Great piece by Peter Kenyon on NPR this morning showing that Obama’s pressure on Israel has created a real estate boom in the settlements, as Israelis rush to get in before anyone can stop them:
Mayor Benny Kashriel [of Maale Adumim]… says Obama’s pressure tactics will bring a backlash from settlers in the West Bank, for which he prefers the Biblical names Judea and Samaria.
"And now 280,000 people in Judea and Samaria will be together against him, will demonstrate together, and will not let our government compromise with him," he says.
Palestinians hope Obama will be able to rein in the settlers.
Read the last line a second time. Palestinians hope Obama will be able to rein in the settlers. Does anyone believe that? Do you? Thanks to Rob Browne.
It will. You can see it in the Lowenstein/Dana interviews. People resent intrusion.
But, if he is serious, he has to follow through on this. He has to have a confident response from the Arab World (“if I go to bat for your perspective, will you follow through on your commitment to normalize”).
If its just words that he has then it will backfire. I don’t now think that US pressure alone will accomplish a change in attitude.
Let’s not forget—it is not just Obama who has to follow through beyond just words. Netanyahu has to do so as well, and thus far he has indicated he won’t.
At this point, the onus is not on the Arab regimes to normalize relations. If Netanyahu wants a reciprocal response from the Arab world, let him state unequivocally–no new settlements, no expansion.
He hasn’t and won’t. And that impasse is not the fault of the Arabs.
NPR is starting to open up. A few cracks allowing the light in on this issue. Keep listening to how often NPR or other host of programs on NPR allow unsubstantiated claims to be repeated about Iran.
Terri Gross has not only allowed Iran “has a nuclear weapons program” she has repeated this at least six times in the last year that I have heard. Neil Conan has allowed John Bolton and others to repeat these unsubstantiated claims. So many MSM host allow the debunked Iran wants to “wipe Israel off the map” to be endlessly repeated.
Terri Gross repeats that one herself often.
Professor Juan Cole has debunked that alleged statement ‘wipe Israel off the map” instead of what Ahmadenejad said “Zionism will vanish from the pages of history”
Listening to NPR’s Mike Shuster reporting right now about Iranian protesters. Damn amazing how the MSM focused so much on the Iranian protesters..including NPR. Hell the protesters against the selection of Bush in 2000 barely got a whisper (I was there). The millions (accumulatively) of U.S. protesters who protested before the invasion barely recieved any coverage. Millions of American marched against that invasion.
Guess you have to go to Iran to protest to get our MSM to cover protest.
Almost appears that NPR and other outlets are putting so much attention on the protest in Iran that they are part of the team who are trying manufacture consent for a pre-emptive strike on Iran..trying to build the stage for Israel’s strike after the new year
Kathleen,
The “wipe Israel off the map” was the translation provided to the western press by the Iranian press service of the speech.
Its not possible to “debunk” a translation that they provided.
It is possible. There are plenty of people who speak the language who have given a different translation and Ahmedinejad himself clarified his statements by saying the Soviet Union no longer existed.
So Witty, reconcile that further clarification from Ahmedinejad and your statement that the Iranian government went on record confirming that the meaning was an incitement to genocide.
Also, was it the Iranian government? What do you mean by press service? Where is the source? Has there been a follow-up article that does what I’m asking YOU to do? Meaning, further clarification considering the President’s analogy to Russia.
Instead, Kathleen, you are supposed to go with Jewish translations of what Ahmadenejad said. Sammo with his take the Jews call “holocaust denial.”
Debunking translations is always a two -way street. Good to know the applicable language to get the real truth. Too bad most Americans barely know English, let alone any foreign language. That’s why they are easy pickin’s.
Hey Phillip Weiss and team. I have been thinking about how we need a site or thread where people can document how often they hear these unsubstantiated claims and alleged comments are repeated by our leaders, the I lobby and warmongers.
A MSM watch.
Terri Gross repeated these claims in her last two programs on Iran.
Hillary Clinton just repeated these false claims again
link to seminal.firedoglake.com
Hard Times Mean Aliyah Boomlet
link to thejewishweek.com
Isn’t Intervention a wonderful policy?
link to web.archive.org
What is this “your comment is awaiting moderation”?
You are not alone, Richard. It’s been happening to many of us regular commenters. Phil says it has to do with proxy servers. He said he was trying to get to the bottom of
it.
The propaganda campaign is really heating up:
Israeli FM wants Hitler photo to mute world pressure
(AFP) – 21 hours ago
JERUSALEM — Israel’s ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has ordered embassies abroad to use a photo of Adolf Hitler meeting a top Palestinian cleric to counter international criticism over a Jerusalem settlement project, a senior Israeli official said on Wednesday.
The decision to circulate a 1941 photo featuring the Nazi dictator sitting with the then grand mufti of Jerusalem Amin al-Husseini is aimed at easing pressure on Israel over a construction project on land in annexed east Jerusalem once owned by the cleric, the official told AFP.
“The foreign minister ordered the distribution of the photo to all embassies abroad as a response to the Shepherd Hotel incident in order to prove a well-known point that the mufti collaborated with Hitler,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
link to google.com