A Plurality Says Netanyahu Should Be Arrested Upon Entering The U.S.

The chart above reflects the results of the YouGov Poll -- done on July 23rd of a nationwide sample of 7,219 adults. (NO moe given).
 

Public Opinion In The United States Is Turning Against Israel (and Netanyahu)

 

The charts above are from a Pew Research Center survey -- done between March 23rd and 29th of a nationwide sample of 3,507 adults, with a 1.9 point margin of error.

Netanyahu Is NOT Viewed Favorably By Americans

 

The chart above reflects the results of the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between August 1st and 4th of a nationwide sample of 1,702 adults (including 1,528 registered voters). The margin of error is 3.3 points for adults and 3.0 points for registered voters.

Biden Is Right To Stop Shipping Massive Bombs To Israel

President Biden has been asking Netanyahu to avoid attacking Rafah in Gaza. But Netanyahu has ignored him, and is currently starting the attack there. 

In retaliation, President Biden has stopped the shipment to Israel of massive 2,000 pound bombs (and also 500 pound bombs). 

A 2,000 pound bomb is not a precision weapon. It destroys whole city blocks. In a densely populated area like Gaza, it guarantees "collateral damage" (the killing of innocent civilians). And that is exactly what has happened. Nearly 35,000 Palestinians have been killed (14,000 of them children) and over 78,000 have been injured - most of them by the indiscriminate use of 2,000 and 500 pound bombs.

Republicans are whining about Biden's cessation of the bomb shipments. They claim Biden is refusing to help defend Israel in its time of need. That is not true. Biden is continuing to ship defensive weapons (such as those used to destroy incoming missiles). 

But a 2,000 pound bomb is not a defensive weapon. It is an offensive weapon used to destroy structures and create a large number of casualties. 

The U.S. cannot keep Netanyahu from attacking Rafah, but it can (and must) not supply the weapons guaranteed to case massive civilian casualties.

Israel has the right to seek and destroy Hamas terrorists, but the use of 2,000 pound bombs in a densely populated area is not the best way to do that. This massive killing of civilians is likely to create more terrorists than it kills.

President Biden was right to stop shipping these bombs to Israel, and he should continue the ban until a ceasefire is reached.

Netanyahu/Hamas Want The Same Thing - ALL Of Palestine

 

Note the top image. In November, most Americans approved of the Israeli military action in Gaza. In March, that has reversed. Now only 36% approve while 55% disapproves. Why? I believe it is because people are starting to understand that Netanyahu is conducting an illegal and horrifying genocide of Palestinians.

This should not really surprise any of us. Most Americans understand that only a two-state solution can solve the Mideast situation - with Israel being free of terrorism and a Palestinian state being free of Israel oppression. Most Americans also believe that its Hamas that has been the main obstacle to any peace talks. But most also don't realize that Netanyahu has been just as big an obstacle.

We hear the phrase "from the river to the sea", and we rightly identify it a Hamas' belief that they should control all of Palestine (including the part that is now the state of Israel). That is true. But it is just as true that the statement could also apply to Netanyahu. He also wants to control all of Palestine (making the West Bank and Gaza a part of Israel). Neither Hamas nor Netanyahu want a two-state solution.

Netanyahu has refused to negotiate with Palestinians for a two-state solution. He has refused because doing so would mean he would have to stop building Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, and would likely have to give back some of the settlements already built. That's not acceptable to him because his policy is to expand the borders of Israeli - not find any other solution.

A year before the October attack on Israel by Hamas, Netanyahu was told by Israeli intelligence that Hamas was planning the attack. He didn't increase Israeli defenses. Why? I don't think he realized the attack would be as effective as it was, but I do believe he wanted the attack to happen. He wanted the attack to happen so he would be justified in attacking Gaza in revenge.

Now he is not only slowly encroaching on the West Bank with more and more settlements, but he is waging a genocidal war on Gaza - bombing innocent citizens and denying them food, shelter and medical aid. It has become obvious that he wants to force the Palestinians out of Gaza and the West Bank so he can complete his expansion of Israel.

Hamas is wrong in its desire to control all of Palestine, but so is Netanyahu. And as long as both remain in power, there will be no peace.

Is Netanyahu Intentionally Trying To Starve Gaza Residents?

The people of Gaza are starving, and they have been for weeks. The World Central Kitchen (and other aid organizations) are trying to get food into Gaza, and President Biden even flew an airlift of food (dropping food from the air). But it is not enough.

Why? Because the Israeli government (headed by Netanyahu) is not allowing enough aid to enter. They drug their feet for weeks before allowing any food aid to enter, and still don't allow enough to enter. Now Israeli forces have attacked a food convoy from the World Central Kitchen, killing seven aid workers.

