Benjamin Netanyahu
Time is Money. You Can’t Afford His.
The alternate title for this is, “The Ultimate Jew”. Since I used the “Ultimate Ethnic Person” theme already for This Guy, I figured I’d just give you his name. If you thought Ariel Sharon was the apex of Jew stereotype, the epitome of Haredi, the King of Kikes, then you my friend are in for a world of Joyous Jewish Jubilee. Benjamin Netanyahu is the People’s Jew. Imagine if Israel were the Rock, Netanyahu is the People’s Elbow..
I honestly know very, very little about this guy. I just know how he looks, how he sounds., and how he got his entire country vaccinated in record time (for the CCP virus). So I decided to combine learning and laziness into content and am proceeding to copy/paste/slightly alter the Wikipedia entry for Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Early life and military career
Netanyahu was born in 1949 in Tel Aviv, Israel, to a predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish family with some Sephardic ancestry, who claim descent from the Vilna Gaon.[23][24] '
Born in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu comes from a long line of Jews.
His mother, Tzila Segal (1912–2000) was born in Petah Tikva in the Ottoman Empire's Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, and his father, Warsaw-born, Prof. Benzion Netanyahu (née Mileikowsky) (1910–2012) was an accomplished historian specializing in the Jewish Golden age of Spain. Netanyahu's paternal grandfather, Nathan Mileikowsky was a notable rabbi and Zionist writer. When Netanyahu's father emigrated to Israel he hebraized his surname from "Mileikowsky" to "Netanyahu" meaning "God has given".
Ben had parents. He changed his last name because “Mileikowsky” was too close to “MIke Wikowsky” when spoken, and was afraid that Disney might sue him. (Monsters Inc.)
Netanyahu was the second of three children. He was initially raised and educated in Jerusalem, where he attended Henrietta Szold Elementary School. A copy of his evaluation from his 6th grade teacher Ruth Rubenstein indicated that Netanyahu was courteous, polite, and helpful; that his work was "responsible and punctual"; and that he was friendly, disciplined, cheerful, brave, active, and obedient.[25]
Ben was a middle child. He went to middle school. He gave China the middle finger.
Between 1956 and 1958, and again from 1963 to 1967,[26] his family lived in the United States in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, while father Benzion Netanyahu taught at Dropsie College.[5] Benjamin attended and graduated from Cheltenham High School and was active in the debate club, chess club, and soccer.[5] He and his brother Yonatan grew dissatisfied with a perceived superficial way of life they encountered in the area, including the prevalent youth counterculture movement, literary interpretation focused on individualized feelings, and the liberal sensibilities of the Reform synagogue, Temple Judea of Philadelphia, that the family attended.[5] To this day, he speaks fluent English, with a noticeable Philadelphia accent.[27]
Ben went to high school in Philly. He didn’t like it.
After graduating from high school in 1967, Netanyahu returned to Israel to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces. He trained as a combat soldier and served for five years in an elite special forces unit of the IDF, Sayeret Matkal. He took part in numerous cross-border assault raids during the 1967–70 War of Attrition, rising to become a team-leader in the unit. He was wounded in combat on multiple occasions.[9] He was involved in many other missions, including the 1968 Israeli raid on Lebanon and the rescue of the hijacked Sabena Flight 571 in May 1972, in which he was shot in the shoulder.[28][29] He was discharged from active service in 1972 but remained in the Sayeret Matkal reserves. Following his discharge, he left to study in the United States but returned in October 1973 to serve in the Yom Kippur War.[8][30] He took part in special forces raids along the Suez Canal against Egyptian forces before leading a commando attack deep inside Syrian territory, the details of which remain classified today.[31]
If Ben was a Creep, he’d be R15. Honestly, the above paragraph is worth reading.
The Education segment has less about Education and more about Netanyahu’s life experiences. Did you know that he was friends with Fred Trump? You do now. Oh, and he went to college and also ran a … type of college. The Anti-Terror Institute. There you go, same info without having to read 7 paragraphs.
Chairman of Likud
Prior to the 1988 Israeli legislative election, Netanyahu returned to Israel and joined the Likud party. In the Likud's internal elections, Netanyahu was placed fifth on the party list. Later on he was elected as a Knesset member of the 12th Knesset, and was appointed as a deputy of the foreign minister Moshe Arens, and later on David Levy. Netanyahu and Levy did not cooperate and the rivalry between the two only intensified afterwards. During the Gulf War in early 1991, the English-fluent Netanyahu emerged as the principal spokesman for Israel in media interviews on CNN and other news outlets. During the Madrid Conference of 1991 Netanyahu was a member of the Israeli delegation headed by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. After the Madrid Conference Netanyahu was appointed as Deputy Minister in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.[41]
Following the defeat of the Likud party in the 1992 Israeli legislative elections the Likud party held a primary election in 1993 to select its leader, and Netanyahu was victorious, defeating Benny Begin, son of the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and veteran politician David Levy[47] (Sharon initially sought Likud party leadership as well, but quickly withdrew when it was evident that he was attracting minimal support). Shamir retired from politics shortly after the Likud's defeat in the 1992 elections.[48]
Following the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his temporary successor Shimon Peres decided to call early elections in order to give the government a mandate to advance the peace process.[49] Netanyahu was the Likud's candidate for Prime Minister in the 1996 Israeli legislative election which took place on 26 May 1996 and were the first Israeli elections in which Israelis elected their Prime Minister directly. Netanyahu hired American Republican political operative Arthur Finkelstein to run his campaign, and although the American style of sound bites and sharp attacks elicited harsh criticism, it proved effective. When Netanyahu won the 1996 election, he became the youngest person in the history of the position and the first Israeli Prime Minister to be born in the State of Israel (Yitzhak Rabin was born in Jerusalem, under the British Mandate of Palestine, prior to the 1948 founding of the Israeli state).
