Grapevine: When insults lead to injury

Greer Fay Cashman, jpost.com

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Baratz not only publicly insulted the president of Israel by mocking his importance, but also made fun of the fact that the president sat in economy class on a commercial flight.

Excerpt:

It would seem that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – by taking on Ran Baratz as head of public diplomacy and media in the Prime Minister’s Office, to replace Mark Regev, who has been named ambassador-designate to the Court of St. James’s – has once again inadvertently shot himself in the foot.

Given the sensitivity of the position, someone should have checked out Baratz’s posts on social media and informed the prime minister of them, before the finalizing of such an important position. ... 

The appointment is not yet final, and has to be approved by the cabinet before Baratz accompanies Netanyahu to Washington next week. But it would be problematic for Netanyahu to take someone who has used social media to make even more outrageous remarks about US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to meetings with those very people? Perhaps, as was suggested on Thursday morning by Israel Radio’s Aryeh Golan, it would be better for Baratz to remain a private citizen. ...