Netanyahu: Unfit to Serve
01 January 2013
By Stephen Lendman
It shouldn't surprise. He's a world class thug. He
deplores democratic principles. He spurns peace. He
menaces the region. He prioritizes racist persecution.
He stresses neoliberal harshness.
He's an embarrassment to legitimate governance. Polls
suggest he'll remain prime minister after January 22
elections. Israelis have themselves to blame.
They'll reelect officials harming their own welfare.
They're as mindless as Americans. They expect making
the same mistake will beget different results. They're
not wise enough to know better. They'll get the
government they deserve.
Yuval Diskin headed Shin Bet from 2005 - 2011. It's
Israel's General Security Service. It calls itself
"The unseen shield." It operates jointly with Mossad
and Aman (military intelligence).
On January 4, Diskin criticized Netanyahu. He called
him "weak," "wavering," and "unreliable."
He's "possessed" by Iran, he said. His judgment is
sorely lacking. Excessive alcohol consumption and
cigar smoking make things worse. "Netanyahu is scared
and fickle." He "shirk(s) responsibility."
He represents "a crisis in leadership here, a crisis
of values and total contempt for the public. Maybe
people will think I'm exaggerating, but I'm telling
you. From close up it looks even worse."
He discussed how Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud
Barak behaved in closed meetings. He discussed one on
Iran, saying:
"My colleagues and I did not feel secure in Netanhayu
and Barak's ability to take action on Iran."
"We didn't trust these people's motives. We were
afraid they would make underhanded moves and
complicate matters for us as a country. When we sat in
very small meetings we had a feeling they were trying
to sneak something under the radar."
"The defense minister gets up and walks over to a
corner and pours himself a little drink from time to
time."
"In the middle of such a sensitive, confidential
meeting, he is standing with a drink in one hand and a
cigar in the other, in front of the IDF's officers and
intelligence officials."
"This is the scene. I'm telling you, a picture is
worth a thousand words. In the midst of this deep and
significant meeting, there is a feeling of total
disrespect for the people there. I don't even know how
to explain the feeling we experienced in that moment."
"The feeling many of us had about Barak was that,
whether under Olmert or Netanyahu, the question of who
will claim credit for specific moves may lead to
bizarre decisions or recommendations."
"I can't disclose more than that. But these
recommendations left the participants in these
closed-door discussions open-mouthed more than once."
"When I look at Netanyahu and Barak, I don't see an
iota of leadership qualities in either of them. Rabin,
Peres, Sharon and Olmert knew how to put the national
interest before everything else. I didn't feel this
way with Netanyahu or Barak. I don't think others did
either."
Netanyahu has messianic ambitions, he added.
He's-over-the-top and dangerous. He wants his stamp
put on history. He wants it written the wrong way.
"I have a very deep feeling that when it comes to
Iran, Netanyahu is possessed by Menachem Begin, who
attacked Iraq's nuclear reactor, and by Olmert, who
many claim is responsible for the attack on Syria's
reactor."
"Bibi wants to go down in history as the person who
did something on this size a scale. I have heard him
belittle what his predecessors have done and assert
that his mission on Iran is on a much grander scale."
He's ideologically over-the-top. He considers himself
"a prince of a 'royal family' from the Jerusalem
elite, alongside insecurity and a deep fear of taking
responsibility."
His decision-making style is "zig-zag." He fails to
convince associates to trust him. Other current and
past Israeli officials share Diskin's views. Former
IDF chief, Gabi Ashkenazi clashed with Barak on
policy. His career was cut short.
Last April, Diskin made similar comments. He expressed
no confidence in Netanyahu and Barak. He called
Israel's leadership "messianic. Our two messiahs are
unfit to hold the reigns of power."
"They give the public a false picture on Iran. They
create the feeling that if Israel does not act, Iran
will have a nuclear bomb, even though experts think an
attack on Iran will" encourage efforts to develop one.
Diskin also expressed concern for his children, saying
"When I see the current leadership, I am worried about
what we'll leave for them."
In response to Diskin's latest comments, Netanyahu's
office called them "unfounded, baseless, recycled and
shocking, in both content and timing." "There is no
kernel of truth in (his) statements. There are no
flaws in the decision-making process on issues
concerning Iran."
More about Netanyahu than Iran is disturbing. Jamal
Juma is a Stop the Wall activist. He's been
persecuted, arrested and imprisoned unjustly. Israel
wants him silenced.
He participated in last November's World Social Forum
(WSF) Free Palestine. It was held in Porto Alegre,
Brazil. He called the event "the most important (one)
in the international arena for Palestine."
It's goal was to coordinate solidarity initiatives
worldwide. It hoped to enhance Palestine's liberating
struggle.
