Obama and Netanyahu: A Story of Slights and Crossed Signals

NEW YORK TIMES |  PETER BAKER and JODI RUDOREN | NOVEMBER 8 2015

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Obama at the White House in October, 2014. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times / Picture from NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON — For President Obama, it was a day of celebration. He had just signed the most important domestic measure of his presidency, his health care program. So when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel arrived at the White House for a hastily arranged visit, it was likely not the main thing on his mind.

To White House officials, it was a show of respect to make time for Mr. Netanyahu on that day back in March 2010. But Mr. Netanyahu did not see it that way. He felt squeezed in, not accorded the rituals of such a visit. No photographers were invited to record the moment. “That wasn’t a good way to treat me,” he complained to an American afterward.

The tortured relationship between Barack and Bibi, as they call each other, has been a story of crossed signals, misunderstandings, slights perceived and real. Burdened by mistrust, divided by ideology, the leaders of the United States…continue reading

Israeli Soldier Is Killed in Attack by Palestinian

Israeli police officers stood near the body of a Palestinian assailant whom they shot during an attack that wounded at least nine Sunday in Beersheba. Credit Tsafrir Abayov/Associated Press / PIcture from NEW YORK TIMES

NEW YORK TIMES |  ISABEL KERSHNER | OCTOBER 18 2015

JERUSALEM — The wave of deadly attacks that has roiled Israel this month hit the southern desert city of Beersheba on Sunday, where aPalestinian armed with a pistol and a knife grabbed another weapon from a soldier, fatally shot him and wounded at least nine other people, including several police officers, according to the police.

In the confusion as the attack unfolded, a migrant who was apparently mistaken for a second assailant was shot and seriously wounded by an Israeli security guard, then beaten by a mob. He later died of his wounds, according to Israeli news reports. Witnesses who said they knew the man identified him as an Eritrean asylum seeker. The Palestinian assailant was killed at the scene by police officers. After more than two weeks of almost daily attacks, mostly by young Palestinians armed with knives, there had been hope in Israel that Sunday…continue reading

Fears of Lasting Rift as Obama Battles Pro-Israel Group on Iran

In a speech at American University on Wednesday, President Obama denounced opponents of the Iran deal as “lobbyists.” Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times / PICTURE FROM INTERNATIONAL NEW YORK TIMES

NEW YORK TIMES | JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS | AUGUST 7 2015

Ronald Reagan opposed Aipac when he defied Israeli objections over thesale of Awacs reconnaissance planes to Saudi Arabia in 1981. A decade later, George H. W. Bush took on the group during a fight over housing loan guarantees for Israel, saying he was just “one lonely little guy” going up against a thousand lobbyists on Capitol Hill.

But the tone of the current dispute is raising concerns among some of Mr. Obama’s allies who say it is a new low in relations between Aipac and the White House. They say they are worried that, in working to counter Aipac’s tactics and discredit its claims about the nuclear accord with Iran, the president has gone overboard in criticizing the group and like-minded opponents of the deal.

“It’s somewhat dangerous, because there’s a kind of a dog whistle here that some people are going to hear as ‘it’s time to go after people,’ and not just rhetorically,” said David Makovsky, a former Middle East adviser for the…continue reading

Amnesty report says Hamas committed war crimes against Palestinians

MAY 27 2015 : :

CNN

DON MELVIN

Members of Hamas’ military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, parade in southern Gaza in May 2014. / Picture from CNN

During last year’s Gaza conflict, which took place in July and August, Hamas used the chaos to settle scores and carry out “horrific abuses . . . some of which amount to war crimes” against fellow Palestinians, said Philip Luther, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Amnesty International.

‘Brutal campaign’

The report alleges that Hamas forces waged “a brutal campaign…continue reading

Air force chief can ‘get job done’ if order comes to hit Iran

APRIL 23

2015 : :

TIMES OF ISRAEL

Amir Eshel, the commander of the Israel Air Force. (Photo credit: Yossi Zeliger / Flash 90) / Picture from Times of Israel

The TV report, which was cleared for broadcast by Israel’s military censors, said that Israel has invested “immense resources” in preparing for a possible strike on Iran. “The Israeli Air Force has been building the capacity to attack Iran for more than a decade,” it said. Speaking of the Russian-made S-300 air defense system, which Moscow has indicated it may supply to Iran, and which Israel has said it also fears could find its way to Syria, Eshel said its deployment would present “a significant challenge” but one that the Israeli air force could meet. “The S-300 is a very sophisticated system,” he said. “It uses long-range missiles with very impressive capabilities. But there is…continue reading

