Netanyahu’s An Intolerable Liability. Biden Should Cut Him Loose
I'm sure it occurred to Benjamin Netanyahu that bombing the Iranian embassy in Damascus had the potential to shatter an extraordinarily tenuous, unofficial semi-ceasefire between the US military and Iran's allied militias in Iraq.
In the days after a drone attack on a remote American outpost in Jordan killed three US service members in late January, Kataib Hezbollah, the most influential of those militias, issued a bizarre statement declaring its intention to halt "operations" against US forces
Forget contingencies. Just veto the funds. What Israel seems to be doing, imo, is just what we did in Iraq. We blamed Saddam for various acts of terror, invaded and then start killing anything that moved. At least we did it with our own money. Israel seems to be doing virtually the same thing, only with our money. Academics call this kind of behavior (on both our parts) the “non-rational escalation of commitment.” My late former boss used to call it “sunk cost drag.” Uncle Remus told us about the “Tar Baby.” You get in, get more and more entangled and you can’t get out. Enough. Find another solution.
That sounds like a terrible idea if the goal is to keep a middle eastern democracy existing and keeping radical Islamists at bay/busy in the middle-east. Sorry but 20% of US Muslims and 80% of Gazans support Oct 7. What level of global violent religious radicalization are you willing to accept?
“You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly,” Eisenhower said. “So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences.” 1954 The Domino Theory didn’t do us much good last time.
Agreed. Netanyahu is interested in (1) delaying the investigation into his decisions that increased Israel’s risk of terrorist attack, and (2) trying to maintain his political power. He’s a liability to Israel and the US.
Was hoping Andres would have called for Netanyahu’s ouster after the attack on WCK aid workers…Biden and admin need to wake up to the fact that Netanyahu needs to go ASAP…
And nobody saw this coming? Netenyahu did not overnight become a pariah. He campaigned and developed a coalition that assured he would be a pariah if not worse as you point out. We have ourselves to blame from playing ostrich when confronted with an unpleasant situation. We should have distanced ourselves modestly from Isreal the moment they chose this path, as the outcome was pre-ordained. Today, to be effective, that distance must be greater.
H: I’d love to hear your thoughts on where the Saudis and the other Sunni nations stand on the Israeli actions against Iran. Are they quietly championing Israel on? Perhaps even hoping for a a few missiles from Tehran to Tel Aviv and thereby inviting a large Israeli response against Iran?
Am curious about this as well…
Much respect H but why are you bringing race into this? It doesn’t matter if they were white at all. If we were talking about radicalized white people trying to murder all the Jews in the region, would that mean Israel would not retaliate? Furthermore what exactly is the upside for Israel attacking foreigners delivering aid? That plus Bloomberg headlines this AM saying they dismissed 2 officers over this gives weight to the notion this was an accident by reckless officers in an active warzone. Those things tend to happen, no matter who is participating, including the US. I also don’t like the idea of the US forcing a foreign democracy to launch elections particularly since Benny Gantz would win and is aligned with the goal of eliminating Hamas, along with the rest of the war cabinet. Also, hasn’t Israel had like 6 elections in 5 years or something stupid?
You know exactly why I’m bringing race into it. 32,000 Gazans are dead and the US was generally willing to accept that. Look at the reaction this week from Biden and Blinken when it was white, foreign nationals who were killed by the IDF. Quite a different story. I’m not going to engage with you on this any further because I’ve learned that it isn’t constructive, but I did want to answer that question you posed.
One more thing: Netanyahu’s a clear and present danger to Israel’s democracy. You need to read more, my friend. “Much respect.”
Bibi is a threat. Israel needs to get rid of him. If they continue to follow him Biden needs to cut him loose. I am jewish and pro-israel, but enough is enough.