Political Observer.

Headline: In 46 Words, Biden Sends a Clear Message to Israel

Here are the opening paragraphs of Mr. Friedman’s Feb 12, 2023 column:

I woke up on Saturday morning, read the news from Israel that at least 50,000 Israelis had just demonstrated once more against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to strip the Israeli Supreme Court of its independence and put it instead under Netanyahu’s thumb — at a time when Netanyahu himhself is facing corruption charges — and I asked myself a simple question: “What does President Biden think of this?”

Biden is as pro-Israel in his gut as any president I have ever covered. He has also had a long and mutually respectful relationship with Netanyahu. So I can tell you that whatever Biden has to say about Israel comes from a place of real concern. It’s a concern that the radical transformation of Israel’s judicial system that Netanyahu’s ultranationalist, ultrareligious coalition is trying to slam through the Knesset could seriously damage Israel’s democracy and therefore its close ties to America and democracies everywhere.

Wasn’t the reading of ‘guts’ of sacrificial animal the endeavor/practice of Priests of Ages Past:

https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/38591/chapter-abstract/334653021?redirectedFrom=fulltext

This next sentence reeks of Friedman’s commitment to The American National Security State, and his, and its commitment to The Zionist Faschist State. The ‘fate’ of America is now in the hands of Senile Old Joe, and his collection of Neo-Conservative ghouls. Note that Friedman has access to the President, and his commentary is steeped in ‘Foreign Policy demotic’.

Here is the statement that Biden sent me on Saturday afternoon when I asked for comment: “The genius of American democracy and Israeli democracy is that they are both built on strong institutions, on checks and balances, on an independent judiciary. Building consensus for fundamental changes is really important to ensure that the people buy into them so they can be sustained.”

Followed by this recitation of ‘The Party Line’ adopted by the respectable bourgeois apologists for The Zionist Faschist State.

This is the first time I can recall a U.S. president has ever weighed in on an internal Israeli debate about the very character of the country’s democracy. And although it’s only 46 words, Biden’s statement comes at a crucial time in this wrenching Israeli internal discussion and could well energize and expand the already significant opposition to what Netanyahu’s opponents are calling a legal coup that would move Israel into the camp of countries that have been drifting away from democracy, like Turkey, Hungary and Poland.

Yet, The Reader confronts another 1,216 words remaining in Mr. Friedman’s -what to name it? some samples …

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Here’s why Biden’s 46 words are so important: First, it puts him squarely behind the compromise approach called for by President Isaac Herzog of Israel — and behind keeping Israel’s widely respected judiciary independent.

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Herzog has pleaded with Netanyahu and his coalition to step back and organize some kind of bipartisan, national dialogue that can patiently study what kind of judicial changes might be healthy for Israel but do it with legal experts, in a nonpartisan fashion and in a way that preserves the integrity of the judicial system that has existed since Israel’s founding. 

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Unfortunately, Netanyahu rebuffed the Israeli president, which prompted Herzog to declare on Jan. 24 about the so-called judicial reform: “The democratic foundations of Israel, including the justice system, and human rights and freedoms, are sacred, and we must protect them and the values expressed in the Declaration of Independence.

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With Biden’s 46 words, Netanyahu now finds himself in a situation where, if he just keeps plowing ahead, he won’t just be snubbing the Israeli president; he will be snubbing the American president as well.

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The second reason Biden’s words matter is their timing — it could not be more important.

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Those leading the opposition have called for a nationwide workers’ strike on Monday and a mass rally outside the Knesset to coincide with the first rounds of voting on the legislation.

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Third, Biden has put himself and America squarely on the side of the Israeli majority opposing Netanyahu’s just shoving his “reform” through — in what increasingly looks like a judicial putsch.

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A poll published Friday “indicated that over 60 percent of the public wants the government to halt or delay its legislative efforts to dramatically weaken the High Court of Justice and secure political control over judicial appointments,” the Times of Israel reported.

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Mr. Friedman drones on: never has the politics of another country, been subject to such a self-serving examination, by an American commentator? But the patience of The Reader is exhausted, she skips, after much highly embroidered political chatter, she arrives at the final paragraph:

That’s why Biden’s 46 words are so crucial. With those 46 words, Biden is telling Israel our relationship has never truly rested on shared interests. It’s always been built up from our shared values. That is why it has endured so long — even when we disagree on interests. With his simple statement, Biden is signaling that whatever Israel does, it must not fundamentally depart from those shared values. Otherwise, we are in a totally new world.

Like his fellow Zionist Apologist/Advocates, at The New York Times: David Brooks and the perpetual hysteric Bret Stephens, the ‘evolution’ of The Zionist Faschist State, modeled after, that reliable Germanic Political Romantic invention of Lebensraum, is the rallying cry of Netanyahu, and his political operative @itamarbengvir.

Political Observer

For those interested Readers here is a link to my January 2022 essay:

@arishavit ＆ @tomfriedman attempt to come to terms with the toxin of Zionism?

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