I signed up for the Jewish Media Summit back in March. Alas, the organizers goofed and there was no record of my registration.
The hosts let me slip into the way overcrowded conference the first night and I had a front row seat during Prime Minister Benjamin Netayahu’s speech.
The man has amazing charisma. In fact, I could have sworn he was flirting with me. In spite of myself, I felt myself held in thrall, rapt, during his entire address.
One part of his speech stood out for me, and I have since seen various versions of this phrase floating around the ‘Net.
“You know, I would suggest to you, those Presbyterian organizations to fly to the Middle East, come and see Israel for the embattled democracy that it is, and then take a bus tour, go to Libya, go to Syria, go to Iraq and see the difference.”
“And I would give them two pieces of advice. One is, make sure it’s an armor-plated bus, and second, don’t say that you’re Christians.”
He used a similar phrase in his Meet the Press interview.
The crowd, predictably, laughed at Bibi’s witticism, which I thought of this morning when these photos of John F. Kerry arriving in Iraq were posted to the U.S. Department of State’s flickr account.
John doesn’t like people to know about his Jewish heritage (as a personal friend of mine, a genealogist, can attest to after having attempted to broach the subject with him). For ketchup’s sake, let them not find out John’s a Christian, either.
Under his watch, the Middle East is not so safe right now.