Netanyahu said the attack was "unintended". That's hard to believe. The convoy was clearly marked on the roofs of the vehicles. In addition, Chef Andres (World Central Kitchen founder) said his aid workers never moved anywhere without first notifying Israeli forces and getting clearance.

The deadly attack has aid organizations suspending their efforts to feed the starving Gaza's because it is too dangerous. Was that what Netanyahu wanted?

There are two possible reasons for the attack. Either the Israeli Defense Forces are extremely incompetent (which is not likely since they have always shown high competence in the past), or Netanyahu is trying to starve Gaza into submission.

The latter is not only a WAR CRIME, but would be a failure in subduing Hamas (since they are going to grab for themselves any food allowed to enter). The real victims are the innocent people of Gaza. It is bad enough that many have died from bombs and the lack of medical supplies, but starvation is an unnecessary crime. 

If the attack was truly unintended, then Israel must immediately allow massive food aid to enter Gaza and insure those delivering that aid are protected.

The world is watching and doesn't like what it is seeing. It is starting to look like intentional genocide! 

What Can Biden Do To Stop Netanyahu?

 The following is just part of a post by Robert Reich:

What’s Biden’s leverage to prevent Netanyahu from crossing Biden’s red line and attacking Rafah? More broadly, what’s Biden’s leverage to get Netanyahu to stop the killings of civilians in Gaza?

Just this. The United States is by far the largest supplier of military aid to Israel. In 2022, the aid amounted to $3.3 billion. Since the war with Hamas began, the Biden administration has pushed Congress to pass $14 billion in additional aid (the funding has been stalled, mainly for reasons unrelated to the war).

Between October and around Dec. 1, 2023, the United States also transferred about 15,000 bombs and 57,000 artillery shells to Israel. From Dec. 1 to now, those total transfers have increased by about 15 percent.

Israel has depleted much of its munitions and needs further American shipments. The U.S. government is now working to approve new arms orders and has accelerated orders that were in the pipeline before the war began.

Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, who met yesterday with Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, reportedly pressed for expedited approval of requests for F-15 fighter jets worth billions of dollars and for a large batch of GPS-guided munitions kits. 

Why should the U.S. provide more military aid to Israel, especially if Israel defies Biden and attacks Rafah?

 

Biden issued a memorandum in February laying out standards of compliance for all countries receiving U.S. weapons, including adhering to international humanitarian rules of law. Israel has not adhered to those rules. 

Arguably, Israel is also violating a section of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, which bars the United States from providing arms or other aid to a country that “prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance.”. . .

Don’t get me wrong. Israel is one of America’s closest allies. Many Americans believe Israel must do everything in its power to eliminate Hamas.

 

Even if you believe this, though, it doesn’t follow that the United States must continue to supply Israel with weapons for maintaining its strategy of death and destruction in Gaza — especially when Israel’s leadership refuses to listen to America and is actively defying our president. This is particularly true if Israel attacks Rafah, thereby crossing Biden’s “red line.”

In supplying more military aid, we are in effect relieving Israel of any strategic or moral responsibility to find an alternative to the horrific course it’s on.

 

Not only does this make us complicit in Israel’s failure to find an alternative. It makes us complicit in the bloodbath itself.

Trump, Netanyahu, And Putin Have Hurt Their Own Nations

The following is part of a post by Robert Reich:

It has been a horrific week. The gruesome slayings of Israelis by Hamas militants are ricocheting around the world, testing the skeins of civility even on the streets of New York. Meanwhile, Putin’s brutality continues to wrench the heart of Europe.

America’s capacity to govern itself is also being tested. The U.S. House of Representatives continues without a speaker — the person essential for the chamber (and therefore much of the rest of government) to function, and who is next in line after the vice president in presidential succession. . . .

In late September, Trump urged House Republicans to shut the government if they weren’t able to defund Trump’s criminal trials. “Republicans in Congress can and must defund all aspects of Crooked Joe Biden’s weaponized Government,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social media site, calling it “the last chance to defund these political prosecutions against me and other Patriots.”

I thought of Trump and this mash of self-serving Republicans when I read Israeli historian Yuval Noah Narari’s piece in yesterday’s Washington Post, seeking to explain why Israel was unprepared for Saturday’s onslaught.

Narari wrote that Israel has been: 

“governed by a populist strongman … who is a public-relations genius but an incompetent prime minister. He has repeatedly preferred his personal interests over the national interest and has built his career on dividing the nation against itself. He has appointed people to key positions based on loyalty more than qualifications, took credit for every success while never taking responsibility for failures, and seemed to give little importance to either telling or hearing the truth.

