The most useful idiot in the history of American journalism, NY Times pundit Tom Friedman, on Tuesday, boasted, and I believe his every word: “To make sure that Biden’s position is crystal clear to all Israelis, he invited me to the Oval Office on Tuesday afternoon and gave me a statement.”
There’s little need to go any further. The boast encompasses everything about the US-Israel relationship. We’re not partners, we’re not best allies, we’re not bound by common values, we are King and Vassal, Sovereign and Subordinates. And the king, to make sure his subordinates understand his message clearly, called in his jester and dictated his message for the folks in the fields.
I mean, look at the headline of this revolting thing: “Biden to Netanyahu: Please Stop Trying to Rush Through Your Judicial Overhaul. Build a Consensus First.” A US president who is hated by 60% of the people who despise him so much, they’re even prepared to bring back the geriatric gentleman he defeated in the last election – is teaching the ruler of an independent country how to go about critical legislation. Go slowly, build a consensus. And that’s from a president who tried to shove billions in debt to erase the student loans of millions of privileged Americans, and when the Supreme Court rejected it, suggested, “This is not a normal court.”
So, here is the message, courtesy of the king’s jester:
“His message to the Israeli prime minister and president could not have been clearer: Please stop now. Don’t pass anything this important without a broad consensus, or you are going to break something with Israel’s democracy and with your relationship with America’s democracy, and you may never be able to get it back.
“This is obviously an area about which Israelis have strong views, including in an enduring protest movement that is demonstrating the vibrancy of Israel’s democracy, which must remain the core of our bilateral relationship,” Biden told me. “Finding consensus on controversial areas of policy means taking the time you need. For significant changes, that’s essential. So, my recommendation to Israeli leaders is not to rush. I believe the best outcome is to continue to seek the broadest possible consensus here.”
As usual, Friedman is giving hypocrisy a bad name, and the fact that this is probably what Biden really did say to him makes one wonder if the president is aware that he is trying to push laws without a majority in the House of Representatives, and that his majority in the US Senate is so scant, his VP is often called in to tip the balance his way.
FDR could boast his broad consensus, as could JFK, Reagan, and Obama. But Joe Biden doesn’t have a broad consensus even within his Democratic Party. This is another reason why he must go on the occasional anti-Israel tirade, to appease the 25 or so Woke members of Congress.
At some point, Friedman moves on all by his lonesome and spreads his unique brand of lies and ignorance. He writes: “Netanyahu seems to be moving ahead decisively with his power grab to free himself and his government from controls of the Supreme Court before the Knesset adjourns for the summer at the end of July.”
Free on the Supreme Court’s controls? By amending the law to include the removal of the reasonability clause in some cases? Seriously? Is Friedman aware that the Israeli court has used a plethora of alternative reasons, such as disproportionality, lack of qualification, and conflict of interest? The difference is that with all the other reasons, the court has to labor to come up with a respectable argument, whereas killing something that’s otherwise legal and proper because the judges don’t think it’s reasonable is so much easier.
And Netanyahu will get all this done by July 31, the end of the Knesset’s summer session? To explain his nightmarish wishful thinking, Friedman states: “The magnitude and tenacity of the protest movement in Israel send a clear signal that the overhaul pushed by the government is unlikely to ever have internal legitimacy and therefore also external legitimacy. That train has left the station.”
Probably not. If anything, the vast majority of Israelis have had enough of the anarchists blocking their highways, international airport, and, on Tuesday, train platforms. Tens of thousands of reservists are coming out of the woodwork to protest the use of the IDF as a political tool. And the numbers of protesters are dwindling, consisting mostly of two groups that don’t have to work for a living: pensioners and trust fund babies.
In the end, Friedman drops any attempt to employ reason, and switches to raw power, the kind the US is so good at exploiting the world over, crushing democratically elected regimes in its path (Iran in 1953 and Chile in 1973 come to mind): “Message to Israelis, right, left and center: Joe Biden may be the last pro-Israel Democratic president. You ignore his sincere concerns at your peril.”
Here’s a counter message: Joe Biden may be the last Democratic president in this decade. Good luck.
