Netanyahu's Little Helpers...

... come in all shapes and sizes.

From the big:

"We've been through this before. As one of the most disastrous wars in our history is coming to an inglorious end, the same neoconservative hawks who dreamed it up are agitating for a new war that would make Iraq look like the invasion of Granada - and using the ultimate trump card in American politics to silence debate over it. When hawks begin beating the drums for war in the Middle East, Israel is usually a big reason why. That was true in the run-up to the war in Iraq, and it is doubly true with the current hysteria over Iran. Despite disingenuous claims to the contrary, the only reason the US is even talking about war with Iran is Israel. As the invaluable M. J. Rosenberg, who knows the working of the Israel lobby as only a former card-carrying member can, notes, 'It is impossible to find a single politician or journalist advocating war with Iran who is not a neocon or an AIPAC cutout. (They're often both.)' Ever since the International Atomic Energy Agency released its overhyped, old-news report on Iran's nuclear program, Israel's amen corner in the US has been loudly calling for war. If Americans did not contain an enormous blind spot, no one would pay any attention to what these discredited ideologues have to say. The Iraq war they championed turned out to be one of the biggest foreign policy disasters in US history. Their ignorant and Islamophobic view of the Middle East is as breathtaking as their bland willingness to commit America to yet another ruinous war against a Muslim country, this time one four times larger than Iraq and with more than twice as many people. They have a demonstrated track record of complete failure. Yet these incompetent militarists are still taken seriously. And the reason is simple. They purport to be supporters of Israel. In American politics, you can get away with even the most cracked war-mongering as long as you claim to be 'pro-Israel'. And the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card for anything having to do with Israel is the Holocaust. To listen to the neocons and hawks, you'd think Hitler was about to send the tanks over the Polish border." (The boys who cry 'Holocaust', Gary Kamiya, salon.com, 22/11/11)

To the little:

"Australia will consider joining a US-led coalition set to impose additional sanctions on Iran, as new laws are fast-tracked to disrupt the supply chain for weapons of mass destruction... A spokesman for Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said yesterday Australia, as a member of the IAEA, was at the forefront of efforts to crack down on Iran over its nuclear ambitions. 'Australia implements tough measures enforcing UN Security Council sanctions against Iran, and imposes comprehensive autonomous sanctions that go beyond those required by the security Council', the spokeswoman said. 'Consistent with Australia's mounting concern about Iran's nuclear program, the government will continue to explore additional sanctions'. The comments came after the government fast-tracked new laws through the House to address weaknesses in trade security and give Defence Minister Stephen Smith, in particular, greater power to disrupt supply to terrorists and rogue states." (Canberra mulls further Iranian sanctions as loophole closes, Sean Parnell, The Australian, 23/11/11)

But big or little, it's Bibi who has them all in his thrall:

"Netanyahu is obsessed with the Second World War parallels, real or imagined, and even used them to justify his opposition to the peace process with the Palestinians in the nineties. Netanyahu is deeply influenced not only by his hundred-year-old father's right-wing revisionist ideology, but also by a profound sense of himself as Israel's post-Holocaust protector. Heroic imagery, like the F-15s flying over the rail tracks at Auschwitz, is no small part of what drives him. Five years ago, he said of the Iranian nuclear issue, 'The year is 1938 and Iran is Germany'." (Iran, Israel, & the bomb, David Remnick, newyorker.com, 6/11/11)

And as far as Bibi's concerned, he'll fight Adolf Ahmadinejad to the last American, British, or French soldier, global oil crisis or no:

"Iran would doubtless lash out at US forces and shipping in the Gulf, which would immediately precipitate an oil crisis... Against all that is the calculation, carefully unspoken but present nevertheless, that a unilateral Israeli strike would trigger massive American intervention against Iran's nuclear program. This could come in response to Iranian retaliation against American targets, or because Washington would have an overwhelming interest in 'finishing the job' that Israel began. In the post-Libya climate, France and Britain might well be moved to come in alongside the US." (World must believe Netanyahu on Iran, David Landau, Sydney Morning Herald, 24/11/11)

And why should little Australia stop at mere tightened sanctions? Why not join in the fun?

After all, when the Sydney Morning Herald thinks so highly of Netanyahu that it features a paean to him on its opinion page by former Haaretz editor-in-chief Landau, who are we to resist the siren call of the man Landau grandiloquently describes as having "3,000 years of Jewish history on his shoulders"?

Ah, if only we pissants could but see the man for what he is: one of history's classic poet-warriors, divinely sent to protect us all from the moustache-twirling, boddice-ripping, Islamofascist hordes, who, even as we speak, are brazenly sharpening their arsenal of world-slaying nuclear scimitars.

As Landau reminds us lesser mortals: "Netanyahu's drum-beating is tactically impeccable. But it's not just tactics. The bluffer isn't bluffing. Let's hope Obama, Sarkozy and the rest are hearing him loud and clear."

Are you listening, Gillard? Three thousand years of Jewish history! This is your John Howard moment. Are you ready? Follow your spirit, and upon this charge/ Cry 'God for Bibi, Israel, and Saint Herzl!' (with apologies to the Bard).