The coalition [he] established has been by far the worst. It is an alliance of messianic zealots and shameless opportunists, who ignored [the nation’s] many problems — including the deteriorating security situation — and focused instead on grabbing unlimited power for themselves. In pursuit of this goal, they adopted extremely divisive policies, spread outrageous conspiracy theories about state institutions that oppose their policies, and labeled the country’s serving elites as “deep state” traitors.”

The point is this: Whether named Netanyahu, Trump, or Putin, when authoritarian leaders gain power by dividing the public, spreading baseless conspiracy theories, and accusing opponents of being “deep state” traitors, they weaken a society’s capacities to protect itself from all sorts of threats. 

They undermine the public good, which is the wellspring of a society’s true strength.

Netanyahu, Trump, and Putin have imperiled each of their nations by filling them with lies, paranoia, and distrust.

Is The War Just To Keep Netanyahu And Hamas In Power?

 

Both Netanyahu and Hamas will tell you they are waging this war to protect their own citizens. But is that the truth? The war will likely insure that both Netanyahu and Hamas will stay in power. Could that be the real reason it is being fought?

The following is just part of a column by Thomas Friedman in The New York Times. It will make you think!

Bibi and Hamas each exploited or nurtured their own mobs to prevent an unprecedented national unity government from emerging in Israel — a cabinet that for the first time would have included Israeli Jews and Israeli Arab Muslims together.

Both Bibi and Hamas have kept power by inspiring and riding waves of hostility to “the other.” They turn to this tactic anytime they are in political trouble. Indeed, they each have been the other’s most valuable partner in that tactic ever since Netanyahu was first elected prime minister in 1996 — on the back of a wave of Hamas suicide bombings.

No, Hamas and Bibi don’t talk. They don’t need to. They each understand what the other needs to stay in power and consciously or unconsciously behave in ways to ensure that they deliver it.

The latest rerun of their long-running nasty show is happening now because both were staring at an amazing breakthrough shaping up between Israeli Jews and Israel Arab Muslims — and, they wanted to destroy the possibility of political change before it could destroy them politically. . . .

In the wake of Israel’s fourth election, and Netanyahu’s failure to form a government, an unprecedented national unity coalition was taking shape in Israel — under the leadership of the secular-centrist Yair Lapid and the religious-rightist Naftali Bennett. They were on the verge of forging a cabinet that would include both Israeli Jews and, for the first time ever, an Israeli Arab Islamist party.

Here is the headline in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper online from last Sunday, May 9, just before the latest Hamas-Israel conflict erupted in full: “Israel Coalition Talks: Bennett’s Party Expects to Form Gov’t ‘This Week,’ After Meeting With Islamist Leader.”

The story went on to say that, “Bennett met with United Arab List Chairman Mansour Abbas Sunday, leading members of his party to believe that a government may be formed ‘this week,’ ending Israel’s political deadlock after four elections in under two years.”

The United Arab List, also known as Raam, headed by Mansour Abbas is an Israeli Arab “Islamic movement” party that comes from the same broad realm of political Islam that Hamas does, except that it is nonviolent; recognizes Israel; and is focused on getting Israeli Arabs — particularly Muslim Bedouins — more resources, more police and more jobs for their towns and neighborhoods in Israel, just the way ultra-Orthodox Jewish Israeli parties do. . . .

I warned that Netanyahu — who is desperate to stay in power and avoid possibly going to prison if he is convicted in his current corruption trial — was not above “inflaming the situation so much that his right-wing rivals have to abandon trying to topple him and declare instead that this is no time for a change in leadership.”

And within 48 hours of fighting that is exactly what happened. Bibi frightened Bennett away from forming a coalition with an Israeli Arab party, not to mention centrist and progressive Israelis, and Mansour Abbas was put in an impossible situation by Hamas by looking like he was collaborating with Israeli Jews who were hammering Palestinians from Jerusalem to Gaza.

Netanyahu Will Annex The West Bank (No 2-State Solution)

The map above shows the illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank (Palestinian land), and more are being built all the time.

The myth here in the United States is that it is the Palestinians that have been the obstacle to peace in the Mid-East, by refusing to negotiate with Israel -- and that Israel is willing to negotiate a two-state solution that would create a Palestinian nation. That is simply not true.

It is Israel that has been blocking the negotiations by continuing to build settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank. They obviously have no intention of ever giving up these settlements and allowing the Palestinians to control their own land. Now, finally, an Israeli politician has been honest about Israel's intentions.

