Obama takes aim at Israel

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Netanyahu Accepts John Boehner Invitation To Speak To Congress – White House Refuses Visit, State Dept. Ignores Visit…

Posted on January 22, 2015 by sundance

Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted Speaker John Boehner’s invitation. President Stompy Feet says he will not host a visit; John Kerry follow’s Stompy’s lead.



(Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Thursday he would address the U.S. Congress in March, saying in a statement the invitation tendered by House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner was bipartisan.


Blindsiding the Obama administration, Boehner announced the invitation to Netanyahu on Wednesday, drawing White House complaints that protocol had been breached.


Netanyahu is expected to focus in his address, his third to Congress, on the Iranian nuclear issue. In his statement, Netanyahu said he was “honored to accept the invitation” and that would use the speech “to thank President Barack Obama, Congress and the American people for their support of Israel”. (read more)





Obama will not meet Israel's Netanyahu on U.S. visit

WASHINGTON Thu Jan 22, 2015 1:51pm EST



1 of 2. U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington October 1, 2014.

Credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque/Files

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama will not meet Benjamin Netanyahu when the Israeli prime minister visits Washington in March to address the U.S. Congress, the White House said on Thursday, a decision that could further escalate tensions between the leaders.

Bernadette Meehan, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said the reason Obama was withholding an invitation for Oval Office talks with Netanyahu was to "avoid the appearance" of trying to influence Israeli elections later that month.

The U.S. decision was highly unusual because visiting leaders from Israel, a close U.S. ally, are almost always afforded talks with the American president.

Netanyahu announced earlier on Thursday that he would address Congress in a March visit likely to drive home differences with the Obama administration over Iran nuclear diplomacy. The White House had said the invitation, which was issued by Republican lawmakers without consulting Obama, was a breach of diplomatic protocol.

(Reporting By Matt Spetalnick)

Continue reading →

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White House Official: Netanyahu ‘will pay price’ for spat over Congress address; Obama said to have asked him to tone down pro-sanctions rhetoric; Wash. Post: Kerry’s enthusiasm for defending Israel may wane

By Times of Israel staff January 23, 2015, 9:21 am 2525

Quick Watch1:08


US President Barack Obama, November 13, 2014 (photo credit: AFP/Christophe Archambault)

The White House’s outrage over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to speak before Congress in March — a move he failed to coordinate with the administration — began to seep through the diplomatic cracks on Friday, with officials telling Haaretz the Israeli leader had “spat” in President Barack Obama’s face.

“We thought we’ve seen everything,” the newspaper quoted an unnamed senior US official as saying. “But Bibi managed to surprise even us.

“There are things you simply don’t do. He spat in our face publicly and that’s no way to behave. Netanyahu ought to remember that President Obama has a year and a half left to his presidency, and that there will be a price,” he said.

Officials in Washington said that the “chickenshit” epithet — with which an anonymous administration official branded Netanyahu several months ago — was mild compared to the language used in the White House when news of Netanyahu’s planned speech came in.

In his address the Israeli leader is expected to speak about stalled US-led nuclear negotiations with Iran, and to urge lawmakers to slap Tehran with a new round of tougher sanctions in order to force it to comply with international demands. The Mossad intelligence service on Thursday went to the rare length of issuing a press statement to deny claims, cited by Kerry, that its chief Tamir Pardo had told visiting US politicians that he opposed further sanctions.

Haaretz reported that Obama had personally demanded that Netanyahu tone down his pro-sanctions rhetoric in a phone call between the two last week. The president has said a sanctions bill would cripple negotiations with Iranian leaders at a critical stage, and has threatened to veto such a bill should it come through.

The Washington Post reported that Netanyahu’s apparent disrespect for the US leadership was particularly offensive to Secretary of State John Kerry, who over the past month had made frenzied efforts on Israel’s behalf on the world stage — making dozens of calls to world leaders to convince them to oppose a UN Security Council resolution which would have set a timeframe for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

“The secretary’s patience is not infinite,” a source close to Kerry told the Post. “The bilateral relationship is unshakable. But playing politics with that relationship could blunt Secretary Kerry’s enthusiasm for being Israel’s primary defender.”

The White House said Thursday that Obama would not meet with Netanyahu when he travels to Washington, with a spokeswoman citing a “long-standing practice and principle” by which the president does not meet with heads of state or candidates in close proximity to their elections. Kerry will also not meet with Netanyahu.

Netanyahu will be in Washington in part for a March 3 address to a joint session of Congress. House Speaker John Boehner invited Netanyahu to speak to Congress without consulting the Obama administration.

The White House initially reacted icily to Netanyahu’s plans to address Congress, an appearance apparently meant to bolster opposition to a nuclear deal with Iran as it is currently shaping up, as well as opposition to new sanctions against Tehran.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest suggested Wednesday that Netanyahu and Boehner had broken with protocol in not informing Obama of the prime minister’s travel plans.

“We haven’t heard from the Israelis directly about the trip at all,” he said, adding the White House would “reserve judgment” about any possible face-to-face meeting until explanations are made.

“The typical protocol would suggest that the leader of a country would contact the leader of another country when he is traveling there. That is certainly how President Obama’s trips are planned,” explained Earnest.

“So this particular event seems to be a departure from that protocol.”

