Benjamin Netanyahu and Mitt Romney have been close friends since 1976.
Yesterday, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s father, eminent historian Benzion Netanyahu, 102, was buried in Jerusalem. Bibi delivered a beautiful eulogy.
Mitt Romney extended his condolences to the Jewish prime minister.
Romney called the Israeli prime minister his “friend” in his statement. The two men have been friends for years, and their relationship was forged in the 1970s when they were young up-and-comers sizing up companies for the Boston Consulting Group.
“This is a loss for all of Israel and for all who care about Israel,” Romney said about the elder Netanyahu’s death.
But from Barack Obama there is a resounding silence.
Liberal and progressive defenders of President Obama will claim that there is no significance to this diplomatic oversight, that supporters of Israel are being oversensitive and, y’know, pushy. But consider this: when Turkish Prime Minister (and confirmed Jew-hater) Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s mother passed away in October 2011, among the heads of state who sent their condolences was President Barack Obama.
Benzion Netanyahu — renowned historian, and father of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — was laid to rest in Jerusalem’s Har Hamenuhot cemetery on Monday afternoon. He passed away early Monday at the age of 102.
The prime minister eulogized his father as a man who knew “how to identify danger in time” — a quality, his father told him, “that our people lost while in exile.” Benzion also taught him to “face reality head on” and “draw the necessary conclusions.”
Benzion, said his son, “could decipher the past and understand the future.” After all, the prime minister said his father had told him, “If you cannot understand the past, then you cannot understand the present. And those who cannot understand the present cannot hope to decode the future.”
Full story at The Times of Israel.
Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.
15 Comments
It appears Obama finally got around to expressing his condolences.
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/05/02/3094491/obama-calls-netanyahu-to-express-condolences
Thank you Robert for keep us informed.
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Bibi said that his fatherZL knew how to identify danger in time. He said his father told him that the Jews, in exile, lost that quality. Plenty of ghetto Jews could SMELL a pogrom coming, about a month in advance, but they were walled up in the ghetto and unable to do anything about it.
Since when does it take seven hours, hellish or otherwise, to travel from Boston to New York?
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Robert,
Finding out that Mitt Romney is a personal friend of Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmned my initial instinct that Romney is an honorable man with good judgement. As a long-time admirer of Netanyahu (I am neither Jewish – nor Israeli) – I repeatedly find that any ”friend of Benjamin’s is a friend of mine”. I can generally determine who I can “plight my troth” with politically – by the company they keep. Netanyahu is a fine patriot and warrior – intelligent, shrewd and honorable himself. As well as trustworthy. We Americans are fortunate to count him as an ally. Hopefully, soon, we will once-again vote in a president we can be proud of and is not an anti-semite.
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Nickie – with our convoluted California politics and vague initiatives I have found the following means of determining whether I want to vote for or against something.
Find out who you respect is associated with it – or is against it!
A man is known by the company he keeps.
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It might have been awkward for Obama to call BN after he released the money to the PA that Congress specifically froze after the PA applied for statehood. How many Israelis will die because Abbas has 192 million to play with?
Someome ask Debbie W-S about Obama being Israel’s greatest supporter. Rev Wright and Louie Farrakhan approve but why would any sane American think this is a good idea?
We need Romney to win this November just to get someone with class and dignity representing this country.
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Class and dignity, exactly. I have found that liberals have the least measure of both these attributes.
Oh, and tolerance too. And generosity. And charity. And love of country. And….and..and…
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Class and dignity, exactly. I have found that liberals have the least measure of both these attributes.
Oh, and tolerance too. And generosity. And charity. And love of country. And….and..and…
DrCarol
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Dear Dr. Carol: My father, of blessed memory, was a liberal and he had all those qualities and then some.
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Well, evidently Dr. Carol did not know your father. She’s talking about the liberals she knows.
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Miranda,
I am sorry for the loss of your father and I apologize for not qualifying my statement. Not all liberals are bad, just as not all conservatives are angels. I am betting your father was what I would call a “classical liberal” as opposed to the ones that surround me.
Unfortunately, I work in a sea of the bad ones.
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Robert, thank you for your indispensable service to the welfare of Israel, America, and the values that we hold dear. Your determination and perseverance in upholding moral clarity are remarkable. It appears to me that Obama has a genuine dislike for Netanyahu, and is unwilling to put his personal animosity to rest. He is the ultimate narcissist. Romney is a sincerely good man, with bedrock values and genuine affection for Israel. This election is Carter-Reagan redux. Failure is not an option; victory is an absolute must. DAN WOHLGELERNTER
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Dr. Dan:
Thanks so much for your support and the kind words.
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Governor Romney and PM Netanyahu have been close friends since 1976, thus the condolences are beyond politics.
And it is Barack Obama who has consistently made common cause with Jew-haters—Jeremiah Wright, Rashid Kalidi, William Ayers, etc.—and the incipient genocidiers of the Muslim Brotherhood. When you say that Governor Romney would befriend Idi Amin you are, in fact, inverting reality.
Romney never said that going after Bin Laden was a joke. You’re repeating Democrat talking points which take his comments about the war on terror out of context. The whole attack on Romney is specious and quite frankly disgusting.
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Since Romney is not even in the National government (hopefully for the moment) he didn’t even owe Netanyahu a communication – as you say, it is from friendship.
I read sometime years ago for every incoming President there is someone at the WH (loaned from the State Dept?) advising them on proper protocol – how do you act around the Queen of England (I am pretty sure you don’t give her an ipod full of your speeches)…
Obama chooses to ignore things that simply should be done.
After his crowing about OBL I have come to the conclusion that – disagreeing with him aside – he is simply a classless individual.
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Spoken like a true O-bot lickspittle. Your pResident couldn’t even make the decision himself…but foisted the responsibility off to Panetta (who already had a plan in motion) and Admiral McRaven. The only thing lil barry cared about was covering his tail with the muslim brotherhood.
As Romney said, “Even Jimmy Carter would have made that call.” (It’s too bad, though, that Bill Clinton didn’t make the call when he had the chance; rather than being “unreachable [really?]” when there was a perfect chance to go after bin laden.)
You leftists really need to learn that others have access to the truth, and your disgusting lies are easily refuted.
(my apologies, Robert.)
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[...] so long? Michael Barone offers some data on the subject. For another perspective just check out Robert Avrech’s recent post at Seraphic Press, along with his site in [...]
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