Netanyahu In 2001: 'America Is A Thing You Can Move Very Easily'

A newly released video of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could add some additional strain to the sometimes tense relationship between him and President Obama.

In the video, which is from 2001, Netanyahu -- who reportedly did not know his speech was being recorded -- speaks frankly in Hebrew about relations with the Clinton White House and the peace process.

As noted in Haaretz, Netanyahu seems to boast of his knowledge of the US by saying, "I know what America is. America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction. They won't get in their way."

He also boasts of manipulating the U.S. in the ongoing peace process, as the Washington Post points out:

"They asked me before the election if I'd honor [the Oslo accords]," he said. "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."

The video was broadcast on a TV program called "This Week With Miki Rosenthal" titled "The Real (And Deceitful) Face of Benjamin Netanyahu." In Israel's Haaretz newspaper, columnist Gideon Levy said of the video:

These remarks are profoundly depressing. They bear out all of our fears and suspicions: that the government of Israel is led by a man who doesn't believe the Palestinians and doesn't believe in the chance of an agreement with them, who thinks that Washington is in his pocket and that he can pull the wool over its eyes. There's no point in talking about Netanyahu's impossible rightist coalition as an obstacle to progress. From now on, just say that Netanyahu doesn't want it.

Comments

[timaeus]

03:06 PM on 07/21/2010

Slow posting. I hope I'm not repeating myself.

Israel does not control U.S. policy and Bibi never said that it did. The U.S. makes its own decisions that serve its own interests. Bibi, as well as every other Israeli leader, is well aware of this fact.

Besides the simple reality that the tail does not actually wag the dog, the U.S. has a heck of a lot more leverage in the relationship than Israel does

The U.S. carries out its own policies whether or not they coincide with Israels desires. From US support to limiting Jewish immigration prior to Israels founding; to forcing an Israeli withdrawal from Sinai in 1956; to prohibiting Israel from developing its own combat fighter jet; to opposing Israeli claims in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem;to forbidding Israel from silencing the Scud fire directed at Israel; to pressuring Israel to abruptly end battles when Arab armies were losing; to providing advanced weapons systems to sworn enemies of Israel, the examples of U.S. policy NOT being determined by Israels interest are sufficiant to disprove the conspiracy theory about AIPAC/Israel "controlling" U.S. policy.

[Yank in France]

03:50 PM on 07/21/2010

As a long-time critic of Israel, I must admit that you are right on all counts: the US controls Israel not vice verse.

Please allow me to sum up, OK?

Israel pays the US $3 billion per year, not vice verse, as some nogoodniks seem to think! Boy are those Israeli taxpayer generous!

Israel pays an equal amount to America's neighbors just to keep Canada and Mexico from going to war with the US.

The US does what it wants, like invade Iraq, but this is never at the bidding of the Israelis. Ohh no!

Israel sells high tech weapons to China, which are then deployed across the Formosa Straits, so that US sailors can improve their naval skills.

Thank you Israel for helping our troops out. It is nice to know that you have Americans' interest always close to your tender hearts!

You are 100% right that US has opposed the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, and look at all the good it has done: those nice little Israelis have not built Jews-only settlements, housing 450,000 foreign settlers. I think they are just a figment of some conspiracy theorists' imagination.

Amazing, isn't it?!

As for the USS Liberty massacre, that was the Americans' fault, since the Israelis probably thought they were an aid ship for Palestinians!

In conclusion, I now see that I was wrong to believe that Israel was leading America straight into a war of civilizations.

Shalom!

[timaeus]

05:47 PM on 07/21/2010

Sarcasm is no substitute for reason.

The U.S. chooses to subsidize Israeli arms purchases because the U.S. government sees it as being in America's interest, which is true of all of the U.S.'s 20 billion dollar a year worldwide arms trade (http://www.globalissues.org/article/74/the-arms-trade-is-big-business#GlobalArmsSalesBySupplierNations )

The U.S. did not invade Iraq at the bidding of Israel. The U.S. invaded Iraq because Iraq invaded Quwait and threatened Saudi Arabia and all those oil fields which are the most important factor in the U.S.'s Middle East policy. Israeli intelligence advised against destabilizing Iraq. Just because people who should know better keep repeating the lie that America invaded Iraq "for Israel" doesn't make it true. U.S. troops are in the Middle East because of the Oil and the Islamist threat to America. Not because of Israel.

Jews have every right to live in Judea Samaria and Jerusalem, or are you suggesting that these should be Arab Only territories?

As for the regrettable USS Liberty incident, it was determined to be a friendy fire mistake by the U.S. military. Israel admitted being responsible and paid reparations. That was over 40 years ago. If everyone kept a grudge like you do nobody would ever make peace with anybody.
Shalom.