Prime Minister Netanyahu (who is running for re-election) has openly stated that when he is re-elected he will annex the West Bank -- making it an official part of the nation of Israel. This comes as no surprise to honest viewers of the situation in the Mid-East. This has long been the unspoken desire of the Israeli government. Why would they continue to build these settlements if they had any intention to one day give them up?

They wouldn't. They have never intended to allow the Palestinians to create a nation of their own (composed of the West Bank and Gaza). Netanyahu's desire to annex the West Bank is not different from the desires of other Israeli politicians -- he's just a bit more honest about Israeli intentions.

Here's what he said:

"A Palestinian state will endanger our existence and I withstood huge pressure over the past eight years, no prime minister has withstood such pressure. We must control our destiny."

"Will we move ahead to the next stage? Yes. I will extend sovereignty but I don't distinguish between the settlement blocs and the isolated ones, because each settlement is Israeli and I will not hand it over to Palestinian sovereignty." 

"I will not divide Jerusalem, I will not evacuate any community and I will make sure we control the territory west of Jordan." 

Looks Like Netanyahu Is As Corrupt As His Buddy (Trump)

(Photo of Netanyahu and his wife in The Washington Post are by Abir Sultan/Shutterstock.)

Donald Trump has made enemies of our democratically-elected allies, and cozied up to authoritarian figures. It now seems that authoritarianism is not the only aspect of a leader he admires. He also likes leaders that are as corrupt as he is. Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has been accused of bribery and corruption by the Israeli police (for the third time).

Will he be charged. That's up to the Israeli Attorney General -- who refused to press charges on the first two accusations. It seems that retaining power is more important than rooting out corruption in Israel (just as it is in the United States with Republicans in power).

Here part of how Netanyahu's most recent problem is reported in The Huffington Post:

Israeli police on Sunday recommended indicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on bribery charges related to a corruption case involving Israel’s telecom giant, prompting immediate calls for his resignation.

Police say their investigation has established an evidentiary foundation to charge Netanyahu and his wife Sara with accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust. The case revolves around suspicions that confidants of Netanyahu promoted regulations worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the Bezeq telecom company in exchange for positive coverage of the prime minister on Bezeq’s subsidiary news website, Walla.

Police have already recommended indicting Netanyahu on corruption charges in two other cases. One involves accepting gifts from billionaire friends, and the second revolves around alleged offers of advantageous legislation for a newspaper in return for positive coverage.

The prime minister has denied any wrongdoing, dismissing the accusations as a witch hunt orchestrated by the media. . . .

The Bezeq case, known as Case 4000, is the most serious of all those of which Netanyahu has been accused. Two of his top confidants have turned state witnesses and are believed to have provided police with incriminating evidence. Netanyahu held the government’s communications portfolio until last year and oversaw regulation in the field. Former journalists at the Walla news site have attested to being pressured to refrain from negative reporting of Netanyahu.

Police say the investigation, which included the testimony of 60 witnesses, revealed that Netanyahu and Bezeq boss Shaul Elovitch engaged in a “bribe-based relationship.”

From 2012 to 2017 the prime minister and his associates “blatantly intervened” on a near-daily basis in the Walla news site, using the connections with Elovitch to influence appointments there and to promote flattering articles and pictures while quelling critical stories of the prime minister and his family, police said.

Police are also recommending charges be brought against Elovitch and members of his family.

It's Time For The U.S. To Show Israel Some "Tough Love"

(The image above was found at Eine Kleine Nichtmusik.)

The nation of Israel is very popular with citizens in this country, and Prime Minister Netanyahu has used that to his advantage for years now. Under his leadership, Israel has basically operated two giant concentration camps in Gaza and the West Bank, engaged in the theft of Palestinian land by continuing to build Israeli settlements on that land (settlements they have no intention of giving up), and refused to negotiate a two-state solution to end the crisis in the Middle East.

Netanyahu claims all of this is necessary to protect Israel, and sadly, Americans have bought that lie for far too long now. The truth is that the Netanyahu government doesn't want to negotiate a settlement, because that would stop their theft of Palestinian land. And he made that clear to Israeli voters in the recent election -- assuring them that there would be no two-state solution as long as he was in power.

Now that he has been re-elected, he is trying to walk back that statement -- saying he actually does support a two-state solution. That is a lie. His assurances during the election, and his past actions, both show he is opposed to negotiating a two-state solution (or ceasing to steal Palestinian land). His recent statements are just to try and placate the United States government -- who have been protecting Israel in the United Nations, and continue to give them billions of dollars of foreign aid.

