Netanyahu's Audience For Cartoon Bomb Graphic Is Dumb Sheeple, Not World Leaders

A collection of reactions to Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the United Nations on Thursday, September 27, 2012:

“I complimented him on his address at the United Nations,” Romney said. “I suggested that his graphic was not up to the normal Boston Consulting Group standards.” Pausing, he added, “No, I didn’t actually do that, but I was thinking that.” – “Romney talks about longtime friend Netanyahu, jokes about bomb graphic,” Yahoo News, September 28, 2012.

“The heart of Netanyahu’s address, of course, was his remarks about the Islamic Republic and its nuclear program.  By now, most people who might read this have, we are sure, already seen footage of Netanyahu deploying his Looney Tunes-like drawing of a cylindrical bomb with a hand-lit fuse, 25 minutes into the video linked above.  (For those who were too dumbstruck by the absurdity of his visual aid to take in easily its intended message, Netanyahu pointed out, “This is a bomb.  This is a fuse.”)  Bottom line, Netanyahu holds that the United States should commit to bombing Iranian nuclear facilities before the International Atomic Energy Agency reports that Iran has stockpiled enough uranium enriched the near-20 percent level so that, if it reconfigured its centrifuges and put its 20-percent enriched uranium back through those centrifuges, it might be able to produce enough weapons-grade fissile material to fabricate a single nuclear weapon.” -Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett, “Ahmadinejad and Netanyahu on the Iranian Nuclear Issue at the UN General Assembly,” September 28, 2012.

“Someone (Bibi himself?) in the day and age of Powerpoint presentations, thought of the great idea of sending their boss up to the lectern of the world’s most respected international body with a sharpie and a cartoon version of a nuclear bomb.  I suppose they thought the simplicity of the gesture might impress.  Instead it’s backfired as any simpleton could’ve told them it would.” – Richard Silverstein, “Beeb E. Coyote,” September 27, 2012.

“I know that the subject is serious; that is just one reason why the graphic, which he apparently made at Kinkos, is so ridiculous. And if Israeli intelligence thinks that’s what a real bomb looks like, maybe their other projections are off as well. I’m surprised he could get that thing past U.N. security.” – The New Yorker, “Netanyahu Caption Contest,” September 27, 2012.

“The ticking-bomb theme, which has been used to justify everything from torture to the invasion of Iraq, permeates Israeli propaganda in the US and was a cental theme of Bibi’s speech. His message was clear: “the hour is getting late.” We must act without giving too much thought to the possible consequences. Don’t delay, don’t think, act now – before the fraud is exposed, and we discover that – as in the case of the Iraqis – those “weapons of mass destruction” were just a figment of our easily manipulated collective imagination.” – Justin Raimondo, “Bibi’s Crazy UN Speech,” September 28, 2012.