Netanyahu’s speech to AIPAC last night reminded me of Pat Buchanan’s famous culture wars speech in the ’92 Republican convention, when he cooked his goose and then-President Bush’s too. Netanyahu is equally out of touch with the political zeitgeist. The U.S. Secretary of State comes into AIPAC and says, we need movement on the settlements because it’s killing our image worldwide, General Petraeus and Joe Biden were reported to have made even stronger statements on that score last week; and look, Netanyahu comes to the lobby and says Jerusalem is ours forever, Jerusalem is not a settlement. He made no movement at all.
Plus the weird Holocaust bender: FDR and Churchill didn’t save my people, the Jews of Europe, so we have learned not to rely on great men, but reserve the right to defend ourselves. Israel on its own, defiant, crazy.
Netanyahu believes in the Israel lobby even more than Walt and Mearsheimer do. He seems to think Jews run America. But even shrewd AIPAC’rs know the writing is on the wall, and this delegitimization thing everyone at AIPAC complains about reflects the world’s impatience with Israeli occupation and oppression, and still AIPAC’s speakers serve red meat about Jerusalem undivided. Not one bone thrown in the direction of the Obama administration. The theme of the conference is, Jerusalem is not a settlement. (F— you, Obama.)
I wish Obama would cut these folks off at the knees. Polls say he has room to do so. But he won’t, will he? Chuck Schumer is at AIPAC, the Democratic Party base is still there, Lee Rosenberg heads AIPAC and Rosey was on Obama’s campaign finance committee. AIPAC may be making itself irrelevant, but it won’t happen fast enough for J Street’s idea of the two state solution.
The one thing to look forward to from tonight’s speech is the slow collapse of the Netanyahu government, with Obama pushing out of sight. It has nothing to offer. Israel’s worldly friends must be deeply demoralized. Former Livni aide Tal Becker, who on the stage last night urged Israel to please do something to renew the relationship with the US, must be steaming. The conference-goer in this Haaretz article who says he feels like "shit" because "the time has come for Israel to stop biting the hand of a friend" got nothing from the Prime Minister. Israel is in crisis with no vision of how to escape apartheid, and now it’s taken the lobby with it. Amazing what smart people will do out of ethnocentric identification. But a lot of them followed Madoff too…
Uri Avnery seems to also believe that this is indeed the beginning of the end.
link to counterpunch.com
And yes I know Avnery is a Zionist…
The Doomsday Weapon, By Uri Avnery — Counterpunch.com, 02/22/10
(EXCERPT)…The last of the Zealots committed suicide in Masada.
The Zionists did indeed try to learn from history. They acted in a rational way, did not provoke the great powers, endeavored in every situation to attain what was possible. They accepted compromises, and every compromise served them as a basis for the next surge forward. They cleverly utilized the radical stance of their adversaries and gained the sympathy of the whole world.
But since the beginning of the occupation, their mind has become clouded. The cult of Masada* has become dominant. Divine promises once again start to play a role in public discourse. Large parts of the public are following the new zealots.
The next phase is also repeating itself: the leaders of Israel are starting a rebellion against the new Rome…
* See Peoples Temple Agricultural Project – link to en.wikipedia.org
FROM WIKIPEDIA: …A total of 909 Temple members died in Jonestown, all but two from apparent cyanide poisoning, in an event termed “revolutionary suicide” by Jones and some members on an audio tape of the event and in prior discussions…
Israel is actually not biting the hand of a friend…The friend actually understands the true plight of Israel, and the direction it is going, the only problem is that they are also minding on the diplomatic process of lessening the impact of whats Israel is doing… So far as Israel direction is concerned, ‘the die is cast’. The opposition cannot prevent it because they were in a legal, rational, and conventional ground…
So what should the militants do? Stand at peace at the corner and witness how future unfolds… The cyberworld is even helping solidifying Israel’s position…global information-sharing makes the world understand their legally rational position even more…This is what amazes me more- there is no political force greater than what is legally rational, and just…
who you talking about, zamaaz? the pronouns you use do not have clear referents.
Who’s got “legal, rational, and just” on his side?