Israel has gone far beyond just defending itself. Under Netanyahu, it has become an international criminal state -- and it is time for the United States to show them some "tough love". The United States should stop vetoing United Nations resolutions condemning Israel's criminal behavior, and it needs to severely cut (or eliminate) the foreign aid it sends. It needs to do both until Israel ceases it criminal theft of Palestinian land and its obstruction of peace talks leading to a two-state solution.

Israel has a right to exist, but it does not have the right to be an international pariah under the guise of self-defense. With the re-election of Netanyahu, Israel has clearly shown it has no intention of curbing their criminal behavior. It is time for the United States to act.

Did Netanyahu's Snub To Obama Kill His Electoral Chances?

Israel's Knesset has 120 electoral seats. It is obvious that no single party will get a majority of those seats. This is not unexpected. Israel has been ruled by a coalition government for quite a while now. In the recent past, President Netanyahu's Likud Party has won the most seats, and been able to form the coalition government. But if all the most recent polls are right, Netanyahu's reign may be over. The Zionist Union is on track to win the most seats in this election, and therefore will have the right to form their own coalition government.

Did Netanyahu's unwarranted interference in U.S. politics (by snubbing President Obama and accepting a Republican invitation to speak to Congress) hurt his chances? Probably. That move by Netanyahu didn't go over too well with the Israel public. Many saw it as endangering their relations with their closest and biggest ally -- the United States.

Congressional Republicans thought they had really pulled off a coup by embarrassing the president with that invitation, and Netanyahu was proud of snatching the opportunity to try and undermine the U.S. negotiations with Iran. But that may have turned out to be a huge blunder for both. We'll know in a couple of days as the Israeli citizens go to the polls.

Public Doesn't Like Boehner's Invitation of Netanyahu

If you keep up with politics at all, then you know that Speaker Boehner invited Israel's Netanyahu to speak to Congress with consulting with the president first. While that may not be illegal, it is a violation of accepted protocol and was very disrespectful. The two leaders colluded to do that because they are afraid the president was close to ironing out a deal with Iran -- a deal that would keep nuclear weapons out of that country and put the two nations on a friendlier footing.

That is something neither Netanyahu nor Boehner (and other right-wingers in Congress) want to see happen. Both of these men get a lot of political mileage by keeping Iran as an enemy, and keeping the public in their respective countries scared of what Iran might do. But they made a serious misjudgment.

Many Israelis are unhappy with Netanyahu because they see his siding with a single political party in the U.S. as endangering the friendly relations between the two countries. And this has turned out to be an embarrassment for Boehner also. Many Democrats are refusing to attend the scheduled speech -- and if enough of them stay away, Netanyahu will be speaking to a nearly half-empty room.

But Boehner's problems go deeper than that. The chart above is from a recent YouGov Poll -- done between February 4th and 8th of a random national sample of 1,000 adults, with a margin of error of about 4 points. It shows that 47% of Americans disapprove of Boehner's invitation, while only 30% approve. He may have made his base happy, but he angered a lot more people.

Israel Continues Violating International Law

There was a time when Isral was in the right. They had a new country and the right to exist and prosper, but there were other countries trying to deny them that right. But times change, and now it is Israel that is violating international law, while its neighbors want to see a peaceful two-state solution.

Most of the world, including the United States and the European Union, believe the solution to peace in the Mid-East is a negotiated settlement resulting in Gaza and the West Bank becoming an independent Palestinian state. The main opponent to this plan is Israel. That's because they steal more land in the West Bank every day by building permanent settlements there.

They don't seem to care that their actions are in violation of international law. They believe they'll be able to claim the settlements as Israeli land in future negotiations, and the longer they delay those negotiations, the more Palestinian land they'll be able to steal.

President Obama has asked Israel to completely freeze all building in the West Bank, as have most of the countries of the European Union. But Prime Minister Netanyahu has snubbed his best allies. He said on Monday that they will not only continue construction on the 2500 units already started, but they have approved construction of another 450 units.

Netanyahu said they will not stop constructing settlements in the West Bank, but they might consider "scaling down construction". No one is sure exactly what that means. Probably, it just means they will approve the new construction in smaller lots, but still continue the building (regardless of the size of new approvals).

This is unacceptable. This is not Israeli land they are building on. It is nothing more than an attempt to steal Palestinian land. It is also their way to delay negotiations while they continue to steal land. They know no negotiations will happen as long as they continue construction.

It is also obvious that the Israelis think they can ignore the United States and the European Union, and the U.S. and E.U. will do nothing about it. It is time to back up our requests with action. The U.S. should immeediately suspend all foreign aid to Israel until the building of settlements has completely stopped and they have returned to the negotiating table. If they want to violate international law, steal land and ignore our requests, they should have to do it without any of our money.

They have a right to exist, but they don't have a right to steal.