[timaeus]

06:34 PM on 07/21/2010

Israel has cancelled arms deals to China at America's request. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062700351.html
I don't know of any U.S. arms deal that was cancelled at Israel's request.
Who's controlling whom?

[muck-raker]

10:43 AM on 07/21/2010

.............................Burning Conscience....A Israeli Soldier speaks out.......................


http://www.zcommunications.org/burning-conscience-israeli-soldiers-speak-out-by-avichai-sharon

[lonngfello]

11:23 AM on 07/21/2010

Many of the Jews in Israel are appalled by the actiions of their government. Like here in the USA many Israelis feel they have been hijacked by the hard right.

[brianct]

10:09 PM on 07/20/2010

its also easy to move australia:
http://middleeastrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2010/05/all-way-with-mossad.html
and israel may have been involved in the coup against PM Kevin Rudd.
http://middleeastrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2010/07/if-only-rudd-hadnt-expelled-that.html

[Walter Bradley]

02:54 PM on 07/20/2010

This sentiment expressed by Benjamin Netanyahu is so obviously true regardless of 'context'. Simply look at the history of the relationship between the U.S. and Israel for proof, you couldn't possibly miss it. Why this is so is open to debate, but the fact that it is so is not!

[timaeus]

11:07 AM on 07/21/2010

"Obviously true", "regardless of context", " simply true", "not open to debate".
Thanks for the insight into how your mind works. No wonder you fell for this misleading article which presents a distorted translation of a grossly edited conversation interpreted with no regard for the actual subject being discussed by people with clear political agendas. No, I don't think that's "obviously true". Just the opposite.

[timaeus]

01:03 PM on 07/21/2010

He didn't express the "sentiment" you and the article attribute to him.
When one thinks something is "so obviously true" and "simply looks for proof" and declares the issue "not open to debate", one is not likely discover the truth of the matter.
The simple truth is that Israel does not control U.S. policy, and Bibi never said that it did. The U.S. makes its own decisions that serve its own interests and Bibi knows that as well as anyone.

[timaeus]

06:45 AM on 07/20/2010

The conversation took place during a condolence call in 2001 to a family whose father and son had been murdered by snipers during Arafat's suicide bomber war (the Palestinian response to Barak's far-reaching offers at Camp David and Taba).
Sharon, then PM, had not yet, after 4 months of unrelenting bombings and shooting attacks on Jewish civilians, initiated a military offensive against the terror cells in the West Bank, evidently due to U.S. pressure against major Israeli military action in the West Bank.
It was on this subject that Bibi said it was possible to influence America in the right direction and that they wouldn't interfere with a military campaign against the terror infrastructure.
Supporting Israel's defensive war against the terror cells was the right thing to do. And it's to America's credit the there was a consensus "in the right direction" when Israel, finally (some 4 months later) embarked on the life-saving military operation "defensive shield". Since then, to everyone's benefit, both sides of the green line have been relatively quiet.
The article removes the context, distorts what was said and is misleading. And in their ignorance posters here are lapping it up.

[MMIIXX]

08:57 AM on 07/20/2010

"distorts what was said and is misleading"
Sure it is !

[StCuthbert]

09:23 AM on 07/20/2010

Great post.

[Garnet Scarabin]

03:52 AM on 07/20/2010

Although it has long been an American tradition for our government to financially support foreign powers whose policies and actions violate the Geneva Conventions, UN resolutions, basic human rights, and the democratic ideals we still claim to triumph in this country rarely if ever have I seen the leader of such a country so openly bite the hand that feeds them.

Bad form, Bibi. And furthermore, shame on the US for continuing to politically and financially support Israel. The relationship between the US and Israel mimics domestic violence. Like a battered woman, no matter what Israel does or says, we continue to stick up for them.

[Markovich]

03:05 AM on 07/20/2010

AIPAC will fall this decade too.

Who do you think is telling these thoughts to Bibi in his other ear.

AIPAC is an America-second organization cloaking itself as "American". It's a fraud. Even the rank-and-file members who blissfully assuage their guilt and make their donation have no real idea how deep the fizzure.

They should know, however. Their averting their gaze, always a costly move.

[Markovich]

02:58 AM on 07/20/2010

Excellent news.....

Time to expose the mass manipulators.

The time is upon us.

Israeli Apartheid and the threat it brings to the United States will come to an ignominious end this decade.

[Open eyes]

11:34 PM on 07/19/2010

I am SHOCKED! SHOCKED! that Bibi knows he can push around the pres and congress

[brianct]

11:25 PM on 07/19/2010

emocracy is a fraud..policies are made by interest groups: AIPAC makes us policy on middle east, ex cubans/venesuelans make policy on latin america, oil lobby lakes policy on environment, BIG PHARMA mase policy on health etc etc
The only ones NOT with any say are the ordinary people.

