Bibi's Big Blunder

Jeffrey Goldberg May 23 2011, 1:25 PM ET

Gary Rosenblatt, the editor of The New York Jewish Week, is scratching his head at Prime Minister Netanyahu's penchant for scoring on his own goal:

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had an excellent response to President Obama's major speech on the Arab world and the Israel-Palestinian conflict. But it came two days too late, and the net result is another hasbara (propagandistical publicity -- ed.) disaster for Jerusalem.
Netanyahu said on Saturday that Obama had "shown his commitment to Israel's security, both in word and deed," in Thursday's Presidential speech, adding: "We are working with the administration to achieve common goals."
Why couldn't he have said that on Thursday, instead of immediately rejecting Obama's views on moving peace talks forward?

And for more on Bibi's performance, please see James Fallows' post, The Dick Cheney of Israel. I'm not sure, but I don't think he means it as a compliment.

Jump to comments

Jeffrey Goldberg is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and a recipient of the National Magazine Award for Reporting. Author of the book Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror, Goldberg also writes the magazine's advice column. More

Before joining The Atlantic in 2007, Goldberg was a Middle East correspondent, and the Washington correspondent, for The New Yorker. Previously, he served as a correspondent for The New York Times Magazine and New York magazine. He has also written for the Jewish Daily Forward, and was a columnist for The Jerusalem Post.

His book Prisoners was hailed as one of the best books of 2006 by the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Slate, The Progressive, Washingtonian magazine, and Playboy. Goldberg rthe recipient of the 2003 National Magazine Award for Reporting for his coverage of Islamic terrorism. He is also the winner of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists prize for best international investigative journalist; the Overseas Press Club award for best human-rights reporting; and the Abraham Cahan Prize in Journalism. He is also the recipient of 2005's Anti-Defamation League Daniel Pearl Prize.

In 2001, Goldberg was appointed the Syrkin Fellow in Letters of the Jerusalem Foundation, and in 2002 he became a public-policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.