Remember George W. Bush's infamous "axis of evil" (Iraq, Iran, and North Korea) speech ? Bush's 2002 speech sought compare that trio of nations with the Axis of nations (Germany, Japan, Italy) that America fought in World War Two.

Now, per Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there's a new "axis" (of evil) which includes not only Iran and Yemen but also the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, China, France, and Germany.

At a cabinet meeting last Sunday, Netanyahu referenced the P5+1 negotiations ongoing in Lausanne, Switzerland, to resolve the diplomatic impasse over Iran's nuclear program. "This agreement, as it appears, confirms all of our concerns and even more so," Netanyahu told his cabinet according to the Jerusalem Post.

Netanyahu went on to declare, "The Iran-Lausanne-Yemen axis is very dangerous to humanity and it must be stopped !" To make sure the world got his point, Netanyahu fired off his dramatic declaration on Twitter.

In a responding tweet, the Director of Government Government Affairs for the liberal Jewish-American lobby J Street called upon the Anti Defamation League and AIPAC to condemn Netanyahu's claim that the US is part of an "axis" that poses a "danger to humanity".

In a March 30, 2015 commentary, Middle East expert Juan Cole charged Netanyahu with having "jumped the shark", explaining that, " 'To jump the shark' means to go so far as to become a self-parody that can no longer be taken seriously." Observed Cole,



"Netanyahu now cannot tell the difference between diplomats in pinstripes being stiff around the table in Switzerland and grassroots Shiite tribal forces asserting themselves in Yemen. He sees French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius as a Houthi tribesman, beturbanned and attended by goats. Even the idea that the Houthi movement in Yemen can be seen primarily as an Iranian project is a falsehood; it is a grassroots expression of frustration with governmental neglect. Netanyahu has started seeing Iran all around him, giving him nightmares, consuming his every waking moment."

What's especially notable, and grotesque, about Netanyahu's choice of the word "axis" (which of course has great resonance for Jews given that the World War Two Axis included Nazi Germany), is that the P5+1 nations which, according to Netanyahu, are part of a new "axis" of evil include nations that lost millions, even tens of millions of their citizens during World War Two, in the global struggle against the drive, by Germany, Japan, and Italy, for world domination.

Adding another dark note to the drama: one of Netanyahu's principle American allies, who since 2005 through his group Christians United For Israel has been pushing relentlessly for a US or combined US/Israeli attack on Iran (and against negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program), is Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee, known for his claim that Jewish rebellion and idolatry forced God to send Hitler to commit the Holocaust that killed millions of Jews in Europe and Russia.

As I have documented, Hagee has also claimed that Hitler was partially Jewish and part of a lineage of evil "half breed Jews" who have persecuted the Jewish people throughout history.

Another force lobbying against negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program has been the shadowy, defense industry linked nonprofit group United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI) - recently in the news because of a bizarre lawsuit in which a defamation suit brought against UANI was dismissed by a Federal judge on the basis of secret testimony from the US government.

Cofounders of UANI include James Woolsey, former director of the CIA and a participant in the neoconservative Project For a New American Century - which advocated for an invasion of Iraq. Among the many luminaries of UANI's board are former US Senator Joseph Lieberman, who has likened pastor John Hagee to Moses, and former George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson who, along with Bush speechwriter David Frum, has been credited with coining George W. Bush's "axis of evil" term.