Netanyahu: Our Modern Day Winston Churchill

Today, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu delivered his much anticipated speech to a joint session of the U.S. Congress.  The speech itself was controversial before Netanyahu even muttered a word, because he was not invited by President Obama, but by the leaders of the Republican-controlled Congress.  All of Netanyahu's critics keep saying that his decision to accept the invitation by the Republican leadership was a slap in the face to the U.S. President, not to mention the speech itself.  But I don't think the Israeli Prime Minister has anything to apologize for.  In fact, I would say that the people who criticize him should instead be thanking him for trying to keep the world in touch with reality - a reality that many people, especially President Obama, don't see.

Anyone who has listened to or read Prime Minister Netanyahu's speeches knows that he likes to make references to history, and his speech today is no exception.  For example, he compared the Islamic extremist regime of Iran to that of Nazi Germany, and I believe that this comparison is 100% legitimate, because Iran's ayatollahs are just as determined to inflict genocide as Hitler and the Nazis were.  As Netanyahu mentioned, Iran's regime is not just a Jewish problem, nor was Nazi Germany just a Jewish problem.  The fact is that Iran's Islamo-fascist rulers threaten to destroy more than just the State of Israel, just as Nazi Germany sought to destroy more than just the Jews.  Netanyahu even noted that the Jews killed in the Holocaust were just a fraction of the tens of millions killed by the Nazis.

Speaking of historical analogies, I have noticed a marked increase in the number of times Netanyahu's critics have accused him of believing himself to be the modern day Winston Churchill, recalling that the late British leader tried to warn the world about the danger that Nazi Germany posed.  I obviously can't read the Israeli Prime Minister's mind, but if he genuinely thinks that he's filling Churchill's shoes in today's world, I certainly wouldn't blame him for believing as such, because the fact of the matter is that he is the only world leader who has consistently warned about the dangers of appeasing Iran's ayatollahs, just as Churchill warned against appeasing Hitler.  And if Netanyahu is indeed the modern day Winston Churchill, I would say that U.S. President Barack Obama is the modern day Neville Chamberlain.  So it's no wonder, then, that Obama's critics are comparing him to the late British Prime Minister, who famously waived an agreement signed by himself and Hitler in the air, proclaiming "peace in our time."

Thankfully, Obama has not yet made any agreement with Iran, and hopefully he does not sign off on the deal currently taking shape - a deal that as the Israeli Prime Minister noted, would not prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, but would instead do just the opposite.  After Netanyahu gave his speech, Obama accused him of not having any alternatives to the agreement that he was trying to cement with Iran.  I guess he wasn't paying attention when the Israeli Prime Minister was speaking, because if he was, he would have heard the alternative - get a better deal!