Ira Glunts writes:
Back in February, in this space, I criticized Americans for Peace Now (APN) for initiating an email campaign profusely praising the “courageous statements” on the settlements made by Rep. Gary Ackerman during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. One of my points was that Ackerman, who is among the most powerful congressional allies of the pro-Israel lobby, should not be lauded for any isolated statement that sounds like it is pro-peace. Why enhance the credibility of someone who is the opposition?
In the same APN initiative Rep. Robert Wexler was also mentioned for his heroic remarks at that hearing. The Florida Congressman, a crafty politician, is a close friend of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), who somewhat surprisingly is endorsed by the pro-Israel, pro-peace, J Street.
The press largely reports political speech under the questionable assumption that statements are made honestly. This is how the Washington Post described the Ackerman and Wexler statements made early this year in a recent piece:
There is also growing impatience on Capitol Hill with such settlement expansion. At a hearing in February, Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-N.Y.), the pro-Israel chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee panel on the Middle East, equated "terrorism and the march of settlements" as part of a pattern of "shallow calculation and venal self-interest" through which "the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is finally rendered impossible."
At the same hearing, another strong advocate of Israel , Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), declared: "The Palestinians have enormous responsibilities, but the notion that Israel can continue to expand settlements, whether it be through natural growth or otherwise, without diminishing the capacity of a two-state solution is both unrealistic, and, I would respectfully suggest, hypocritical." [Emphasis mine.]
That was then, but now that the Obama administration is seemingly challenging the Israelis to completely freeze settlement expansion these two faux men of conscience are now apparently of a different opinion.
Here is a sample of what Mr. Ackerman has said recently regarding the issue:
I do not believe in, and I do not support a settlement freeze that calls on Israeli families not to grow, get married, or forces them to throw away their grandparents. Telling people not to have children is unthinkable and inhumane. Real life is messy and the exigencies of any vibrant population need to be acknowledged and accommodated.
For a good analysis of Ackerman’s statement see, “Ackerman’s Nonsense” by Josh Marshall.
Here is a statement which has been attributed to Mr. Wexler.
… the settlement freeze should apply only to settlements outside Israel ’s security fence, or wall, and should exclude territory that appears likely to ultimately remain part of Israel.
As Bruce Wolman notes, this statement "presupposes what is to be negotiated." The assumption that all the territory on the “Israeli side” of the security fence is not even the public position of the Netanyahu government, which argues that only the ‘settlement blocks” will be annexed to Israel . In other words, Wexler is much worse than Netanyahu on this issue.
Both Congressmen are considered strong supporters of President Obama. Rep. Wexler as a Jewish pro-Israel legislator gave an early and important endorsement to the presidential candidacy of then Senator Obama, who at the time was actively courting the Jewish vote.
So if the likes of Wexler and Ackerman are the congressional allies that President Obama has to rely on if he is serious about fighting a battle for a viable Palestinian state and a just peace, I think that it is going to be a difficult.
Related posts:
- Peace Now: It’s ’self-defeating’ not to congratulate Gary Ackerman for an important statement
- Truckling to Netanyahu, White House removes word ’settlements’ from a statement
- Congressman Ackerman Sends Out Religious Letter at Taxpayers’ Expense
- Is Obama going wobbly on settlements?
- Leading Jewish congressman attacks settlements
{ 40 comments }
Being a purist is not helpful. Praise resulting from relative improvement can be withdrawn. Follow through or lack can be noted.
It's important to continue to harass this 65 year old New Yorker in a blue denim jacket called Philip Weiss and his companion, Adam Horror-witch. They need to be told constantly that they as New Yorkers have no grasp of what is happening in the world. And keeping the site 'Jewish' is a gross mistake and racist as well, because Judaism is a faith and you cannot by definition administer a site that deal with earthly, secular matters, and at the same time insist that it is 'Jewish' without being a rqacist bigot.
