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Netanyahu Picks Academic Who Insulted Obama and Kerry as Diplomacy Chief Seeking a Diplomacy Chief, Netanyahu Reconsiders Nominee Who Insulted Obama and Kerry
(about 7 hours later)
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has picked as his new chief of public diplomacy a conservative academic who suggested President Obama was anti-Semitic and compared Secretary of State John Kerry’s “mental age” to that of a preteen. JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel indicated Thursday night that he was reconsidering his choice for public diplomacy chief after a furor over the nominee’s critiques of public officials, including a suggestion that President Obama was anti-Semitic and Secretary of State John Kerry had the intellect of a preteenager.
The choice for the role of diplomacy chief, Ran Baratz, lives in a settlement in the occupied West Bank and a decade ago expressed his wish to see the building of a third Jewish temple on a contested Old City compound. Palestinians say such provocative ideas have helped fuel the recent outbreak of attacks against Israeli Jews, though Mr. Netanyahu insists he has no plans to change the current arrangement at the site. Mr. Netanyahu’s pick for the post, Ran Baratz, is a conservative academic who lives in a settlement in the occupied West Bank. Just last week, he insulted Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, in a Facebook post, and a decade ago he expressed his wish to see the building of a third Jewish temple on a contested Old City compound that has been a focal point of the recent wave of Palestinian attacks against Israeli Jews.
Just last week, he insulted Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, in a Facebook post. The prime minister’s office announced the selection of Mr. Baratz on Wednesday evening. Less than 24 hours later — after a barrage of public criticism from commentators and politicians, including two ministers from the prime minister’s own Likud party — Mr. Netanyahu indicated that he had belatedly discovered Mr. Baratz’s online postings and issued a statement saying they were “totally unacceptable and in no way reflect my positions or the policies of the government of Israel.”
Israeli politicians called for the nomination to be rescinded, while commentators said the decision was sloppy work on the part of his staff — Mr. Netanyahu’s office said he was unaware of even Mr. Baratz’s most recent Facebook comments — and reflected the prime minister’s blindness to Israel’s increasing isolation. The statement stopped short of rescinding the appointment, which must be voted on by Mr. Netanyahu’s cabinet. It noted that Mr. Baratz had apologized and requested a meeting with Mr. Netanyahu next week after the prime minister returns from a much-anticipated trip to Washington to meet with Mr. Obama.
“He’s giving a very strong negative message to the world, which is, ‘I don’t care about public diplomacy, I have a right-wing government, I have a right-wing policy, and I’m going to send people who are offensive,’ ” said Mitchell Barak, a political consultant in Jerusalem. “Every time, people say, ‘Oh, he must have made a mistake, we can’t take it seriously,’ but frankly, he seems to be sending a very clear message, which is, ‘I’m going to appoint the hard-core ideologues, I’m not going to even pay lip service to any diplomatic solution, I’m going to entrench myself more.’ ” Mr. Baratz, in a Facebook post Thursday night, apologized for “the hurtful remarks” and for not informing the prime minister of them. He said the posts “were written frivolously and sometimes humorously, in a tone suited to the social networks and a private individual.” He added, “It is very clear to me that in an official post one has to behave and express oneself differently.”
The selection of Mr. Baratz, which is subject to cabinet approval, comes at an inauspicious moment: The prime minister and Mr. Obama are scheduled to sit down together on Monday for the first time in more than a year, a summit meeting seen as an opportunity to repair their rocky relationship after it plunged to new depths. In an email to The New York Times, Mr. Baratz said that “what I most regret is using the word anti-Semitism in relation to President Obama.”
The official announcement said Mr. Baratz would serve as Mr. Netanyahu’s media adviser and head of public diplomacy and media for the prime minister’s office, a job that was not clearly defined; he would replace Liran Dan, who left in August as head of the national information directorate, akin to a communications director who guided message strategy. “Even in the context of a heated debate in which there were strong passions over the nuclear deal with Iran, such language should have never been used to describe President Obama,” he wrote. “It’s not true and I deeply regret having done so.”
Mr. Baratz’s nomination joins a pile of right-wing appointments that have raised eyebrows in Washington and other Western capitals, and a string of recent problems with message discipline. The embarrassing episode unfolded at an inauspicious moment for Mr. Netanyahu, who is scheduled to meet with Mr. Obama on Monday for the first time in more than a year. The meeting is intended to reset their rocky relationship after it plunged to new depths.
Mr. Netanyahu last week quieted his deputy foreign minister, Tzipi Hotovely, after she told an interviewer that she dreamed of raising the Israeli flag atop the Temple Mount, the Old City site known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, seemed to try to tamp down the Baratz tempest on Thursday, saying that it was “readily apparent that the apology was warranted,” but declining to comment further because, as he put it, Mr. Netanyahu’s staff appointments were “decisions that he will rightfully make on his own.”
