It took awhile, 14 months to be exact, but both the ADL and AIPAC have issued very solid statements condemning the President’s new verbal war on Israel, and asking for the Administration to curtail the public berating of its supposed ally, and work with Israel in a more diplomatic fashion on both the peace process and Iran.
What is disgraceful is that so far, exactly one elected Democrat in Congress has done the same: Congresswoman Shelley Berkley of Nevada. Sadly, Democrats seem to care far more about passing health care legislation this week, than protecting the US-Israel relationship from Obama’s assault. It’s apparent that indifference if not hostility to Israel’s survival is at work. The infamous New York Daily News headline about Gerald Ford’s response to New York’s fiscal crisis was less fair to him (he never said these words) than the title of this article is to President Obama.
It is interesting that David Axelrod, who blasted Israel on network news programs on Sunday, and is a proud standard bearer of the Millard Fillmore label when it comes to the history and politics of the Middle East conflict (for the record, Fillmore headed the Know Nothing Party back in the 1850s), will be honored by the NJDC (National Jewish Democratic Council) at a coming event. Axelrod has pretty much a perfect record of having avoided any connection with any pro-Israel or Jewish communal activity in his long political career, with the notable exception of raising money from Jews for Democratic candidates.
[More]
Updates:
3:35 pm EDT, March 16th, 2010 — Clinton backpedalling furiously
The idea that the only nuclear state in a region, whose lobby’s approval is a make-or-break entity for all US presidential candidates, is fighting for “survival” would be considered ludicrous … at least if pointing it out didn’t invite an instant Goebbels comparison. Israel can end this war tomorrow by retreating to pre-67 borders and asking for a UN coalition to police the new Palestinian states. But of course they don’t want peace – they want more land and more water. Fortunately for them, the only lobby that backs them happens to belong to the most powerful demographic in the most powerful nation in the world.
Interesting comment Cy. Completely wrong again but interesting comment.
If Israel withdrew to pre-67 borders the Muslim states would continue to push until Israel disappears. If you remember Israel expanded during the 67 war which began when the Muslim nations attacked Israel.
I guess you need to understand Islam and its historic HATRED towards Israel to know that its the existence of Israel not the placement of the borders of Israel that is the cause of the conflict.
Yesterday it was Tom Hanks accusing America of committing a war of racism. WWII had little if anything to do with some minor incident that might have occured on December 7th, 1941. Hitler declared war on America December 11th, 1941, not the other way around. Yup, in both cases it’s America the aggressor’s fault. Damn America screams the left. In the last 60 years how many times has Israel been attacked first by it’s neighbours? How many times did Israel attack it’s neighbours first? Do the math. Which side thumbs its nose at the Geneva Conventions, the rules of war? Which side launches 1000′s of rockets into civilian neighbourhoods without even the existence of a formal declaration of war (as if that would make a difference anyway)? One side is willing to co-exist, the other not, it’s all or nothing, period. Which side marches innocent women and children onto it’s front lines to be slaughtered? Which side uses ambulances to transport its soldiers into not away from combat, on the front lines? Which side uses occupied school grounds to set up their mortars and rocket launchers? Hint, only one side does. Yup, leftist history re-writes itself again, it’s all Israeli’s fault. Blame the victim. Liberalism 101 in it’s finest. That perverted, and it is perverted, thought process also embraced by Obama and his ilk is exactly why 1000′s more Aabs are condemned to lifelong misery and eventually death.
“Historic” is a bit of an exaggeration given Israel has only existed since the 40′s and opened up festivities with a massive invasion and extermination of thousands of Arabs living in the region. Yes, this sort of activity has been known to create hostility. The Irgun didn’t care, as they eventually turned their ire on the British to drive them out of the region.
When you’re an invader, you get attacked by the natives. It’s not rocket science and I’m not sure why this needs to be explained to a decendent of a colonial settler in (what I assume from your posts is) Blackfoot territory.
