On Saturday, our newspaper published a news story entitled “8 out of 15 countries at the Security Council support the Palestinian application for membership”. The story came from Cannes, through colleague Randa Taqieddine, who said French President Nicolas Sarkozy told President Barack Obama that he was disappointed by the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu because he is a liar and that he does not trust what Netanyahu says. The following Wednesday, as I was reading the major American newspapers on the internet, I read a story in the Los Angeles Times entitled “Sarkozy overheard telling Obama that Netanyahu is a liar”. The story said that the exchange was first reported Monday by Arret Sur Images, a French website. I was anxious to respond, in defense of the scoop scored by Randa. I thus sent a comment on the story to the newspaper, in which I said that my colleague had beaten the website by two days and the world media by four days, although scoops usually take place in the space of minutes and hours. To the readers, I say that Randa is a dear friend whom I knew from the days of high school in the French school near my home in Ras Beirut, although I am decades her senior. But the day was barely over when I realized that I could not correct all the newspapers in the world. The English language newspapers that I read every day had all run the story, and I reproduce below some of the headlines: - Sarkozy calls Netanyahu a 'liar' in open mic mishap - Obama and Sarkozy squirm after gaffe over Netanyahu - Sarko: Netanyahu, I can't stand him. He's a liar...Obama: You're sick of him, but I have to deal with him every day - Obama and Sarko caught out badmouthing a friend and ally - Liars, damn liars and Netanyahu. Sarkozy's unfortunate gaffe This last headline belongs to the Independent, which published a picture of the U.S. and French Presidents, each expressing his opinion on Netanyahu, without realizing that the microphone was on. The Daily Mirror also published another picture of the two presidents, each expressing his opinion on Netanyahu, with a subtitle that said: “That's not very diplomatic, gentlemen”. The Israel lobby in the United States and the extremist Republicans who serve Israel, not their country, considered Obama's very limited and reserved words as proof that he does not like Israel, but then I don't know whether there's anyone in the whole world who does. I try to push embarrassment off the American and French presidents by saying that not only does Benjamin Netanyahu lie, because perhaps lying is the least of his flaws as it is blatant and fools no one, but he is also a war criminal, an enemy of peace and humanity, and a despicable settler. It is enough disgrace for him that he heads the Likud Party, whose extremism even pushed the other war criminal Ariel Sharon to leave and found Kadima. I argue that Netanyahu is alone responsible, or before any Palestinian fighter or Israeli terrorist are, for the blood of all the Jews and Palestinians killed since 1996, when he was the head of his first cabinet, and to this day. This is because in those years, specifically when he was Prime Minister before 1999, he obstructed Bill Clinton's efforts in his second term. As a result, by the time Netanyahu was defeated in the Israeli elections, the remaining time was no longer enough to allow the peace process to move forward. Perhaps some of the readers remember here the framework agreement approved by Abu Ammar in the 11th hour, only two weeks before Clinton left the White House. Then he was succeeded by George W. Bush, the ignorant fool who left foreign policy to be run by extremist neocons and Likudniks. Now, Netanyahu is playing the same criminal role he played in the nineties to destroy peace. Finally, I want to say that President Sarkozy's statement is much more important than my campaign against Netanyahu. For in reality, he said a key word about the Israeli Prime Minister, namely that he is a liar. This is what I have mentioned here in my column, time and again. However, President Sarkozy was fooled for too long by the Israeli war criminal, and had tried to help him and promote him, before he discovered directly the extent of the man's insolence and said the truth, and backtracking from one's errors is a virtue. Congratulations to Randa Taqieddine and to Al-Hayat for the scoop that beat the newspapers of the world. [email protected]
