The Knesset has never been known as a warm and fuzzy place - it's common for members to heckle each other, and the premier as well when he or she addresses them - but this piece indicates an especially poisonous atmosphere there now. And when the PM's own advisers and spokespeople despise each other and undercut their boss . . . .
The message here is that Netanyahu is paranoid, angry, flailing, desperate for more respect both within Israeli political circles and from the Obama administration. Historically, paranoia and desperation have not tended to be wise god-parents of policy-making. And if there's anywhere on the planet where rational, cool-headed decision-making is needed, given the stakes, it's Israel. . . .
. . . and, of course, the US, where Mr. Obama is facing - besides a steady drip-drip-drip of military and civilian casualties in Afghanistan - continued bombings in Iraq - Wednesday, in Mosul, Tell Afar (in the north), and Baghdad. And note the wording ("Elsewhere in Iraq . . .") and placement (last paragraph) of the NY Times' report:
Elsewhere in Iraq on Wednesday, two car bombs exploded near Shiite mosques in Mosul, killing 12 people and wounding 30 others, the police reported. In Hilla, south of Baghdad, the police said, a suicide bomber struck at a wedding party, killing 3 people and wounding 20.
Horrific carnage, as footnote.
What's all over the broadcast news in the US? The never-ending Michael Jackson death saga, and the sordid story of the former NFL quarterback-hero whose mistress shot him (and herself), evidently because she'd just learned about his other mistress. (Never mind the wife and 2 kids.)
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