Netanyahu addresses "Israeli Occupied Territory"

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to Washington to address "Israeli Occupied Territory", like Pat Buchanan called the US Congress. This event has been cooked up between the GOP House Speaker John Boehner, an intimate enemy of President Obama, and the Israeli ambassador behind the President's back. This move by a foreign leader to bypass the President of the United States in order to address Congress is unprecedented and bold.  It's a calculated insult to the United States. Netanyahu's address was also directed at the Israeli people. In two weeks, Israel will elect a new parliament.

Netanyahu's main aim is to derail the ongoing talks between the U.S. and Iran about Iran's peaceful civil nuclear program. He made crystal clear that the prospected deal is a bad, "a very bad one", which will pave the road to an Iranian nuclear Bomb. The US would be better off without a deal, said Netanyahu.

The members of Congress gave Netanyahu a bombastic reception. When he entered the congressional floor they cheered and hooted as if a movie star entered the stage. Netanyahu enjoyed this warm reception, and as the speech proceeded it became clear that he has more influence on the vital question of war and peace than the American people. His speech was a recipe for war. His rant and demonization of Iran, including its leadership, made the Members of Congress to jump 20 times of the seats.

Netanyahu caricatured the country in its darkest colors; Iran is a "dark and murderous regime". It's the greatest "exporter of terrorism" and a "great threat to peace to the entire world". Iran is not only a "Jewish problem" anymore than Nazis were one. The country "will always be an enemy of America" and "can't be trusted". "Iran needs a deal more than you do." Netanyahu formulated three conditions for the normalization of relations: Iran has to stop its aggression against its neighbors; stop the spread of terrorism around the world, and stop to annihilate Israel, the only Jewish state in the world.
Netanyahu not only pretended that he speaks for the "Jewish people" but also for the American people. He gave the impression that he judges the situation more realistic than Obama. To develop this audacity further, he seems more worried about America's security than the president himself.

Actually, Netanyahu's predictions concerning Iran are less accurate than the weather forecasts. Most of them are just politically motivated. For the last 25 years he has been warning of a nuclear Iran. If he would have listened to his own spy agency Mossad, he should have know better. Iran is still years away from the bomb and does not have the intention to build one. With his rants before AIPAC and the US Congress Netanyahu pushed the US into a corner, from which there is only one way out: war against Iran. Netanyahu was one of the most outspoken proponents of an attack on Iraq that ended in a disaster for the US Empire. If Netanyahu wants to attack Iran then he should do it alone.

Before Netanyahu started his tirades on the Iranian regime he flattered President Obama and the Members of Congress. Like the day before, when he addresses a huge crowd at the yearly AIPAC convention he said that he has respect for Obama and the office that he holds. He is deeply grateful for the support Israel gets. Israel should not become a partisan issue. Israel should always remain a bipartisan one. But Netanyahu's and Boehner's machinations has made Israel a partisan issue. He has taken sides with the most right-wing Republicans, which estranged many Democrats, although over 95 per cent of the American Jews vote for the Democratic Party.

Netanyahu even got theatrical: Both nations defend a "common civilization against common threats". "We share the same dreams." "The values that unite us, are stronger than the differences that divide us." "As our region descends into medieval barbarism, Israel is the one that upholds these values common to us and to you." "In the dark and savage and desperate Middle East, Israel is a beacon of humanity of life and of hope." Despite disagreement, the friendship between Israel and the US grew stronger and stronger. Netanyahu's slimy praises of Obama and the emphasis of common values, which both countries allegedly share, sound like pure hypocrisy viewing Israel's reckless behavior in the region.

Netanyahu did not mention the ongoing occupation and strangulation of the Palestinians, the colonization of the occupied territories or Israel's nuclear program that is not subject to international control. Not Iran threatens its neighbors but Israel with its huge nuclear arsenal. It bombs Lebanon and Syria on a regular basis, assassinates Iranian nuclear scientists or Hezbollah or Hamas officials through its own agents or hit man and is involved in the chaos in Syria and Iraq.

By the sabotage of the agreement between the US and Iran Israel maintains its nuclear hegemony in the region and can impose its will upon its neighbors. It can massacre the people in the Gaza Strip with impunity, because the US administration holds its protective hand over Israel and veto against any resolution critical of Israel in the UN Security Council. John Kerry even criticized the Human Rights Council for its critical view on Israel. Netanyahu having publicly humiliated the US President time and again, it's about time to stop the preferential treatment of Israel. Do Obama and his staff have no self-esteem? Despite the weeks-long political excitement about the circumstances of Netanyahu's speech, it seems as if this crisis will have no consequences for Israel.


Dr. Ludwig 'Watzal works as a journalist and editor in Bonn, Germany.

He runs the bilingual blog "Between the lines".

 http://between-the-lines-ludwig-watzal.blogspot.de/