I guess when you’re getting $3 billion a year from the US government, you can afford to live a pretty lavish lifestyle. The Israeli government, and specifically its ice-cream-loving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, seem to be doing just that.
You’ll recall last month the odious Margaret Thatcher finally kicked the bucket, her funeral occasioning travel to Britain by numerous heads of state for purpose of paying their last respects. One of these was Netanyahu, who seems to have spared no expense ensuring his comfort on the five-hour flight from Tel Aviv to London. Yes, millions of Americans are out of work, with untold numbers living in the streets, but we have to keep the money flowing to Israel because of course we have this “special relationship,” you see.
And somewhere along the way it must have occurred to those special souls in the Jewish state who deal with the task of putting together a national budget that with all this wealth flowing in from America, there’s plenty of money in the budget to pad the expense accounts of top government officials. And this seems to be what they have done.
If you click here you can read about how Netanyahu spent $127,000 in public funds on a “custom-built sleeping chamber,” including a double bed, for him and his wife to relax in during their flight to London. The story reportedly has sparked public outrage since being reported by an Israeli TV station last weekend. All well and good, but of course, where it really needs to be sparking public outrage is in America.
Maybe that will happen at some point, but in the meantime, Netanyahu and his wife seemingly will sleep peacefully. They’ll also be eating lots of ice cream:
This is not the first time Netanyahu’s budget has come under fire. In February, Israeli media revealed that his office budgeted $2,700 a year for buying ice cream at his favorite parlor a few blocks away from the premier’s official residence. According to the New York Times, his favorite flavor was pistachio, but his wife preferred French vanilla.
***
Has Israel become an embarrassment for Jews? Oddly enough, Alan Dershowitz seems to think so, or he blurted this out in a recent debate at any rate. The matter is discussed in a column by MJ Rosenberg:
In a debate last week with Peter Beinart, the Daily Beast columnist and author of the bestseller, The Crisis of Zionism, Dershowitz said that, for Jews, Israel is now "an embarrassment."
“In 1967, Jews were able to beat their chest and say ‘wow, we’re proud to be Israel [sic], look how tough Israelis are.’ It was a source of pride. Today, it’s a source of embarrassment."
But the embarrassment isn’t over anything Israel has done, Dershowitz went on to insist. Rather it’s “because of what Israel is.” In other words, hostility toward Israel is solely because it is a Jewish state. No other reason. In Rosenberg’s view, the Harvard law professor is basically spouting horse manure—or as Rosenberg specifically puts it:
Dershowitz’s thesis is demonstrably false. If it’s the existence of Israel, rather than the occupation, that fuels the critics’ animosity, then why is it that the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a rightwing Israeli fanatic in 1995 was the occasion for more universal grief than the death of any world leader since President Kennedy? Was Israel less a Jewish state in 1995? Was Rabin anything other than an Israeli general, war hero and patriot?
Rosenberg, in case you’re not aware, is a former lobbyist for AIPAC who, so it would seem, saw the light (in a manner of speaking) and became a supporter of the Palestinian cause. His columns often have some good things to say, but in the course of reading them, you’re also likely to stumble across things which could be described as iffy at best. In this latest piece, he takes Dershowitz to task for refusing to recognize that “the one sure way Israel can achieve peace, security and normalization of relations with most countries in the world is by ending the occupation.” That may be the case, but it’s also a moot point, since Israel has no intention of ending the occupation. But then Rosenberg goes on to make a confession:
I, myself, was initially drawn to the Palestinian cause because of my view that the occupation is deadly for Israel. It was only later that I came to understand that although Israel itself is threatened by the occupation, it is more significant that millions of Palestinians are suffering its effects now. Still, to be honest, it was love for Israel not concern for the Palestinians that drew me to their cause.
So what exactly is Rosenberg in love with? Maybe it’s the Jews-only roads, the checkpoints, the price tag attacks, the periodic bombardments of Syria, the spitting upon priests, the mosque vandalisms, the daily violations of Lebanese air space—or maybe he just likes the native hummus. We don’t know. Rosenberg doesn’t say. All we know is that he has love in his heart.
As for why Jews might be embarrassed by the state of Israel, one of the many reasons I can think of would be people like Dershowitz constantly defending it, no matter what.
***
Speaking of mosque vandalisms, we get this item from the Palestinian news agency, Ma’an:
Jewish extremists torch cars, desecrate mosque in Israel
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Suspected Jewish extremists set fire to three cars and sprayed racist graffiti on a mosque in northern Israel overnight Monday, Israeli media reported.
"Price-tag" and "Eviatar," which is thought to refer to the name of a settler stabbed to death last week, were found sprayed on the wall of a mosque in Wadi Ara, south of Haifa, Ynet reported.
The star of David was also found on the mosque's building.
Israeli police have launched an investigation into the incident, the Israeli daily added.
In Safed, racist graffiti reading "Arabs out" was found sprayed in the city.
"Price Tag" attacks have targeted mosques, Palestinian homes and Israeli military installations in the occupied West Bank, but are generally less common within Israel.
Last December, Jewish extremists vandalized a Jerusalem monastery, spraying "Jesus is a son of a bitch," and Israeli nationalist slogans on church walls and nearby vehicles.
In early September, suspected Jewish extremists torched the wooden door of a Jerusalem monastery and in February extremists wrote "Death to Christianity" on two Jerusalem churches.
In 2011, an ancient mosque in Jerusalem was torched and sprayed with the Star of David, "price tag," "Muhammad is a pig" and "A good Arab is a dead Arab" in Hebrew.
"Price-tag" and "Eviatar," which is thought to refer to the name of a settler stabbed to death last week, were found sprayed on the wall of a mosque in Wadi Ara, south of Haifa, Ynet reported.
The star of David was also found on the mosque's building.
Israeli police have launched an investigation into the incident, the Israeli daily added.
In Safed, racist graffiti reading "Arabs out" was found sprayed in the city.
"Price Tag" attacks have targeted mosques, Palestinian homes and Israeli military installations in the occupied West Bank, but are generally less common within Israel.
Last December, Jewish extremists vandalized a Jerusalem monastery, spraying "Jesus is a son of a bitch," and Israeli nationalist slogans on church walls and nearby vehicles.
In early September, suspected Jewish extremists torched the wooden door of a Jerusalem monastery and in February extremists wrote "Death to Christianity" on two Jerusalem churches.
In 2011, an ancient mosque in Jerusalem was torched and sprayed with the Star of David, "price tag," "Muhammad is a pig" and "A good Arab is a dead Arab" in Hebrew.
Apparently that’s the definition of “religious tolerance” in Israel.
***
A day or so ago the ADL sent out an email that reads as follows:
Recently the President of the United States took time from his duties to send ADL a video message congratulating us on our 100th anniversary. We played it for the first time at ADL’s Centennial Summit & Gala — an inspiring gathering of more than a thousand ADL supporters of all ages that just took place in our nation’s capital.
Did you know that the year 2013 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the ADL? Indeed it does. Coincidentally (or not) it is also the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Federal Reserve. If you’re curious to hear what Obama had to say to the ADL crowd, you can go here and watch the video, although I can tell you it’s the usual fawning, amassed with an almost surreal level of hypocrisy—you know, the sort of speech we’ve all gotten used to hearing from the president.
***
I’ll close on a positive note, and a well-deserved hat tip goes out to Eileen Fleming for this one: singer/songwriter David Rovics has recorded a new song—about Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu—and it’s quite a good one. You can listen to it here.
: