They Don’t Call It The State Of Israel For Nothing, Glenn

by tristero

In a recent post, the usually exemplary Glenn Greenwald lambastes Giuliani for advocating that Israel join NATO. Then he takes Charles Krauthammer to task by noting that 3 out of 4 dastardly deeds perpetrated by the Iranians are directed at Israel, not at the continental U.S. Greenwald’s point is that Giuliani (under the influence of NoPod) and Krauthammer (under the influence of God knows what) have confused Israeli national interests with American ones.

That, of course, is absurd. Glenn is under the bizarre misapprehension that Israel is a country. True, even today the Hebrew word for “governor” is mistranslated as “prime minister.” And “Likud” – the Hebrew word for “Republican”- is usually not translated at all. So it makes sense that most of the little people that don’t count – the Hebrew term is “voters” – think Israel has its own government. But a professional like Glenn? Inexcusable!

Sadly, Glenn isn’t the only pundit who makes this incredibly stupid error. In November 2002, to the embarassment of all, James Fallows published an article in The Atlantic entitled, “The Fifty-first State?” about the upcoming war and occupation of, get this, Iraq. No wonder no one listened to Fallows’ warnings. Oy, veh! The corrections and apologies The Atlantic had to issue!

So Glenn, let’s get this straight: Alaska is 49. Hawaii is 50. That means Israel is 51, Iraq is 52, and Iran makes 53.* Got that? Good.

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*”Ayatollah” is Persian for “Democrat.” Once they’re booted out of office, Iran surely qualifies for US statehood.

What’s that? Afghanistan? What about Afghanistan? Is Afghanistan a United State? Ehhh, forget Afghanistan. Everyone else has.