[brianct]

10:34 PM on 07/19/2010

the real palestine has always opposed peace. back in 2006:

'An Israeli navy gunboat fired shells onto a northern Gaza beach Friday, killing at least seven people and prompting the military wing of Hamas to call off a 16-month-old cease-fire with Israel. '
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/09/mideast/

take note people...

[brianct]

09:56 PM on 07/19/2010

How nice to see Bibi tell the truth for once! And indeed the americans are fools for backing this brutal apartheid regime, which can murder US citizens and get away free. Emboldened by US support, ISrael wil commit more and more crimes until it brought to justice

[looneydoone]

01:50 AM on 07/20/2010

give Israel a protective dome ? Then that terrorist nation state will be protected from in-coming defensive retaliation..........and have the ability to attack Iran, Syria, Lebannon without fear of suffering any damages from retalitory/defensive attacks

End it with Israel NOW ! They are not our "friends", the ties are not "unbreakable" they are a security threat for the USA, have no intention of agreeing to any peace accords, will not withdraw to 1967 borders but instead will continue with the "settlement" expansion on occupied Palestinian lands until they've absorbed every last square meter of land building towards the borders imagined as ancient Israel......per religious teaching.

I'm sick & tired of AIPAC writing US foreign policy.......and don't believe "God" chose any one group to be "chosen" above all others........or gifted them with any land inheritence

Cut ties with Israel NOW

[Adam Selbst]

06:31 AM on 07/21/2010

You do know that Israel has already returned over 95% of the Arab land it occupied during the 67 war in exchange for peace or to fulfill commitments it made towards establishing peace, right?

You don't seem to know much about this. You say the ties are not unbreakable but I'd be willing to wager that you don't know much about what kind of ties the US actually has with Israel. I mean, your comments here don't reflect reality at all. You say that Israel's intention is to take every last meter of the OPT, but in the past 15 years the Palestinians have established sovereignty over their own land for the first time ever. The land you're talking about Israel seeking to take at any cost is the exact same land it has already redeployed troops from and given back to the Arabs.

Incidentally you should also look up the meaning of "the chosen people" before critiquing it. It doesn't mean what you seem to think it means.

[gingershot]

05:39 PM on 07/19/2010

St - forgive me I do not read your posts regularly

It's all endless defense of Israeli crimes which is why I stopped reading these particular posts - it falls within the range what Bibi refers to as 'absurd'

Surprise me - I'll start checking your posts again

[Aripottah]

08:02 PM on 07/19/2010

I too give Cuthbert's posts a wide berth for the same reasons, i.e. an endless litany of defenses of Israeli skirmishes and wrongdoing. I'm tired of reading these "the dog ate my homework" type posts in defense of Israel. Truthfulness is valued, but I do not place your posts in this category St Cuthbert.

[Cannonball Taffy O Jones]

09:11 PM on 07/19/2010

How very open minded of you both.

I have always found reading the thoughts and views of those I disagree with to be both educative and stimulating.

But then I was taught that being receptive to new ideas and arguments is a virtue.

[lungfish]

01:16 PM on 07/19/2010

When it came to Bush and wars Israel was right there cheering him on... in fact, every gov and leader that supported Bush, with the exception of Netanyahu, has been removed. Brown, Blair and the rest are all long gone for their support of Bush' misadventures in the ME.
Now we hear what Netanyahu really thinks of us while he and Israel accepts billions of dollars in aid that would be far better spent taking care of Americans first.
I do not believe that Israel needs our money and I think it is a darn poor investment when one considers that one of the primary motives for terrorism against the US is our support of Israel. Its an even worse investment when one hears the cynical and self-serving opinions of the leaders of Israel. Knowing that they are taking the money and have no plan to make any peace with Palestinians/Palestine simply illustrates that we are throwing good money after bad.
End aid to Israel and Pakistan and the rest and focus on taking care of Americans first.

[Debbie McPherson]

10:34 AM on 07/19/2010

Everyone should get in touch with Erskine Bowles and let him know that rather than cut up our social security we would prefer they stop all those 40billion plus $$$$$ being given away to Israel who clearly is just pim.ping us.

[ahjuci]

10:42 AM on 07/19/2010

Now there's an idea that puts America First.

Charity begins at home - not in Tel Aviv.

[Cannonball Taffy O Jones]

02:11 PM on 07/19/2010

I agree, $40,000,000,000 saved means that the Treasury won’t have to go mooching in China and the Gulf for 10 whole days.