Speaking several hours after Earnest, top US diplomat Kerry said Netanyahu was welcome to give a speech at “any time” in the United States. But Kerry agreed it had been a “little unusual” to hear about the Israeli leader’s speech to US Congress next month from the office of Boehner and not via the usual diplomatic channels.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, leader of the House Democrats, said that Boehner blundered when he invited Netanyahu to address Congress amid sensitive negotiations about Iran’s nuclear program and in the shadow of Israel’s elections.

“If that’s the purpose of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit two weeks before his own election, right in the midst of our negotiations, I just don’t think it’s appropriate and helpful,” Pelosi told reporters Thursday at her weekly news conference. The speech, Pelosi suggested, could give Netanyahu a political boost in elections a few weeks later and inflame international talks aimed at stopping Iran’s nuclear program.

Israel is scheduled to hold elections on March 17.

Netanyahu confirmed Thursday that he would address Congress in early March. He was initially slated to speak on February 11, but changed the date so he could attend the AIPAC conference.

“The Prime Minister is expected to arrive in the US at the beginning of March and will also participate in the AIPAC conference,” read a statement from the PMO. “The speech in front of both houses of Congress will give the prime minister the opportunity to thank President Barack Obama, Congress, and the American people for their support of Israel.

“I look forward to the opportunity to express before the joint session Israel’s vision for a joint effort to deal with [Islamist terrorism and Iran’s nuclear program], and to emphasize Israel’s commitment to the special bond between our two democracies,” Netanyahu said, according to the statement.

Israel and the United States are close allies, but personal relations between Obama and Netanyahu have reportedly deteriorated over the years.

The pair have publicly clashed over Israeli settlement building in the West Bank and about how to tackle Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

Obama’s allies fear Netanyahu’s March trip could be used by Israel and by Republicans to rally opposition to a nuclear deal, undercutting years of sensitive negotiations just as they appear poised to bear fruit.

In November the already faltering ties between the leaders were served a new blow when an anonymous US official was quoted calling Netanyahu a “chickenshit” in an article published by journalist Jeffrey Goldberg in the American magazine The Atlantic. The article portrayed the rift between the United States and Israel as a “full-blown crisis.”

[American Patriot]

I think Bibi ought to kick Barry in the nuts.

[Ryan Ruck]

So Obama won't speak with Netanyahu when he's in to speak to Congress because it's so close to the Israeli election and Obama doesn't want to interfere with it but then does this?

Obama Campaign Team Arrives in Israel to Defeat Netanyahu in March Elections

January 26, 2015

Just days after the Obama White House accused House Speaker John Boehner of “breaking protocol” by inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress, a team of up to five Obama campaign operatives has reportedly arrived in Israel to lead a campaign to defeat the Israeli Prime Minister in upcoming national elections scheduled for March 17.

The anti-Netanyahu, left wing Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports a group called “One Voice,” reportedly funded by American donors, is paying for the Obama campaign team. That group is reportedly being led by Obama’s 2012 field director Jeremy Bird.

As Jerusalem Post columnist and putative Knesset candidate Caroline Glick reported on her Facebook page, “Obama won’t meet Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington when he addresses the Joint Houses of Congress in March because of Netanyahu’s visit’s proximity to the Israeli elections. And Obama, of course believes in protocol and propriety which is why he won’t get involved.” And yet, Glick adds, “He’s just sending his 2012 field campaign manager to Israel to run a campaign to defeat Netanyahu.”

For all the harsh accusations of foreign interference currently being leveled against GOP Speaker John Boehner, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer, reports of Obama operatives actively working to unseat a democratically elected leader of a strong U.S. ally is hardly the news it might appear to be.

The Obama White House has aggressively worked to defeat allied leaders it has not liked and to elect or re-elect foreign leaders it does like. As the Times of Israel recently reported, the list of Obama Administration meddling in foreign elections is a long one.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Merkel, an Obama Administration ally, was hosted at the White House prior to recent German elections. Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the left wing Labor Party visited 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, not once, but twice prior to British elections. Those were won by Conservative party leader David Cameron, who himself visited Washington last week at Obama’s invitation to lobby the U.S. Congress against adopting a new sanctions measure to help confront Iran’s burgeoning nuclear program. Oddly, that’s the very issue Obama and the mainstream media now roundly condemn John Boehner for involving himself in.

[MinutemanCO]

Netanyahu's pretty badass. Obama's just a girlieman commie.

[American Patriot]

Yeah, so Obama is a sissy and because he's a sissy he sends other people do fuck with other politicians. So he's sending a team to Israel to help DEFEAT Bibi?

If I were Bibi, I'd have Obama beat senseless by some "Muslim Youths" or something. lol

[Ryan Ruck]

If I were Bibi I'd have the team arrested, deported, and made PNG.

[American Patriot]

I'd just kick Obama's ass for it. lol

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Obama Administration Interferes With Israeli Election Once Again

February 8, 2015 by Steven Ahle




Obama lied through his Muslim teeth when he claimed that he wouldn’t meet with Netanyahu because it was too close to their election and he refused to get involved. The truth is that as a Muslim he is dedicated to the destruction of Israel and Netanyahu, by defending Israel’s right to exist is roadblock to Obama’s plan. Don’t believe me? Since he’s been president, he helped the Muslim Brotherhood take over Egypt and has stuck by them and rejected the overwhelming number of Egyptians to do it.

Obama invaded Libya and supplied Al Qaeda with half a billion in weapons that have since been used in the Benghazi attack as well as in Algeria, Iraq and Syria. The “moderates” Obama supported in Syria are now called ISIS. Yet, when there was a popular uprising in Iran against the radical Muslims, Obama twiddled his thumbs.

