Netanyahu and the American Congress

In the mid ‘70s, on my last visit to New York, I bought a record; cassettes were not popular back then. The record had the following title: “You don’t have to be Jewish.”

Part of this American-produced and -directed record included rare jokes about Jews. One of the jokes was about the Israeli and American presidents. The joke starts with the Israeli president visiting the American president and asking him for massive assistance, which the U.S. cannot deliver. The American president says to the Israeli president, “You are president of a country with a population under 2 million, whereas I am president of a country with a population of 200 million and have to provide for their needs.” The Israeli president replies, “But do not forget, Mr. President, that I am the president of a million American presidents.”

I remembered this part of the record as I was watching TV last week. Israeli President Netanyahu delivered his speech and challenged Obama about the Middle East peace process and numerous times his speech was accompanied by Congress’s standing ovations and applause.

Similar to a national TV program with an audience and a studio manager directing that audience in applause, standing ovations, chanting, etc., I do not doubt that there were a reasonable number of those “studio managers” planted in different areas in Congress. They were either the far right wing, radical Jewish Americans or perhaps even those who accompanied the Israeli president (and his wife) and who stood to applaud sentences that did not hold any meaning or content even before Netanyahu himself was done speaking — forcing others around them to act similarly even if they did not want to act like those who stood alongside and in front of them. In addition, I can assure you that quite a number of the American Congress who support the Israeli far right constructed and performed this method of “director and studio manager” to show their support for Israel’s ignorant behavior. As I say this, I recall the entire speech by his highness King Abdullah II before Congress in 2007, which was interrupted many times by standing ovations and applause from members of Congress, without the existence of any “studio managers.” The speech was uniquely daring and honest. The speech addressed issues of the Middle Eastern region — most importantly the Palestinian issue, the core of the conflicts in the Middle East and now in most parts of the world which, if not solved, will be deemed a denial of justice and peace.

Similar issues were addressed in his highness King Abdullah’s 2008 speech before Congress as well. He mentioned that every time the Americans have been engaged in the peace process, there was an important acceleration toward peace. He also urged them to exercise their role in a historic effort with vision and courage and to honor the late King Hussein and Yitzhak Rabin by helping achieve the aspirations of the Palestinian and Israeli people for peace so that they can live side by side. The speeches given by the late great Hussein to Congress during the Eisenhower era and even during the Clinton era were words emanating from the Arab nation’s conscience, disrupted by storms of evaluating and honest applause which was not coded or constructed. I myself was a witness to this reaction. Clinton attended King Hussein’s funeral with three other American presidents living today.

Back to Netanyahu, who shamelessly delivered a lecture that exuded an aura of ignorance in front of Obama during the American Israel Public Affairs Committee meeting (AIPAC). He criticized, to the letter, Obama’s remarks regarding the establishment of two “Palestinian and Israeli countries” to be based on pre-1967 borders with mutual agreements to possess equal amounts of land between them.

Every speech made by his majesty King Abdullah II, and before him Al Hussein (may God rest his soul), was not fodder for an American election, a renewed presidency or an ounce of blackmail. This is unlike what Netanyahu did, flaunting his eloquent vocabulary to Congress, and his maneuvering and vulgarity — which carried all the meanings of extortion while also hinting his support for both American parties in the 2012 elections! This came after claims by former Massachusetts governor and Republican candidate for the presidential election Mitt Romney about Obama leaving Israel behind when he announced his support for the return to the pre-1967 borders. When will the Americans stop believing the Israeli president’s saying that he alone is the president of a million American presidents?