Want Palestinians to protect themselves conventionally? Give them billions for fighter jets and nukes. The ambulance attacks will end.
Israel is willing to co-exist as long as they control all entry and exit to Palestinian territory, basically caging them like dogs. Americans started a revolutionary war over a minor taxation issue – you’d think they’d be more sympathetic. Alas, they pitch themselves as David and went on to back Goliaths around the globe (Israel, South Africa, Turkey, Egypt …)
BTW, how do you colonial fanboys feel that the Harper government is also showing some backbone by speaking out against the settlement expansion?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-regrets-israeli-settlement-move/article1497643/
I still remember before the 6 Day War in 1967 a news reader predicting that Israel would be crushed as it’s small population and army would be destroyed by the hundreds of millions of surrounding Arab States: At the time they where at least perceived as close to being wiped off the map !
Surprise the Israelis won.
Should the U.N. have created the state of Israel ? That’s another debate and one can go back to WW! where the British promised a country to both the Jews and the Arabs on basically the same land.
Logistically speaking it seems an impossibility if not a huge step backwards but sometimes its a shame that Israel can’t just give the left wing morons exactly what they and the UN have been asking for since 1967, put the pre-1967 security wall through the center of Jerusalem back up, and ignore the Palestinians while the whole of the West Bank economy, which is entirely dependent on Israel having control over east Jerusalem, grinds to a complete halt. Unfortunately, every time that Israel even suggests giving the Palestinians exactly what the UN has been asking for all along, they invariably back down and scream no thanks. Under the circumstances perhaps it would be best to hold a referendum and put it to all the citizens of Jerusalem, Arabs and Jews alike, whether to again divide the city as the UN has been pressing for, or leave the whole of Jerusalem under the control of Israel and tell the UN to take a hike once and for all.
There are several good reasons why the Arab citizens of East Jerusalem should consider that remaining under Israeli control would be the best of their options. In fact, for the very same reasons that the Palestinian population of East Jerusalem has grown from less than 50,000 to over 300,000 in the 4 decades since Israel took control of the entire city and offered its Arab population Israeli citizenship. The ancient city of Jerusalem, which has been a Jewish capitol city on and off for over 3500 years now, while never having been an Arab or Muslim capitol city, has attracted Palestinians from all over the West Bank since Israel took complete control because it provides them with access to jobs, subsidized health-care and education for their children, as well as electrical infrastructure and sewage treatment plants that were all non-existent before, and would crumble and disappear soon after Israel withdrew taking its Jewish tax dollars with it. The Palestinian Authority has proven time and again that it couldn’t run a hot dog stand, but if nothing else, it does always offer its citizens access to plenty of rubble and the decent sized throwing rocks that go with it.
“Israel’s decision to build 1,600 new apartments in a Jewish neighbourhood in east Jerusalem is “an obstacle to the prospects for peace” in the region, Mr. Cannon said Thursday.”
And over 4,000 Qassam and longer range Chinese supplied missiles with fragmentation or packed with ball bearings warheads with a kill radius of 100 yrds and fired into Israeli neighbourhoods isn’t? And building tunnels to smuggle weapons, or to infiltrate a sovereign nation and capture it’s soldiers isn’t? And sending suicide bombers into Israeli pizza parlours or onto university campuses isn’t? By comparison the nation subjected to the above atrocities builds some residences to provide shelter for its citizens and all of a sudden the peace process is threatened? This sounds like the script for a sequel to ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’.
If I was going to immigrate to the region I don’t think it would be hard to decide to immigrate to Israel rather than any of the other countries in the region and certainly not to that island of freedom and currently ” good administration ” that are the areas controlled by the Palestinian factions. ( sarcasm fully on about good administration ).
There may be many wonderful Palestinians in the region but their leadership is not something I admire for any reason ! I feel sorry for any sensible Palestinians who would prefer to live in peace and raise their families rather than obsess with hate for Israel ! I would be very glad for a lasting peace where everyone in the region would find a compromise that they could accept and be happy about and their own well run country !