The opposition would found it utmostly more difficult for them to dislodge Israel position once these are anchored on the spiritual (or divine)-cultural grounds…otherwise the political frameworks of other countries based on religious grounds will crumble as well… the present developments were archeological relics uncovered in Jerusalem lately and historical sites were supporting Israel claims – the opposition were moving towards the situation where nothing can support them anymore – historical, political, conventional… etc. They cannot ‘force’ their position unless they declare outright confrontation… doing that they more more they lose moral and legal grounds before the world… Finally at this point we can really see whose side truth will stand…
Great powers these times are much more prudent than the arrogant Greek, Roman, and similar imperial armies in ancient days… anyway they are simply instruments for the fulfillment of the ancient prophesies… It really shows there is greater will that stands over and above our own human arrogant capacities and stupidities…
ok, now I see where you’re coming from, z.
the sky god rules, eh?
tell me, which one of the sky gods invented in the torah IS the “rational, just, and legal” one?
If I understand your point, that the world will be forced to support Israel because the world believes in god and, as Abba Eban asserts, Hebrews invented god, therefore to oppose Israel is to undermine the “foundation” of western civilization, — first, is that, indeed, the point you’re trying to make?
If so, I see it exactly the opposite way: in the 19th century, intellectual powerhouse Germany applied itself to literary and historical criticism of the Scriptures, both Hebrew (Torah/Old Testament) and New Testament. Germany’s enterprise scared the crap out of certain constituencies who were heavily invested in perpetuating mythologies that empowered one group at the expense of another. Germans lost that battle for a time, and the argument went underground.
Biblical scholarship has expanded — exploded, really, with the discovery of ancient documents that shed a new light on the religious traditions that were NOT included in the accepted Canons of the Bible, as well as by greatly expanding the number of people who consider and reconsider biblical texts, history, and developments from both a scholarly and an amateur viewpoint.
As more and more people research the historicity of biblical events, in parallel with the heavy burden of current behavior those events are relied upon to justify, the intellectual disjuncture between those two positions are engendering a major reevaluation of the biblical side of that equation.
Israel has created “facts on the ground,” and facts on the ground are immediate and potent in their impact on the mind. If, in the here-and-now, one people is visiting death and other vicious forms of punishment upon another people, a situation that causes the humanist core of every decent person to recoil in horror, repugnance, and shame, a person acquainted with the biblical texts used to justify those repugnant acts must either reject the reality of the observed phenomenon or the validity of the biblical texts used to justify them. I submit that the biblical texts, which are, in the final analysis, human inventions, must give ground.
In short, not only is Israel being increasingly delegitimized, the biblical foundation for Israel’s enterprise is similarly delegitimized.
Goddammit, sometimes I wish there was still a big English Empire, along with those wonderful French colonies and a few guano islands still operating.
Then we could easily see how irrelevant Judaism is to the Zionist project, and how closely it conforms to the normal run of colonial enterprises.
In fact, by comparison, Israel is pretty mild. In some ways.
But because Israel is the last one left, and happens to be a Jewish project, we discuss it as if Israel was all about Judaism.
we discuss it as if Israel was all about Judaism.
Hm, so the critics of Zionism are to blame, that Israel has a Star of David on its flag, that it is a self-proclaimed Jewish state, or how its proponents and leaders miss no opportunity to drive home the point that Israel is the fulfillment of the Judaic people?
It doesn’t help either that the worldwide Jewry has overwhelmingly embraced the notion of ethnic-exclusive state that is Israel.
But as always its the gentile’s fault.
In fact, by comparison, Israel is pretty mild.
A fact that has less to do with Zionist virtue, and more a demand of the age we live in. Israel would not remain mild while it conducts its colonial operations, if there were, like you state, “still a big English Empire, along with those wonderful French colonies and a few guano islands still operating.”
But the fact that Israel still gets away with what it does is a testament to the exceptionalism we have provided to its operators.
“But as always its the gentile’s fault.”
That’s what I was hoping when I got married, but it doesn’t always work out that way. It’s always the Jew’s fault.
“But the fact that Israel still gets away with what it does is a testament to the exceptionalism we have provided to its operators.”
Yeah, that’s what I mean.
Check out this pic in NYTimes of Obama. The caption reads ‘warning P.L.O. agent in the White House.’
link to nytimes.com
Somehow I believe there is too much technology at our fingertips for Israel to win this information war. Hillary said it yesterday.
Although they’ll always be suck-ups to AIPAC (like Lindsey Graham), Averny is right that military trumps the Senate.
But there’s no difference between the Senate and the military when one is calling for crippling sanctions on Iran while the other is positioning itself (literally as in Diego Garcia) for a war there. They’re both marching towards the same, Israeli defined, end.
And if anything, Averny hardens my belief that the overblown Petraeus comments were nothing but a part of this ‘disinformation war’ –chastise Israel while doing its bidding. When Petraeus declares that Iran poses no threat to the US –you know, speaks the obvious Truth– I’ll change my mind.