John Sebastian, I liked you so much better when you were with the Lovin' Spoonful. Now you're just a knee-jerk, Israel-first hasbara-spewing lightweight. Anyone who calls for "harassing" the selfless duo that maintain this website has nothing to contribute to the dialogue, and should simply stay off the site. Make sure your AIPAC dues are up to date!
Could you rephrase that for a nitwit foreigner? But please don't insult Phil or Adam. You get Phil's age wrong, by the way. The Catholic church may have updated it's manuals (Malleus Maleficarum), but most thinking people are a bit skeptic about it. All your note leaves is the impression of a seriously disturbed mind.
Thank you. I wonder if this guy believes that the Vatican is too Catholic?
So, in WittyWorld, making a pubic statement that assumes what is yet to be negotiated is "being a purist?"
Correct, Phil's age is off by about a decade, if memory serves. On the other hand, Phil might do us all a favor and find a non-Jew to work with on his blog too. Is it that hard? His mission state clearly involves US foreign policy and last time I looked Jews were 2% of the population, but the other 98% of the USA is obviously impacted by the issues discussed on this blog (not to mention the whole world in one way or another due to the fact the USA is the lone super-power and set the model for 21st Century world vision. Please explain your fuzzy analogy to the Catholic Church. Thanks.
The meme that ceasing settlement expansion implies limiting the size of families is idiotic, as has been pointed out in the Israeli press — well, in Haaretz, and in Ynet (bless its eccentric little heart), again and again. They can up sticks and move, like families do everywhere. I think the reason they do this is, they have the quaint idea that Christian publics see "the Jewish family" as the source of their own (i.e. Christian) "family values," and hence as especially sacrosanct. Someone should disabuse them of this quaint idea.
Just say it: Wexler and Ackerman are both Jewish Zionists. Why shy away from the term when it goes directly to motive? Treating them with kid gloves is what got us where we're at as a country.
I navigated to Gershom Gorenberg's House Hunting in the West Bank from Josh Marshall's article, and it's everything I was thinking (and some things I hadn't thought about) since this "natural growth" scuffle began, but articulated much more poetically than I ever could. I encourage you all to read it if you haven't done so. Apologies if it's been posted before.
RE: "Ackerman and Wexler flipflop on settlements" FROM J STREET: Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rejection of a full settlement freeze, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that President Obama "wants to see a stop to settlements – not some settlements, not outposts, not natural-growth exceptions." This is exactly the sort of leadership we need from the President and Secretary of State if we are going to achieve a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – the only way to truly secure Israel's future as a Jewish, democratic homeland. You can bet the Obama Administration is already hearing from hawkish voices on Israel – urging him to make exceptions, allow for more settlement growth, and to go slow. No way – a freeze means a freeze. We've got to make sure the President knows pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans support his strong line on settlements, for both Israel's and America's sake and security. Please send the President a message telling him you support his "Freeze means Freeze" approach to Israeli settlements. * TO SEND MESSAGE - http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/2747/t/3251/pet...
Adam Horror-"witch" OK, that was a bit unconnected. Yes, I tried to feign to not notice his play on Adam's name. The Malleus Maleficarum, in German Hexenhammer, = witch and sledge, was the classic bible of the witchhunters. http://www.malleusmaleficarum.org/ It should be horror-sorcerer anyway. Additionally the book wasn't used by the Catholics only but the Protestant too. And it of course isn't correct that the Catholic Church updated it, but I found it just as shocking that they updated the manuals on exorcism recently, which feels pretty close.
Viciously condemning Americans for Peace Now for appreciating politicians statements of justice, is "purist".
I think Phil is 53.
And? Follow your earlier comments and my responses, and please address them. Thanks. Further, what do manuals on exorcism have to do with the current political issues we are discussing here? Thanks again for your prompt response. What do you mean to delineate? What suggest by association?
Should the Palestinians also be given leeway to expand due to natural growth? If not, why not?
