Netanyahu: The leader who struts like a superpower

[IndianaGreen]

Netanyahu: The leader who struts like a superpower

Benjamin Netanyahu is favourite to win Tuesday's Israeli election, and that could put him on a collision course with the Obama White House. Donald Macintyre reports

By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem

Saturday, 7 February 2009

It was Bill Clinton who drily observed after meeting the newly elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that "he thinks he is the superpower and we are here to do whatever he requires."

If Mr Netanyahu emerges as victor in next Tuesday's election and in the process of government formation that will follow, he is unlikely to treat President Barack Obama to a repeat of what Mr Clinton's key Middle East aide, Dennis Ross, would later recall as that "nearly insufferable" performance in the White House in 1996.

Mr Netanyahu, who has gone out of his way to be publicly flattering about Mr Obama in recent weeks, knows a little more about diplomacy than he did then; one of several reasons why he lost the election three years later was that the Israeli public was unhappy about how unwelcome their prime minister had become in Washington.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/netanyahu-the-leader-who-struts-like-a-superpower-1570710.html

[BlueCaliDem]

1. Why would Israelis vote for this neocon/Fixed News candidate??

Israelis, unlike their government, don't want all war all the time. They want peace, as evidenced when Israel invaded Lebanon and all polling showed 80% of Israelis wanted their government to end the escalation.

So why would they vote for a man who is the Cheney equivalent of Cheney?? :shrug:

[IndianaGreen]

2. Israel doesn't want peace.

Perhaps it did, decades ago! Israel wants Palestinian lands and water sources. Land is Israel's new god.

[LeftishBrit]

3. I'd say fear ; anger; and perception that the current government 's corrupt and should be replaced.

Come to think of it, these are pretty similar reasons to why Palestinians voted in Hamas.

Also, the hawk/dove percentages in both Israel and Palestine have generally (according to polls) been more like 50/50 than either 'all want peace' or 'all want war'. Therefore small changes in popular opinion can be absolutely crucial.

At any rate, I hope that the Israelis do NOT vote in Netanyahu!