After it was reported that Joe Biden’s White House lectured the Israeli government — which has faced leftist protests over its call for judicial reform — to “protect and respect the right of peaceful assembly,” pontificating, “Such debates are a healthy part of a vibrant democracy,” former Democratic New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind ripped into Biden.
In addition, on Sunday Biden told CNN that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government had “one of the most extremist members of cabinets that I’ve seen.”
“Stop being a pandering hypocrite with your ‘criticism’ of the Israeli gov’s handling of debilitating protests!” Hikind tweeted, adding, “First, it’s an internal matter! Second, that protestors have been able to shut down major highways and Ben Gurion airport is positive proof of the robustness of Israel’s democracy! People have a right to protest; they do NOT have a right to disrupt everyone’s lives and your own administration would do no differently!”
“So, Mr. President, if you have nothing constructive to say, you ought to stay quiet rather than reveal the extent of your meddling in Israel’s internal affairs!” Hikind wrote.
“Stop telling the people of Israel that the people of Israel have a right to protest, ‘to protect and respect the right of peaceful assembly,’” Hikind said, noting, “That’s the message from the White House.”
“That’s exactly what’s going on in this country: massive demonstrations disrupting the lives of the majority of the people of Israel. And people have a right to demonstrate,” he pointed out.
Then he turned to Biden’s hypocrisy: “But if the airports in America were closed, the one in Washington, Kennedy airport in New York, closed down, you can’t get to the airport, would the authorities do everything in the world to open up the roads to the airport or the roads on the major highways? Which is exactly what the government of Israel is doing.”
“The government of Israel has a responsibility,” he continued. “I came into the airport in Israel just a couple of days ago; we couldn’t get to where we were going. You couldn’t get out of the airport; people who were going to the airport for flights couldn’t get to the airport. The demonstrators do not have a right to disrupt everyone’s life.”
Bullying right-wing Israel leaders has been a part of Biden’s repertoire for decades. In 1982, Biden, then a senator, banged the desk in front of him with his fist at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting to warn Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to stop establishing new Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria. Begin famously responded:
Don’t threaten us with cutting off your aid. It will not work. I am not a Jew with trembling knees. I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of civilized history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. We paid for it. We fought for it. We died for it. We will stand by our principles. We will defend them. And, when necessary, we will die for them again, with or without your aid. …
This desk is designed for writing, not for fists. Don’t threaten us with slashing aid. Do you think that because the U.S. lends us money it is entitled to impose on us what we must do? We are grateful for the assistance we have received, but we are not to be threatened. I am a proud Jew. Three thousand years of culture are behind me, and you will not frighten me with threats. Take note: we do not want a single soldier of yours to die for us.
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