He also retracted his own statement that it was a Palestinian cleric, not Hitler, who came up with the idea to annihilate Europe’s Jews — a statement that was declared to be completely false by Holocaust historians but that earned the sympathy of Mr. Baratz. A State Department spokesman described Mr. Baratz’s statements as “troublesome and hurtful” and said Mr. Kerry had spoken to Mr. Netanyahu about the matter.
Mark Regev, Mr. Netanyahu’s spokesman, would not say whether Mr. Baratz would join the prime minister on his trip to Washington, or if anyone had vetted his social media profile and other public writings before announcing his selection Wednesday evening. Some Israeli analysts said Mr. Netanyahu’s selection of such an outspoken ideologue to shape his diplomatic message and serve as a major spokesman to the world reflected the prime minister’s blindness to Israel’s increasing isolation. If Mr. Baratz were confirmed, he would join a growing list of recent right-wing appointees — including a United Nations ambassador and deputy foreign minister who oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state — that have raised eyebrows in Washington and other Western capitals.
Around midnight, the prime minister’s office posted on Facebook that Mr. Netanyahu “was not aware of the things Ran Baratz wrote, and views them as unworthy expressions.” “He’s giving a very strong negative message to the world, which is, ‘I don’t care about public diplomacy, I have a right-wing government, I have a right-wing policy, and I’m going to send people who are offensive,’” said Mitchell Barak, a political consultant in Jerusalem. “Every time, people say, ‘Oh, he must have made a mistake, we can’t take it seriously,’ but frankly, he seems to be sending a very clear message, which is, ‘I’m going to appoint the hard-core ideologues, I’m not going to even pay lip service to any diplomatic solution, I’m going to entrench myself more.’”
Mr. Baratz, for his part, told Israeli news outlets that his Facebook posts were written as a private citizen and intended to be humorous, and that his tone would change when he became a government professional. Mr. Netanyahu also has been struggling of late with message discipline. Last week, he reprimanded the deputy foreign minister, Tzipi Hotovely, after she told an interviewer that she dreamed of raising the Israeli flag atop the Temple Mount, the Old City site known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.
“Naturally,” he wrote on his own page Wednesday night, “my Facebook activity, which includes a myriad of political remarks, critical and satirical, will be reduced and focus more on the personal and less on the public.” He also retracted his own statement that it was a Palestinian cleric, not Hitler, who came up with the idea to annihilate Europe’s Jews.
Mr. Baratz, 42, has a Ph.D. in philosophy and founded Mida, a far-right website where he responded last year to Mr. Kerry’s remarks on a Muslim holiday by saying, “This is the time to wish the secretary of state good luck, and to count down the days with the hope that someone over there at the State Department will wake up and begin to see the world through the eyes of a person whose mental age exceeds 12.” On Thursday, Israeli journalists had a field day parsing the Facebook profile and other public writings of Mr. Baratz, 42, who has a Ph.D. in philosophy and founded Mida, a right-wing website. Channel 2 news reported that even Mr. Baratz’s boss-to-be was not spared: “Netanyahu,” the nominee wrote in March, after the prime minister’s contentious speech in Congress against the nuclear deal with Iran, “perhaps by chance is beginning faintly to reflect the pale shadow of something that vaguely recalls Netanyahu of 1996.”
In March, Mr. Baratz used Facebook to criticize Mr. Obama’s reaction to Mr. Netanyahu’s speech in Congress against the nuclear deal with Iran. “This is how modern anti-Semitism looks like in the modern Western world,” he wrote. Writing on Facebook about President Obama’s reaction to that speech, Mr. Baratz said, “This is how modern anti-Semitism looks like in the modern world.” A few months later, he acknowledged that the American president “helps us with tactical issues,” such as military aid to respond to security threats. But he posted that, in pushing the nuclear deal, “Obama has certainly thrown us under the wheels of the bus, even if he did this with a winning smile, while he supplied us with plenty of Band-Aids.”
In June, he said the dispute over the Iran deal was “a strategic disagreement, it does not have to do with the personalities of Obama or Netanyahu, their relationship, American Jews or someone’s table manners.” Last year, after Mr. Kerry’s remarks at a White House celebration of a Muslim holiday, Mr. Baratz wrote that it was time “to count down the days with the hope that someone over there at the State Department will wake up and begin to see the world through the eyes of a person whose mental age exceeds 12.”