When you put it that way, I see your point.
Finally! Thanks! Petreaus and the US military is not where I would look for help in this.
” When Petraeus declares that Iran poses no threat to the US –you know, speaks the obvious Truth– I’ll change my mind”
Exactly, and he’s got a lot more than that to account for.
This is what it’s come to. A guy that has no qualms invading countries for no reason is a frickin hero if he’s against torture and feels Israel could be somewhat less intransigent. Wow, he’s a fricking saint!
the thing about tyrants is that unless they are removed quickly, they will inflict a lot of damage on their way out
I agree, but it’s going to be a tough fight. I think if the Petraus comments are amplified, it will stifle much of the Republican opposition. How is the Republican party now the defender of Israel, and yet there is only one Jewish GOP member?
” I think if the Petraus comments are amplified, it will stifle much of the Republican opposition.”
Gosh, I guess we’re in favor of the Iraq war now? After all, if American troops weren’t in Iraq Israel couldn’t endanger them. And it’s terrible that Israel endangers them, cause our boys are doing such good things there, bringing democracy and all, and saving us from the terrorists, and finding the weapons of mass destruction.
A few months ago, the Israeli ambassador in Greece had sent the member of parliament in charge of foreign policy coordination and defense committee, Theodoros Pangalos, a case of wine for Christmas.
The wine was made in the Golan Heights.
Upon receiving the wine, the Minister of the Greek government sent the case back to the Israeli embassy with a letter that read:
“Unfortunately, I have noticed that the wine which was sent to me is a product of the Golan Heights. From a very young age, I was always taught not to steal and never to accept stolen goods. As a result, I cannot accept this gift and I must return it to you. As you know, your country occupies, illegally, the Golan Heights which should be returned to Syria in accordance with international law and numerous decisions by international bodies”
The letter continued:
“Such operations by the Israeli military in Gaza remind the Greek of similar massacres that took place in Kalavryta, Doxato or Distomo and certainly the one that took place in Warsaw”.
The Greek could have already forgotten the havoc Alexander the Great made to the middle east. Jerusalem too was damaged physically, spiritually, and culturally because of the Hellenism. The Greek have already enjoyed their days, so it is now their time to be ‘straight’.
Had the Greek not also enjoyed the goodness of their ‘spoils of war’? This Golan Issue is one classic lesson from history we learned from the Greeks – You take the arrogance of invading another country and reap the risk of losing your own…
This Golan Issue is one classic lesson from history we learned from the Greeks
From all the cultural and philosophical contributions the Greek have made to Western civilization, the lesson from history you learned was one of occupation, invasion and criminality?
Very telling of the Zionist mindset.
Tsk, tsk, they have no friends near or far – I wonder why oh I wonder why?
Wonderful story – I wish a single American (or Brit) had the guts to say something similar.
The Greeks have memories of the Nazis almost identical to those ongoing with the Palestinians and the Israelis.
That’s so true, Richard Parker. My friend’s mother was nine years old when the Nazis came to her Greek town. They rounded up all the children in the village on the hilltop outside the church. The bishop, or whatever he was, wouldn’t help the Nazis expose the Greek freedom fighters. The Germans shot the cleric in front of the children, then threw him over the cliff.
Then they rounded up all the children inside the church and shot them. My friend’s mother survived by feigning death…at nine years old. Other used the same trick.
There was a local NYC documentary about this with the survivors of the slaughter. They were all in their fifties and sixties and were so traumatized by being buried under their dead friends they never spoke of it until the documentary was made. My friend’s mother was buried for two days. She shat and pissed on her friends as she lay there because she was so terrified of moving; she thought the Germans were still watching the pile.
Avnery’s piece (linked above in James Bradley’s post) says this:
“The fears that arose in Jerusalem at the beginning of his term have dissipated. Obama looks to them like a paper black panther. He gave up his demand for a real settlement freeze. Every time he was spat on, he remarked that it was raining.”
Has no one noticed Obama’s methodology? He watches. He waits. He patiently positions himself. If he were an animal, he would be a praying mantis. Too late, Bibi, you are right where he wants you.
Based on Avnery’s example it would almost seem as though we don’t give Obama enough credit.
Or not enough time before judging. These weeks I was waiting for this scenario: the Bibi blunder gave Obama political trading money (called “change”, innit). He could have used that to get the Healt Care Reform through, armtwisting some democrats, and then back off on Bibi/AIPAC afterwards. From there business as usual.
But Hillary kept his line at AIPAC! Now the word is out (as Levy wrote in Haaretz), and cannot be un-internetted. Even a lot of Israeli voters must be invited to think about the situation.
