You lied, Bibi

I slammed Netanyahu in 2015 for his shameless pandering to Republicans and reactionaries. He has done nothing to endear himself to me since. To the contrary, he has only reinforced my opinion that as long as he leads Israel, the U.S. must not give Israel its unconditional support.

Not only is Bibi giving every appearance of a guilty man trying to derail the criminal case against him (in his case, by arrogating to himself and his political allies the power to smother the case, or to wipe any conviction off the record), but — because he needs help in his corrupt effort — he's allowing the most dangerously authoritarian, reactionary, and puritanical politicians in Israel to transform the country from a democracy to a theocracy with pseudodemocratic trappings — rather like Iran, one of Israel's chief enemies. (The irony seems to be lost on those ardent right-wingers — or perhaps they relish it.)

According to the New York Times, Bibi has been on a PR offensive in the U.S., trying to defend his coalition's recent passing of a highly controversial new law "that stops the [Israeli Supreme] court from overruling government decisions that it finds lacking in 'reasonableness.' "

The government argues that the doctrine gives unelected judges too much leeway to overrule elected lawmakers. Critics call it an important tool for preventing corruption and abuse of executive power.

Mr. Netanyahu’s media blitz with the American broadcasters — he also spoke with ABC — came amid mounting international concern over Israel’s domestic turmoil. The hard-line coalition’s judicial overhaul has split the country, prompted hundreds of thousands to protest for weeks on end, and cast a painful light on Israel’s widening divisions.

I won't get into the new law, which is only the first (and by all accounts, the least controversial) of three laws which, if all enacted, would hand full power to the prime minister and his or her ruling coalition.

What I want to note is Bibi's disingenous attempt to reprimand the U.S. for daring to opine on his brazen undermining of Israeli democracy.

On Thursday, Mr. Netanyahu called Mr. Biden a “great friend of Israel.” But he said Israel would ultimately reach its own decisions, adding that he had not commented on other countries’ internal debates over the limits of executive power.

Spare me, Bibi. You spoke volumes about your feelings concerning executive power when Barack Obama was in office.

His brazenly partisan appearance before Congress rubbed a lot of us the wrong way. He used our legislative body as a campaign prop for his election, and aligned himself forever more with the Republican Party. His apologists note, correctly, that there's no love lost between Netanyahu and President Obama, but his personal dislike of the President does not excuse his blatant violation of diplomatic courtesies. Bibi's appearance amounted to a slap in the face not of President Obama, but of the entire United States.

Your 2015 appearance carried your implicit rebuke to the sitting president of the United States: "Your authority, Mr. President, doesn't mean squat. If I can benefit from your nation's domestic divisions, I will and you can suck on it."

Actions speak louder than words.

You lied, Bibi. You sure as hell have "commented" on the United States' "internal debates over the limits of executive power". You weighed in on the side that says, "If a Democrat is in office, screw that president's power."

Go ahead, Bibi, keep lying to us. Keep giving us reasons to rethink our unthinking support for Israel. Keep making your country's most fanatical religious zealots its face. By doing so, you push the U.S. closer and closer to cutting its support for Israel, potentially saving us billions of dollars.

I'd feel bad for the many Israelis who oppose your government's disdain for democracy, but at least we wouldn't be abetting your most reactionary and narrow-minded citizens' worst impulses any more.