Now, Obama is supporting Zionist Camp party leader Isaac Herzog, whom both Joe Biden and John Kerry met this week. Both the White House and the State Dept deny this was a deliberate show of support for Herzog, but as Herzog himself said:

“It’s a complete boycott [of Netanyahu by the Obama administration]. Even if that’s not stated, that’s the story.”

And when you figure in that top Obama campaign leaders were sent to Israel to campaign for Herzog through V-15, which by the way is probably a violation of both US and Israeli law. Israeli law forbids foreigners from trying to decide their elections and it is illegal for the Obama officials to give money or material support in favor of a candidate, the full scope of Obama’s plans are in open display.

If Israel is to remain free and in a position to defend itself, Netanyahu must prevail. That is why Obama is fighting against him and for radical Islam as has been his common practice throughout his presidency.

http://redstatements.co/obama-admini...on-once-again/

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Pelosi: Members Won't 'Boycott' Netanyahu Speech. But They Might Be too Busy to Go.

There will be no "boycott" of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech before Congress next month, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday.
But while she downplayed reports of an organized protest, she suggested some lawmakers might just be too busy to attend. And at least two Democrats have already decided they won't be on hand.

"I don't think anybody should use the word 'boycott,'" Pelosi said in her weekly press conference. "When these heads of state come, people are here doing their work, they're trying to pass legislation, they're meeting with their constituents and the rest. It's not a high-priority item for them."

The Netanyahu address has drawn sharp criticism from Democrats, who view the invitation from House Speaker John Boehner as a means of undermining the Obama administration's nuclear negotiations with Iran. The Israeli leader, many congressional Republicans, and some Democrats favor increased sanctions, but Obama has asked them to hold off until member nations of the U.N. Security Council can try to deter Iran's nuclear ambitions at the bargaining table.

At least two Democrats have now confirmed publicly that they won't attend. Reps. John Lewis and G.K. Butterfield both said Thursday they would skip the speech, according to the Associated Press. "I think it's an affront to the president and the State Department what the speaker did," Lewis told AP, while Butterfield said he was "very disappointed the speaker would cause such a ruckus" with the invite.


Hill Democrats are disgruntled that Netanyahu would so openly defy the administration's wishes, and they've criticized Boehner for extending the invitation without consulting leaders on the other side of the aisle. That grumbling has led to reports that large numbers of Democrats may choose to skip the speech in protest.

If the House floor is replete with empty seats, Pelosi said, it will be due to run-of-the-mill scheduling conflicts, not bad blood with Israel. "Things happen in people's schedule," she said. "You just never know." She blamed Boehner for the unusual invitation process, saying it was incumbent on the majority party to "demonstrate that you're going to fill those seats."

On Wednesday, a Democratic leadership aide said there was no evidence of an organized effort to stage a boycott, only individual members grumbling about the speech. Another aide for a high-ranking Democratic member added that, despite the widely shared dissatisfaction with the invitation, party leadership was not behind any push to keep members away.

Pelosi said she herself plans to be in attendance, though she's hopeful Netanyahu or Republicans will change course and nix the address. She added that the political nature of the visit raises questions about the entire process of hearing from foreign heads of state. "Maybe we even have to review the idea of joint sessions of Congress," she said.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/congr...to-go-20150205

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Obama warns Netanyahu: Don't sour Iran talks with Congress speech



US president says difference in stance on Tehran is separate from the decision not to meet with PM during his Washington visit; Netanyahu says he's determined to speak to Congress to 'prevent dangerous agreement' with Iran.

Yitzhak Benhorin, Gilad Morag

Published: 02.09.15, 20:29 / Israel News

US President Barack Obama on Monday warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against souring nuclear negotiations with Iran with his planned Congress address.

"It does not make sense to sour the negotiations a month or two before they're about to be completed and we should play that out. If, in fact, we can get a deal, then we should embrace that," the president said in a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"If we can't get a deal, then we'll have to make a set of decisions and, as I've said to Congress, I'll be the first one to work with them to apply even stronger measures against Iran," he said....

[American Patriot]

Pelosi needs to die from a face lift or something. Oh, hey, was that hateful? Good. She can go fuck herself with a tractor.

Pelosi: Members Won't 'Boycott' Netanyahu Speech. But They Might Be too Busy to Go.

There will be no "boycott" of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech before Congress next month, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday.
But while she downplayed reports of an organized protest, she suggested some lawmakers might just be too busy to attend. And at least two Democrats have already decided they won't be on hand.

"I don't think anybody should use the word 'boycott,'" Pelosi said in her weekly press conference. "When these heads of state come, people are here doing their work, they're trying to pass legislation, they're meeting with their constituents and the rest. It's not a high-priority item for them."

The Netanyahu address has drawn sharp criticism from Democrats, who view the invitation from House Speaker John Boehner as a means of undermining the Obama administration's nuclear negotiations with Iran. The Israeli leader, many congressional Republicans, and some Democrats favor increased sanctions, but Obama has asked them to hold off until member nations of the U.N. Security Council can try to deter Iran's nuclear ambitions at the bargaining table.

At least two Democrats have now confirmed publicly that they won't attend. Reps. John Lewis and G.K. Butterfield both said Thursday they would skip the speech, according to the Associated Press. "I think it's an affront to the president and the State Department what the speaker did," Lewis told AP, while Butterfield said he was "very disappointed the speaker would cause such a ruckus" with the invite.


