Humans are often a herd like community when massed together. The exceptional ones break free of that herd mentality, but they are rare, by design.

is like saying that you shouldn’t desist from jumping off a cliff unless the person trying to talk you out of it has offered you a good job.

Oh, don’t TEASE. And don’t give them any ideas, they don’t need more ludicrous ideas. Just wait, this will be a part of Michelle’s new anti-suicide initiative.

In your second comment, you write:

“My apologies, I confused you with Clarice Feldman of American Thinker, who compared Bibi with Haile Selassie. That was wrong, but I don’t see how it’s an insult to you. I apologize anyway.”

You ostensibly read my original post before you made your first comment, the one where you mentioned Haile Selassie. You were not on the American Thinker site when you made that comment; you were on mine, responding to this post. My name is not Clarice Feldman. My post bears no resemblance to Feldman’s post. I don’t see how you could have actually read my post and made that error.

In addition, I never said you were insulting me. I said that I suspected you were dropping pre-written comments (that were not specific to the blogs in question) at various blogs on the right—in other words that you are a troll. That was because I suspected (and still suspect, actually) that you had not actually read my post.

I accept your apology, if it was sincere.

You also write:

Poison? Just the truth. Netanyahu has repeatedly said that all Jews should be in Israel. He thinks the Diaspora is a false consciousness for Jews.

If that’s what you were referring to in your original comment, it’s awfully odd that you didn’t reference it in that original comment. The topic on this thread has been Netanyahu’s address yesterday, and you gave no indication that’s not what you were talking about. What you actually wrote in that first comment makes it clear you were talking about Bibi’s address, not what he said to French or other diaspora Jews about a month ago. Here’s what you actually said in your first comment here, the one I was responding to:

Bibi has now injected Israel explicitly into domestic US politics…Israel is now a part of US domestic coalition politics. The fact that this will be excruciating for American Jews doesn’t matter to Bibi — in fact, I think he likes it.

The “poison” is this: “The fact that this will be excruciating for American Jews doesn’t matter to Bibi — in fact, I think he likes it.” I couldn’t have been referring to what you think Netanyahu said to French Jews or Jews in general about the diaspora—because you hadn’t yet brought that subject up,and didn’t until later.

But since you brought it up in that second comment—I’ll respond, because you got what he said wrong, too. You wrote that Netanyahu had said “all Jews should be in Israel” and that “he thinks the Diaspora is a false consciousness for Jews.” Interesting that you don’t offer any actual quotes. Perhaps there are some that match, but I sure haven’t found them. What I found was this sort of thing from Netanyahu:

We send our condolences to the Danish people and to the Jewish community in Denmark…

Of course, Jews deserve protection in every country but we say to Jews, to our brothers and sisters: Israel is your home. We are preparing and calling for the absorption of mass immigration from Europe. I would like to tell all European Jews and all Jews wherever they are: ‘Israel is the home of every Jew…to the Jews of Europe and to the Jews of the world I say that Israel is waiting for you with open arms.”

You seem to consider yourself to be someone interested in history (at least in Haile Selassie and the League) and in context, so I shouldn’t need to remind you of what Netanyahu was referring to in terms of history and context: a recent increase in terrorist murders of and threats to Jews in Europe, the site of the WWII Holocaust, when Jews were trapped and killed because they had no country that would take them in, and where they were hunted down both by occupying Germans and in many many occupied countries with the participation and cooperation of a significant portion (although not all) of the local citizenry. They tried to obtain passports in order to escape to virtually any country around the world—in some cases as far-flung as Japan or countries in South America—in a desperate effort to escape the closing net, but often with nowhere to go because most were not welcome anywhere.

And now there are already many Jews leaving Europe for Israel because of the increasing anti-Semitic violence in Europe. Netanyahu is saying nothing like “all Jews should be in Israel” or “the Diaspora is a false consciousness for Jews.” He is saying that if things are bad in Europe, Jews have a place to go in Israel—a home that will welcome them with open arms.

All Jews are allowed to emigrate to Israel and Israel will take them. That is his message. Israel is a safety valve for Jews all over the world—despite the fact that Israel itself is also imperiled. That latter point—the peril Israel faces as a result of Obama’s Iran deal—is the topic Netanyahu addressed in Congress yesterday, and is the topic of this post.

