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Former Clinton Strategist Stanley Greenberg Accuses Netanyahu – With No Evidence – of Ordering Office Break-in

Dec. 31, 2012 9:15am Sharona Schwartz

Democratic and Labor Party Strategist Stanley Greenberg in Channel 2 interview

Former Bill Clinton strategist and pollster Stanley Greenberg, who is today advising the Israeli Labor Party, is accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of having ordered the Watergate-style break-in of his Washington office almost fourteen years ago.

In 1999, the office of Greenberg’s polling company was broken into twice within two weeks. After the first overnight intrusion into the building situated just blocks from the U.S. Capitol, Israeli media likened the incident to the 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex that ultimately led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation.

In the second incident, intruders broke through a second story window and disabled an alarm that was installed after the first theft.

At the time, Greenberg was advising Labor Party leader Ehud Barak, who was running for Prime Minister, and ultimately beat Netanyahu. Labor Party sources said then that files primarily related to their campaign were seized by the thieves. Labor Party official Tal Silberstein then said the culprits “knew exactly what they wanted because the only file taken was the one dealing with the Israeli campaign.”

With Israeli elections just three weeks away, Greenberg is again advising the Labor Party, now under Shelly Yachimovich. Perhaps to score a political point for his client, he chose on Sunday to blame Netanyahu for the 1999 criminal acts in Washington. However, he admitted he has no evidence to back it up his accusation.

In an interview Sunday night with Israel’s Channel 2 News, Greenberg was asked about the 1999 break-in in which top secret documents were stolen. This was the exchange with Correspondent Amit Segal:

Q: Do you still believe it was Mr. Netanyahu’s command?

A: Yes.

Q: Really.

A: [Laugh] Without evidence. But, yeah, I can’t find anyplace else.

Segal asked him if his offices were broken into again now that he’s on another Israeli campaign, to which he answered: “Not that I know of [laugh]. Though we did move into new offices that are much more secure that are in a building because of that.”

Greenberg has stacked up an impressive list of clients. Besides Bill Clinton, he has been a campaign strategy consultant for British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

In the loss column: he was adviser to Democrat John Kerry and Israeli candidate Amir Peretz, also of the Labor Party, who lost his campaign for prime minister seven years ago.

Today, Greenberg is spearheading a campaign focused on social and economic issues in a country that has traditionally voted over defense matters.

Last year, the Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that the idea for the 2011 summer tent economic protests was planted at a Tel Aviv meeting with Greenberg three months earlier, something Greenberg denies.

When Labor Party members elected their list of candidates for Knesset, their hope was to translate the success of the huge social-economic rallies into political gains.

Channel 2 Correspondent Amit Segal told Greenberg on Sunday that it appeared his strategy of focusing on social-economic issues was failing to attract votes to Labor.

Greenberg said, “First of all, the election is not over. And that’s not what our polling shows. First of all, the voters do want an election that address[es] social and economic issues.”

Netanyahu is expected to again be prime minister after the January 22 vote.

Segal asked, “How do you explain the huge gap between the enthusiasm of last summer’s tent protest and the almost indifference in this winter election?”

Greenberg answered:

There’s just a big difference between all of those things that go into, you know, the support groups for a party and a social movement. And then when you get to an election and the kind of energy around elections are different. Elections are not social protests, and have a different kind of energy to them.

In 1998, Netanyahu mocked his then-rival Barak for relying so much on his American advisers, which included James Carville. Netanyahu then referred to Greenberg in a Knesset speech as he addressed Barak: “Indeed, you frequently dial the 202 area code. For whoever doesn’t know, that’s Washington. I don’t know how savvy that Greenberg is about Israeli politics.

Today the strategist for Netanyahu’s party Likud-Israel Beiteinu is American Arthur Finkelstein, who is also a GOP consultant.

Greenberg tells Segal he thinks Israeli politics are “much more interesting,” but that since he’s Jewish, it “comes with the territory.”

Watch excerpts of the Greenberg interview here interspersed with Hebrew commentary:

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Comments (21)

dmerwin
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 10:56pm
Who needs facts I just told you what to believe. That could be the working motto of the left.

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hades3
Posted on January 1, 2013 at 7:26pm
Leftist logic: The fact that no evidence exists, proves that he did it ! Doesn’t that sound familiar?
Sorta like “It depends on what the meaning of is , is”, or “I did not have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinsky “. How can anyone doubt any one of these statements ? We know anyone who speaks Clintonese speaks the whole truth !