Hill Democrats are disgruntled that Netanyahu would so openly defy the administration's wishes, and they've criticized Boehner for extending the invitation without consulting leaders on the other side of the aisle. That grumbling has led to reports that large numbers of Democrats may choose to skip the speech in protest.

If the House floor is replete with empty seats, Pelosi said, it will be due to run-of-the-mill scheduling conflicts, not bad blood with Israel. "Things happen in people's schedule," she said. "You just never know." She blamed Boehner for the unusual invitation process, saying it was incumbent on the majority party to "demonstrate that you're going to fill those seats."

On Wednesday, a Democratic leadership aide said there was no evidence of an organized effort to stage a boycott, only individual members grumbling about the speech. Another aide for a high-ranking Democratic member added that, despite the widely shared dissatisfaction with the invitation, party leadership was not behind any push to keep members away.

Pelosi said she herself plans to be in attendance, though she's hopeful Netanyahu or Republicans will change course and nix the address. She added that the political nature of the visit raises questions about the entire process of hearing from foreign heads of state. "Maybe we even have to review the idea of joint sessions of Congress," she said.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/congr...to-go-20150205

[American Patriot]

Dear Obama,

Here's the "deal". NO NUKES IN IRAN.

Asshole.

Obama warns Netanyahu: Don't sour Iran talks with Congress speech



US president says difference in stance on Tehran is separate from the decision not to meet with PM during his Washington visit; Netanyahu says he's determined to speak to Congress to 'prevent dangerous agreement' with Iran.

Yitzhak Benhorin, Gilad Morag

Published: 02.09.15, 20:29 / Israel News

US President Barack Obama on Monday warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against souring nuclear negotiations with Iran with his planned Congress address.

"It does not make sense to sour the negotiations a month or two before they're about to be completed and we should play that out. If, in fact, we can get a deal, then we should embrace that," the president said in a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"If we can't get a deal, then we'll have to make a set of decisions and, as I've said to Congress, I'll be the first one to work with them to apply even stronger measures against Iran," he said....

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Don’t disrespect our president, black lawmakers tell Netanyahu

By Edward-Isaac Dovere and Lauren French
2/10/15 9:27 PM EST 2/11/15 11:39 AM EST



POLITICO Magazine

The audience for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress on March 3 is shaping up to be largely Republican — and almost completely white.

Many members of the Congressional Black Caucus say they’re planning to skip the speech, calling it a slight to President Barack Obama that they can’t and won’t support.

Israeli officials have been taken by surprise by the CBC backlash, kicked off by Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a civil rights leader who said last week he won’t attend, quickly followed by Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) and others. As a result, they’re working to set up a meeting for CBC members with Ambassador Ron Dermer — or even Netanyahu himself when he’s in Washington.

“To me, it is somewhat of an insult to the president of the United States,” said Rep. Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.), leaving the White House on Tuesday after a long meeting with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, who also will miss the speech. “Barack Obama is my president. He’s the nation’s president, and it is clear, therefore, that I’m not going to be there, as a result of that, not as a result of the good people of Israel.”

Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, scheduled just two weeks before Israeli national elections, is aimed at stopping a deal with Iran over its nuclear weapons program — a diplomatic opening Obama administration officials believe could reintegrate Iran into the international community and enhance Israel’s security. Netanyahu, however, feels the United States and its international partners are being naive about Iran’s true intent.

“I’m determined to speak before Congress to stop Iran,” Netanyahu tweeted on Tuesday.

Democrats across Capitol Hill have been increasingly vocal about their opposition to the speech, criticizing the prime minister and House Speaker John Boehner for making them choose between their support for their president and support for Israel. Announcements that Democrats plan to sit out the speech have trickled in for days.

But the CBC reaction has been particularly potent, striking at the political alliance between Jews and African-Americans that dates to the civil rights movement but has grown more fraught over the years.

Often Obama’s strongest defenders against political attacks, black members say they’re outraged that a foreign leader would try to intervene in the U.S. political process.

“It’s not just about disrespect for the president, it’s disrespect for the American people and our system of government for a foreign leader to insert himself into a issue that our policymakers are grappling with,” said Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.). “It’s not simply about President Obama being a black man disrespected by a foreign leader. It’s deeper than that.”

CBC chairman Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) told reporters that the speech didn’t come up as a topic in the 90 minutes they spent with Obama in the Cabinet Room. But he, like Meeks, Johnson and many of his members, is not planning to go to Netanyahu’s speech.

Butterfield said the black caucus is in “conversation” with Israeli officials to set up a meeting with either Netanyahu or the ambassador, who has met with several black members of Congress as part of his efforts to calm the furor.

“CBC members are willing certainty to meet with any representative of Israel. We understand Israel’s plight, and we support the state of Israel,” Butterfield said.

The CBC leader said Boehner is as much or more responsible for the slight as is the Israeli leader.

“I don’t hold Netanyahu responsible,” Butterfield said. “I hold Speaker Boehner responsible, but I would hope that Mr. Netanyahu would not want to get involved. I personally think it is disrespectful.”

That was a word many members used: “It is very disrespectful to this president, and what concerns me more is that I think it’s a pattern that is starting to develop from this speaker that we’re getting more and more disrespectful of the office of the presidency,” said Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.). “I think it’s silly and petty.”

Asked whether CBC members see the speech as an insult, Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) said, “I think they kind of think it is.”