So yes, I’m a ” FANBOY ” of the only democratic country in the region except for Turkey or even Iraq which may be going that way.
What can one expect with Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State?
Just asking.
A few years back Israelis pulled out of Gaza. All that resulted was that Hamas moved up their rockets. A good synopsis as follows:
The most optimistic view of disengagement was that the Palestinians would begin to build in Gaza the state they claimed to have sought for some six decades. The international community showered money on the corrupt Palestinian Authority. Israel even left behind technologically innovative greenhouses that Jewish settlers built to grow flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Indeed, the settlers, who were paid off by American Jews to facilitate this gift, handed Gaza a multimillion-dollar export industry. Fast forward two years, and most of the greenhouses have been torched and looted. The opportunity for Gazans to export something other than terrorism was squandered.
Well Jack I agree with you about Shrillery but the president was raised in the mosque and madras and spent his adulthood listening to a hater that spewed anti- Americanism and Antisemitism as a matter of course.
BTDT:
So if the Chukchi people of Russia decide that, since their ancestors were here first several thousands of years ago, and invade to set up an oasis in the middle of Canada, you’d be ok with that? You wouldn’t become a “terrorist” by attacking their won land would you? Or at least you wouldn’t until your fellow Peggers (that’s where you live, right?) could afford to buy multi-billion dollar weaponry, correct?
Someone I doubt most of you would be willing to follow the rules of engagement you try to force on the Palestinians.
Brian S:
There are several good reasons why the Arab citizens of East Jerusalem should consider that remaining under Israeli control would be the best of their options.
And here’s one they shouldn’t – history suggests the Israelis may not have their best interests at heart.
Sabra and Chatila massacre — was a massacre of Palestinian and Lebanese Muslim civilians carried out between 16 and 18 September 1982 by the Christian Lebanese Forces militia group, following the assassination of Phalangist leader and president-elect Bachir Gemayel. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF), who surrounded Beirut’s Palestinian refugee camps after having invaded Lebanon, allowed the Lebanese Forces militia to enter two of these refugee camps, Sabra and Shatila
…
The PLO had been attacking Israel from southern Lebanon, and Israel had been bombing PLO positions in southern Lebanon[6]. The attempted assassination of Israeli Ambassador Shlomo Argov in London on June 4, 1982 by Abu Nidal’s organization became a casus belli for a full-scale Israeli invasion of Lebanon. On June 6, Israel invaded Lebanon with 60,000 troops in an act condemned by the UN Security Council.
So we start off with the kind of UN-defying cowboy action you like to hear about. But of course it didn’t all go smoothly …
On August 23, 1982, Bachir Gemayel, who was very popular among Maronites, was elected President of Lebanon by the National Assembly. Israel had relied on Gemayel and his forces as a counterbalance to the PLO, and ties between Israel and Maronite groups had grown stronger.
…
On September 14, 1982, Gemayel was assassinated in a massive explosion which demolished his headquarters. Eventually, the culprit, Habib Tanious Shartouni, who confessed to the crime turned out to be a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and an agent of Syrian intelligence. The Palestinian and Muslim leaders denied any connection.
The takeaway here is that the primary aggression was not against Israel but against an ally. Moreover, the culprit was determined not to be Palestinian or a member of their Muslim leadership.
Within hours of the assassination, Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, supported by Begin, decided to occupy West Beirut, informing only then Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir and not consulting the Israeli cabinet. The same night Sharon began preparations for entering the Sabra-Shatila refugee camps.
By noon of September 15, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) had completely surrounded the Sabra-Shatila camps, and controlled all entrances and exits by the means of checkpoints. The IDF also occupied a number of multi-story buildings as observation posts. Amongst those was the seven-story Kuwaiti embassy which, according to TIME magazine, had “an unobstructed and panoramic view” of the camps. Hours later, IDF tanks began shelling the camps.