Yes, that's a good starter. The next question is, Why should settlements talk only discuss freezing; why not uprooting? LOL. I know the answer, you have to start somewhere. Isn't that the greatest proof of what the Palestinians are up against? Do you think Obama does not know this? The obvious moral trajectory is one thing, what can be done in the face of zionist power over USA is another. Step by step is the tussle. Keep your eye on it, all you USA taxpayers and victims of USA foreign policy, not to mention USA GIs.
Seems to me maybe these arguments in favor of "natural growth" are a good thing. E.g., the validity of them is so utterly lacking—"don't take away our right to expand on what we had no right to build in the first place!"—that it indicates the colonialists are simply coming to the end of their ability to think up anything but the most feeble of claims. And maybe that's the way progress is made; the wrong side simply runs out of arguments that anyone believes or can even defend, and is left with the choice to buck the consensus or bow to reason. Either way it's a step towards some denouement, even if not the the final one.
He's a very rational, compassionate, truth-telling journalist. Also an orthodox Jew who does not fit the stereotype of "all religious Jews are bigots".
More than that. HUMAN BEINGS live there. To uproot enmasse is a forced relocation, an ethnic cleansing, a "genocide" by some's usage of the term here. Some of the residents that you would propose to forcefully move have lived there for two generations, kids that have never lived elsewhere, that is their home. Better to correct wrongs, rather than repeat them.
Or even more pertinently, should Palestinian families be expected to shrink to accomodate Jewish families' growth?
But Palestinians are being uprooted enmasse in order to make room for these settlements. Clearly you don't see Palestinians as human beings, or they would be included in your equation that's it's not ok to uproot people enmasse. (The term Genocide would not apply to the settlers, because moving them back to the country in which they have citizenship would not be a part of a program to eliminate Jews, or even Israelis, as a people.) However, the correct move, and why nobody is trying to make this happen is beyond me, is to establish the borders of the Palestinian state along the green line, and tell the settlers they are welcome to stay where they are and become citizens of the state of Palestine.
Netanyahu's "conditions" for a Palestine 'state'i n his upcoming speech:. Any Palestinian state must be demilitarized, without an air force, full-fledged army or heavy weapons. • Palestinians may not sign treaties with powers hostile to Israel. • A Palestinian state must allow Israeli civilian and military aircraft unfettered access to Palestinian airspace, allow Israel to retain control of the airwaves and to station Israeli troops on a future state’s eastern and southern borders. • Palestinians must accept Israel as a Jewish state, a nod to the hawkish side of Mr. Netanyahu’s governing coalition that has raised concerns that the Palestinian Authority, which nominally governs the West Bank, does not recognize Israel as a Jewish state I think we will call this Israel's .. "Operation Lead Ballon"….LOL.
You should just shut up witty…you continue making a fool of yourself with your every post now. Go write the definition of hypocritic a thousand times on the blackboard. Poor illegal two generation settlers shouldn't be "uprooted"? But up rooting Palestines for Jews who haven't had any claim to a country there since bibical times and how many centuries is O.K? Boggles the mind.
Look, you asked me this: Please explain your fuzzy analogy to the Catholic Church. Thanks. And I answered. My little prattling away excurses was triggered by the term "witch". In a nutshell, I don't like it if my hosts and/or their guests are insulted. I don't understand why you are mad at me. I answered the moment I saw your question. And I answered your question the best I could. I have no problem at all that both main authors and many of they publish are Jewish. I don't see what huge difference it could make if one wasn't Jewish, since they approach matters rationally. It would still not be representative of a US census, if one was a non-Jew. Do you expect Phil to find 49 gentiles authors to write about I/P, US/Israel in a post Iraq war world? And especially write for free? I can see that the issue is different for Jewish Americans, I think that is exactly what I find interesting. See Adam's admission, he wasn't so sure if he should really publish Max video. See Phil meditations, if he wasn't himself ethnocentric if he choose another Jew. No he wasn't, Adam simply was interested and it wasn't much trouble to convince him to join Mondoweiss, that's all. Anything I didn't address satisfactorily?
