President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deliver a press conference following their meeting in the Oval Office. Screen-shot from official White House video. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Plain Truth Hurts some... Obama is pro-Muslim anti Jewish racist. Kerry is a bad joke.

By Jeffrey Heller

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - He has accused Barack Obama of anti-Semitism, suggested his own country's president was not important enough to assassinate and described U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry as having the mental abilities of a 12-year-old.

Ran Baratz's Facebook and web page barbs might have remained forever on the margins of social media, save for one thing: the appointment of the 42-year-old philosophy lecturer as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new communications director.

As head of public diplomacy and media, Baratz, who was named to the post on Wednesday, will be tasked with improving Israel's reputation in the world.

But days before Netanyahu embarks on a visit to the White House, an effort to mend fences after fierce feuding over the Iran nuclear deal that Israel opposes, the timing of the decision to give Baratz the job raised questions.

Within hours of his appointment, Israeli media outlets found a clutch of cuttings, headline-grabbing quotes on Facebook and articles he had penned on news websites. Netanyahu's staff, it appeared, may not have checked.  MORE