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), the CBC’s only member in the upper chamber, hasn’t ruled out attending, but he won’t commit to going either.

“I’ve been asked that a number of times — I’m not commenting,” he said before slipping out the White House gates and onto a waiting bus to take him back to the Capitol.

The spokesman for the Israeli Embassy had no comment about the breakdown with the CBC over the speech. But a spokesman for Boehner defended the speaker’s decision to invite the Israeli leader:

“Prime Minister Netanyahu’s upcoming visit isn’t about Speaker Boehner, and it’s not about President Obama,” spokesman Cory Fritz said. “At this critical moment it’s important that the American people hear from Israel about the grave threats posed by Iran and Islamic radicalism.”

Though many CBC members are boycotting, for now they’ve decided not to make it an official caucus position.

“There are a number of members who aren’t going to attend, but they don’t want to make it sound like a group decision,” said Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.).

CBC members Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Donna Edwards (D-Md.) have also announced they’re skipping the speech. Fellow CBC member Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) co-signed a letter Tuesday to Boehner with Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), calling for the speech to be postponed.

“The timing of this invitation and lack of coordination with the White House indicate that this is not an ordinary diplomatic visit,” they wrote. “When the Israeli prime minister visits us outside the specter of partisan politics, we will be delighted and honored to greet him or her on the floor of the House.”

The idea of meeting with Dermer or Netanyahu separately doesn’t seem to be catching on with CBC members, either. Noting that Dermer once worked for Republican pollster Frank Luntz, Johnson called the ambassador a “longtime, right-wing political hack” and said he is uninterested in meeting with either him or Netanyahu.

“I don’t think I would be willing to come to such a meeting,” Johnson said. “Not at that time, and under this condition, no.”

[MinutemanCO]

Don’t disrespect our president, black lawmakers tell Netanyahu

Yeah!

He's doing enough of that himself.

[American Patriot]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Disrespect him all you want, you have my permission.

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Obama Is ‘Trying to Protect’ Islam and ‘Is Seeking to Destroy Israel’

February 11, 2015 - 4:13 PM

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By Michael W. Chapman
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President Barack Obama’s failure to honestly address the threat of the Islamic State and radical Islam, along with his actions towards Israel, show that he is “trying to protect the Muslim faith” and is “seeking to destroy Israel,” said nationally syndicated talk-radio host Mark Levin on Tuesday, Feb. 10.

Levin, who is Jewish and a conservative, made his comments after playing an audio clip of Obama in a recent Vox interview describing the radical Muslim attack on a kosher deli in Paris as being just “a bunch of violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris.”

The people in the kosher deli – killed the same day and in relation to the Islamist attack on the Charlie Hebdo office -- were targeted by a radical Muslim.

“There you go – ‘randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris,’” said Levin, whose program is broadcast on more than 300 stations. “Do you know why he says that? He’s trying to protect the Muslim faith.”

“You know why he trashes Christians over the weekend, at the National Prayer Breakfast?” said Levin. “He’s trying to protect the Muslim faith. Do you know why they [Obama administration] censor themselves and change the language describing the enemy? Because he’s trying to protect the Muslim faith of his father – the Muslim faith he was around far more than traditional Christian faith.”


President Barack Obama speaks during the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Levin, a New York Times best-selling author, then talked about how Obama spent at least 20 years attending the radical left-wing Trinity United Church of Christ headed, until 2008, by Rev. Jeremiah Wright in Chicago.

“I don’t think Barack Obama was ever taught about Christianity,” said Levin. “He was taught about radicalism through a cereal box preacher, camouflaged as a church. He was taught extreme radicalism rather than faith. The one faith he had exposure to was his father’s faith.”

Obama’s father, Barack Obama Sr., was born a Muslim and he divorced Barack’s mother, Ann Dunham, in 1964. She went on to meet and marry (in 1965) Lolo Soetero, an Indonesian Muslim. Barack Obama and his mother lived with Soetoro, Obama’s step-father, in Indonesia between 1967 and mid-1971.

Levin continued, “So Obama has an affinity for Islam far more than Christianity and Judaism, no question about it. No question about it. I’m not surmising, I’m not implying, I’m listening to him. I’m watching him. He’s telling us this.”


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

“If organized religion, if organized Christianity were going through a continent slaughtering Muslims and Jews and anybody else who wouldn’t agree with them, I think Obama would point that out,” said Levin, who was chief of staff to Attorney General Edwin Meese in the Reagan administration.

“Obama already is seeking to destroy Israel,” said Levin. “That’s right, I said it. He seeks to destroy Israel. Yes, he does. He seeks to destroy Israel. This I am convinced of now too. “

Back in January, Levin also spoke at length on President Obama’s actions and how they display “all the signals of an anti-Semite.”



“This man has all the signals of an anti-Semite,” said Levin. “And I’m not going to take that word back. I believe this in my heart and my soul. It’s not about Israel, it’s about what’s in Israel.”

Mark Levin is the best-selling author of Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto, as well as Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America, The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Republic, and Rescuing Sprite.

The Mark Levin Show radio program is ranked No. 4 in the nation by Talkersmagazine, with 7-plus-million listeners per week at minimum, is the fastest growing talk radio program in the country.

[Ryan Ruck]

Obama quite literally doing what the title of this thread suggests.

