Israeli Right poster: "Caution! PLO agent in the White House!"
Rightist: “[W]e will teach those Leftists what democracy is,” he added. “Obama is anti-Semitic, pro-Arab, an agent of the PLO and we stand behind what the poster says.”
IOA Editor: Hardly – but there’s no reason for the Israeli Right not to try pushing Netanyahu further to the right. This latest, made-in-Israel diplomatic crisis is reminiscent of the Bush-Baker-Shamir mini-crisis. We know how quickly the US bounced back to letting Israel carry on with the Occupation and inflict a great deal more damage to the Palestinians.
By Chaim Levinson, Haaretz – 16 March 2010
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1156844.html
A group of far-right activists on Tuesday announced their plan to hang hundreds of posters across the country depicting U.S. President Barack Obama under the headline “agent of the PLO.” The banner is already on display in the office of National Union MK Michael Ben Ari.
“The poster is within the limits of the country’s freedom of speech act,” said Ben Ari’s aide, Itamar Ben Gvir.
“I pity those who clapped during [U.S. Vice President] Joe Biden’s speech,” said Ben Gvir, referring to Biden’s address to the Israeli people at Tel Aviv University last week.
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“By the end of Ben Arie’s cadency we will teach those Leftists what democracy is,” he added. “Obama is anti-Semitic, pro-Arab, an agent of the PLO and we stand behind what the poster says.”
Shortly after taking office last year, Obama made a key address to the Muslim world during a visit to Cairo, Egypt. The much anticipated 55-minute address touched on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S.-Arab ties and confronting terrorism.
The “Cairo speech” stirred tension in Israel and the U.S. regarding the president’s new policy towards the Middle East, and created the impression that he was bias towards Arab countries, as he began with the Arab saying “salaam alaykum.”
Following the speech, Obama made a personal phone call to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, guaranteeing that the U.S. would always support Israel.
