Coming on the heels of Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu's fierce criticism of the Iran-US nuclear deal, news reports have surfaced that his new communications director has called the U.S. the president an anti-Semitic and said John Kerry, his Secretary of State, has the intellect of a 12-year-old.
This comes as the the U.S. and Israel leaders meet today in the White House and where Israel will make a pitch for the United States to increase its military aid package from $3.1 billion to $5 billion a year to make a $50 billion package over 10 years.
The Israeli government justifies the increase
on the approval of the Iran-US treaty by the U.S. Senate.
on the approval of the Iran-US treaty by the U.S. Senate.
In a Facebook entry last March, communications director Ran Baratz said Obama's response to a speech by Netanyahu to the U.S. Congress, during which he criticised the emerging Iran deal, "was what modern anti-Semitism looks like in Western and liberal countries."
Obama said at the time that no one could dispute that Iran had repeatedly "engaged in the most venomous of anti-Semitic statements." But, the president said, Netanyahu offered no viable alternatives "to the core issue, which is how do we prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."
In October last year, Baratz took aim at Kerry in an article on Mida, which bills itself as a "news and intellectual website" dedicated to providing information and views not prevalent in other Israeli media.
Baratz termed as "comical" remarks Kerry made on the occasion of a Muslim holiday, when he said Middle East leaders had told him feelings stirred by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were a factor in Islamic State recruitment.
"This is the time, then," Baratz wrote, "to wish the secretary of state success and count down two years on the calendar with the hope that someone in the State Department will then wake up and begin to see the world through the eyes of a man with a mental age above 12."
Israel will submit an initial request to the Obama administration to increase US military aid to $50 billion for the next 10 years. Israel is asking for $5 billion annually instead of the current $3.1 billion, or a rise of 65 percent, sources in the US Congress are quotes as telling Reuters. One of the sources said that the US Administration will not meet the request in full.
This latest report backs up an article in US Defense News on September 20, which said that Israel Defense Ministry hopes to increase Israel's annual military aid package to $5 billion per year. A previous report on August 26 by the Washington Post had described more modest Israeli demands of a rise of just $400 million annually to $3.5 billion, while in May US Defense News has reported an Israeli military assistance request of between $4.2 billion and $4.5 billion.
In any event, the enlarged military aid package being prepared will be added to separate assistance for anti-missile defense systems - the Arrow (long-range), David's Sling (medium range also called Magic Wand), and Iron Dome (short range) for which Israel received an additional $500 million in 2015, and an aid package for developing technologies to discover tunnels, probably $25 million per year.
As President Obama himself confirmed in a letter to Congressman Jerrold Nadler in August, talks between Israel and the US have been underway for several months. The current aid package is valid until 2017.
The reason Israel cites for needing more military assistance is the necessity of coping with the new threats presented by the nuclear agreement with Iran, Reuters reports. One of Israel's claims is that the lifting of sanctions on Iran will see hundreds of millions of dollars flowing into Tehran and the new affluence will increase Iranian financial support for Hezbollah and Hamas.
Representatives in Congress and White House officials stress that the Israel-US talks are in their early stages and that the Israelis have yet to submit a formal request.
One of the sources said that the US Administration will not meet the request in full.
In response to the criticisms of his new communications director, Netanyahu's office reposnded that he "will be reviewing" the appointment of Ran Baratz after a U.S.-Israeli summit meeting at the White House.
In October last year, Baratz took aim at Kerry in an article on Mida, which bills itself as a "news and intellectual website" dedicated to providing information and views not prevalent in other Israeli media.
Baratz termed as "comical" remarks Kerry made on the occasion of a Muslim holiday, when he said Middle East leaders had told him feelings stirred by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were a factor in Islamic State recruitment.
Israel will submit an initial request to the Obama administration to increase US military aid to $50 billion for the next 10 years. Israel is asking for $5 billion annually instead of the current $3.1 billion, or a rise of 65 percent, sources in the US Congress are quotes as telling Reuters. One of the sources said that the US Administration will not meet the request in full.
This latest report backs up an article in US Defense News on September 20, which said that Israel Defense Ministry hopes to increase Israel's annual military aid package to $5 billion per year. A previous report on August 26 by the Washington Post had described more modest Israeli demands of a rise of just $400 million annually to $3.5 billion, while in May US Defense News has reported an Israeli military assistance request of between $4.2 billion and $4.5 billion.
In any event, the enlarged military aid package being prepared will be added to separate assistance for anti-missile defense systems - the Arrow (long-range), David's Sling (medium range also called Magic Wand), and Iron Dome (short range) for which Israel received an additional $500 million in 2015, and an aid package for developing technologies to discover tunnels, probably $25 million per year.
As President Obama himself confirmed in a letter to Congressman Jerrold Nadler in August, talks between Israel and the US have been underway for several months. The current aid package is valid until 2017.
The reason Israel cites for needing more military assistance is the necessity of coping with the new threats presented by the nuclear agreement with Iran, Reuters reports. One of Israel's claims is that the lifting of sanctions on Iran will see hundreds of millions of dollars flowing into Tehran and the new affluence will increase Iranian financial support for Hezbollah and Hamas.
Representatives in Congress and White House officials stress that the Israel-US talks are in their early stages and that the Israelis have yet to submit a formal request.
One of the sources said that the US Administration will not meet the request in full.
In response to the criticisms of his new communications director, Netanyahu's office reposnded that he "will be reviewing" the appointment of Ran Baratz after a U.S.-Israeli summit meeting at the White House.
2 comments:
Obama is a muslim, a communist, and the enemy of the United States of America...now liberals...suck on that a while.
Obama has treated our ally Israel like shit. They have committed the subtle political snubs here and there, and people are too stupid or oblivious and never follow UN News. It's a sad fact. Americans are getting dumber despite the information at their fingertips.
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