Danny Boy

He's the pot which calls the kettle black: "The world cannot afford to live with a nuclear Iran."

People he doesn't like will get to sleep with the fishes : "Israel has made it very clear that it will not live with a nuclear Iran, and I believe that Israel has the ability and the capacity to make sure that it will not happen."

He does the time warp: "We all paid a huge price for not taking seriously the ranting of another small, moustached leader who some people considered as crazy, and I don't think we have the luxury to show the same indifference and apathy as we did before."

He speaks, we listen: "Keep away from Durban."

He's such a smoothie: "Countries like Australia who, to my mind, represent the best of what democracy and civilization can be, shouldn't take part in this charade."

He's the doting dads' doting dad: "I think the Israeli troops should get a medal for the way they conducted themselves in [Gaza]... There is no army in the world as moral and as careful about not hitting civilians as the Israeli army."

He's a stand-up comedian: "For us every dead Palestinian child is a horrible mistake and a tragedy. For Hamas every dead Israeli child is a huge success and a cause for victory, and that's the kind of people we are fighting."*

He's Dan Gillerman, Israel's immediate past UN ambassador.

And he's coming our way.

We should be so lucky.

[* I wish I could credit him with originality, but... Here's our own Mark Leibler: "For Hamas and Hezbollah, every dead Israeli child is a victory and a cause for celebration. Every dead Palestinian child is a tragedy and a mistake."]

[Quotes from Israel ready to strike Iran: ex-envoy (14/2/09) & Boycott UN forum, says Israeli ex-envoy (16/2/09), Jason Koutsoukis, Sydney Morning Herald]