So Israel is now in charge of the area. Again, the war machine went around the rules and took cowboy action. Let’s see what proceeds under the astute leadership that Bryan and nearly everyone else here thinks the Palestinians should be happy to subscribe to.
Ariel Sharon and Chief of Staff Rafael Eitan met with the Lebanese Phalangist militia units, inviting them to enter the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps and telling them the PLO fighters were responsible for the assassination of their leader
…
For the next 36 to 48 hours, the Phalangists massacred the inhabitants of Sabra and Shatila, while the Israeli military guarded the exits and allegedly continued to provide flares by night.
…
On December 16, 1982, the United Nations General Assembly condemned the massacre and declared it to be an act of genocide
Democracy and freedom in action!
Still have no idea what the Palis might not want to live under Israeli rule?
If not, then I have one more answer for you – Avigdor Lieberman:
“The only way to solve the problem (between Jews and Arabs) is to lower the friction between the two peoples. There can’t be peaceful coexistence in one national state, we can’t live together in the same apartment. So there should be a separate Jewish state and Arab state.”
Does it sound like he’s going to compromise?
As I have stated, Jerusalem is within Israel, the Arabs living there are given the choice to take up Israeli citizenship, or put up with very necessary work permits and checkpoints, and the vast majority of them have only moved to the area since Israel annexed East Jerusalem, so they already knew the score and accepted it beforehand.
Ignorant left wing rhetoric about Jerusalem is not helpful at all because the situation there is extremely complicated and compromise from both sides is an absolute requirement over and above the issue of a seperate state for Palestenians. For the last four decades Jerusalem has probably been the most challenging city in the world to govern, and though the Israelis have made mistakes, nobody else could have accomplished what they have, especially not the UN or the Palestenian Authority. With twice as many Arabs moving to the area than Jews, Jerusalem is not perfect but it has become a successful ongoing concern while under Israeli control, so much so that the newly arrived Palestinians now want it for their own capital city, however they are not yet ready to govern any part of it. The Palestinians may want all the benefits of living in Israel, without of course having to put up with all the Jews, but it needs to be explained to them that nothing in life works that way, and especially not in Jerusalem. Without the Jews, all the many benefits of living in Israel would soon evaporate. For instance, the Israelis went to the expense of building six sewage treatment plants in the West Bank and handed four of them over to the Palestenian Authority, retaining control over the two in East Jerusalem. Only the two sewage plants that Israel retained control over are still functioning today.
It would be foolish enough to demand that any fast growing city stop planning to build more homes, but nowhere is it more stupid than when lefties demand it of Jerusalem. Canadian cities such as Hamilton or Winnipeg having simililar sized populations to Jerusalem’s are located on land areas that are 450 plus square kilometers in size, however Jerusalem’s population is dangerously crammed into 110 square kms bordered by the West Bank’s 5860 sq km total area. The Jordan Valley is a rift valley, making the West Bank a tectonic mountain range, and Jerusalem sits on mountain top plateaus at the western edge, making further expansion to the west impossible. As things stand now, an earthquake, always a possibilty where tectonic plates meet, could wipe out the entire city, Arabs and Jews alike, so forcing the government to continue stacking homes in overcrowded parts of West Jerusalem above the three thousand year old maze of cisterns and caverns that make up old Jerusalem’s ancient infrastructure would seem extremely unwise in the least.
Pre-1967, while under the Jordanian government that has since abandoned it, the West Bank was a basket case with no economy and almost no infrastructure of any kind, and Jerusalem was a very violent and dangerous place where Jews and Arabs were seperated by a security wall. Today, after four decades of Jewish governance over the whole of Jerusalem, Jews and Arabs are living and working together in close proximity, the murder rate is no higher than ours is here in Canada, and the violence, though always a concern, never comes close to rising to the level experienced at a typical G8 or UN climate change summit. Jerusalem is not Shangri-La and it never will be, but it is making measurable progress with no thanks at all to lefties in the UN or anywhere.