Of 193 nations at the UN, only one country left the General Assembly chamber when the new Iranian President spoke. The country? Israel.
Israel is out of step with the rest of the world which, with a degree of caution, is prepared to give the new direction espoused by the Iranian President a chance and sit down with him to talk. Israel will have none of it.
Some pertinent commentary. From Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper, written by none other than the Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee.
"As it is, Israel was the only one of 193 UN member states not to sit in the hall and listen to Rohani’s speech.
Did that help or hurt Israel to make its case? Some would argue it helped by stressing the danger and willingness to act, even if alone. Others, however, would say that Israel only demonstrated its unwillingness to hear the message, even if Rohani turns out to be, say, the next Mikhail Gorbachev.
So, unless Israel wants to continue to find itself largely alone on the world stage, it will have to find new ways to make its case, so that it is not just talking to itself and its supporters. Simply implying, for instance, that anyone who sits down with Rohani is a modern-day Neville Chamberlain or Édouard Daladier won’t do the trick.
To the contrary, it will only give offense and alienate. There are more effective and less shrill ways of making the case for caution, vigilance, and strength.
Otherwise, Israel could end up becoming the 21st century Cassandra, should it turn out to be right about the emptiness of the new Iranian spin – and the goal for which those centrifuges are spinning."
Roger Cohen, in The New York Times:
"Netanyahu should cut the bluster and shift focus, instead, to Israeli-Palestinian talks. In the past, he has been able to turn to Congress and leading American Jewish groups for support when he felt isolated. During Obama’s first term, when tensions were high between the two leaders, he got 29 standing ovations in Congress."
And finally, a humorous footnote. A politician (the Israeli PM) literally putting his foot into his mouth whilst trying to be smart:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel tried to take his campaign against the Iranian leadership to Iran’s young population last week, saying that if they were truly free, they would be able to wear jeans, listen to Western music and participate in free elections.
The problem is that Iranians do wear jeans and manage to listen to whatever music they want to listen to, just like people almost anywhere, except maybe in North Korea.
That is to say, Mr. Netanyahu’s effort at outreach backfired, as Twitter lit up Sunday with retorts.
“Netanyahu, here are my #Jeans and #Western music,” wrote a user named Sallar, posting a picture of his jeans and his iPad showing a pop album cover, and adding an insult to the prime minister’s intelligence.
A user with the handle mohhzg wrote, “Netanyahu, I’m wearing jeans like many old & young people in #Iran.”
Israel is out of step with the rest of the world which, with a degree of caution, is prepared to give the new direction espoused by the Iranian President a chance and sit down with him to talk. Israel will have none of it.
Some pertinent commentary. From Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper, written by none other than the Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee.
"As it is, Israel was the only one of 193 UN member states not to sit in the hall and listen to Rohani’s speech.
Did that help or hurt Israel to make its case? Some would argue it helped by stressing the danger and willingness to act, even if alone. Others, however, would say that Israel only demonstrated its unwillingness to hear the message, even if Rohani turns out to be, say, the next Mikhail Gorbachev.
So, unless Israel wants to continue to find itself largely alone on the world stage, it will have to find new ways to make its case, so that it is not just talking to itself and its supporters. Simply implying, for instance, that anyone who sits down with Rohani is a modern-day Neville Chamberlain or Édouard Daladier won’t do the trick.
To the contrary, it will only give offense and alienate. There are more effective and less shrill ways of making the case for caution, vigilance, and strength.
Otherwise, Israel could end up becoming the 21st century Cassandra, should it turn out to be right about the emptiness of the new Iranian spin – and the goal for which those centrifuges are spinning."
Roger Cohen, in The New York Times:
"Netanyahu should cut the bluster and shift focus, instead, to Israeli-Palestinian talks. In the past, he has been able to turn to Congress and leading American Jewish groups for support when he felt isolated. During Obama’s first term, when tensions were high between the two leaders, he got 29 standing ovations in Congress."
And finally, a humorous footnote. A politician (the Israeli PM) literally putting his foot into his mouth whilst trying to be smart:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel tried to take his campaign against the Iranian leadership to Iran’s young population last week, saying that if they were truly free, they would be able to wear jeans, listen to Western music and participate in free elections.
The problem is that Iranians do wear jeans and manage to listen to whatever music they want to listen to, just like people almost anywhere, except maybe in North Korea.
That is to say, Mr. Netanyahu’s effort at outreach backfired, as Twitter lit up Sunday with retorts.
“Netanyahu, here are my #Jeans and #Western music,” wrote a user named Sallar, posting a picture of his jeans and his iPad showing a pop album cover, and adding an insult to the prime minister’s intelligence.
A user with the handle mohhzg wrote, “Netanyahu, I’m wearing jeans like many old & young people in #Iran.”
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