The Israel Project is dedicated to telling Americans all the good news about Israel. Today it handed out a thick booklet called "Israel at 60" to journalists. The booklet contains one section of quotes from Israeli P.M. Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni about the peace process, titled "Recent Statements on Peace."
Here is a typical quote, from an Olmert speech to the Knesset:
“This is the choice today as well--the existence of two nation-states, Jewish and Palestinian. For there is no other way…I am not indifferent to the misfortunes of the Palestinians, despite the fact that it is a result of the war they initiated and the many opportunities they missed.”
This section of "recent statements" goes on for a couple of pages of upbeat, earnest quotes, showing us how much Olmert cares about Palestinian suffering and a Palestinian state. Fine. The problem is that the list excludes what I (and I imagine many others) find to be Olmert's most memorable statement about the peace process, in an interview with Haaretz on Nov. 29, 2007:
"If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights (also for the Palestinians in the territories), then, as soon as that happens, the State of Israel is finished," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Haaretz Wednesday [the day that the Annapolis conference ended].
Pretty dramatic. Many people have quoted Olmert's comments because they reflect the spiritual crisis that the occupation has produced in Israeli society, all the way up to the highest office. But the Israel Project omits the statement for an American audience. Why? Because they don't want to feed the South Africa analogy, because they don't want to let on to Americans that the situation might be dire, even in the eyes of the P.M. This is surely one of the worst effects of the Israel lobby: it manipulates our news from the Middle East to give Americans a false picture of the true state of affairs.
Carter really is a saint. One day he will be elevated–of course, after he is dead. And no thanks to the Jews.
Carter is an anti-semite who found Annapolis a more amenable place to be from 1942-45 than the Solomon islands. He should just do the right thing and die already before he screws up the world even more than he has done.
"Because they don't want to feed the South Africa analogy"
You think its appearance that Olmert is talking about, rather than the reality.
Don't BE an oppressor, and then the truth will be seen (at least by those without prejudice however derived).
"You think its appearance that Olmert is talking about, rather than the reality."
Not sure what you base your interpretation on?
Personally I wonder why he smuggled a "cogitations-dash" (Gedankenstrich in German) your "em"-dash [alt + 0151] into his Olmert citation. I had almost forgotten about the existence of the "em"-dash versus the "en"-dash, I have to admit.
A choice that is no choice? Bad news not being passed on?
But maybe I should give up stalking you;-)
ha! I have been having to paste that bloody em dash in every time — thank you. In a way, I find Olmert more forgivable than Peres. Olmert is funny, in a Ollie Hardy sort of way, and he knows it. Apparently he said this at the Kadima conference on March 15:
"The newspapers are always reminding the public that I am an unpopular prime minister. Our friends in the opposition, headed by Mr. Netanyahu, never miss an opportunity to shout it from the rooftops. Even in our own party, there are people who spend their days discussing my popularity. I think they’re right. I am an unpopular prime minister. Of course, I know how to get popular—I’m an old fox—spread the money around. The question is what you prefer—a popular prime minister, or a prime minister who gets the job done. Because the State of Israel is my workplace. This is the job I was elected to do for the next four years, and I have no intention of betraying the voters’ trust. I work for you, and make no mistake : I plan to keep working for you for a long time. As long as there is a child in Sderot who can’t sleep at night for fear of Qassams, this is my workplace. As long as our kidnapped soldiers have not been brought home, this is my workplace. What do you prefer? A prime minister obsessed with being popular, or a prime minister who does the job?"