New York Times’ Bibi, Dermer hit piece

President Obama’s latest “punishment” of Benjamin Netanyahu for agreeing to speak to a joint session of Congress in March was a hit piece in the progressive’s favorite media tool, the New York Times. This time instead of targeting the Prime Minister, the administration used the Times to target his closest adviser, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer.

Taking its-off-the record hints from a White House official who “would not be named” [note to Harry Potter fans: it wasn’t Voldemort], the Times report takes cheap-shots at both Dermer and Netanyahu while placing blame for the Bibi speech blind-siding of Obama squarely at the feet of Dermer.

“The outrage the episode has incited within President Obama’s inner circle became clear in unusually sharp criticism by a senior administration official who said that the Israeli ambassador, Ron Dermer, who helped orchestrate the invitation, had repeatedly placed Mr. Netanyahu’s political fortunes above the relationship between Israel and the United States.”

Echoing most liberal critics of the Netanyahu Congressional visit, this piece ignores the fact that a nuclear Iran is not a political issue in Israel, it’s an existential threat. In fact, Netanyahu has been warning about Iranian nukes since he first took over as Likud Party leader in 1992. And considering the fact that Russia just sold long-range missiles to Iran, the Obama Administration would be well advised to see a nuclear Iran as an existential threat to the United States.

In the past, Chief-of Staff Denis McDonough and deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes have accused Dermer of lobbying members of Congress against President Barack Obama’s positions, it is likely one of the two (or someone in their staffs) is the Voldemort-like official who “would not be named.” Many suspect Rhodes was the White House source behind the Bibi is “chickenshit” comment to Jeff Goldberg, and last week’s Bibi “spit in the face” of the administration comment to Ha’aretz.