On January 4, Russia Today interviewed him. A separate
topic was discussed. Walls around Israel are
increasing, he said. Israel plans one in Golan on
Syria's border.
They're built for political advantage. They advance
land theft. They're not for security. Juma calls them
walls of oppression and segregation. Israel has
ulterior motives in mind. Eventually they'll be torn
down, he believes.
"Walls around the world that have been built to
suffocate and oppress people have fallen down," he
said. "Why would Israeli walls stay? We are not going
to settle for it. We are not going to accept the
system they are imposing on us."
"Israel has to recalculate what they're doing in the
Middle East. Israel tries all the time to build walls
around itself, claiming that people hate them and
target them."
"Israel harmed the whole region around it. Israel is
building a wall around Palestinian areas, claiming
it's for security - but it amounts to apartheid for
the Palestinian people."
"They built a wall around Gaza and turned it into a
jail - the biggest prison in the world. We know how
devastating the situation in Gaza is."
"They still occupy parts of Syria, and are now
building a wall on occupied land. They want to keep
this land and keep themselves as occupiers."
"To keep building walls is not a solution. It needs to
make peace with the region. In Syria and the Arab
world, there are six million Palestinian refugees
because of Israel."
"They have to solve the problem of the refugees, to
give them the right to return to their homeland that
has been taken from them."
"Israel cannot build its future at the expense of the
people of the region. And building walls to protect
themselves. Walls are not going to protect the
Israelis. People have rights, and they will keep
claiming those rights."
Settlements are built to control Palestinians and deny
them their rights, he added. "Palestinians are locked
in ghettos and reservations." Gaza is isolated under
siege.
Apartheid is a failed system. "Why would Israel's
version survive?" Palestinians won't settle for less
than liberation. "We are not going to accept the
system they are imposing on us."
On December 30, the Ahlul Bayt News Agency headlined
"Egyptian Media Reveal US-Israeli Plan to Build
Separation Wall in Sinai."
It citied al-Watan. An "informed source" was quoted
saying "American experts have leveled off the
bordering areas in Rafah city in the North to the city
of Taba in the South and parallel to the borders of
the occupied Palestinian lands."
They "drew the needed sketches for constructing a
200-km-long wall of separation, and worked out a plan
to evacuate the people from the region."
Sources claim it's for Israel's security. It's
politically motivated. It facilitates land theft. It's
for greater Palestinian persecution. It's lawless.
"Earlier reports said Israel (plotted) to completely
Judaize" Sinai.
"Newly obtained documents show" purchased Sinai lands.
Selling it to Israelis flies in the face of preventing
Egyptians from doing it.
Information suggests Israel wants its Arab citizens
encouraged to leave or forcibly displaced.
After Israel's 1967 Six Day War. It occupied Sinai. By
1982, Egypt got it back. It's divided into two
governorates. North Sinai has its capital in al-Arish.
At-Tur is South Sinai's capital.
"Israel has long been pursuing a Judaization plot to
change the identity of the region." It advanced its
efforts across Occupied Palestine and Golan.
It wants more. It's longstanding policy. A Greater
Israel is planned at the expense of neighboring
countries and beyond. Settlements advance its agenda.
So do walls.
Stop the Wall says they're built to ethnically cleanse
Palestine. US tax dollars help construct them. They're
an unabashed land grab. They devastate the lives of
ordinary people.
Communities are surrounded and isolated. Valued
agricultural land is lost. Thousands are separated
from property and means of subsistence. Others lose
out altogether. Nearly the entire Jordan Valley is
isolated. It's a closed military zone.
Palestinians are dispossessed to advance construction.
Netanyahu wants it escalated. He wants all valued
parts of Judea and Sumaria under Israeli control. He
wants Jerusalem as Israel's exclusive capital. He
wants mission accomplished as soon as possible.
He doesn't give a damn what world leaders say.
Settlements and walls assure conflict. Netanyahu
prioritizes it. He's over-the-top and out-of-control.
He menaces Jews and gentiles alike.
Ilan Pappe earlier said Israel's project involves
constructing, then defending "a Western/'white'
fortress in the Arab/'dark' world."
Doing so resembles Crusaders in Islamic lands.
Israelis are encircling themselves within walls and
electric fences. They believe "Fortress Israel
guarantees the perpetuation of the conflict with the
Palestinians, their Arab neighbors, and Muslim
societies as far away as South-East Asia."
Israel prioritizes conflict and instability. Doing so
justifies belligerence, repression and occupation. US
policies are likeminded.
Both countries perpetuate war. Ordinary people are
harmed most. Palestinian suffering began decades ago.
It shows no signs of ending.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be
reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book
is titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized
Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"
http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html Visit his
blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to
cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on
the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive
Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and
Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are
archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour.
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