Posted on 01/25/2015 7:54:00 AM PST by shove_it
Fox News is not exactly known as an ally of the Obama administration, especially when it comes to disputes between Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, or disputes between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Yet two prominent Fox News hosts, Chris Wallace and Shepherd Smith, harshly criticized Boehner and Netanyahu on Friday for secretly arranging a Netanyahu speech to Congress that is transparently aimed at undermining President Obama, and set up without the White House's knowledge.
The White House, State Department, and many foreign policy observers, including prominent former US ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, expressed outrage over the move. And, in a sign of just how many lines Boehner and Netanyahu crossed, so did the two Fox News hosts.
"I agree 100 percent," Wallace said when Smith read a quote from Indyk criticizing the Boehner-Netanyahu maneuver. Wallace went on:
And to make you get a sense of really how, forgive me, wicked, this whole thing is, the Secretary of State John Kerry met with the Israeli Ambassador to the United States for two hours on Tuesday, Ron Dermer. The ambassador, never mentioned the fact that Netanyahu was in negotiations and finally agreed to come to Washington, not to see the president, but to go to Capitol Hill, speak to a joint session of congress and criticize the president's policy. I have to say I'm shocked.
Smith said, "it seems like [Netanyahu's government] think[s] we don't pay attention and that we're just a bunch of complete morons, the United States citizens, as if we wouldn't pick up on what's happening here."
Wallace pointed out that Netanyahu might face political backlash in Israel over this "very risky political strategy," which could damage Israel's relationship with the United States.
Here is the backstory: On Wednesday, Boehner announced that he had invited Netanyahu to come speak to a joint session of Congress in late February (later pushed to early March) on Obama's nuclear negotiations with Iran, which both Boehner and Netanyahu oppose, and which Republicans are seeking to blow up by forcing new, deal-killing sanctions on Iran. What made this such a remarkable breach is that Boehner had reached over Obama to make the invitation, which he and Netanyahu kept secret from the White House. That is a major breach in US foreign policy, which is supposed to be unified; things like official visits by heads of state almost always go through the White House.
Perhaps worse, Republicans are letting a foreign leader use the floor of Congress to bash the American president, thus not just allowing but helping a foreign country meddle in American foreign policy. (This is not the first time either. Republicans invited Netanyahu to speak to Congress in 2011, an opportunity he also used to lambast Obama.)
For his part, Netanyahu is once again attempting to undermine the American president who is by far his most important ally, and is using Congress as a campaign stop on his own bid for reelection in Israel's March elections.
"BIBI AND DERMER MIGHT HAVE FINALLY GONE TOO FAR"
While backlash was anticipatable, Netanyahu likely did not imagine it extending to Fox News.
"After watching this I think Bibi [Netanyahu] and [Israeli ambassador to the US Ron] Dermer might have finally gone too far," Lisa Goldman, the director of the Israel-Palestine Initiative at the New America Foundation, wrote on Facebook of the Fox News segment. "They miscalculated the American Zeitgeist and didn't realize that when a foreign power, even a favorite ally, shows a lack of respect for US institutions, a red line has been crossed."
To Goldman's point, both Smith and Wallace, in expressing outrage at Netanyahu, pointed out that the Israeli leader had defied President George W. Bush's demand that Israel cease settlement growth in the West Bank, and had resisted Bush's efforts at an Israel-Palestine peace deal. The issue, for them, was not principally one of partisan politics, but of this ostensible ally repeatedly mistreating the United States and its president, regardless of political party.
If the Netanyahu government and Ron Dermer's embassy are watching this, and they certainly should be, they should be alarmed that even this crucially important element of their American support base is beginning to see the Netanyahu government as less of an ally.
Wallace and Smith are both big time DEMOCRATS...so why are you surprised at their objections?
I’m not at all surprised at Chrissy and Sheppy’s objections — what is a pleasant surprise is Boner’s invitation to Bebe to speak to The House in reply to all of 0bama’s unconstitutional shenanigans.
My use of that phrase is used in echo of Teresa Heinz-Kerry, who is suffering from a mental breakdown while Lurch prances around pretending he is an adult.
Right!
Normally, whenever the Obama administration becomes hysterical over an issue relating to foreign policy, it sends Susan Rice to the Sunday talk shows to deliver its talking points.
However, now that ‘’even Fox News’’ can be counted on to deliver Obama’s propaganda, and even more forcefully than the somewhat retiring Susan Rice could do, Ms. Rice can now enjoy her Sundays at home.
But what about the American people and their need to be informed? With wall-to-wall pro-Obama propaganda from all major news outlets, how are we supposed to learn the truth?
One way would be for the Speaker of the House to invite someone to speak to them who knows the truth and has satellite photographs to prove his case. That’s why John Boehner invited Israel’s prime minister to speak to Congress — because photographs taken by an Israeli satellite recently revealed that Iran is building long-range missiles which could not be intended for its next-door neighbor Israel, but only for its long-range enemies like the U.S.
When Islamic terrorists and their sponsors like Iran yell ‘’Death to Israel!’’ they invariably add ‘’Death to America!.’’ So Americans need to know that they’re in Iran’s cross-hairs — a fact which the Obama administration and its allies in Congress and the media are doing everything to suppress.
But thanks to two brave men — John Boehner and Bibi Netanyahu — the American people will soon know what’s facing them. And if brave men weren’t popular with the American people, the movie ‘’American Sniper’’ would not be breaking box-office records from coast to coast. Bibi can expect a warm welcome when he gets here.
Were Wallace and Shepherd speaking for Fox News?
It seems to me that their gaggle of anchors have the freedom to say what they want to say, and at times speak in opposition to one another.
I’m not surprised, and that Muslim Prayer in Congress was on the day Obama gave his ‘State of Union’ so you know who ordered that one....
This ‘Bibi’ speech was in works long ago by Boehner, an act of defiance against liberal insanity. I wouldn’t count Boehner out yet, as many have, because he may just be getting started. There are more obstacles in DC than we can imagine.
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Wallace and Smith no longer wear their panties. They just wear their trousers way down low!
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Who is she and its moronic to wear such a short skirt to Muslim countries. I don’t like the Muzzie way of life but when visiting there COVER UP! Head Scarf for women is reasonable enough. Can be a short one
He is running a lot of Fox News thus he is not an idiot. He is a gay lefty
Not surprised. I cannot watch Juan Williams, though, so I have never seen them.
The article only uses the word 'Iran' twice, both in the context of politics. There is no mention, concern or recognition that Obama is ignoring a terrible threat to the American People in Iran's nuke and ICBM programs. There is no thought that a deal with Iran is worthless, because they ain't gonna follow it if it gets in the way of their nuke development.
It's all petty domestic politics to this author, who never looks above his shoelaces.
And btw, Chris Wallace’s show is on Fox, not Fox News, which replays it later.
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