Netanyahu's victory over the pre-election favorite Shimon Peres surprised many. The main catalyst in the downfall of the latter was a wave of suicide bombings shortly before the elections; on 3 and 4 March 1996, Palestinians carried out two suicide bombings, killing 32 Israelis, with Peres seemingly unable to stop the attacks. During the campaign, Netanyahu stressed that progress in the peace process would be based on the Palestinian National Authority fulfilling its obligations–mainly fighting terrorism—and the Likud campaign slogan was, "Netanyahu – making a safe peace". However, although Netanyahu won the election for Prime Minister, Peres's Israeli Labor Party received more seats in the Knesset elections. Netanyahu had to rely on a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox parties, Shas and UTJ in order to form a government.
Look it’s like 1 AM here and my bedtime is 10 PM….Not reading all that now, but not deleting it. I skimmed and it was pretty interesting.
First term as Prime Minister
Further information: Twenty-seventh government of Israel
I deleted everything, and there was a lot, in this space. The last paragraph kind of stuck out, because it has $100,000 in it. Haven’t read it yet, but it’s got to be juicy. Jewsy.
Throughout his term, Netanyahu was opposed by the political left wing in Israel and lost support from the right because of his concessions to the Palestinians in Hebron and elsewhere, and due to his negotiations with Arafat generally. Netanyahu lost favor with the Israeli public after a long chain of scandals involving his marriage and corruption charges. In 1997, police recommended that Netanyahu be indicted on corruption charges for influence-peddling. He was accused of appointing an attorney general who would reduce the charges but prosecutors ruled that there was insufficient evidence to go to trial.[60] In 1999, Netanyahu faced another scandal when the Israel Police recommended that he be tried for corruption for $100,000 in free services from a government contractor; Israel's attorney general did not prosecute, citing difficulties with evidence.[61]
Election defeat
After being defeated by Ehud Barak in the 1999 election for Prime Minister, Netanyahu temporarily retired from politics.[62] He subsequently served as a senior consultant with Israeli communications equipment manufacturer BATM Advanced Communications for two years.[63][64]
With the fall of the Barak government in late 2000, Netanyahu expressed his desire to return to politics. By law, Barak's resignation was supposed to lead to elections for the prime minister position only. Netanyahu insisted that general elections should be held, claiming that otherwise it would be impossible to have a stable government. Netanyahu decided eventually not to run for the prime minister position, a move which facilitated the surprising rise to power of Ariel Sharon, who at the time was considered less popular than Netanyahu. In 2002, after the Israeli Labor Party left the coalition and vacated the position of foreign minister, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appointed Netanyahu as Foreign Minister.[41] Netanyahu challenged Sharon for the leadership of the Likud party, but failed to oust Sharon.[65]
I am not the least bit surprised that Ariel Sharon took favor with Benjamin Netanyahu. Great Jewry begets Great Jewry. He probably wasn’t even mad about that part about trying to usurp power.
On 9 September 2002, a scheduled speech by Netanyahu at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada was canceled after hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters overwhelmed security and smashed through a glass window. Netanyahu was not present at the protest, having remained at Montreal's Ritz-Carlton Hotel throughout the duration.
Fun Fact : The Ritz-Carlton in Montreal is now a Covid Hotel. Look it up. Or don’t. Just don’t go to Canada right now. Unless you’re trying to spend $1000 a night for the worst accomodation on Earth.
He later accused the activists of supporting terrorism and "mad zealotry".[66] Weeks later on 1 October 2002 around 200 protesters met Netanyahu outside his Heinz Hall appearance in Pittsburgh although Pittsburgh Police, Israeli security and a Pittsburgh SWAT unit allowed his speeches to continue downtown at the hall and the Duquesne Club as well as suburban Robert Morris University.[67]
Haters gone hate.
On 12 September 2002, Netanyahu testified (under oath as a private citizen) before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform regarding the nuclear threat posed by the Iraqi régime: "There is no question whatsoever that Saddam is seeking and is working and is advancing towards the development of nuclear weapons – no question whatsoever," he said. "And there is no question that once he acquires it, history shifts immediately."[68] In his testimony, Netanyahu also said, "If you take out Saddam, Saddam’s regime, I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region."[69]
He meant positive for Israel. The end of Saddam’s regime actually caused widespread poverty and instability in critical infrastructure systems that persists to this day. But hey, at least Al-Jazeera is in English so we can understand what the dirka-dirkas are talking about. (Spoiler, they talk about America pretty much all the time. And they aren’t native Arabs. Al-Jazeera is awful). El-Jazeero would be better, like an Islamic Mexican news channel that talks about America. Yeah, give me some El-Jazeero, wey.
Minister of Finance
After the 2003 Israeli legislative election, in what many observers regarded as a surprise move, Sharon offered the Foreign Ministry to Silvan Shalom and offered Netanyahu the Finance Ministry. Some pundits speculated that Sharon made the move because he deemed Netanyahu a political threat given his demonstrated effectiveness as Foreign Minister, and that by placing him in the Finance Ministry during a time of economic uncertainty, he could diminish Netanyahu's popularity. Netanyahu accepted the new appointment. Sharon and Netanyahu came to an agreement that Netanyahu would have complete freedom as Finance Minister and have Sharon back all of his reforms, in exchange for Netanyahu's silence over Sharon's management of Israel's military and foreign affairs.[70]
Recommend to read that part, if you like Jewsy gossip. Juicy.
