Netanyahu’s 2015 nightmare is back: US open to rejoin Iran nuclear deal

…by Jonas E. Alexis, VT Editor

Benjamin Netanyahu is definitely not going to like the recent development in Washington with respect to the Iran nuclear deal. The Washington Post has recently declared that the United States has even lowered its expectations to meet the Iran nuclear deal once again.[1]

Netanyahu’s 2015 nightmare is coming back. It was a nightmare which Bibi hasn’t forgotten because it was when the Obama administration completely humiliated him. Calling the Bibi “a chickenshit”[2] was one of the worst insults in political history, particularly when we all know that US presidents have never criticized Israeli prime ministers in public. Netanyahu, we are told, “fumes at reportedly being called ‘chickenshit.’”[3] a pro-Israel congressional aide told Foreign Policy’s John Hudson, “There is a limit to how much you can shit all over the White House and expect to get every meeting you want.”[4]

Netanyahu responded to the “chickenshit” idea then, “I’m being attacked simply because I defend the State of Israel.”[5] Echoing Netanyahu, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett declared then:

“The prime minister of Israel is not a private person. He is the leader of the Jewish state and the entire Jewish people. Cursing the prime minister and calling him names is an insult not just to him but to the millions of Israeli citizens and Jews across the globe.”[6]

The “entire Jewish people”? Does that include Norman Finkelstein, who has written one scholarly study after another about how Israel has recently manipulated the political system in the Middle East, indiscriminately slaughtered and tortured Palestinian men, women and children?[7]

If Bennett is not willing to embrace Finkelstein in his political equation, then his statement was a categorical lie. We have enough evidence to assume that he was lying because Finkelstein has been banned and deported from Israel for simply documenting Israel’s history of criminal activity.[8] Finkelstein’s parents, as we all know, died in Nazi Germany, and there he has no anti-Semitic bone in his vein. Yet he has unceremoniously been called a vicious anti-Semite by thought police and pseudo academics like Alan Dershowitz.

In any event, this was not the first time that Benjamin Netanyahu was insulted. Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog declared: “Netanyahu is acting like a political pyromaniac, and he has brought our relations with the United States to an unprecedented low.”[9]

Indeed, he did.

Currently Washington is in concerts with European leaders to bring back the Iran deal. White House press secretary Jen Psaki says: “If Iran comes back into full compliance with the obligations” of the nuclear deal, “the United States would do the same, and then use that as a platform to build a longer and stronger agreement that also addresses other areas of concern.” Iran has been in compliance since the beginning of time. This was one reason the Obama administration had a deal.

We can have another deal with the Biden administration. All they need to do at this time is keep Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv. US officials also need to get EarPods. Why? When Netanyahu is kicking and screaming and shouting and yelling like a baby who hasn’t gotten his milk, they can just put those EarPods on. That will end the political noise.

• [1] Anne Gearan and Karen DeYoung, “Biden team exploring how U.S. might rejoin Iran nuclear deal,” Washington Post, February 6, 2021.
• [2] Jeffrey Goldberg, “The Crisis in U.S.-Israel Relations Is Officially Here,” Atlantic, October 18, 2014.
• [3]Jeffrey Heller, “Israel’s Netanyahu Fumes At Reportedly Being Called ‘Chickensh*t’ By U.S. Official,” Huffington Post, December 29, 2014.
• [4] Joshua Keating, “Why the Obama Administration Is Calling Benjamin Netanyahu “Chickenshit” Behind Closed Doors,” Slate, October 29, 2014.
• [5] Jonathan Topaz, “Obama, Bibi ‘chickensh—’ uproar,” Politico, October 29, 2014.
• [6] Heller, “Israel’s Netanyahu Fumes At Reportedly Being Called ‘Chickensh*t’ By U.S. Official,” Huffington Post, December 29, 2014.
• [7] See for example Norman Finkelstein, Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom (Oakland: University of California Press, 2018); Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008).
• [8] US academic deported and banned for criticising Israel,” Guardian, May 26, 2008.
• [9] Heller, “Israel’s Netanyahu Fumes At Reportedly Being Called ‘Chickensh*t’ By U.S. Official,” Huffington Post, December 29, 2014.

Jonas E. Alexis, Senior Editor

Jonas E. Alexis has degrees in mathematics and philosophy. He studied education at the graduate level. His main interests include U.S. foreign policy, the history of the Israel/Palestine conflict, and the history of ideas. He is the author of the book, Kevin MacDonald’s Metaphysical Failure: A Philosophical, Historical, and Moral Critique of Evolutionary Psychology, Sociobiology, and Identity Politics. He teaches mathematics in South Korea.

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