Fact Check: Netanyahu Supposedly Said, 'America Is a Golden Calf and We Will Suck It Dry.' Here's the Truth.
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Claim:
Netanyahu was recorded in 1990 saying: "America is a Golden Calf and we will suck it dry, chop it up, and sell it off piece by piece until there is nothing left but the World’s biggest welfare state that we will create and control."
Rating:
In late 2023, rumors spread online claiming that Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once said, "America is a golden calf and we will suck it dry, chop it up, and sell it piece by piece until there is nothing left but the world's biggest welfare state that we will create and control... This is what we do to countries that we hate. We destroy them very slowly."
The alleged quote was not new, having repeatedly resurfaced since at least 2017 on both X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit.
Netanyahu: America is a golden calf and we will suck it dry, chop it up, and sell it piece by piece until there is nothing left but the world's biggest welfare state that we will create and control. This is what we do to countries that we hate. We destroy them very slowly.
byu/LightBringerFlex inconspiracy
The statement was supposedly uttered by Netanyahu in 1990, although he did not assume prime ministership until 1996. This is the full quote attributed to Netanyahu as it has appeared in other social media posts:
If we get caught they will just replace us with persons of the same cloth. So it does not matter what you do, America is a golden calf and we will suck it dry, chop it up, and sell it off piece by piece until there is nothing left but the world's biggest welfare state that we will create and control. Why? Because it is the will of God, and America is big enough to take the hit so we can do it again and again and again. This is what we do to countries that we hate. We destroy them very slowly and make them suffer for refusing to be our slaves.
This text accompanies the quote in memes such as the one above:
Benjamin Netanyahu, employed at the time as a Soviet agent, in a covert conversation taped in 1990 @ Finks Bar in Jerusalem, a well known Mossad hangout. Taken directly from the transcript of the recording, which was witnessed and has been 100% fully authenticated. Shown here making the satanic sign of '666' at that meeting.
Made public by Gordon Duff, Veterans Today.
Sources:
https://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/03/12/shockwaves-part-iii/
https://new.euro-med.dk/20150320-veterans-today-rewrites-us-history-much-worse-than-you-ever
The meme cites "Gordon Duff, Veterans Today" as its source. Veterans Today is a website we have previously found to publish antisemitic, pro-Nazi, and Holocaust-denying material. Vice called Veterans Today "conspiracy-oriented."
Duff, the senior editor and director of Veterans Today, stated in a 2012 interview that, "About 30% of what's written on Veterans Today, is patently false. About 40% of what I write, is at least purposely, partially false, because if I didn't write false information I wouldn't be alive."
Veterans Today has a disclaimer that reads as follows [archived here]:
Due to the nature of uncensored content posted by VT's fully independent international writers, VT cannot guarantee absolute validity. All content is owned by the author exclusively. Expressed opinions are NOT necessarily the views of VT, other authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, or technicians. Some content may be satirical in nature. All images are the full responsibility of the article author and NOT VT.
The first link [archived here] listed takes us to a page written in 2015 by James Preston, who claims to be a Social Psychologist with a Ph.D. The second link doesn't work, either because the page has been deleted or because the URL is incomplete.
(Image via Veterans Today)
The article itself claims that Netanyahu is the "Operational Head of the Khazarian Mafia" (an antisemitic trope) and that the statement was recorded while he was meeting at Fink's Bar in Jerusalem, a real bar that closed in 2005. Although the article claims that the quote was pulled from the transcript of a recording, no such recording has never been presented as evidence.
https://media.snopes.com/2024/03/veterans_today_conspiracy_doc_netanyahu_golden_calf_quote_single_page.pdf
(Veterans Today)
In sum, although Veterans Today claimed this quote was "100% fully authenticated," we found no corroborating evidence to support this claim, nor indeed any evidence that the quote even existed prior to the 2015 article in which it was published. Additionally, Veterans Today has a reputation for spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories. Because of this, we rate this claim "Unfounded."
Sources:
Fact Check: NO Evidence Netanyahu Once Said 'America Is A Golden Calf And We Will Suck It Dry,' 'Destroy' It | Lead Stories. 18 Jan. 2024, https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2024/01/fact-check-no-evidence-netanyahu-once-said-america-is-a-golden-calf-and-we-will-suck-it-dry-destroy-it.html.
'Https://Twitter.Com/AlgerianPalest/Status/921115692136529920'. X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/AlgerianPalest/status/921115692136529920. Accessed 4 Mar. 2024.
'Https://Twitter.Com/LadyVelvet_HFQ/Status/1730786770982256956?Lang=en'. X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/LadyVelvet_HFQ/status/1730786770982256956?lang=en. Accessed 4 Mar. 2024.
Kasprak, Alex. 'Did Rep. Paul Gosar Promote Holocaust-Denying Website in Email to Constituents?' Snopes, 17 Apr. 2023, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/gosar-veterans-today/.
Preston, James. 'Shockwaves (Part III)'. Veterans Today, https://www.veteranstodayarchives.com/2015/03/12/shockwaves-part-iii/.
'Remembering Fink's in Jerusalem, Politicians, Celebrities Dined There'. The Jerusalem Post | JPost.Com, 20 Sept. 2020, https://www.jpost.com/opinion/remembering-finks-in-jerusalem-politicians-celebrities-dined-there-642974.
Thompson, Alex. '9/11 "truthers" Vow to Never, Ever Forget'. Vice, 12 Sept. 2016, https://www.vice.com/en/article/pa499n/911-truthers-vow-to-never-ever-forget.
White, Gregory. 'Israeli Prime Minister: "America Is A Thing You Can Move Very Easily"'. Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/israeli-prime-minister-america-is-a-thing-you-can-move-very-easily-2010-7. Accessed 4 Mar. 2024.