As Finance Minister, Netanyahu undertook an economic plan in order to restore Israel's economy from its low point during the Second Intifada. Netanyahu claimed that a bloated public sector and excessive regulations were largely responsible for stifling economic growth. His plan involved a move toward more liberalized markets, although it was not without its critics. He instituted a program to end welfare dependency by requiring people to apply for jobs or training, reduced the size of the public sector, froze government spending for three years, and capped the budget deficit at 1%. The taxation system was streamlined and taxes were cut, with the top individual tax rate reduced from 64% to 44% and the corporate tax rate from 36% to 18%. A host of state assets worth billions of dollars were privatized, including banks, oil refineries, the El Al national airline, and Zim Integrated Shipping Services. The retirement ages for both men and women were raised, and currency exchange laws were further liberalized. Commercial banks were forced to spin off their long-term savings. In addition, Netanyahu attacked monopolies and cartels to increase competition. As the Israeli economy started booming and unemployment fell significantly, Netanyahu was widely credited by commentators as having performed an 'economic miracle' by the end of his tenure.[70][71][72]
Many people don’t associate Jews with socialism. Netanyahu turned Israel into a capitalist democracy. I mean, not really, but kind of. Maybe a better comparison is that Netanyahu did essentially the same thing as Donald Trump, but more, since Jews tax each other at a much higher rate than normal people. Jews also have lots more money than normal people. It works for them.
However, opponents in the Labor party (and even a few within his own Likud) viewed Netanyahu's policies as "Thatcherite" attacks on the venerated Israeli social safety net.[73] Ultimately, unemployment declined while economic growth soared, the debt-to-GDP ratio dropped to one of the lowest in the world, and foreign investment reached record highs.[70]
Haters still hating.
Netanyahu threatened to resign from office in 2004 unless the Gaza pullout plan was put to a referendum. He later modified the ultimatum and voted for the program in the Knesset, indicating immediately thereafter that he would resign unless a referendum was held within 14 days.[74] He submitted his resignation letter on 7 August 2005, shortly before the Israeli cabinet voted 17 to 5 to approve the initial phase of withdrawal from Gaza.[75]
Israel parliament stuff.
Return to leadership of Likud
In the first half of 2008, doctors removed a small colon polyp that proved to be benign.[79]
This has nothing to do with everything else in this section (which I deleted).
Second term as Prime Minister
Ben had a second term.
Third term as Prime Minister
And a third.
Fourth term as Prime Minister
But wait, there’s more!
Criminal investigations and indictment
It’s not that this stuff isn’t interesting, it’s just that it’s the same thing you hear about with every other leader of every other country ever.
Fifth term as Prime Minister
Further information: Thirty-fifth government of Israel
On 17 May 2020, Netanyahu was sworn-in for a fifth term as prime minister in a coalition with Benny Gantz. This occurred after the 2019–20 Israeli political crisis.
Lol, Ben and Benny. There was a crisis before covid, apparently.
Against a background of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel and Netanyahu's criminal trial, extensive demonstrations broke out against him in front of the Prime Minister's residence. Following this, Netanyahu ordered to disperse the demonstrations using COVID-19 special regulations, limiting them to 20 people and at a distance of 1,000 meters from their homes.[216] However, the exact opposite was achieved; the demonstrations were enlarged and dispersed to over 1,000 centers.[217]
As soon as I see “COVID-19” I’m automatically done with that paragraph. I can’t even proofread my own COVID-19 posts anymore.
Political positions
Economic views
You want to have a meritocracy. You want to have initiative, risk, talent, the ability to create new products, new services to be rewarded ... It's always been about competition. That's what human progress is about. You want to siphon it into productive ways.
Benjamin Netanyahu, The Marker, 2014[218]
Netanyahu has been described as "the advocate of the free-market".[attribution needed][219] As Prime Minister in his first term, he significantly reformed the banking sector, removing barriers to investment abroad, mandatory purchases of government securities and direct credit. As Minister of Finance (2003–2005), Netanyahu introduced a major overhaul of the Israeli economy. He introduced a welfare to work program, he led a program of privatization, reduced the size of the public sector, reformed and streamlined the taxation system and passed laws against monopolies and cartels with the aim of increasing competition.[71] Netanyahu extended capital gains taxes from companies to individuals, which allowed him to enlarge the tax base while reducing taxes on incomes.[220] As the Israeli economy started booming and unemployment fell significantly, Netanyahu was widely credited by commentators as having performed an 'economic miracle' by the end of his tenure.[71] Direct investment in the Israeli economy had increased by an annualized 380%.[221] On the other hand, his critics have labelled his economic views as Margaret Thatcher-inspired "popular capitalism".[222]
Netanyahu defines capitalism as "the ability to have individual initiative and competition to produce goods and services with profit, but not to shut out somebody else from trying to do the same".[218] He says that his views developed while he was working as an economic consult for Boston Consulting Group: "It was the first time that the Boston Consulting Group looked at governments and worked for governments. They wanted to do a strategic plan for the government of Sweden. I was on that case and looked at other governments. So I went around to other governments in Europe in 1976 and I was looking at Britain. I was looking at France. I was looking at other countries, and I could see that they were stymied by concentrations of power that prevented competition. And I thought, hmm, as bad as they are, ours was worse because we had very little room for private sector competition to the extent that we had government-controlled or union-controlled companies, and so you really didn't get the competition or the growth ... And I said, well, if I ever have a chance, I'll change that."[218]
Ben is a Republican.
Views on counter-terrorism
In particular, Ronald Reagan was an admirer of Netanyahu's work on counter-terrorism, and Reagan recommended Netanyahu's book Terrorism: How the West Can Win to all senior figures in his administration.[228]
That tells you all you need to know. Go to Wikipedia if you really care that much.
Death penalty
Ben made it easier for judges to issue the death penalty. It wasn’t particularly hard in the first place.