A lot of Clintons sentences were oldskool, but the move was there. Obama has a lot of patience. Mitchells success in Northern Ireland did not happen overnight too. By the way, Obama got the HCR, and, not unimportant, so far kept another Irax war at bay. And then: he still has two more levels for stepping up his politics: Rahm has not been out yet, and Barack himself. But boy, does it take a lot of patience.
“un-internetted”
I like that.
At least the MSM appears to be framing Obama as on a political roll with the passage of his healthcare bill.
Regardless of the merits of that bill–which imho is not much, but better than nothing–Obama is now viewed as politically far more powerful than he was a few months ago.
And hopefully, this perception of power will embolden him to continue to pressure Israel.
We’ll see. I think he is playing it well so far. But the major papers are hardly showing the headlines of Netanyahu making his case for controlling all of Jerusalem. This is a battle that will remain out of sight for the masses.
Obama told Penny Pritzker and his other Chicago backers in the summer of 2007, when he was at 20% in the polls, and they wanted blood from him against Clinton that it wasn’t his style. He said and I’m paraphrasing. “I told you I’m doing this my way. I know how to close. I move in the fourth quarter.”
Obama does politics the way Gretzky does hockey. Have you ever see The Great Gretzky on ice? He looks like he’s drunk. He looks ineffectual, he skates the rink on one foot, the other in the air. Off-balance. Like Charlie Chaplin on skates. Soooo non-threatening you can hardly believe he’s the great hockey player he’s presumed to be. He doesn’t charge. He’s not aggressive (he’s a slight man). When asked what his secret was, Gretzky said, “I go where the puck will be.”
I understand what Phil means about Bibi misreading the moment, but on the other hand my sense is that Bibi is reading the Israeli electorate very astutely. So far as I see—and I hope I’m wrong but doubt it—any attempt by any Israeli leader to give up any part of J’slem would be renounced by the Knesset, and would even result in an Israeli civil war if that didn’t happen.
So who is really misreading things? Bibi and Likud and the AIPAC’ers, or the U.S. establishment which believes that us being involved in the I/P fight makes any kind of sense? Watch: It ain’t Israel that’s gonna be hurt by Bibi’s intransigence on J’slem.
The only proper US position should be utter non-involvement except perhaps for the humanitarian. Given we have no dog in the hunt, by definition getting involved in it in almost any way means we have no way of getting any benefit from it, and yet will almost certainly accumulate some costs anyway. Foolishness defined.
RE: “any attempt by any Israeli leader to give up any part of J’slem would be renounced by the Knesset…” – Sin Nombre
SEE: ‘Current Knesset is the most racist in Israeli history’ – Haaretz, 03/21/10
(EXCERPT) The Israeli government passed at least 21 bills aimed at discriminating against the country’s Arab citizens making the current Knesset as being the most racist Israeli parliament since the country’s founding, according to a report released Sunday by civil rights groups.
The Coalition Against Racism and the Mossawa Center, which works to promote equality, claimed that the proposed legislation seeks to de-legitimize Israel’s Arab citizens by decreasing their civil rights. The report’s data show that in 2008 there were 11 bills defined as racist presented to the Knesset while in 2009 there were 12 such bills.
In 2010, the report’s authors claim, there were no less than 21 bills proposed that included discriminatory elements against the country’s Arab citizens.
According to the report released to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the number of laws that discriminate against Arab citizens proposed in the current Knesset bypassed all previous years, increasing by 75 percent.
“There has never been a Knesset as active in proposing discriminating and racist legislation against the country’s Arab citizens,” said the report’s authors Lizi Sagi and Nidal Othman….
ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to haaretz.com
Yet Gen. Petraeus’ recent statement that Israeli policy puts American lives in danger indicates the US very much has a dog in that hunt.
And while I am too lazy to look it up, a recent Israeli poll indicated that a majority of Israelis view Obama as fair and, I believe also, ranked Obama above Netanyahu in some vague terms of approval. The immediate question is a freeze on East Jerusalem construction as demanded by Obama. If Israel genuinely imposed a freeze, I doubt that fact alone would result in civil war.
Keep in mind–Obama has not demanded that East Jerusalem be handed over to Palestinians tomorrow. Presently, the issue is the freeze.
No no, piney, that’s misreading Petraeus. He’s not saying that if the I’s and P’s are at each others’ throats that this alone hurts us. What he’s clearly saying is that our past and present posture of having our nose stuck into that hunt and subsidizing Israel is what’s costing us with the arab world. And does anyone really doubt that?
