A man on a motorcycle, who spoke Hebrew with a heavy Arab accent, fired a shot at Rabbi Yehuda Glick, a well-known right wing activist and a leader of the movement to return Jewish prayer to the Temple Mount. Tonight’s assassination attempt will inflame passions that have already been running very high in Jerusalem. There are calls tonight in Jerusalem for calm, but it is unclear that they will be heeded
Right wing Knesset member Moshe Feglin has called for a mass demonstration tomorrow morning at the Al Aqsa mosque. Glick was shot at close range as he left a seminar called “Israel Returns to the Temple Mount” which was attended by many leaders of the Israeli right. The seminar was being held at the Begin Heritage Center in West Jerusalem.
When was the last time the United States called the leader of another nation "chicken shit"?
While I cannot be sure, my guess is never. That was the slur Israelis woke up to this morning – Unnamed sources in the White house were calling Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu "chicken shit." Of course, Israeli media could not use the phrase "chicken shit", (since an equivalent does not exist in the Hebrew). So they chose the term "scared coward", not nearly as colorful (but it go its point across).
Prime Minister Netanyahu utilized the attack on himself today to his political advantage. He declared that he was being attacked "for defending the security of Israel". Netanyahu he went on to say that he risked his life a number of times for Israel, but he will never risk the security of Israelis, just because others think he should take risks that are not in Israel’s interest.
By this afternoon, the White House was walking back the remarks, saying that the statement was unhelpful and did not reflect the opinion of the administration. one thing was clear; Israeli officials decried the insulting words, saying when were such strong words used against “model world citizens” such as Assad of Syria. This evening Israeli news reports claimed that government officials attributed the remarks to deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes.
Many Israelis agree with the characterization of Prime Minister Netanyahu if not the words . There can be no question that Prime Minister Netanyahu is one of the most risk-averse Israeli Prime Ministers. He is one of the few Prime Ministers not to launch any significant military action. This summer’s war in Gaza was without question not launched by Netanyahu. He did all he could to avoid it – every step of the way, merely responding to actions by Hamas. At the same time, Netanyahu is also risk adverse when it comes to to achieving peace. He truly will not take any risks – not in war, and not in peace. But what Israel’s critics, both in the US Administration, and in other places fail to understand, is that Netanyahu’s unwillingness to take risks reflects the views of the Israeli public; a public that has been stung by a series of concessions (perceived by many as risks for peace), which has resulted in anything but peace.
When the average Israeli looks around the Middle East today, and hears the US Administration declaring that Israel should be "taking more risks for peace", they just shake their heads in disbelief ... That comment was made by the Administration that allowed nearly 200,000 Syrians to die without even imposing a no fly zone? The same administration that does not seem to be able to stop ISIS from expanding its control in Iraq and Syria? Is that the administration that wants Israel to take further risks for peace?
Israelis never had a great deal of faith in President Obama’s foreign policy. From the time of his first speech in Cairo, before the beginning of the Arab Spring, Israelis felt the President Obama did not understand the Middle East. That belief has only been strengthened by events across the Middle East this past two years, and America's failure to act. Israelis have never referred to President Obama "chicken shit". If there was one word that Israelis have probably have used to describe President Obama it is probably naive. However, tonight, although Israelis both on the right and on the left may agree with part of the criticism of Netanyahu, most Israelis would likely want to tell the White House that "people who live in glass houses should not throw stones."
If the goal of that unnamed White House source of sources who spoke to Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic and called Netanyahu "chicken shit" was to weaken Prime Minister Netanyahu, the view tonight from Tel Aviv is that their actions backfired, and their verbal attack just strengthened him instead.
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