Viewpoint - January 30, 2014

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Is Netanyahu Certifiable?
published by Tom Sullivan

Though I am not an expert on the subject, it seems to me
that what Netanyahu needs most of all is some psychiatric
help.

The expanded and most explicit form of my headline question
is this. Is Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu of sound mind
and knowingly talking propaganda nonsense about threats to
Israel's security in order to fool the world including most
of its Jews, or, is he unbalanced, mentally disturbed, even
clinically insane? I ask because his rubbishing in Davos
of the most important speech any Iranian leader has made
since the revolution which brought the mullahs to power 35
years ago sent me to bed recalling something my father said
to me when I was a very young boy. "There are none so blind
as those who don't want to see."

What was there in President Rouhani's address to the World
Economic Forum's Annual Meeting for Netanyahu to see if he
was of sound mind?

Rouhani's main message to the region, and probably Saudi
Arabia in particular, was that his government is fully
prepared "to engage with all neighbouring countries to
achieve shared practical solutions on a range of issues."

His main message to the world, and probably President Obama
in particular, was this.

"In recent years a dominant voice has been repeatedly
heard. 'The military option is on the table.' Against the
backdrop of this illegal and ineffective contention, let
me say loud and clear that peace is within reach. So, in
the name of the Republic of Iran, I propose, as a starting
step, consideration by the United Nations of the project
The World Against Violence and Extremism, WAVE. Let us all
join in this WAVE. I invite all states, international
organizations and civil institutions to undertake a new
effort to guide the world in this direction... We should
start thinking about a Coalition for Enduring Peace across
the globe instead of the ineffective Coalitions for War in
various parts of the world."

Of course he was on a charm offensive and taking full
advantage of being at the Davos meeting to appeal to the
major investors present, but in my view that did not
dilute the integrity of his vision of the new politics
needed to create a better world. He was surely speaking
for most citizens everywhere when he said: "People all
over the world are tired of war, violence and extremism.
They hope for change in the status quo."

His message on nuclear matters was unambiguous.

"The Iranian people, in a judiciously sober choice in
the recent elections, voted for the discourse of hope,
foresight and prudent moderation - both at home and
abroad. In foreign policy, the combination of these
elements means that the Islamic Republic of Iran, as
a regional power, will act responsibly with regard to
regional and international security, and is willing
and prepared to cooperate in these fields, bilaterally
as well as multilaterally, with other responsible
actors... Iran's nuclear program - and for that matter,
that of all other countries - must pursue exclusively
peaceful purposes. I declare here, openly and
unambiguously, that, notwithstanding the positions of
others, this has been, and will always be, the objective
of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nuclear weapons and
other weapons of mass destruction have no place in
Iran's security and defense doctrine, and contradict
our fundamental religious and ethical convictions. Our
national interests make it imperative that we remove any
and all reasonable concerns about Iran's peaceful nuclear
program."

What was Netanyahu's response?

President Rouhani's speech was, he said, "A change of
words without a change of deeds... Rouhani is continuing
with the Iranian show of deception." With an engaging
smile and giving the impression that he was authorised
to speak for the rest of the world, Zionism's Grand Master
of Deception added, "We all know that."

So as Netanyahu says he sees it, Iran is hell bent on
developing nuclear weapons for the purpose of wiping the
Zionist (not Jewish) state off the face of the earth. As
I have pointed out in the past, the real madness of
Netanyahu's assertion is that even if Iran did posses a
few nuclear bombs and the missiles to deliver them, it
would not launch a first strike on Israel because to do
so would guarantee its own complete destruction. All
Iranians know that.

IF Netanyahu was of sound mind he would not only have
given Rouhani's Davos speech the consideration it
deserved, he would take full account of Israel's
growing isolation in the world and, also, the fact
that an increasing number of American Jews are no
longer sympathetic to what one Jewish-American has
called "the blood-and-soil nationalism of Zionism".
The conclusion such introspection would invite in a
sound Netanyahu mind is that if he doesn't want to go
down in history as the leader who approved Israel's
suicide plan and confirmed that Zionism is (as the
title of my book asserts) the real enemy of the Jews,
he had better be serious about peace on terms the vast
majority of Palestinians could accept.

As to Netanyahu's actual state of mind... He is obviously
deluded (my dictionary tells me that means he is "holding
or acting under false beliefs"), but that doesn't
necessarily mean he is certifiable. What it does most
probably mean is contained in a truth revealed to me way
back in 1980 by then retired Major General Shlomo Gazit,
the best and the brightest of Israel's Directors of
Military Intelligence. I put it to him that Israel's
existence had never, ever, been in danger from any
combination of Arab military force. Through a sad smile
he replied, "The trouble with us Israelis is that we have
become the victims of our own propaganda."

Though I am not an expert on the subject, it seems to
me that what Netanyahu needs most of all is some
psychiatric help.

President Obama recently said in an interview with
the New Yorker that the chances of getting a real
Israel-Palestine peace process going were "less than
50-50". Perhaps he should take Secretary of State
Kerry off the case a put a leading psychiatrist on it.

Original Article: http://wakeupfromyourslumber.com/blog/tom-sullivan/netanyahu-certifiable

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