LGBT rights
Netanyahu supports equal rights before the law for LGBT citizens, stating: "The struggle for every person to be recognized as equal before the law is a long struggle, and there is still a long way to go ... I am proud that Israel is among the most open countries in the world in relation to the LGBT community discourse."[233][234] During an event held for the annual community rights day at the Knesset, Netanyahu proclaimed that he was "asked to come here in the middle of my busy schedule to say one thing to the male and female members of the LGBT community: We must be guided by the conviction that every person is created in the image of God."[235] However, in his coalition government, many of his coalition government party members opposed same-sex marriage.
Bare in mind that this tolerance applies only to citizens. It’s still illegal for foreigners visiting Israel to be gay. Note also his generic copypasta answer. Like every other person the planet, he doesn’t care or generally even think about who puts what in their friends’ butts.
Ethiopian Jewish integration
Netanyahu at a memorial service of Ethiopian Israeli immigrants, in honor of their friends who died on their way to Israel.
In 2015, after Ethiopian Jewish protests against police brutality, Netanyahu said: "We will bring a comprehensive plan to the government to assist you in every way. There is no room for racism and discrimination in our society, none ... We will turn racism into something contemptible and despicable."[236]
Blacks are second-class citizens in Israel, as they are in most places. But if a world leader says some nice words about ending racism, it makes people think that the racist institution is somehow going to erase the implied racism that doesn’t actually exist amongst regular people.
This is actually a great time to point something. The vast majority of people, the working classes, are generally very simple and easy to please. Hell, so are most of the ruling class. Justin Trudeau is satisfied with a bo a joint, and an afternoon playing Call of Duty. John Doe is happy to go to work for 6-12 hours a day, tend to his family, have a few beers, and go to bed to do it all over again the next day. That’s all people really need to be kept under control - a job, someone to have sex with, and something to get them high.
African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem
Netanyahu supports the integration of the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem into Israeli society, and takes part in celebrations in honor of this community's "exodus" from America to Israel, which occurred in 1967. In 2012, Netanyahu expressed appreciation towards "the cooperative society that is working towards the inclusion of the Hebrew Israelite community in Israeli society at large," and declared that the experience of the community in the land of Israel is "an integral part of the Israeli experience."[237]
This is the same thing we’re doing with the stinky brown people from South America. Slave labor looks so much more pleasant when you “integrate” them into society, rather than forcing them to bag your groceries. Fact is, if you’re colored, you’re our labor. Except for Asians. Asians are insane and simply enslave their own. They give no f*%!s.
Peace process
Netanyahu opposed the Oslo accords from their inception. In 1993, he dedicated a chapter, entitled "Trojan Horse", of his book A Place Among the Nations to argue against the Oslo Peace Process. He asserted that Amin al-Husseini had been one of the masterminds of the Holocaust, and that Yasser Arafat was heir to the former's "alleged exterminationist Nazism".[238] During his term as prime minister in the late 1990s, Netanyahu consistently reneged on commitments made by previous Israeli governments as part of the Oslo peace process, leading American peace envoy Dennis Ross to note that "neither President Clinton nor Secretary [of State Madeleine] Albright believed that Bibi had any real interest in pursuing peace."[239] In a 2001 video, Netanyahu, reportedly unaware he was being recorded, said: "They asked me before the election if I'd honor [the Oslo Accords]", "I said I would, but ... I'm going to interpret the accords in such a way that would allow me to put an end to this galloping forward to the '67 borders. How did we do it? Nobody said what defined military zones were. Defined military zones are security zones; as far as I'm concerned, the entire Jordan Valley is a defined military zone. Go argue."[240]
On 9 August 2009, speaking at the opening of his weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu promised not to repeat the "mistake" of the Gaza unilateral pullout, (giggity) saying, "We will not repeat this mistake. We will not create new evacuees", and adding that "the unilateral evacuation brought neither peace nor security. On the contrary", and that "We want an agreement with two factors, the first of which is the recognition of Israel as the national state of the Jewish people and [the second is] a security settlement. In the case of Gaza, both of these factors were lacking". He also said, "Should we achieve a turn toward peace with the more moderate partners, we will insist on the recognition of the State of Israel and the demilitarization of the future Palestinian state".[241][242] In October 2014, Netanyahu said "We don't just hand over territory, close our eyes and hope for the best. We did that in Lebanon and we got thousands of rockets. We did that in Gaza, we got Hamas and 15,000 rockets. So we're not gonna just replicate that. We want to see genuine recognition of the Jewish state and rock solid security arrangements on the ground. That's the position I've held, and it's only become firmer."[243]
One of Netanyahu's campaign posters during the 2009 Israeli legislative elections which stated that he would be the strongest choice for Israel's economy and security
Netanyahu had previously called U.S.-backed peace talks a waste of time,[244] while at the same time refusing to commit to the same two-state solution as had other Israeli leaders,[245] until a speech in June 2009. He repeatedly made public statements which advocated an "economic peace" approach, meaning an approach based on economic cooperation and joint effort rather than continuous contention over political and diplomatic issues. This is in line with many significant ideas from the Peace Valley plan.[246] He raised these ideas during discussions with former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.[247] Netanyahu continued to advocate these ideas as the Israeli elections approached.[248] Netanyahu has said:
Right now, the peace talks are based on only one thing, only on peace talks. It makes no sense at this point to talk about the most contractible issue. It's Jerusalem or bust, or right of return or bust. That has led to failure and is likely to lead to failure again ... We must weave an economic peace alongside a political process. That means that we have to strengthen the moderate parts of the Palestinian economy by handing rapid growth in those areas, rapid economic growth that gives a stake for peace for the ordinary Palestinians."[246]
In January 2009, prior to the February 2009 Israeli elections Netanyahu informed Middle East envoy Tony Blair that he would continue the policy of the Israeli governments of Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert by expanding settlements in the West Bank, in contravention of the Road Map, but not building new ones.[249]
White House Abraham Accords signing ceremony on September 15, 2020
In 2013, Netanyahu denied reports that his government would agree to peace talks on the basis of the green line.[250] In 2014 he agreed to the American framework based on the green line and said that Jewish settlers must be allowed the option of staying in their settlements under Palestinian rule.[251][252]
In 2014, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat criticized Netanyahu, calling him "ideologically corrupt" and a war criminal.[253]
In January 2020, Netanyahu publicly supported Trump's Israeli-Palestinian peace plan for the creation of the State of Palestine.[254]
Former United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that on May 22, 2017, Netanyahu showed Donald Trump a fake and altered video of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas calling for the killing of children. This was at a time when Trump was considering if Israel was the obstacle to peace. Netanyahu had showed Trump the fake video to change his position in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[255]
Netanyahu publicly supported the Trump peace plan for the creation of the State of Palestine.