“While Obama helps us with tactical issues like threats by Hamas and Hezbollah, he is establishing a new global strategy of compromise with Iran,” Mr. Baratz wrote, also on Facebook. “Obama has certainly thrown us under the wheels of the bus, even if he did this with a winning smile, while he supplied us with plenty of Band-Aids.” Regarding the Temple Mount, Mr. Baratz, who is not religious, wrote in a 2004 essay that “the desire to build the third temple is worthy, Jewish and Zionist of the highest level,” adding that he hoped it would happen. Such ideas are often cited by Palestinians as evidence of Israel’s intention to change the situation at the site, something Mr. Netanyahu insists he will not do.
Regarding the Temple Mount, Mr. Baratz, who is not religious, wrote in a 2004 essay that “the desire to build the third temple is worthy, Jewish and Zionist of the highest level,” adding that he hoped a way to build it would be found. What upset many Israelis most was the way Mr. Baratz lashed out at President Rivlin, calling him “a marginal figure” unworthy of assassination, and suggesting that he “could be sent in a paraglider” into Syria, where the Islamic State would retreat if only Israel would take him back.
He said that if Muslims “will not accept our sovereignty” at the site, “there will anyway be war.” Haim Katz, Israel’s welfare minister and a member of Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud party, said Thursday afternoon that he would vote against the nomination in the cabinet because “you can find people that apparently think twice before they speak.”
Then, last week, he lashed out at Israel’s president, Mr. Rivlin, calling him “a marginal figure” unworthy of assassination, and suggesting that he “could be sent in a paraglider” into Syria, where the Islamic State would retreat if only Israel would take him back. Mr. Rivlin’s office said it viewed the comments with “utmost gravity.” Gila Gamliel, another Likud minister, said the nomination should be reconsidered.
Haim Katz, Israel’s welfare minister and a member of Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud Party, said Thursday afternoon that he would vote against the nomination when it comes to the cabinet because “this person is not worthy” and “you can find people that apparently think twice before they speak.” “Expressions against the country’s president and elements of the American administration harm symbols of our government and our great friend, and could be interpreted as an official position,” Ms. Gamliel said.
Gila Gamliel, another Likud minister, told Israeli reporters that the nomination should be reconsidered “because the role of head of public diplomacy and media is very sensitive.” Anshel Pfeffer, a columnist for the left-leaning newspaper Haaretz, described Mr. Baratz as a neoconservative, libertarian, “academic version of Bibi,” using Mr. Netanyahu’s nickname, or “Bibi without diplomacy.”
“Expressions against the country’s president and elements of the American administration harm symbols of our government and our great friend, and could be interpreted as an official position,” Ms. Gamliel said, according to a Facebook post by Tal Schneider, a political blogger who broke the news of Mr. Baratz’s nomination.
Isaac Herzog, leader of the opposition in Parliament, demanded on Thursday that Mr. Netanyahu withdraw the nomination.
“A person like this who lashed out against President Obama, besmirched Secretary Kerry, and, worst of all, degraded the beloved president of his country — our most important symbol — must go home and immediately, before he even arrived,” Mr. Herzog said at a conference. “It was faulty judgment that a person like this suits an official national position.”
Ms. Schneider, the blogger, said in an interview that while some of Mr. Baratz’s statements might be shocking to Americans, “in Israel 2015, Ran Baratz is not considered any more a right-wing crazy guy, some of the views that he makes are sort of what people are saying everywhere in Israel.”
Anshel Pfeffer, a columnist for the left-leaning Israeli daily Haaretz, described Mr. Baratz as a neoconservative, libertarian, “academic version of Bibi,” using Mr. Netanyahu’s nickname, or “Bibi without diplomacy.”
“It reflects what Bibi thinks,” he added. “Somebody who says Obama is modern anti-Semitism, and Kerry is like a 12-year-old, somebody who is openly hostile to Rivlin — it’s certainly what Bibi believes.”“It reflects what Bibi thinks,” he added. “Somebody who says Obama is modern anti-Semitism, and Kerry is like a 12-year-old, somebody who is openly hostile to Rivlin — it’s certainly what Bibi believes.”
Rafi Mann, a professor of communication at Ariel University in the West Bank, dismissed Mr. Baratz’s defense of his comments, telling Israel Radio, “Anyone who is about to be appointed head of national P.R. has to know there is no such thing as a private page.” Rafi Mann, an Israeli professor of communication, said on Israel Radio, “Anyone who is about to be appointed head of national P.R. has to know there is no such thing as a private page.”
But Yinon Magal, a lawmaker from the conservative Jewish Home party, said Mr. Baratz’s statements “have been taken completely out of proportion.” But Yinon Magal, a lawmaker from the conservative Jewish Home party, said that if every nominee had his old Facebook posts scrutinized, “There would be no one who could be appointed to the post.”
“Let everyone go back 10 years in his own Facebook, in his own recordings,” Mr. Magal suggested in a radio interview. “There would be no one who could be appointed to the post.”