To continue—in your most recent comment you address me:

But you are evading my basic questions. I don’t have much confidence that you’ll answer them but I’ll pose them again:

Was this appropriate?
Didn’t Bibi cross a line in making Israel a party to US partisan politics?
Doesn’t this put American Jews in a tough position?

The above—accusing me of evading your questions, and saying you don’t have much confidence I’ll answer them—are insults, by the way. They’re also gratuitous ones, since if you go back to your original comment (the one I was responding to in my only comment to you before you made your second comment), you will find that there are no questions in your first comment, only statements. So your suggestion in your second comment that I have somehow “evaded” your questions, and that you will pose them again (as though you had posed them in the first place, which you had not) is bogus.

But hey, because I’m such a nice person, I’ll give you a break and answer those questions anyway.

That is, I would answer them if I knew for sure whether you’re asking them about Netanyahu’s speech yesterday, or whether you’re asking them about Netanyahu’s comments saying Jews are welcome in Israel. But I’ll assume it’s the first—his speech yesterday—because that seems to fit better.

(1) It was not only appropriate, but necessary. Netanyahu is facing an existential threat, and he must do whatever he can to stave it off.

(2) He crossed no line that hadn’t been crossed many thousands of times before. Israel has been a subject of partisan politics for some years now, particularly under this administration, and Obama has made it more so by his petty, personal, narcissistic, reaction to the entire topic of Netanyahu’s speech and to Netanyahu himself for the past few years.

(3) I have no idea a why you would think Netanyahu’s speech puts American Jews in a tough position, or why that would particularly matter anyway. Netanyahu’s duty is first to Israel and to the world. A bit of discomfort for American Jews is irrelevant. But which Jews are you talking about, anyway? The third who vote Republican? Don’t think so. The ones who are secular and hate Israel? Don’t think so. The leftists who spout the anti-Israel party line? Don’t think so. I assume you’re talking about liberal Jews (either secular or religious) who still support Israel but who also like and support Obama? Why should Netanyahu care about their tender sensibilities? Life is full of conflict and decisions that need to be made. Adults make them.

In conclusion, you wrote:

As an ex-dance student, surely you should understand that a soloist doesn’t upstage a prima ballerina, even if the soloist is the better dancer.

A more silly comparison I don’t think I’ve ever heard. This is no ballet; this is survival, war and peace. In addition, Obama and Netanyahu are both heads of sovereign states, equal in that respect. Obama is free to do his own solo any time he wants, for as long as he wants, as many times as he wants, any time he wishes. He can address Congress, or America on TV, in a special message. Obama has the bully pulpit; Netanyahu’s single address could not possibly take that away.

What’s more, in a ballet, the soloist and the principal (a word I prefer to prima ballerina) each have their solos in a ballet. Each graciously allows the other to have her moment in the spotlight. Netanyahu didn’t take away Obama’s spotlight; it was Obama who tried to take away Netanyahu’s. If you want a dance analogy, it was the principal dancer, Obama, who tried to upstage the soloist Netanyahu’s variation—or to even stop it, or to make half the audience walk out on it—not the other way around. Soloists are called soloists because they have solo variations in a ballet, a time when all eyes are on them. They don’t have as many solos, or solos as long as the principal, but they have them.

You—and others—may wonder why I’m answering you at such length. There are several reasons. The first is informational: I think it important to correct the record on certain false assertions you made, including important ones about Netanyahu’s message to Jews. I think it also important to explain the context of the remarks Netanyahu did make, and how it relates to the history of the Jews during the 30s and WWII. In addition, you seem to be somewhat typical of a certain kind of commenter who comes to this blog and others, seeming reasonable, but making many false assertions, moving the goalposts, and misquoting and misinterpreting.

I value discourse on this blog and have a fairly high tolerance for disagreement. But I prefer that people read the posts in question, use logic in their responses, and quote people correctly.

Actually, though, Netanyahu has not only not said that “repeatedly,” he never said that at all. He said that all Jews were welcome in Israel and had a home there.

Traitors.

This: the new scourge
The Betrayal Papers, Part III Of V

Why bother posting, spreading info?
The sheeple, united, shall never be defeated!

They did it TWICE!

French Jews were already moving to Israel, even though they were more anti Zionist and Leftist than the average for Israel, before B N said anything about Jews moving to Israel.

Peanuts, a few ‘000’s. There are about 6000K at large. No need to get into how they vote ….

French Jews were already moving to Israel, even though they were more anti Zionist and Leftist than the average for Israel, before B N said anything about Jews moving to Israel.