The US can have many ways to have “a dog in that hunt”. Presently our dog is enabling the Israelis to have their way with Palestine.
As I read Petraeus, perhaps he is calling for a different view of our dog–one that is seriously pressuring Israel for meaningful concessions.
If the US is seen as doing that and actually alters Israeli behavior for the good–and of course that’s still up in the air–then I believe that Petraeus’ concerns that Israeli actions endanger US military lives will be somewhat ameliorated.
“Israel is what’s costing us with the arab world
This is getting crazy. Well, I’m glad the invasion of Iraq didn’t cost us. In fact, I bet they love us for it. Not to mention all the other stuff.
Besides, if American troops left the ME, who could Israel endanger? We gotta keep those boys there, for the sake of anti-Zionism, or until Israel makes the ME safe for American troops?
It’s like some weird inversion of PEP!
I agree with you somewhat Mooser–at least in terms of Iraq.
Look at it this way, the Shia semi-theocracy we installed there has been busy for years now, expelling and brutalizing Iraq’s Sunni Palestinian refugee population. Seems to me they care less about Palestinians than Israel does.
And Afghanistan—local tribesmen slaughtered by US drones, probably have their minds concentrated on US forces independently of Israel.
I suspect that Petraeus’ statement is more accurately aimed at our “allies”–the populations of Egypt, Jordan, the Gulf States, the Saudis, and so on. And I suspect too that he is signaling that Israel makes it difficult to assemble some sort of coalition against Iran.
Not to downplay the fact though that throughout the Mideast, US involvement with Israel is certainly a negative for US policy.
The Middle East was long aware that it was the Israelis and neocons who pushed the stupid lumbering giant, the US, into the Iraq war.
They had all the right buttons to press:
1) The US was still very ashamed and hurt about being massively defeated by gooks in the Vietnam War, and wanted an easy cake-walk winning war without pesky jungles and mountains.
2) The US knew, definitely, by 1996, through Saddam’s son-in-law who defected to Jordan, that Saddam had long discontinued WMD, but was still pretending he had them to put off potential invaders. It didn’t take much (plus a few concocted stories) to turn Saddam’s pretences into massive propaganda for a war, aided a great deal by the Israelis and their half-brothers, the American neocons.
3) In all this pro-war hysteria, nobody thought about what they should really do in Iraq when they had won the early cake-walk, which is why the stupid lumbering giant, the US, found itself in such a mess shortly after ‘Mission Accomplished’ Tthe Israelis had no answers except to advise the US to do what they did to Fallujah, and gave them a little hand in Abu Ghraib. (Fallujah was three times more terrible than Gaza, and totally unreported, except by Deir Jamal, which is why the Israelis now bleat: ‘Why pick on us?).
4) In all of this, it’s been the Israelis who led the stupid lumbering giant into the trap, which they will continue to do (as with Iran) until the stupid lumbering giant wakes up.
5) In all of this, America’s indispensable and eternal ally in the Middle East has contributed absolutely nothing to help America, for all the $3 billion dollar handouts they get given every year.
Keep in mind–Obama has not demanded that East Jerusalem be handed over to Palestinians tomorrow.
A settlement freeze to the Israelis indicates nothing else but specifically that; if East Jerusalem is not going to be handed over to the Palestinians tomorrow, then why disrupt the plans of Judea-zing the territory?
That poll is Hasbara to alter the temperature. It’s not true. The Israelis are draping banners with pictures of Obama over their over-passes in Palestinian head-gear with the words “Anti-Semite,” “Jew-Hater,” and whatever the Hebrew word is for “ni**ger.”
Is that everywhere or just in Jerusalem?
I dont know, Tuyzentfloot. I was reading the Haaretz article about it quickly.
Cushi is Hebrew for Nigger
MRW- The poster you refer to, which was linked to by Chu above march 23, 8:48 a.m. says only, “Caution, PLO agent in the White House”. None of the other words you referred to are included in the poster.
Richard Parker- The Hebrew word “cushi” means Ethiopian. In fact Cush is referred to in the Bible (Ahasueras ruled from India to Ethiopia, from Hodu to Cush) and Moses’s second wife (after Zipporah) was called an Ethiopian woman- “Isha Cushit”. In today’s Israel it is considered a derogatory word and the word “shachor” or black is preferred. But any word in reference to a minority group can gain derogatory meaning, such is the nature of ethnicities in our world still today.
MRW, I asked because if it’s just Jerusalem I don’t think you can deduce a lot from it.
“The only proper US position should be utter non-involvement except perhaps for the humanitarian.”