The U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords agreed to the full normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (the Israel–United Arab Emirates normalization agreement) and Bahrain, respectively (the Bahrain–Israel normalization agreement).[256] This was the first time any Arab country had normalized relations with Israel since Jordan in 1994. The accords were signed by Bahrain's foreign minister, UAE's foreign minister and Netanyahu on September 15, 2020 at the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C.[257]
On October 23, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Sudan will start to normalize ties with Israel, making it the third Arab state to do so as part of the Trump administration-brokered Abraham Accords.[258][259] Sudan fought in wars against Israel in 1948 and 1967.[260] Netanyahu thanked "President Trump and his team above all", saying that "together with him we are changing history ... despite all the experts and commentators who said it was impossible. Israel was completely isolated and they told us we were heading into a political tsunami. What’s happening is the absolute opposite."[261]
Bar-Ilan speech
This section is too long. Consider splitting it into new pages, adding subheadings, or condensing it. Please consider splitting content into sub-articles, condensing it, or adding subheadings. Please discuss this issue on the article's talk page. (April 2019)
On 14 June 2009, Netanyahu delivered a seminal address[262] at Bar-Ilan University (also known as the "Bar-Ilan speech"), at Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, that was broadcast live in Israel and across parts of the Arab world, on the topic of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. He endorsed for the first time the notion of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.[263] Netanyahu's speech could be viewed in part as a response to Obama's 4 June speech at Cairo. Yedioth Ahronoth claimed that Obama's words had "resonated through Jerusalem's corridors".[264]
As part of his proposal, Netanyahu demanded the full demilitarization of the proposed state, with no army, rockets, missiles, or control of its airspace, and said that Jerusalem would be undivided Israeli territory. He stated that the Palestinians should recognize Israel as the Jewish national state with an undivided Jerusalem. He rejected a right of return for Palestinian refugees, saying, "any demand for resettling Palestinian refugees within Israel undermines Israel's continued existence as the state of the Jewish people." He also stated that a complete stop to settlement building in the West Bank, as required by the 2003 Road Map peace proposal, was not possible and the expansions will be limited based on the "natural growth" of the population, including immigration, with no new territories taken in. Nevertheless, Netanyahu affirmed that he accepted the Road Map proposal.[265] He did not discuss whether or not the settlements should be part of Israel after peace negotiations, simply stating that the "question will be discussed".[263]
In a response to U.S. President Barack Obama's statements in his Cairo speech, Netanyahu remarked, "there are those who say that if the Holocaust had not occurred, the State of Israel would never have been established. But I say that if the State of Israel would have been established earlier, the Holocaust would not have occurred." He also said, "this is the homeland of the Jewish people, this is where our identity was forged." He stated that he would be willing to meet with any "Arab leader" for negotiations without preconditions, specifically mentioning Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon.[263] In general, the address represented a new position for Netanyahu's government on the peace process.[87]
Some right-wing members of Netanyahu's governing coalition criticized his remarks for the creation of a Palestinian State, believing that all of the land should come under Israeli sovereignty. Likud MK Danny Danon said that Netanyahu went "against the Likud platform",[266] while MK Uri Orbach of Habayit Hayehudi said that it had "dangerous implications".[267] Opposition party Kadima leader Tzipi Livni remarked after the address that she thinks Netanyahu does not really believe in the two-state solution at all; she thought that he only said what he did as a feigned response to international pressure.[268] Peace Now criticized the speech, highlighting that, in the group's opinion, it did not address the Palestinians as equal partners in the peace process. The Secretary General of Peace Now, Yariv Oppenheimer, said, "It's a rerun of Netanyahu from his first term".[269]
On 9 August 2009, speaking at the opening of a government meeting, Netanyahu repeated his claims from the Palestinians: "We want an agreement with two factors, the first of which is the recognition of Israel as the national state of the Jewish people and (the second of which is) a security settlement".[241]
Netanyahu's "Bar-Ilan speech" provoked mixed reaction from the international community.[270] The Palestinian National Authority rejected the conditions on a Palestinian State given by Netanyahu. Senior official Saeb Erekat said, "Netanyahu's speech closed the door to permanent status negotiations". Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said it reflected a "racist and extremist ideology"[271] and called on Arab nations to "form stronger opposition".[87] Palestinian Islamic Jihad labeled it "misleading" and, like Hamas, demanded stronger opposition to Israel from Arab nations.[272] According to The Jerusalem Post, some leaders advocated a third intifada in response to the speech.[263] The Arab League dismissed the address, declaring in a statement that "Arabs would not make concessions regarding issues of Jerusalem and refugees" and that "we know his history and style of evasion", adding that the Arab League would not recognize Israel as a Jewish state.[272] Referring to Netanyahu's demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people, Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak remarked, "You won't find anyone to answer that call in Egypt, or in any other place." Issuing a less blunt response, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said that the speech was "not complete" and that it hoped for another, "different Israeli proposal which is built on the commitment to the two-state solution".