Jewlicious

Do I turn off the light or do you?

15 years ago
13 Comments
by Sharon
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He’s not quite Kim Kardashian, her sister Khloe, or even John Edwards – but he’s pretty damn sexy.

You know, those sagging man-boobs, that voluptuous beer gut (wait, Muslims can’t drink?) and that carpet of thickly matted chest hair – what more could a secretary desire on her first day of work?

“Do I turn off the light or do you?” the man says in a video, aired on Israeli television earlier this week. “What is the procedure?”

Rafiq Husseini, a now former top aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas slides completely naked slide into bed, calling an unseen woman to join him, in what was allegedly an effort to trade his political influence for sex  This morning, however, Abbas dismissed Husseini from office and has formed a special committee to investigate allegations of corruption in his administration, West Bank-based Ma’an News Agency reported earlier today.

Along with a full-fledged video crew, former Palestinian intelligence official Fahmi Shabaneh had planted hidden cameras in the apartment, after being tipped off by the woman in question. Through a stream of text messages and meetings, Husseini had allegedly informed the potential secretary that if she wanted to be hired, “she needed to meet him in the bedroom for a little manual labor first,” according to FOX News. Shouldn’t politicians be smart enough by now to understand that if they are stupid (and/or horny) enough to engage in a sex scandal, there’s always bound to be irrevocable evidence?

After the news became public in Israel  through reports by The Jerusalem Post and Channel 10’s Tzvi Yehezkeli, even the editor-in-chief of Ma’an News Agency, Nasser Laham, wrote an editorial urging Husseini to step down, calling Husseini’s indecency an “embarrassment” to the Palestinian people – though, Laham does go on to call for Shabaneh’s arrest and makes sure to highlight all of Israel’s own financial and sexual scandals. In fact, the Palestinian Authority actually has a warrant out for Shabaneh’s arrest for his so-called “collaboration with Israel,” The Jerusalem Post reported.

And just when we thought Israel might be in the clear for once, relatives of Husseini and top aides to Abbas are naturally calling the tapes an “Israeli conspiracy”  blaming the Israeli government, Mossad and Shin Bet for the incident.

I’m sorry, but if a Palestinian politician can’t keep his pants on, it’s absolutely absurd to blame the Israeli government. Did Israel instruct this man to peel off his clothes, slide sexily under the covers and beckon an innocent woman to his bedside? I don’t think so. Likewise, did a team of Republicans conspire to film John Edwards’ extramarital tryst? I don’t think so.

I hope that for once, the media will give Israel a break and not assign blame where blame is so obviously not due. Blame belongs in one place in this scenario, and that place is below Husseini’s forestial belt-line.

_ _

Warning, the video below is quite explicit and disturbing to the eyes, in more ways than one.

Sharon Udasin is a staff writer at The Jewish Week. Follow her on Twitter or e-mail her at [email protected].

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13 Comments

  • Fair enough. I do prefer him as a negotiating partner. However, I don’t think they intend to negotiate with Israel, at least not meaningfully. The deal offered by Olmert should have been enough to take us into the final lap. I don’t see what else can be expected, if they were even coming to the table.

  • But if you believe in a negotiated solution, you need a negotiating partner. The quixotic, weak Abbas hasn’t been up to the challenge. Perhaps the Gorbachev analogy is a good one– a man vastly more impressive than the Soviet gerontocrats he replaced. The test isn’t whether Abbas or Fayyad will be your buddies. They aren’t and won’t. It’s about finding a figure with legitimacy domestically and internationally, who has the backbone and intellect to sign an agreement at a future time. Fayyad may be that figure, and in any event is more promising than his boss.

  • Tom, Tom, Tom, have you stopped reading my posts altogether? Fayyad is even more dangerous than Abbas. Check out my “endgame” posts. He is, indeed, an impressive figure, and he is beloved in the West. However, his ultimate goal is closely aligned with that of Abbas and the rest of Fatah.

  • Israeli leaders and intelligence must be looking past Abbas by now, though, wouldn’t you think? Maybe his PM is the wave of the future. Fayyad seems altogether a more impressive figure. A man we can do business with, as Thatcher said of Gorbachev.

  • Well, this son of a bitch has made great strides in damaging Israel in the international arena, maybe to an even greater extent than Arafat did. Israel is stupid to let him play his game.

  • It’s easy, Middle. As FDR said of Anastosio Somoza the elder, “he may be a son of a bitch but he’s our son of a bitch.”