Then we would have to let all the Israelis come here when it blows up in their face. Which would mean we will get the worst of them. A new Israeli mafia here in the States. No thanks.
For our own good, we don’t have to much choice in trying to take the matches away from the psychopathic child.
All Netanyahu thinks he needs to worry about is maintaining the support of the US Congress against its own president and there is yet to be any evidence that he doesn’t still enjoy that.
In his talk on Monday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, one of Israel’s leading Congrressional lickspittles, promised that a bipartisan letter signed by most of the members of Congress wouldsoon be on the president’s desk, reaffirming their unshakeable commitment to the Israel-US relationship.
Hoyer also promised that in April the House and Senate would put together their sanctions bill targeting Israel’s importation of refined petroleum, a bill that is opposed by Washington’s Western allies and by the White House.
What is so sinister about this gathering is that every direct or implied reference to the need to bomb Iran received round after round of applause and not a word of sympathy was heard for the people of Gaza except for Hillary Clinton’s passing mention that their needs had to be “addressed.”
One would be hard put to find a more despicable gathering of the human species than what one sees every year at the AIPAC conference.
RE: “their sanctions bill targeting Israel’s importation of refined petroleum” – Blankfort
MY COMMENT: Of course, Blankfort meant Iran rather than Israel.
P.S. But then, Doctor Freud might say….
You are right; there was no applause at all when Hillary barely mentioned addressing Palestinian needs but demonizing Iran always drew a good round of applause.
@Jeffrey Blankfort
And Obama will respond to the congressional letter by “reaffirming [his] unshakeable commitment to the Israel-US relationship”.
So what? After all the make nice platitudes, I suspect that Obama will continue the pressure on Israel.
After Hillary at AIPAC, Linsey Graham stood up at the podium and declared that Jerusalem is Israel’s undivided capitol. -Something along those lines.
Obama will have to move slowly crack this nut, with Senator’s actually towing the Israeli line that the White House administation opposes. Credit to Hillary, although she pandered a bit, I am sure she lost some support in the crowd yesterday.
I hope in five years AIPAC conference will be held in a Ramada Inn and have fifty Likud members.
Lindsey and other distinguished speakers:
link to c-spanvideo.org
It could get uncomfortable for the uber Zionists in congress if the threat to US security is played against them in elections. I dearly hope this might be the case. It might give a few of our congressional whores the spine to stand up for some balance in Israel.
If Hoyer does this, he will be undermining his own party as well as his party’s president. The Republicans are determined to make this an issue to bring Jewish voters (and big-money donors) over to their side. They will be painting Obama and the Democrats as anti-Israel. If the Democrats in Congress side with AIPAC instead of Obama, they will be playing into Republican hands.
Didn’t Hoyer (and Cantor) do the same thing in 2009 after the AIPAC Conference?
That was then. In fact, they’ve done the same thing after every AIPAC conference. But this time AIPAC is opposing the stated goals of the Democratic president.
Unless the fucker backs down again, which we’ll see tonight.
I know, but so were Chuck Schumer (which means defender of Israel), and his homeboy senator Lindsey Graham. Lindsey actual did the ‘stand up’ senators for a roll call. ~nice work from a shabbas goy.
The funny part is that AIPAC, while holding 7800 people cannot be discussed in the newspapers and have a significant discussions in msm tv programs. Just because AIPAC holds senators by their balls, doesn’t mean the US population supports it. While Schumer is the big cheese inside this three ring circus, they could never take the tent down and speak like this in the public square.
“A lobby is like a night flower: It thrives in the dark and dies in the sun.” Steve Rosen – former AIPAC foreign policy chief.
Jeffrey Blankfort, you meant to say that “Hoyer also promised.[a]..sanctions bill targeting IRAN’s importation of refined petroleum…”
RE: “FDR and Churchill didn’t save my people, the Jews of Europe, so we have learned not to rely on great men, but reserve the right to defend ourselves.” – Netanyahu
“Israel on its own, defiant, crazy.” – Weiss
FROM WIKIPEDIA: “…A total of 909 Temple members died in Jonestown, all but two from apparent cyanide poisoning, in an event termed “revolutionary suicide” by Jones and some members on an audio tape of the event and in prior discussions…
Peoples Temple Agricultural Project – link to en.wikipedia.org
The link to the Haaretz article is broken. Here it is:
“U.S.-Israel row clouds opening day of AIPAC conference”
But even shrewd AIPAC’rs know the writing is on the wall. Time for a new graffiti item on the separation barrier then? “AIPAC”. Next to the “New York Times” item, since reportedly for them the writing’s on the wall too.
