That Other BDS

Let’s talk about BDS.  No, not the movement that singles out Israel as the only nation on Earth despicable enough to be boycotted, divested from and sanctioned.

I’m talking about the other BDS, the Bibi Derangement Syndrome.  It’s a mental condition tied to Israel’s current prime minster.

It’s a syndrome that is acutely manifested in the writings of New York Times columnist and foreign policy swell head, Tom Friedman.

This past week, Friedman wrote an op-ed piece entitled “You Can’t Normalize Relations With a Government That Isn’t Normal.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/05/opinion/biden-middle-east-deal.html

It’s about the diplomacy going on right now to get Saudi Arabia and Israel to normalize relations, with crucial concessions to the Palestinian Authority  over a future independent state.  The United States is playing a key role in trying to broker the deal, with all kinds of strategic, diplomatic and technical carrots for the Saudis.

There’s lots to be hashed out before this major world development could happen.  What will the Saudis want from the US?  A defense pact?  Nuclear technology?  What does the US want from the Saudis?  To swear they’ll never talk with the Chinese again?  What promises will they want the Israelis to give to the Palestinians?  What will the Palestinian Authority need from the deal to regain its cred on the Arab street? 

One thing is certain.  If the deal actually does comes off, it would likely give Joe Biden a clear shot at the Nobel Peace Prize during an election year.  

In his column, in what he said was a direct appeal to the President of the United States and to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Friedman pleaded not to allow “Netanyahu [to] make you into his useful idiots.  You cannot have normalization with an Israeli government that is not normal.”

Basically, Friedman is telling Joe Biden and Mohammed bin Salman they’re morons for even negotiating with Bibi Netanyahu because for sure he’s going to pull the wool over their eyes.  The implication is that the conniving Netanyahu, will trick them into a bad deal for them and for the Palestinians. 

But which government and which leader really fits Tom Friedman’s definition of “isn’t normal?”  

Is it Bibi Netanyahu, the democratically elected leader of the State of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East?

Or is it the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy, who ordered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi chopped into pieces in its consulate in Istanbul?

Or is it the decrepit, duly non-elected leader of the Palestinian Authority, who last month said the Holocaust occurred because the European Jews were money lenders?

According to Friedman, the abnormal award undisputedly goes to Bibi.  

You know what isn’t normal?  Tom Friedman’s Bibi Derangement Syndrome, that’s what. 

There’s lots not to like about Bibi and the current right-wing Israeli ruling coalition.  Netanyahu is definitely a sharp-elbowed, mendacious politician who has an unquenchable thirst for power.  Many of his countrymen hate him and many love him.  That puts him right in line with lots of western leaders these days.  

Friedman, suffering as he does from BDS, doesn’t want, cannot imagine, can’t stomach the thought, that bad Bibi could be the one Israeli leader that could bring an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict. 

Just like it took a Nixon to go to China and for a Sadat to go to Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, whether with his current coalition or some other mix of parties and ideologies, will do his utmost to board that El Al jet and land triumphantly in Riyadh.

At the end of his New York Times, I’m so full of myself column, Friedman anoints Joe Biden as “one of America’s best foreign policy presidents, ever.”  Hmmm, can you say Afghanistan withdrawal?  

But, if you truly believe Biden is a foreign policy savant, why in the name of Henry Kissinger does he need Friedman’s advice on how to negotiate an epic peace agreement?  

It’s because Tom Friedman is trying to be a self-appointed, shadow secretary of state.  He believes he is a Biden confidant.  Well, if he’s so confident in Biden, he shouldn’t have to warn him about Bibi.  They’ve known each other for decades.

Surely Friedman, being the foreign affairs wiz that he is, knows that most rational world leaders want to leave behind a glorious legacy.  They want so badly to win that Nobel Peace Prize, to make history, to say they made the world a better place, yada, yada, yada.

Bibi Netanyahu knows history better than most.  He knows this is his last go-around as prime minister.  He’s facing a felony corruption trial.  He’s facing his own mortality.  A deal with the Saudis will cement his legacy as one of the greatest leaders in the history of his nation.  

He also knows who, in his governing coalition, will stand in his way.  

Netanyahu is in the center square of these talks and I will put my money right now on him to get a deal done.  The political amateurs and professional flamethrowers in his government will go for the block, but they’ll be outmaneuvered.

It takes a lot of chutzpah on Friedman’s part to warn Joe and the prince not to be duped by Bibi into becoming his “useful idiots.”  It also takes someone who is beset by BDS.

Here’s my advice to Tom Friedman.  When it comes to working out an historic deal in the Middle East, if the guys that are actually doing the negotiating need your help, they’ll call you.  

Tom, they have your number.  

We all do.