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toto
Posted on January 1, 2013 at 7:12pm
Frankly, at this point, I would favor whatever Israel did to preserve their existence. I am ashamed that the United States has become such a traitorous “friend”. There is too much evidence that Obama favors the Muslim Brotherhood, which is just a front for Al Queda.

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GuruMeditation
Posted on December 31, 2012 at 7:06pm
It’s not Bibi you need to worry about, Stanley. It’s the Lord you should fear.

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OUTLAW_WEALTH
Posted on December 31, 2012 at 2:06pm
Interesting how it is, when they want to drum up support for dubious foreign policies, they quote a leftist who hates the globalists, and then the right swoops in, with no knowledge of the players or the situation, in knee jerk unity. “Well, the enemy of my enemy, must be my friend.”

And thus conservatives allow themselves to be snared, time and time again.

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OUTLAW_WEALTH
Posted on December 31, 2012 at 2:04pm
Beware of your friends, America. Netanyahu is a friend like Hitler was a pacifist. Watch what the other hand is doing.

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Arshloch
Posted on December 31, 2012 at 12:40pm
This crap is always excreated from dumb-o-craps in general, and ‘Slick Willieites’ in particular.

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Serenabit
Posted on December 31, 2012 at 12:33pm
Another demonstration on how an American Democratic party “advisor” has ties to and helps Socialism on a world-wide scale. This POS did all the damage he could under Clinton and now has moved on to implement socialism in Israel.

Why don’t the progressives, socialists, and communists try to implement their agenda in Iran or North Korea?

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recoveringeden
Posted on December 31, 2012 at 11:55am
Netanyahu has good reason to not trust anybody!

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pilgrim249
Posted on December 31, 2012 at 11:49am
I knew that Netanyahu was easily deceived the day he called Bill Clinton “a warrior for peace”.

Now he is dealing with the master deceiver, Obama; whose entire life is a deception—and I fear that Bibi is no match.

As the leader of small and limited Germany, Hitler was destined to fail. Obama was sent to finish the job Hitler started, and he has the unlimited resources and power of the US at his disposal.

For the survival of Israel and America, Obama must be stopped—Stand up, Phineas, and God be with you.

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1776freedomofspeech
Posted on December 31, 2012 at 11:34am
Who dredged up this fossil of a story and why?

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BmanIII
Posted on December 31, 2012 at 11:01am
So, I get through the first paragraph and it says “fourteen years ago.”

That’s enough for me Before long he will be claiming he was molested as a child 35 years ago. In other words, he should have spoken up then. Maybe he did but I didn’t waste my time finishing the article. I just wasted it on posting this.

Happy New Year everyone!

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dadsrootbeer
Posted on December 31, 2012 at 10:39am
Saul Alyinsky rules for radicals is the motto of the democrats. No evidence, no problem especially with the state of journalism these days.

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jessieH
Posted on December 31, 2012 at 10:22am
What a moron! It wasn’t Ben. It was me. I did it.

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- 1776freedomofspeech
  Posted on December 31, 2012 at 11:08am
  You should be fine. It is past the 7 years for the statute of limitations.
  
  Report this comment
1776freedomofspeech
Posted on December 31, 2012 at 9:45am
I think Greenberg did it, and is setting up Netanyahu as the fall guy.

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SpankDaMonkey
Posted on December 31, 2012 at 9:43am
.
Slaves Vote Democrat……..

And I thought Moses set the Jews Free……….Guess Not…………

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thibx
Posted on December 31, 2012 at 9:32am
is there no sane person in washington? if i was God for 5 min. i would get rid of the district of columbia. i would open up the ground and let it all fall in and cover it over including the people that’s there. then i would go to chicago and…………

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kickagrandma
Posted on December 31, 2012 at 9:21am
DEAR GOD, anything tied to the clintons is a lie, filled with deception, cruelty and selfishness.

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- Cavallo
  Posted on December 31, 2012 at 9:43am
  At least he admitted he had no proof. Which boils down to.. “I don’t like that guy, so I think he did it!”
  
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- burnteye86
  Posted on December 31, 2012 at 9:43am
  Ha, when has the left ever needed evidence before making accusations?
  
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