[273][274] Syrian state media condemned the speech and wrote that "Netanyahu has confirmed that he rejects the Arab peace initiative for peace along with all the initiatives and resolutions of the Security Council to relative peace."[270][275] Lebanese President Michel Suleiman called for unity among Arab leaders, saying that "Arab leaders should be more united and preserve the spirit of resistance to face the Israeli stands regarding the peace process and the Palestinian refugee issue." He called on the international community to exert more pressure on the Israeli government to accept the Arab Peace Initiative, as he said "Israel still has a will of military confrontation which can be proved in its offensives on Lebanon and the Gaza Strip."[272] Jordanian Minister of State for Media affairs and Communications, and Government spokesperson Nabil Sharif issued a statement saying "The ideas presented by Netanyahu do not live up to what was agreed on by the international community as a starting point for achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the region."[272] Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad referred to the speech as "bad news".[270]
The Czech Republic praised Netanyahu's address. "In my view, this is a step in the right direction. The acceptance of a Palestinian state was present there," said Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout, whose country held the EU's six-month presidency at the time of the speech.[276] President Barack Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said that the speech was an "important step forward".[272][277] President Obama stated that "this solution can and must ensure both Israel's security and the Palestinians' legitimate aspirations for a viable state".[270] Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt stated that "the fact that he uttered the word state is a small step forward". He added that "whether what he mentioned can be defined as a state is a subject of some debate".[270][276] France praised the speech but called on Israel to cease building settlements in the West Bank. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner stated, "I can only welcome the prospect of a Palestinian state outlined by the Israeli Prime Minister."[270][276] The Foreign Ministry of Russia called the speech "a sign of readiness for dialogue" but said that "it does not open up the road to resolving the Israeli–Palestinian problem. The conditions on the Palestinians would be unacceptable."[270]
Good God that’s long. I just scrolled down, and assume you did, too. It’s actually probably the most important information here and is definitely worth giving a thorough read. But not tonight, not at 1:35 AM.
Iran
See also: Iran–Israel relations and Nuclear program of Iran
In an 8 March 2007 interview with CNN, opposition leader Netanyahu claimed that "there is only one difference between Nazi Germany and the Islamic Republic of Iran, namely that the first entered a worldwide conflict and then sought atomic weapons, while the latter is first seeking atomic weapons and, once it has them, will then start a world war." Netanyahu repeated these remarks at a news conference in April 2008.[278] This was similar to earlier remarks that "it's 1938, and Iran is Germany, and Iran is racing to arm itself with atomic bombs".[279]
On 20 February 2009, after being asked to be the prime minister of Israel, Netanyahu described Iran as the greatest threat that Israel has ever faced: "Iran is seeking to obtain a nuclear weapon and constitutes the gravest threat to our existence since the war of independence."[280] Speaking before the UN General Assembly in New York on 24 September 2009, Netanyahu expressed a different opinion than Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at the forum, saying those who believe Tehran is a threat only to Israel are wrong. "The Iranian regime", he said, "is motivated by fanaticism ... They want to see us go back to medieval times. The struggle against Iran pits civilization against barbarism. This Iranian regime is fueled by extreme fundamentalism."[108][109] "By focusing solely on Iran," columnist Yossi Melman speculated that Netanyahu's foreign policy, "... took the Palestinian issue off the world agenda." After four days of shelling from the Iranian-funded Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Melman asked, "Is it worth initiating a crisis with Iran? Will the Israeli public be able to cope with Iran's response?"[281] According to Uzi Eilam, a retired brigadier general and the ex-director of Israel's Atomic Energy Commission, Benjamin Netanyahu is using the threat of atomic Iran as a means of reaching his own goals. Directly blaming Netanyahu, he said: "Netanyahu is using the Iranian threat to achieve a variety of political objectives." He also said: "These declarations are unnecessarily scaring Israel's citizens (he’s not wrong), given Israel is not party to the negotiations to determine whether Iran will or will not dismantle its nuclear program."[282]
Standing with Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak, Netanyahu holds an Iranian instruction manual for the anti-ship missile captured in Victoria Affair, March 2011
Why is there an instruction manual? I guess it makes sense. Seems odd to me that a military would buy its missiles rather than construct their own. Hell I don’t know how any of this works, I’m probably totally off base. Still, something about Netanyahu holding an Iranian Missile Manual seems absurd. “Point away from face.”
By 2012, Netanyahu is reported to have formed a close, confidential relationship with Defense Minister Ehud Barak as the two men considered possible Israeli military action against Iran's nuclear facilities,[283][284] following Israel's established Begin Doctrine. The pair were accused of acting on "messianic" impulses by Yuval Diskin, former head of the Shin Bet, who added that their warmongering rhetoric appealed to "the idiots within the Israeli public". (Well, duh. But it doesn’t matter what they think.)[285] Diskin's remarks were supported by former Mossad chief Meir Dagan,[286] who himself had previously said that an attack on Iran was "the stupidest thing I have ever heard" (LOL. Savage AF)..[287] A few weeks later, the RAND Corporation (a leading American think-tank that advises the Pentagon) also openly disagreed with Netanyahu's belligerent stance: "In doing so, and without naming names, RAND sided with former Mossad chief Meir Dagan and former head of the Shin Bet Yuval Diskin."[288] Fun fact : The purpose of RAND is to make money for RAND. They’ll say whatever you want them to hear, just keep buying the missiles .