He’s misreading far more than the moment.
I read excerpts from his speech on the times website and was flabbergasted.
He will push too far. Hopefully he pushes way too far but without starting a war, and then gets unelected. Obama is playing it right.
He has to state and deliver, “you can be confident, but you’ve got to change in order to do so”.
Kind of like the vhavta prayer. “IF you keep my commandments, I will give you the rain in its time… If you don’t, you’ll be scattered.”
He said Jerusalem belonge to Israel eternally and EVERYBODY knows it; specifically mentioning the Americans. He said the peace ball is in the Palestinian Authority’s court because he took down a bunch of road blocks. But the Palestinians have done nothing but inhibit negotiations by refusing to sit down and talk peace; instead they’ve obstructed the peace push by libeling Israel. And the USA cannot coherce
anybody to sit down and talk. The Pals must recognize Israel and stop all violence for starters.
That’s basically it. It was a thumb in the eye of Hillary. Delivered later the same day.
Citizen [2]] paraphrases Bibi: “And the USA cannot coerce anybody to sit down and talk. ” With this, Bibi, I agree.
I’ve been saying this forever. It’s true (short of nuclear holocausst or the like).
What the US CAN do is return (if only in this place and in this time and for this circumscribed reason, no doubt) to the Rule of Law. Think of the relief throughout the world if he did this (even if the relief were short lived and overblown, like my too-innocent expectations when Obama was elected!).
Witty – Take a single look at Netanyahu and tell me whether you might buy a used car from this man
BYahoo’s speech was all about making war, under the guise of “defending ourselves.”
Peace? That is the desert they make.
I’m listening to Mr N now, on CSPAN. He’s reciting the history of the slaughter of the jews in Europe right up to the Holocaust. He saw the light at age 19, when he realized
if a daring young Israeli officer who died fighting in 1959 had been born 2 years earlier he would have died in the Holocaust, but instead he died in the jewish uniform, defending jews. Today there are those who seek the destruction of Israel. The ingathering of the jews wets their appetite–they will to kill them at in one place. That’s the facts. Greatest threat to any nation is not to recognize danger until its too late. FDR & Churchill helped saved the world, but acted too late to save the jews. Israel must always reserve the right to defend itself. Iran can bring an end to world peace and provided nukes to terrorists, or use them on Israel itself. Iran is a threat to the whole world. Israel will always reserve the right of self-defense.
Slander to the jewish people have always preceeded their slaughter. For a time overt anti-semitism was held in check because non-jews felt ashamed of the Holocaust. But no more. In Israel self-criticism is a way of life. Israel should be judged by the same standards as others. Allegations against Israel must be grounded in fact. To describe the jews as “foreign colonials in their own homeland” is a like, not a fact. King David declared our homeland. The connection between (biblical) Israel and current Israel cannot be denied (just like his name is connected with biblical name, etc).
Jerusalem is not a settlement; it is our capitol. (waves of applause)
Our policy in Jerusalem has been the same since 1967. Everyone knows that these Jerusalem neighborhoods will be part of Israel in any peace solution. Including Americans and Palestinians. Israel is unjustly accused from not wanting peace. I’ve repeatedly said, “President Abbas please come and negotiate peace.” A demilitarized Palestine state we expect to recognize Israel. We’ve closed down lots of way barriers, a tremendous lot of them. That’s what Israel has done for peace. Palestinian authrority has done nothing, except accuse us of war crimes at the UN, etc. I urge
the USA to fight this lie. The Palestinian authority has taught in its schools and incited liberl in other ways against Israel, even naming a public square to honor a murderer.
Israel makes all the consessions, the Palestinians, none. I will never compromise on Israel’s security. The USA is 500X the size of Israel. Imagine if the USA was the size of NJ. On NJ’s border Hezbollah is firing 100,000 rockets across the border. On another border of NJ is another 6,000 rockets amassed against you. Israel must have effective security arrangements on the ground, not on a piece of paper. Only our presence on the ground is only way to prevent smuggling of weapons into Gaza. So we must have forces on the ground in any peace solution; we an reaccess such security forces later if
the Palestinians prove trustworthy.
When we find a clean and portable substitute for gasoline, we will a better chance for peace. US congress and President’s committment to Israel has been unwavering–by giving us military aid provisions and joint military and techno operations and partnerships.
Our soldiers and yours fight for our common values against those who loathe us both.
This fanatical hate is because of hatred against the West. It’s a fight against our common civilization. Thank you, thank you.
