Kerry phones Netanyahu, apologizes for ‘chickenshit’ comment

[shira]

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday phoned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and apologized to him in the name of the Obama administration for the comments made by an anonymous US official who called the prime minister “a chickenshit.”

On Thursday, Kerry had publicly distanced himself from the comments, stressing that neither he nor US President Barack Obama were behind the remarks, which he said were “disgraceful, unacceptable, and damaging.”

American officials were quoted Friday night as saying that the Kerry-Netanyahu phone call was a “good conversation” and that they discussed ways to improve relations between the US and Israeli leaderships. The two were also said to have discussed other regional issues, including efforts to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Nonetheless, analysts on both of Israel’s main news shows Friday night, on Channels 2 and 10, said ties between the American and Israeli leaderships were extremely bad — with a Channel 10 commentator speaking of “unprecedented loathing” between the two administrations.

more...
http://www.timesofisrael.com/kerry-phones-netanyahu-apologizes-for-chickenshit-comment/#ixzz3HknbEMuK

[MADem]

1. Gee, I had HIM pegged for saying it! Off that record, of course...

The mystery deepens, then!

[Scootaloo]

2. As one would expect the Secretary of State to do

Just like one expects the Secretary of state to skip through the bloodstained streets of Cairo, hand-in-hand with Fateh al-Sissi. Or to arm the king of Bahrain against the people of Bahrain who are striving for democratic reform.

Doesn't mean Netanyahu isn't a chickenshit, of course. Just means that Kerry, as Secretary of State, has a job that includes appeasing barbarous fucks who happen to squat over strategic real estate.

[BeyondGeography]

3. It's the old chicken salad, chicken shit routine

[Israeli]

4. King Bibi the Chickenshit

An unnamed Obama administration official has resurrected a fine tradition of kingly nicknames. But even the 'chickenshit' moniker doesn't do our pigheaded, Holocaust-obsessed Netanyahu justice.

By Roy Isacowitz

............

I am delighted to note, therefore, that members of the Obama administration have resurrected this fine, old tradition by anointing the current monarch of Israel Bibi the Chickenshit, or so we are told by Jeffrey Goldberg in a recent article in The Atlantic. Bibi the Chickenshit. It’s not quite Basarab the Little Impaler (of Romania) or Edgar the Outlaw (of England,) but it sure beats Benjamin Netanyahu.

The reason for the nickname, according to Goldberg’s unnamed source, is that Netanyahu is basically a coward, more interested in his own political survival than making peace with the Palestinians. Or that’s what the Obamaites apparently think.

“The good thing about Netanyahu is that he’s scared to launch wars. The bad thing about him is that he won’t do anything to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians or with the Sunni Arab states.” Thus Goldberg’s source.

Much as I welcome the return to descriptive nicknames, I’m not sure that Chickenshit captures the essence of the man who is leading Israel down the plughole. I know of many people, myself included, who might reasonably be described as chickenshit when it comes to confrontations involving violence and people bigger than ourselves.

Nor does it even allude to Bibi’s many other gifts. He may well be chickenshit, for all I know, but that’s not the sort of shit that is threatening to do us in. Levi Eshkol was known as being a bit chickenshit in his day, but he didn’t pick fights with the president of America, glare down at the leaders of Europe from a lofty height or send his Bible-dazzled emissaries to live in Silwan.

Chickenshit is not exactly a compliment, of course, but nor does it denote the pigheaded, Holocaust-obsessed, chauvinistic delusions of Israel’s current prime minister. When you’re up against historical competition of the likes of “the Be-shitten” (James II of England,) you’ve got to try harder.

Which is typical of the wishy-washy Obama administration, if you don’t mind my saying so. Always sitting on the fence and trying to be the nice guys. Never wanting to give offence, even when the other guy – Bibi the Chickenshit, for argument’s sake – has just spat them in the eye and gone over their heads to the dinosaur-shits in Congress who are always guaranteed to give him a warm reception.

Given the insipid effort of the Obama crowd – and the extreme likelihood that they’ll deny everything when the chickenshit starts hitting the fan – those of us who take our historical obligations seriously are going to have to work it out for ourselves.

So here’s the challenge: What is the one-word moniker (OK, two hyphenated words are also acceptable) that will go down in history as an accurate characterization of the man whose words and actions encapsulate the stupefied unreality that passes for policy in Israel today?

It’s clear that words like “anti-democratic,” “colonialist” – “fascist,” even – simply don’t do the job. They’re far too tame, far too…real. They’re ‘sticks and stones’ sort of words, whereas there’s something deranged – something that is simultaneously fantastical, delirious and petty – about Netanyahu and his minions.

I’m not going to say that they resemble the lunatics of the Islamic State in that sense, because I don’t want to lose my VIP pass and public beheadings are still a step or two too far, even for Bennett. But Israel’s settler-driven right, in its suicidal mission to hold onto the occupied territories and deny the Palestinians nationhood at any price, represent the same atavistic poison that kills Rohingya in Burma, Tamils in Sri Lanka and other religious or ethnic minorities around the world.

The best I can come up with is Bibi the Unhinged, Bibi the Rash (OK, I stole that from James III of Majorca) or Bibi the Grim-Reaper – none of which, I acknowledge, have the simple impact of Chickenshit.
Any ideas?

Roy Isacowitz is a journalist and writer living in Tel Aviv and an editor at Haaretz English.

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.623658

[Jefferson23]

5. Oh my gosh, that is awesome..thanks for posting it.

Chickenshit is not exactly a compliment, of course, but nor does it denote the pigheaded, Holocaust-obsessed, chauvinistic delusions of Israel’s current prime minister. When you’re up against historical competition of the likes of “the Be-shitten” (James II of England,) you’ve got to try harder.

Which is typical of the wishy-washy Obama administration, if you don’t mind my saying so. Always sitting on the fence and trying to be the nice guys. Never wanting to give offence, even when the other guy – Bibi the Chickenshit, for argument’s sake – has just spat them in the eye and gone over their heads to the dinosaur-shits in Congress who are always guaranteed to give him a warm reception.

[Jefferson23]

6. Not surprising, but it's too late..already out there..sorry, Bibi. n/t

[quadrature]

7. 27 more months of this

2nd terms are always difficult