Early in 2012, he used the opening ceremony for Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day to warn against the dangers of an Iranian nuclear bomb, saying he was following the example of Jewish leaders during World War II who struggled to raise the alarm about the Nazis' genocidal intentions.[289] Israeli academic Avner Cohen accused Netanyahu of showing "contempt" for the Holocaust by putting it to "political use",[290] and former Israeli foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami similarly condemned Netanyahu's "vulgar manipulation of the memory of the Holocaust".[291] Immediately after the 2012 Burgas bus bombing, Netanyahu confirmed that the attack had been undertaken in coordination with Iran.[292]
Talking about nazis and genocide, here we go. Genocide only matters when it’s Nazis and Jews and Jewish Nazis. Forget about Uyghurs or Falun Gong practitioners.
Protest against U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel, Tehran, 11 December 2017
Netanyahu stated during a 29 July meeting that, in his opinion, "all the sanctions and diplomacy so far have not set back the Iranian programme by one iota".[293] And in August he stated that the United States only might respond to a massive attack against Israel.[294] On 28 September 2012, Netanyahu gave a speech to the UN General Assembly in which he set forward a "red line" of 90% uranium enrichment, stating that if Iran were to reach this level, it would become an intolerable risk for Israel.[295] Netanyahu used a cartoon graphic of a bomb to illustrate his point, indicating three stages of uranium enrichment, noting that Iran had already completed the first stage, and stating that "By next spring, at most by next summer at current enrichment rates, [Iran] will have finished the medium enrichment and move on to the final stage. From there, it's only a few months, possibly a few weeks before they get enough enriched uranium for the first bomb." Netanyahu delivered his speech the day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, a presentation that the American, Canadian, and Israeli delegations had deliberately not attended.[296] At the time, according to cables leaked in 2015, Mossad's assessment was that Iran did not appear ready to enrich uranium to levels required for a nuclear bomb.[297]
In an October 2013 interview with BBC Persian Service, Netanyahu praised the history of Persia and said: "If the Iranian regime has nuclear weapons, the Iranian people will never be free of dictatorship and will live in eternal servitude."[298]
Because they’re so worried about the Iranian people’s freedoms.
The U.S. military's 2020 Baghdad International Airport airstrike, which killed the high-level Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, brought strong reactions from around the world. Netanyahu praised the air strike, saying that Trump had acted "swiftly, forcefully and decisively".[299]
Bank of China terror financing case
The total gist of this that some fool thinks that suing the bank of China will do anything. First off, China doesn’t care what you tell yourself. Second, anything physically inside China is property of China. Third…no, better to not get started.
China is like Drugs. Just Say “No.”
Defense and security
Israelis in Ashkelon run for shelter following a missile alert during Operation Protective Edge
I feel like this is not a particularly important key point. This must have happened more than once. Yet, it seems to very specifically refer to a single incident.
In 2011, Netanyahu arranged for 1000 Hamas and Fatah prisoners to be swapped for Gilad Shalit, including terrorists with "blood on their hands".[304] Israeli officials estimate that 60% of those who are released "resume terrorism attacks".[305]
And what do the returned Israelis do? HMMM, I WONDER
In 2011, Israeli General Staff concluded that the armed forces cannot maintain their battle readiness under Netanyahu's proposed cuts.[306] However Netanyahu decided to cut social programs instead, and promised to increase the defense budget by about six percent.[307][308] In spite of this, the Israeli military still fell NIS 3.7 million short from its projected budget, which could damage their war capabilities.[309] According to a U.S. State Department representative in November 2011, under the leadership of Netanyahu and Obama, Israel and the United States have enjoyed unprecedented security cooperation.[310]
Under Netanyahu's leadership, the Israeli National Security Council has seen an expanded role in foreign policy planning and decision-making.[311]
Illegal immigration
In his 1995 book Fighting Terrorism: How Democracies Can Defeat Domestic and International Terrorism, Netanyahu strongly argued that tightening immigration laws in the West is the most effective method to combat terrorism. "This era of immigration free-for-all should be brought to an end", he wrote in 1995.[227]
In 2012 the Netanyahu government passed the "Prevention of Infiltration Law", which mandated automatic detention of all people, including asylum-seekers, who enter Israel without permission. Amnesty International called it "an affront to international law".[312][313] Between 2009 and 2013, approximately 60,000 people crossed into Israel from various African countries.[314] Netanyahu said that, "this phenomenon is very grave and threatens the social fabric of society, our national security and our national identity."[315] Many of these migrants are held in detention camps in the Negev desert.[316] When the Supreme Court of Israel declared the "Prevention of Infiltration Law" illegal for permitting immediate and indefinite detention of asylum seekers from Africa, Netanyahu requested new legislation to work around the Supreme Court ruling.[317]
Netanyahu is critical of what he sees as the overly open immigration policy of EU nations. Netanyahu has urged the leaders of Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Poland to close their borders to illegal immigration.[318]
Illegal immigration is bad for everyone.
Personal life
Family
Don’t care.
Family and background
Netanyahu was born in Tel Aviv,[319] to Prof. Benzion Netanyahu (original name Mileikowsky) and Tzila (Cela; née Segal). His mother was born in 1912 in Petah Tikva, then in Ottoman Palestine, now Israel. Though all his grandparents were born in the Russian Empire (now Belarus, Lithuania and Poland), his mother's parents emigrated to Minneapolis in the United States.[320] He is related to Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna (the Vilna Gaon) on his paternal side.[321] (Didn’t we do this part already? Deleting the rest.)
Marriages and relationships
Not my business.
