benjamin netanyahu Archives

Netanyahu Worked Inside Nuclear Smuggling Ring

On June 27, 2012, the FBI partially declassified and released seven additional pages [.pdf] from a 1985–2002 investigation into how a network of front companies connected to the Israeli Ministry of Defense illegally smuggled nuclear triggers out of the U.S.* The newly released FBI files detail how Richard Kelly Smyth — who was convicted of … Continue reading

Spilling the Beans About Bibi

“You can lie to all of the people some of the time, and to some of the people all of the time, but you cannot lie to all of the people all of the time.” This slightly altered quotation from Abraham Lincoln has yet to be absorbed by Benjamin Netanyahu. He thinks it doesn’t apply … Continue reading

Israel Builds Settlements and Wants Talks

JERUSALEM — Days after his halfhearted conciliatory U.N. appearance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had already approved the construction of 1,100 flats in occupied East Jerusalem. Yet on Sunday, he threw his support behind the new Mideast Quartet’s peace plan with the Palestinians. “Israel is welcoming the Quartet’s call for direct negotiations without preconditions between … Continue reading

Israelis Sick and Tired – but of What?

As a humble columnist, I am puzzled. I have been writing on Israeli realities for a decade, and I find writing ever more difficult: nothing changes. How often can you write something different about the same things? The international media, on the other hand, has had no difficulty filling pages and screens, making the very … Continue reading

Netanyahu: Stupid Like a Fox?

My hero of the year (for now) is a young, brown-haired Palestinian refugee living in Syria called Hassan Hijazi. He was one of hundreds of refugees who held the demonstration on the Syrian side of the Golan border fence, to commemorate the Naqba—“Disaster”—the exodus of more than half the Palestinian people from the territory conquered … Continue reading

‘Bibi’ Votes Republican

Not since Nikita Khrushchev berated Dwight Eisenhower over Gary Powers’ U-2 spy flight over Russia only weeks earlier has an American president been subjected to a dressing down like the one Barack Obama received from Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday. With this crucial difference. Khrushchev ranted behind closed doors and, when Ike refused to apologize, blew … Continue reading

Netanyahu and the One-State Solution

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address U.S. legislators today. He will, no doubt, tell members of Congress that he supports a two-state solution, but his support will be predicated on four negative principles: no to Israel’s full withdrawal to the 1967 borders; no to the division of Jerusalem; no to the right of return for … Continue reading

Some Questions for Bibi

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in the United States today for a much anticipated visit. He will do a little fund-raising, will speak before Congress and at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual conference, and will meet with President Barack Obama. Netanyahu can expect the visit to go smoothly, with an adoring … Continue reading

Interim Forever!

“I have three answers,” the Jew told the rabbi when his neighbor sued him for not returning a borrowed jar. “First, I never borrowed a jar from him. Second, the jar was broken. Third, I returned it to him long ago.” Avigdor Lieberman’s Peace Plan shows a similar kind of logic. Peace Plan? Lieberman? Oh, … Continue reading

A General Overhaul

The judge: “You are accused of murdering your wife and two children. How do you plead: Guilty or not guilty?” The accused: “Your honor, I do not deal with the past. I think about the future!” No, not a scene from a comedy. Something very similar really happened. That is how Eli Yishai, the minister … Continue reading