Saudi Arabia’s Ominous Reach Into Yemen

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MARCH 31 2015 NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL

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Homes destroyed by Saudi airstrikes in Sana, Yemen. Credit Hani Mohammed/Associated Press / Picture from New York Times

The Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen threatens to turn what has been a civil war between competing branches of Islam into a wider regional struggle involving Iran. It could also destroy any hope of stability in Yemen. Even before the Saudis and their Arab allies started the bombing, Yemen was in severe distress; on Tuesday, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights warned that it is now on the brink of collapse.

Rather than bombing, Saudi Arabia should be using its power and influence to begin diplomatic negotiations, which offer the best hope of a durable solution. Saudi Arabia intervened last week after the Houthis, who are supported by Iran, overthrew Yemen’s Saudi-backed government and…continue reading

As US lets Yemen fall, Israeli ire pales next to Arab fury

Jerusalem is worried by the Iran-backed Houthi takeover of Aden, but Saudi Arabia is burning with anger, and not at Tehran

Yemenis stand at the site of a Saudi airstrike against Houthi rebels near Sanaa Airport on March 26, 2015, which killed at least 13 people. (photo credit: AFP/MOHAMMED HUWAIS) / Picture from Times Of Israel

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MARCH 26 2015 TIMES OF ISRAEL Avi Issacharoff

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As the rebels have managed to sack much of the port town of Aden, pushing Hadi out of his home Wednesday and sparking Saudi-led airstrikes, the concerns on the Israeli side are clear. Firstly, an Iranian takeover of the strategic Bab el Mandeb Strait and the possibility of a Israeli ships coming under fire with no one officially taking responsibility for such attacks would not bode well for the Jewish state. But aside from the threat of assaults on ships, the Iranian-Houthi takeover of Yemen raises another serious concern for Israel, namely, the potential rising influence of Iran in the region, which will allow the Islamic Republic to improve its position during negotiations on the country’s nuclear program. As Iran’s involvement in countries such as Iraq, Syria and Yemen grows, so it increases its ability to bargain with the Americans and the…continue reading

In Tunisia, Taking Stock of the Dead, and the Survivors

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MARCH 20 2015 NEW YORK TIMES Carlotta Gall

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TUNIS — Still shaken on Friday by a brazen attack that killed 23 people at the National Bardo Museum in the heart of the capital two days before, Tunisian officials spent their Independence Day — a public holiday here — evacuating dead and wounded foreign tourists and burying their own. Families of the dead and wounded have begun arriving in Tunis, alongside a trail of foreign politicians and diplomats to bring the casualties home. Four Polish tourists were medically evacuated by military plane Friday afternoon and two French women were transferred back to France. Three Italians were sent home Thursday night. A group of Italians clung to one another as they walked down the sloping ramp in the dark to the morgue Thursday evening to identify a relative. Two men rocked in an embrace for long minutes before linking arms with a female companion and going inside the building together….continue reading

Kerry warns Netanyahu against revealing Iran talks details

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FROM TIMES OF ISRAEL MARCH 2 2015

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The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told reporters covering the prime minister’s trip that Israel knows more about the agreement with Iran than many members of Congress. “We know many details from the agreement being put together, details that we feel members of Congress are unaware of,” the official said. “According to the information we have, the deal currently taking shape will leave Iran with the capability to build a nuclear weapon, if Khamenei will make a decision to do so.” The official said Netanyahu would reveal some details of the agreement during his speech before both houses of Congress.

“We are not here to offend President [Barack] Obama whom we…continue reading

Leaked cables show Netanyahu’s Iran bomb claim contradicted by Mossad

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FROM guardian.co.uk FEBRUARY 23 2015 Seumas Milne, Ewen MacAskill and Clayton Swisher

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An extract from the document /Picture from guardian.co.uk

 

Brandishing a cartoon of a bomb with a red line to illustrate his point, the Israeli prime minister warned the UN in New York that Iran would be able to build nuclear weapons the following year and called for action to halt the process.

But in a secret report shared with South Africa a few weeks later, Israel’s intelligence agency concluded that Iran was “not performing the activity necessary to produce weapons”. The report highlights the gulf between the public claims and rhetoric of top Israeli politicians and the assessments of Israel’s military and intelligence establishment….continue reading