Netanyahu's new media chief has called Obama ‘anti-Semitic’, Kerry 'comical'

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — He has accused Barack Obama of “anti-Semitism”, suggested his own country's president was not important enough to assassinate and described US Secretary of State John Kerry as having the mental abilities of a 12-year-old.

Ran Baratz's Facebook and web page barbs might have remained forever on the margins of social media, save for one thing: the appointment of the 42-year-old philosophy lecturer as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new communications director.

As head of public diplomacy and media, Baratz, who was named to the post on Wednesday, will be tasked with improving Israel's reputation in the world.

But days before Netanyahu embarks on a visit to the White House, an effort to mend fences after fierce feuding over the Iran nuclear deal that Israel opposes, the timing of the decision to give Baratz the job raised questions.

Within hours of his appointment, Israeli media outlets found a clutch of cuttings, headline-grabbing quotes on Facebook and articles he had penned on news websites. Netanyahu's staff, it appeared, may not have checked.

An official said Baratz had apologised to Netanyahu in a phone conversation and in a statement, Netanyahu distanced himself from the comments but indicated the appointment remained valid. He said the two would meet, at Baratz's request, after he returns from his US trip next week.

"I have just read the things that Dr Ran Baratz published on the web, including the comments about the Israeli president, the president of the United States and other public figures here and in the US. They are inappropriate and do not reflect my positions or the policies of the government," Netanyahu said.

In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest welcomed Baratz's apology and said his comments would not affect the ability of Obama and Netanyahu to advance their countries' mutual interest.

"It's readily apparent that that apology was warranted. But obviously the decisions that Prime Minister Netanyahu has to make about who will serve his government and represent him and his country are decisions that he rightfully will make on his own," Earnest told a news briefing.

In a Facebook entry last March, Baratz said Obama's response to a speech by Netanyahu to the US Congress, during which he criticised the emerging Iran deal, "was what modern anti-Semitism looks like in Western and liberal countries."

Obama said at the time that no one could dispute that Iran had repeatedly "engaged in the most venomous of anti-Semitic statements". But, the president said, Netanyahu offered no viable alternatives "to the core issue, which is how do we prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."

In October last year, Baratz took aim at Kerry in an article on Mida, which bills itself as a "news and intellectual website" dedicated to providing information and views not prevalent in other Israeli media.

Baratz termed as "comical" remarks Kerry made on the occasion of a Muslim holiday, when he said Middle East leaders had told him feelings stirred by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were a factor in Daesh recruitment.

"This is the time, then," Baratz wrote, "to wish the secretary of state success and count down two years on the calendar with the hope that someone in the State Department will then wake up and begin to see the world through the eyes of a man with a mental age above 12."

The US State Department did not immediately comment on Thursday when asked about the remarks.

Sniping at Israel's head of state, Baratz commented on Facebook last week about photos showing President Reuven Rivlin — whose post is largely ceremonial — sitting in economy class on a flight back from an official visit to the Czech Republic.

"It mainly shows him to be such a marginal figure that there is no concern for his safety. I think he could be sent in a para-glider to the Syrian Golan controlled by ISIS [Daesh]. They'll return him the next day with a request for negotiating their return to Iraq, if only we take him back," Baratz wrote.

Baratz posted a separate remark on Facebook under a screen grab of a TV interview with Daniella Weiss, a Jewish settler leader. The frozen frame carried a subtitle, which read: "He is not important enough to kill", a reference to Rivlin.

Baratz appeared to concur, writing: "I said that way before she did, but it's good when practical people confirm the observations of theoreticians". He was quoted by Israel's Channel Two television as saying his statement was satirical.

Rivlin's office publicly demanded to know whether Netanyahu was aware of Baratz's comments when he appointed him.

"The remarks are particularly serious in light of the fact that this is a senior civil servant who is supposed to serve in a representative capacity and reflect the positions of Israel at home and abroad," the president's office said.

A phone call and text message to Baratz from Reuters, requesting comment, went unanswered.