RE-DEFINING STUPID, AMERICAN-STYLE

By Schmoel Yitzhak

According to my weathered edition of Roget's Thesaurus, there are more than forty synonyms for the word STUPID.

A couple of my favorites are addlebrained, boneheaded, empty-minded, rattlepated and thick-witted.

After reading a communique from Washington, D.C., I will submit yet another alternate to duncical.

Leon Panetta.

His official, diplomatic title is United States Defense Secretary. But based on his most recent statements, Panetta sounds as if he's auditioning for the role of Dopey Dildock.

In a prepared statement to reporters, Panetta called on Israel to take diplomatic steps to address what he described as its growing isolation in the Middle East.

Now, wait just a minute, can Panetta --= this latest mistake appointment by erroneous president Barack Obama -- be serious?

Consider for a moment the possible countries from which Panetta would like Israel to de-isolate itself. Let's start with the next-door neighbors.

Syria?

Puh-leeze!

Bashar al-Assad's country is at war with itself. Conservatively, more than 4,000 Syrians have been killed by Assad's regime. Does Panetta suggest that Benjamin Netanyahu embrace the mass murderer? Even his Arab brothers have turned their backs on the Syrian.

Lebanon?

Ahem!

Hezbollah, itching to start another war with Israel, runs the country with a little help from the Lebanese Army which seems to exist only to assist Hassan Nasrallah. Lebanon's last "gift" to Israel was a rocket attack on the Galillee. I guess that rules out any lovey-dovey moves with Israel's Northern neighbor.

Turkey?

That would be a possibility if the year was 1948 and a megalomaniac such as Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not exist. As Panetta knows only too well, over the past year Erdogan's attitude toward Israel has escalated from hostile to malevolent to poisonous.

Egypt?

The Muslim Brotherhood is in the process of taking control of the nation previously run by Hosni Mubarak. What do we know about this group? Well, the respected Simon Wiesenthal Center has this to say about the group that will lead Egypt's next government: The Brotherhood is an enemy of democracy and peace, is hostile to Israel and -- in time -- will kill the Egyptian-Israel peace treaty.

Hamas-Fatah?

One group makes no bones about its desire to wipe Israel off the map while the other wants to form a "unity government" with the group that wants to exterminate Israel. Both Hamas and the PA militantly refuse to recognize Israel as the Jewish state.

That takes care of every single country surrounding Israel. Each one has deliberately chosen to isolate Israel while the Middle East's only legitimate democracy would have to surrender Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem to satisfy the Arabs and to end what Panetta calls its "isolation."

Surely, the U.S. Defense Secretary knows better but he works for a president whose behavior toward Israel in virtually every area of meaningful security is either blatantly or -- depending on the occasion -- subtly hostile.

Panetta: "Unfortunately, over the past year, we've seen Israel's isolation from its traditional security partners in the region grow."

Is this man sane? When one considers the obvious facts, can one take this man seriously?

Assad is busy slaying his own countrymen by the thousands. If he wasn't so distracted by a Civil War, he'd love to slay Israelis.

Nasrallah is stockpiling bigger and longer-range rockets and -- guess what? -- they're not being aimed at Iran.

Erdogan has spent the last year trying to find ways and means to goad Israel into war.

The Muslim Brotherhood enjoys Jew-hating as its national pastime.

Hamas-Fatah would end Israel's isolation if Mahmoud Abbas took over the Knesset and Bibi was exiled to Norway.

That should explain why "stupid" is an understatement in describing Panetta's formula for ending Israel's "isolation!"