President Obama Threatened To Shoot Down Israeli Jets If They Attacked Iranian Nuclear Facilities Last Year, Claim Sources

March 2, 2015

President Obama is alleged to have stopped an Israeli military attack against Iran's nuclear facilities in 2014 by threatening to shoot down Israeli jets before they could reach their targets, according to reports to emerge from the Middle East at the weekend

The threat from the U.S. forced Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to abort a planned attack on Iraq, reported Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida.

Netanyahu will be in Washington for an address to Congress on Tuesday aimed squarely at derailing Obama's cherished bid for a diplomatic deal with Tehran.

For six years, President Obama and Netanyahu have been on a collision course over how to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions, a high-stakes endeavor both men see as a centerpiece of their legacies.

The Netanyahu government took the decision to strike Iran last year after discovering that the U.S. and Iran were involved in secret talks over Iran's nuclear program and were about to sign an agreement in that regard behind Israel's back.

The report claimed that an unnamed Israeli minister who has good ties with the US administration revealed the attack plan to Secretary of State John Kerry, and that Obama then threatened to shoot down the Israeli jets before they could reach their targets in Iran.

According to the report, 'Netanyahu and his commanders agreed after four nights of deliberations to task the Israeli army's chief of staff, Benny Gantz, to prepare a qualitative operation against Iran's nuclear program.

'In addition, Netanyahu and his ministers decided to do whatever they could do to thwart a possible agreement between Iran and the White House because such an agreement is, allegedly, a threat to Israel's security.'

The sources added that Gantz and his commanders prepared the requested plan and that Israeli fighter jets trained for several weeks in order to make sure the plans would work successfully.

Israeli fighter jets reportedly even carried out experimental flights in Iran's airspace after they managed to break through radars.

Stopping Iran from building a nuclear bomb has become a defining challenge for both Obama and Netanyahu, yet one they have approached far differently.

For Obama, getting Iran to verifiably prove it is not pursuing nuclear weapons would be a bright spot in a foreign policy arena in which numerous outcomes are uncertain and would validate his early political promise to negotiate with Iran without conditions.

Netanyahu considers unacceptable any deal with Iran that doesn't end its nuclear program entirely and opposes the diplomatic pursuit as one that minimizes what he considers an existential threat to Israel.

Tehran says its nuclear program is peaceful and exists only to produce energy for civilian use.

'Through scaremongering, falsification, propaganda and creating a false atmosphere even inside other countries, (Israel) is attempting to prevent peace,' Iran's top nuclear negotiator said on Saturday in Tehran.

'I believe that these attempts are in vain and should not impede reaching a (nuclear) agreement,' said Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

U.S. and Iranian officials reported progress in the latest talks on a deal that would freeze Tehran's nuclear program for 10 years, but allow it to slowly ramp up in the final years of the accord.

Obama has refused to meet Netanyahu during his visit, with the White House citing its policy of not meeting with foreign leaders soon before their elections.

Vice President Joe Biden and Kerry will both be out of the country on trips announced only after Netanyahu accepted the GOP offer to speak on Capitol Hill.

The prime minister is scheduled to speak on Monday at AIPAC's annual policy conference.

The Obama administration will be represented at the event by U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power and national security adviser Susan Rice, who criticized Netanyahu's plans to address Congress as 'destructive' to the U.S.-Israeli relationship.

The Iran dispute has spotlighted rifts in a relationship that has been frosty from the start. Obama and Netanyahu lack any personal chemistry, leaving them with virtually no reservoir of goodwill to get them through their policy disagreements.

Within months of taking office, Obama irritated Israel when, in an address to the Arab world, he challenged the legitimacy of Jewish settlements on Palestinian-claimed land and cited the Holocaust as the justification for Israel's existence, not any historical Jewish tie to the land.

The White House was furious when Netanyahu's government defied Obama and announced plans to construct new housing units in East Jerusalem while Biden was visiting Israel in 2010.

Additional housing plans that year upended U.S. efforts to restart peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.

The tension between Obama and Netanyahu was laid bare in an unusually public manner during an Oval Office meeting in 2011. In front of a crowd of journalists, the prime minister lectured Obama at length on Israel's history and dismissed the president's conditions for restarting peace talks.

Later that year, a microphone caught Obama telling his then-French counterpart in a private conversation that while he may be fed up with Netanyahu, 'You are sick of him, but I have to work with him every day.'

Despite suspecting that Netanyahu was cheering for his rival in the 2012 presidential campaign, Obama tried to reset relations with the prime minister after his re-election.

He made his first trip as president to Israel and the two leaders went to great lengths to put on a happy front, referring to each other by their first names and touring some of the region's holy sites together.

The healing period was to be short-lived.

Another attempt at Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed. Israeli officials were withering in their criticism of Kerry, who had shepherded the talks, with the country's defense minister calling him 'obsessive' and 'messianic.'

The Obama administration returned the favor last summer with its own unusually unsparing criticism of Israel for causing civilian deaths when war broke out in Gaza.

The U.S. and Israel have hit rocky patches before.

The settlement issue has been a persistent thorn in relations, compounded by profound unhappiness in Washington over Israeli military operations in the Sinai, Iraq and Lebanon during the Ford, Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations that led those presidents to take or consider direct punitive measures.

Yet through it all, the United States has remained Israel's prime benefactor, providing it with $3 billion a year in assistance and defending it from criticism at the United Nations and elsewhere.

'We have brought relations back in the past and we will do it again now because at the end of the day they are based on mutual interests,' said Dore Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and informal adviser to Netanyahu.