Relations with foreign leaders
Netanyahu and Barack Obama
Netanyahu has a close relationship with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, their having known each other for decades due to the privileged relationship between the Likud Party and the EPP, the European People's Party. Orban particularly admired Netanyahu while he was working as Finance Minister, and received advice from him while Netanyahu was Finance Minister of Israel.[338]
Netanyahu has been noted for his close and friendly relationship with then Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.[339] Netanyahu has said of Berlusconi: "We are lucky that there is a leader such as yourself."[340] Netanyahu has described Berlusconi as "one of the greatest friends".[339][341]
Netanyahu has a warm relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, touting their "personal friendship" in April 2019.[342][343]
During the 2011 G-20 Cannes summit, then French president Nicolas Sarkozy was overheard saying to then U.S. President Barack Obama, "I cannot bear Netanyahu, he's a liar", and Obama reportedly responded, "You're fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day."[344][345]
Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump have known each other for many years.[346] Netanyahu had been a friend of Donald Trump's father when Netanyahu lived in New York during the 1980s, serving as UN ambassador.[46] In 2013, Trump made a video endorsing Netanyahu during the Israeli elections saying, "vote for Benjamin – terrific guy, terrific leader, great for Israel". In June 2019, Netanyahu officially renamed a settlement in the disputed Golan Heights after Donald Trump.[347][348]
Netanyahu has close ties with the congressional leadership of the U.S. Republican Party and with its 2012 presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. He and Romney first became acquainted when both worked at the Boston Consulting Group in the mid-1970s.[349][350] Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has been friendly with Netanyahu for many years. In November 2011[351] and in the 2012 U.S. vice presidential debate,[352] Biden stated that the relationship has lasted for 39 years. Netanyahu remarked in March 2010 during a joint statement with Biden during his visit of Israel[353] that their friendship had started almost three decades prior.
Netanyahu and Donald Trump during the signing of the Abraham Accords on 15 September 2020
In October 2014, author Jeffrey Goldberg related a conversation in which Goldberg said a senior official of the Obama administration called Netanyahu a "chickenshit" after Netanyahu accused U.S. President Barack Obama of "acting contrary to American values". Goldberg went on to say that Netanyahu and his cabinet were largely to blame for the tensions between the Netanyahu and Obama governments.[152] Secretary of State John Kerry phoned Netanyahu to clarify that "such statements are disgraceful, unacceptable and damaging" and "do not reflect the position of the United States".[354] Netanyahu responded by saying "I'm being attacked because of my determination to defend Israel's interests. The safety of Israel is not important to those who attack me anonymously and personally."[355] Because of evident rifts between Netanyahu and members of the Obama administration, observers have characterized the relationship as having reached a crisis level by October 2014.[356][152] The relationship between Netanyahu and the Obama administration had become problematic enough that Jeffrey Goldberg reported in November 2014 that his conversations with Netanyahu and other Israeli officials indicated Israel would wait until a new U.S. president is elected before attempting to repair the relationship with the White House. According to Alon Pinkas, a former diplomat and adviser to Israeli prime ministers, "Netanyahu’s self-righteousness that this resolution is going to be changed or reversed by Trump is totally unfounded."[357]
On 23 December 2016, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution calling for an end to Israeli settlements. In a departure from longstanding American policy, the U.S. abstained from the vote and did not exercise its veto power. At the behest of the Netanyahu government, President-elect Trump attempted to intercede by publicly advocating the resolution be vetoed and successfully persuading Egypt's Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to temporarily withdraw it from consideration.[358] The resolution was then "proposed again by Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal and Venezuela" – and passed 14 to 0. Netanyahu's office alleged that "the Obama administration not only failed to protect Israel against this gang-up at the UN, it colluded with it behind the scenes", adding: "Israel looks forward to working with President-elect Trump and with all our friends in Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, to negate the harmful effects of this absurd resolution."[359][360][361]
Netanyahu with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in Jerusalem, 31 March 2019
In early 2018 the Polish parliament adopted a new Polish law criminalizing suggestions that Poles were collectively complicit in Holocaust-related or other war crimes that had been committed during World War II by the Axis powers.[362][363] Later that year at the Munich Security Conference, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said "it is not going to be seen as criminal to say that there were Polish perpetrators, as there were Jewish perpetrators (...) not only German perpetrators" implicated in the Jewish Holocaust.[364] Netanyahu called his Polish counterpart's comment "outrageous" for saying that Jews had been among the Holocaust's perpetrators.[365] The resulting crisis in Israel–Poland relations was resolved in late June that year when the two prime ministers issued a joint communiqué endorsing research into the Jewish Holocaust and condemning the misnomer "Polish concentration camps".[366]
According to Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, during the visit of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Jerusalem, Netanyahu failed to publicly address Ukraine's official policy of rehabilitating local Nazi collaborators like UPA leader Roman Shukhevych who had participated in the murder of Jews.[367]
Netanyahu has developed a close relationship with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro following Bolsonaro's election in 2018.[368][369]
Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have tense relations.[370] In March 2019, after being denounced by Turkey as a racist for saying that Israel was the nation-state of the Jewish people only, Netanyahu called Erdoğan a dictator and mocked him for imprisoning journalists in a tweet.[371] In response, Erdoğan called Netanyahu as "the thief who heads Israel", referencing the ongoing corruption scandals against Netanyahu. In the same speech, Erdoğan further escalated the spat by addressing to Netanyahu directly, saying "you are a tyrant. You are a tyrant who slaughters 7-year-old Palestinian kids",[371] and further in April 2018, calling Israel "terror state" and Netanyahu "terrorist".[372] Netanyahu tweeted that "Erdoğan is among Hamas's biggest supporters and there is no doubt that he well understands terrorism and slaughter."[373] Netanyahu condemned the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria and warned against ethnic cleansing of Kurds by Turkey and its proxies.[374]
All very interesting and useful information, but not at 1:53 AM. One more picture of the Ultimate Jew, then I’m done.
