From BagNews Notes:
September 26, 2011
Over Netanyahu’s Shoulder: A (Telephoto) Analysis of the Prime Minister’s U.N. Speech Edits (On Heels of Abbas’ Palestinian Statehood Speech)
These pictures might not be as titillating as the note George Bush wrote to Condi Rice during a General Assembly speech asking if he could have a bathroom break. These edits Netanyahu made to his speech last Friday, however, revealed via telephoto lens by Getty’s accomplished photographer, Mario Tama, are interesting for what they suggest about the Prime Minister’s tactical state of mind.
Though I can’t say with absolute certainty, I’m assuming — given that Netanyahu’s speech to the General Assembly followed Mahmoud Abbas’ speech by about forty minutes — that these edits were motivated by Netanyahu’s attempt (we might even say, his desperation) to somehow offset Abbas’ powerful, warmly-received and historic declaration formally petitioning the UN for Palestinian statehood. Alternately statesmanlike and conciliatory, mixed with passages of acrid hostility and resentment toward the Palestinians, Arab countries, and also the U.N., it’s hard not to see Netanyahu’s speech, at least the goodwill, as something more than pandering. But let’s take a look at the photos starting with the one above, and see what Bibi’s doing with the kind gestures as well as the defensive arguments. (Each photo is followed here with the original, and then the revised text. In some cases, for context, there is more of the delivered text which appears in parentheses.)
Photo 1.Original text (left page):
Thousands of missiles have rained down on our cities.
Revised text (as delivered):
Thousands of missiles have already rained down on our cities.
Citing Palestinian missile strikes in historical terms, an event that might be relegated to the past, Netanyahu changes hist text to frame these strikes as a an ongoing and continuous threat.