'The interests of Israel and the U.S. are similar and sometime identical and I think that is what will determine in the end and not feelings of one kind or another.'

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Benjamin Netanyahu Speech to Congress 2015 | The New York Times

Streamed live on Mar 3, 2015

Go here 00:21:59 for the start of the speech.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel used one of the most prominent platforms in the world on Tuesday to warn against what he called a “bad deal” being negotiated with Iran to freeze its nuclear program, culminating a drama that has roiled Israeli-American relations for weeks.

Read the story here: http://nyti.ms/18K0u6z

NO JOKE: Pelosi Says She Was So Outraged With Netanyahu’s “Condescending” Speech That She “Near Tears”…


Drama Queen.



ZIP | March 3, 2015 12:44 pm

Revelation of nuke talks details by Netanyahu would be ‘betrayal,’ US warns

Israeli report claims Washington cut intelligence sharing on Iran with Israel over tensions, as controversial congressional address looms

By AFP and Marissa Newman March 2, 2015, 11:19 pm

US State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf (Photo credit: Youtube screen capture)

Writers Marissa Newman Marissa Newman is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.

More on this story

• White House denies Israel aid at risk
• IAEA chief ‘cannot be sure’ Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful
• PM easily wins over AIPAC loyalists before tougher task in Congress
• No disrespect to Obama, but Iran must be stopped, Netanyahu says
• Obama disparages Netanyahu’s judgment on Iran, says he ‘made all sorts of claims’
• Samantha Power: US-Israel ties transcend politics and always will
• Pro-Palestinian group targets AIPAC with DC ad campaign
• Ya’alon: Military attack on Iran is last resort
• PM to get bronze Churchill for speech
• US could impose sanctions on Iran after deal — White House
• Iran nuke talks resume amid contentious US-Israel debate
• AIPAC wants to talk Iran, but can’t escape controversy over speech

The State Department on Monday warned Israel’s prime minister against revealing details of an emerging Iran nuclear deal on the eve of the leader’s speech to the US Congress, a move it said would be tantamount to “betrayal.”

The statements came as Israel’s Channel 10 reported that the US cut off intelligence coordination with Israel on the Iranian nuclear program amid tensions over Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress.

While he did not mention Netanyahu by name, US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in Geneva earlier he was “concerned by reports” that “selective details” of the deal aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear program would be revealed in the coming days.

His deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf went further, saying discussing the contents of classified briefings by US officials to Israelis would “betray” America’s trust.

“We’ve continuously provided detailed classified briefings to Israeli officials to keep them updated and to provide context for how we are approaching getting to a good deal,” she told reporters in Washington.

“Any release of any kind of information like that would, of course, betray that trust.”

White House spokesman Josh Earnest made similar statements Monday.

The comments came after an Israeli official said the Jewish state knew about the emerging agreement and that the prime minister would elaborate in his congressional address.

The Channel 10 report said the US had ceased to inform Israel on the Iranian nuclear program, though it was still coordinating its intelligence efforts with other countries.

It said the information gathered by these countries often helps the IAEA compile its reports on the Iranian nuclear program.

Last month, several US and European officials indicated some information on Iran was being kept from the Netanyahu administration over fears it could be politicized.

On Monday, Kerry launched a series of talks with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in the Swiss lakeside town of Montreux late Monday as they sought to pin down a deal by a March 31 deadline.

“The best way to deal with the question surrounding this nuclear program is to find a comprehensive deal, but not a deal which comes at any cost,” he told reporters.

“We have made some progress, but we still have a long way to go, and the clock is ticking.”

The P5+1 group of world powers that are negotiating with Iran have only a few more weeks to reach a political framework for a deal, with the final technical details to be arrived at by June 30.

But Israel is worried the deal will ease sanctions on Tehran — which is what Iran wants — without applying sufficiently stringent safeguards to stop Iran acquiring enough fissile material to develop an atomic bomb.

Report: Obama Has Cut Intelligence Cooperation with Israel

Israeli report indicates a deep crisis as disagreement on Iran has stopped cooperation for IAEA reports on Iranian nuclear facilities.

By Ari Yashar
First Publish: 3/2/2015, 10:04 PM


Binyamin Netanyahu, Barack Obama
Kobi Gideon/GPO/Flash 90

In response to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's opposition to the nuclear deal he warns threatens Israel's very existence, US President Barack Obama's administration has reportedly cut American intelligence cooperation with Israel.

A report on Monday night by the Hebrew-language Channel 10, notes that the cooperation between Israeli and American intelligence agencies until now has aided the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in formulating reports on Iran's nuclear program, reports that advanced the sanctions against the Islamic regime.

At the moment, while Israel is cooperating with various countries in terms of intelligence on Iran's nuclear program, the cooperation with the United States has stopped according to the report.

In closed conversations senior sources in the White House have expressed concerns that Netanyahu will reveal details Obama has kept secret from the nuclear deal being sealed with Iran, according to the news channel.

While US Secretary of State John Kerry has claimed Israel isn't familiar with the details of the plan, that claim was undermined when Kerry on Monday asked Netanyahu not to reveal certain details in his Congress speech Tuesday.

According to senior Israeli sources cited in the report, Obama has not only made clear he will not meet with Netanyahu, but is even refusing to talk with the Israeli prime minister on the telephone during his visit.

The report is not the first indicating a harsh backlash by the Obama administration against Netanyahu's opposition to the nuclear deal.

