
•Readily acquiesced to the demands of Muslim groups tied to
Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood that training material for the FBI and
Department of Homeland Security be purged of all accurate information about how
jihadists use the texts and teachings of Islam to recruit and motivate
terrorists. This has led to a government-wide willful ignorance about the
motives and goals of those who have vowed to destroy us, which in turn leads to
disastrous policy mistakes based on false assumptions about the outlook and
aspirations of Muslim “insurgents.” The most obvious recent consequence of this
analytical failure was the murder of Ambassador Stevens and three other
Americans at the Benghazi consulate by revolutionaries Obama and Stevens had
backed on the assumption that they were benign democratic pluralists.
•Kept American troops in Afghanistan without a clearly
defined mission, fighting against a foe, the Taliban, that have so thoroughly
infiltrated the government and police force that our troops are murdered by
their putative allies in ever-increasing numbers. Our ostensible allies have
responded to this infiltration by inviting Taliban members to run for offices
in the upcoming elections, making it more unclear than ever what is the purpose
of the continuing American presence there, except perhaps to demonstrate that
Barack Obama is not weak on defense or soft on jihad terror.
•Aided and abetted the ever more prevalent idea that when
Muslims riot and murder over something a non-Muslim has said or done, the
fault, and the responsibility to change his behavior, lies with the non-Muslim.
He has done this by blaming the Muhammad video for the Benghazi consulate
attack for a considerable period after he knew that it was a jihad attack that
had been planned for some time beforehand and had nothing to do with the video.
By proclaiming that “the future does not belong to those who slander the
prophet of Islam,” he has thrown in his lot with those who are demanding curbs
on the First Amendment to criminalize the criticism of Islam.
•Lent the prestige and power of his Justice Department to
court cases involving Muslims demanding special accommodation not accorded to
non-Muslims. One notorious example was the case of Safoorah Khan, the
first-year teacher that Obama’s DOJ forced the Chicago-area Berkeley School
District to pay $75,000 in back pay, damages, and attorney fees. The district’s
crime was refusing Khan’s request for three weeks off during the school year so
she could make the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, and dismissing her when she
went anyway. Such cases are increasing in number nationwide, with the Obama
Justice Department’s active involvement.
•Utterly failed, despite his many attempts to accommodate
Muslims domestically and internationally, to stop jihadists from plotting
attacks on U.S. soil. In recent years there was Rezwan Ferdaus, who was just
sentenced last week to seventeen years in prison for his jihad plot to blow up
the Pentagon and the Capitol building; Amine Mohamed El-Khalifi, a would-be
jihad/martyrdom suicide bomber who also targeted the Capitol; Naser Abdo, the
would-be second Fort Hood jihad mass murderer; Khalid Aldawsari, the would-be
jihad mass murderer in Lubbock, Texas; Muhammad Hussain, the would-be jihad
bomber in Baltimore; Mohamed Mohamud, the would-be jihad bomber in Portland;
Faisal Shahzad, the would-be Times Square jihad mass-murderer; Abdulhakim
Mujahid Muhammad, the Arkansas military recruiting station jihad murderer;
Ahmed Ferhani and Mohamed Mamdouh, who hatched a jihad plot to blow up a
Manhattan synagogue; Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the would-be Christmas airplane
jihad bomber; and many others like them who have plotted and/or committed mass
murder in the name of Islam. The days when liberal pundits confidently predicted
that all this would end with the election of Barack Obama seem very long ago
indeed.