Bibi brings it (2)

[Valin]

Power Line:

Scott Johnson

November 12, 2015

 

Following Prime Minister Netanyahu’s meeting with President Obama in the White House on Monday, AEI hosted its 2015 annual dinner at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. AEI presented its 2015 Irving Kristol Award to Netanyahu. In lieu of a speech Prime Minister Netanyahu responded to questions put to him by AEI’s Danielle Pletka. The video is below. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has posted excerpts of Netanyahu’s remarks here. In a speech to the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly on Tuesday Netanyahu restated and elaborated his remarks at AEI. That speech is posted here. I want only to add a few personal notes to Steve Hayward’s account here.

 

We arrived at the event late enough to catch the protest in progress across the street from the entrance. The protest had been called for 5:00-8:00 p.m. and endorsed by “38 faith-based and social justice organizations.” It was advertised as featuring several speakers including Max Blumenthal, Phyllis Bennis, Dr. Osama Abuirshaid, and the Rev. Graylan Hagler, among others. I would guess that the protesters numbered about 100. One of the speakers droned on with an Arabic accent about Israeli paranoia resulting in the murder of Palestinian innocents (wielding knives). His speech was followed immediately by the usual crowd chant “Palestine will be free/From the Jordan to the sea.” I guess they wanted to stoke that paranoia.

 

The anti-Semitic thrust of the protest was poorly concealed. Getty Images has posted a set of photographs documenting what I saw across the street here. I found the reference to “Israel” in quotes particularly illuminating. Getty’s captions refers to the protesters in the “hundreds.” That seems high to me. Whatever the number, there were too many.

 

(Snip)