On Monday the US denied Israeli reports that it plans to cut defense aid to Israel over the disagreement. Previously another report by a Kuwaiti paper claimed that Obama had threatened to shoot down an IAF strike on Iran's nuclear facilities; the US denied that report as well.

Israel warns that the Iranian deal will leave Iran with nuclear breakout capability, by which it will be able to continue enriching uranium and produce a nuclear weapon within a very short window of time at the moment of its choosing.

Likewise Netanyahu has pointed out that Iran has threatened Israel with annihilation on many occasions, even as it advances its nuclear program and continues to be the leading state sponsor of terrorism.

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Obama Administration Declassifies Top-Secret Doc That Reveals Israel’s Nuclear Secrets



by Jordan Schachtel25 Mar 2015Washington, D.C.

The Pentagon has declassified a document that was once labeled “top-secret,” which goes into sophisticated detail about Israel’s nuclear weapons program. The document was released quietly just prior to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s March 3 speech to a joint session of Congress.

Israel has never officially confirmed or denied the existence of a nuclear weapon’s program within its borders.

The Pentagon declassified sections covering Israel’s nuclear program, but “kept sections on Italy, France, West Germany and other NATO countries classified, with those sections blocked out in the document,” Israel National News reported.

The 386-page top-secret memo, titled, “Critical Technological Assessment in Israel and NATO Nations,” goes into great detail about how Israel turned into a nuclear power in the 1970s and 80s.

“As far as nuclear technology is concerned the Israelis are roughly where the U.S. was in the fission weapon field in about 1955 to 1960,” the report assesses.

The report was written by the Institute for Defense Analysis in 1987, which was federally funded and contracted by the Pentagon.
Israel is “developing the kind of codes which will enable them to make hydrogen bombs. That is, codes which detail fission and fusion processes on a microscopic and macroscopic level,” the report states.

The report commends that the Israelis found “ingeniously clever” solutions to solve its problems in advancing the nuclear program, largely due to the “ingenious Israeli inventions” at a “key research and development laboratory in Israel.”

The Pentagon declassified the document after Grant Smith, an activist who heads a radical anti-Israel group, filed a Freedom of Information Act request, according to reports.

Smith’s Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy organizes an anti-Israel conference each year in Washington, D.C. Last year, the conference featured speakers from anti-Semitic and pro-Islamist publications. During the Q & A session, a speaker openly called for education about the supposed “Zionist-Nazi collaboration” during the Holocaust, while another endorsed the possibility that “Israel had a hand in 9/11.”


Obama Declassifies Document Revealing Israel's Nuclear Program

By Ari Yashar, Matt Wanderman
First Publish: 3/25/2015



In a development that has largely been missed by mainstream media, the Pentagon early last month quietly declassified a Department of Defense top-secret document detailing Israel's nuclear program, a highly covert topic that Israel has never formally announced to avoid a regional nuclear arms race, and which the US until now has respected by remaining silent.

But by publishing the declassified document from 1987, the US reportedly breached the silent agreement to keep quiet on Israel's nuclear powers for the first time ever, detailing the nuclear program in great depth.

The timing of the revelation is highly suspect, given that it came as tensions spiraled out of control between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama ahead of Netanyahu's March 3 address in Congress, in which he warned against the dangers of Iran's nuclear program and how the deal being formed on that program leaves the Islamic regime with nuclear breakout capabilities.

Another highly suspicious aspect of the document is that while the Pentagon saw fit to declassify sections on Israel's sensitive nuclear program, it kept sections on Italy, France, West Germany and other NATO countries classified, with those sections blocked out in the document.

The 386-page report entitled "Critical Technological Assessment in Israel and NATO Nations" gives a detailed description of how Israel advanced its military technology and developed its nuclear infrastructure and research in the 1970s and 1980s.

Israel is "developing the kind of codes which will enable them to make hydrogen bombs. That is, codes which detail fission and fusion processes on a microscopic and macroscopic level," reveals the report, stating that in the 1980s Israelis were reaching the ability to create bombs considered a thousand times more powerful than atom bombs.

The revelation marks a first in which the US published in a document a description of how Israel attained hydrogen bombs.

The report also notes research laboratories in Israel "are equivalent to our Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Oak Ridge National Laboratories," the key labs in developing America's nuclear arsenal.

Israel's nuclear infrastructure is "an almost exact parallel of the capability currently existing at our National Laboratories," it adds.

"As far as nuclear technology is concerned the Israelis are roughly where the U.S. was in the fission weapon field in about 1955 to 1960," the report reveals, noting a time frame just after America tested its first hydrogen bomb.

Institute for Defense Analysis, a federally funded agency operating under the Pentagon, penned the report back in 1987.

Aside from nuclear capabilities, the report revealed Israel at the time had "a totally integrated effort in systems development throughout the nation," with electronic combat all in one "integrated system, not separated systems for the Army, Navy and Air Force." It even acknowledged that in some cases, Israeli military technology "is more advanced than in the U.S."

Declassifying the report comes at a sensitive timing as noted above, and given that the process to have it published was started three years ago, that timing is seen as having been the choice of the American government.

US journalist Grant Smith petitioned to have the report published based on the Freedom of Information Act. Initially the Pentagon took its time answering, leading Smith to sue, and a District Court judge to order the Pentagon to respond to the request.

Smith, who heads the Institute for Research: Middle East Policy, reportedly said he thinks this is the first time the US government has officially confirmed that Israel is a nuclear power, a status that Israel has long been widely known to have despite being undeclared.