Citizen, certain Jews and certain Leftists can't help themselves but to stick a knife in the Christian church at any and every opportunity. They do this figuratively, and in the Soviet Union they collaborated to do it literally, murdering millions of Christians in the process. Yet somehow they are still able to get away with casting themselves as "victims" and their critics as "intolerant." It's somewhat ironic now that Political Judaism and the Left are having a parting of ways, given their like-mindedness on the Christian question. I sometimes wonder if hard anti-Zionist Jews (as opposed to Jewish dissidents who can live with a chastened Israel's existence) are so adamant about the end of Israel because they want to be able to re-spark the murderous coalition between Political Judaism and the secular Left, and Israel is getting in the way. I wonder if that's why certain Judeophile Leftists are so adamant about the end of Israel, too. Never underestimate the lengths to which hatred of Christianity will drive Left-Statist ideologues. Their record speaks for itself.
Huh? Should the Wall Israel erected be the dividing line between what should belong to Israel and what to a future Palestinian state? Please answer this Witty.
I have no clue what you are trying to say. I am sorry. Perhaps I simply don't have the IQ.
Of course, all readers here realize that in American mass media all Jews are golden, never bigots. And if you criticize anything any group of Jews proclaimed you are an anti-semite. So, given this reality, Witty, what's your point, other than to jump on the back of Goliath and spur him on?
So, Israel is using human beings for fleshly pawns, gambling chips. I agree.
So you two think it is humane to forcefully remove 500,000 from their homes? I don't think its right to forcefully remove anyone is the point. How anyone can derive from that statement that I regard it as acceptable to remove Palestinians from their homes is amazing. I have and do consistently oppose settlement expansion, in the present. "However, the correct move, and why nobody is trying to make this happen is beyond me, is to establish the borders of the Palestinian state along the green line, and tell the settlers they are welcome to stay where they are and become citizens of the state of Palestine." The seventy times that I stated that here, you didn't hear?
Witty your west bank settlement bias is becoming more and more obvious. You are so devious, pretending to support two states.
So only a special interest group should have influence over what it stakes out as its own within that group even when the creed and deed & non-deed affect the larger whole?
Is your last sentence a good motto for the state of Israel?
Wexler is obviously on both sides of this issue as usual. I would consider printing his two quotes simultaneously so the public is aware of his methodology. Telling both sides what they want to hear.
Very good article by Gershom. I haven't read his book so far, but what he shows is what must be on the mind of every thinking person in the context. I also liked his article about Max' video, even the initial criticism I can accept, maybe since he goes on to show, yes there surely is such a phenomenon, and that was exactly why I think it was important: http://southjerusalem.com/2009/06/racism-amalek-a... Richard's truism irritates me. Has anyone suggested that "all religious Jews are bigots"? If so it escaped me. The Magnus Zionist is one of the many, many sane voice among them. But in the settlements religious fervor seems to be intrinsically connected with politics. Up to the big conspiracy of the world against the Jews, the counter conspiracy tale to what Richard fears.
But it's ok to have forcefully have removed 700,000 although they had nothing to do with the Shoah? And all those land grabs via settlements have been great for 40 years? Yeah, we know, those dispossessed Palestinian arabs have a right to pursue title claim in an Israeli court. LOL. You can't sell us your Brooklyn Bridge, Witty. And we won't sell you Manhattan for some wampum beads.
This is a great suggestion. The guy is a weasel.
bla, bla, bla. I glad I don't have to live in your Christian America. You and your mindset may at one point decide that since I like people not according to their religion, I must be possessed by the devil, which needs to be exorcised. I witnessed the case of a girl that didn't survive the exorcism, and I don't think that funny or has anything to do with Christian religion. It's a relict of the middle ages. Can you show me were exorcism or criticism or witch hunting or inquisition was propagated by Christ? And isn't he the founder of the Christian faith?
I can't reply to the above. So I do it here. You don't need to be a wizzard to see that I responded to this: On the other hand, Phil might do us all a favor and find a non-Jew to work with on his blog too. Is it that hard? If you don't like what Phil and Adam publish or write why don't you simply move on and read a non-Jewish blog. There should be quite a few out there.
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