Citizen, your comments get better and better, and more informative! Why not add a little work with quotes, italics and blockquote and make them almost perfect?
The instructions are below the comments box.
It’s important to know what is quoted, and what’s is your writing.
Thanks.
All I did was say what the speaker was saying–i typed as they spoke; at times I had to distill it down as I typed while the speaker was speaking. Googling actual transcripts when they are available will show I did not distort what I wrote on this blog. I have discovered that sometimes even transcripts of TV speeches have done the same thing; except sometimes they leave out details of the actual speech, and those details I try to add.
Here’s an audio about the nature of zionist nationalism;the main speaker is a survivor of the USS Liberty: link to theuglytruth.podbean.com
Hey, I didn’t think you distorted anything, I was just confused between when you were quoting and when paraphrasing, and I apreciate your effort in bringing the speech to us as it happened.
Nice job, better than CNN! real time…I could do a better job paraphrasing though. Let’s see:
Me, Me, Me
My people, My people, My people,
Holocaust, Holocaust, The evil UN,
Settlements, Settlements, Settlements (Jerusalem is ours Barry)
American and Israel will live together happily ever.
(Roll the patriotic themed music)
3000 years ago, when the Jewish people were rebuilding Jerusalem, the people and government of Persia/Iran were paying for it.
Bibi intends for the Iranian people to ‘pay for’ Jerusalem yet another time.
Yesterday I linked a Times-CNN article from 1982 titled, “When Push Comes to Shove: Israel flouts U.S. diplomacy with an attack on Beirut”. link to time.com
The article reported that several US senators cautioned Israelis that US support for Israel was eroding, and that Reagan issued strong warnings to Israel to cease and desist from its assault on Lebanon.
Israel
did
not
stop.
A member of the DailyKos community wrote about the same event, Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon and Reagan’s warnings to Israel. The diarist, who worked for AIPAC in 1982, focused on a more optimistic outcome:
The diarist mentions that this action not only did not harm Reagan politically, it enhanced his domestic strength.
But.
There is always that But.
The AIPAC employee/DKos diarist continues:
Does anyone seriously doubt that Netanyahu will attack Iran? What is more, Jewish Israelis will cheer such a act as wildly as the AIPAC crowd cheered Bibi. Both American Jews and Jewish Israeli have been bombarded with relentless demonization of Iran, conflated with the perpetuation of what Ian Lustick calls a “death cult” retraumatization of Holocaust. Israel’s leaders, and its acolyte AIPAC, have created a psychotic monster. Avigail Abarbenal explains how that psychosis seeks relief for that psychotic tension — by killing.
Ronald Reagan’s stern warnings halted one attack, but they were not strong enough to halt the entire operation, thus ineffectual in saving the lives of thousands of innocent people.
In 1982, Israel relieved its psychosis by killing Lebanese and Palestinian civilians.
In 2006, Israel relieved its psychotic self-traumatization by killing more Lebanese.
In 2008, Israel relieved its national psychosis by killing Palestinians in Gaza.
In his versions of the history of 1948, Benny Morris argues that Israel was morally justified in wantonly killing Arab civilians because “Jews were traumatized from the fresh experience of Holocaust” and “their backs were to the wall.”
Bibi has positioned worldwide Juda so that its back is to the Wall of Jerusalem.
How many more times must the world hear psychotic Israelis threaten to attack Iran before they are believed, AND STOPPED?
In 2010, Benjamin Netanyahu declared, from the seat of power of the world’s greatest superpower, Washington, DC, that Israel will relieve its national psychosis by killing Iranians.
He justified his actions by asserting that Israel’s “back is to the Wall” of Jerusalem.
Hillary Clinton cautioned Israel that Jerusalem is NOT theirs for the taking.
But, like Reagan in 1982, Hillary did not say to Netanyahu, “Don’t even think of attacking Iran.”
I seriously doubt that Israel will attack Iran on its own. The risks are too great for the payoff. While Israel has no problems attacking its near neighbours from the air the extra distance involved in an attack on Iran makes it far more risky, added to which Israel probably knows little about the true state of Iranian air defences so the chances of the attacking airplanes being lost are not negligable.
No, in fact they keep repeating that “nothing is off the table.”
I agree very much with your take, PG. We will see a repeat. Obama does not have the balls the American people gave him, and Hillary, of course, is in a seat that is reserved for an Obama minion. That an American POTUS feels so little personal power in the face of AIPAC is really depressing; of course Obama is sitting in the chair of every POTUS since Ike. Even Truman did not share Ike’s prestige. And he set this ball spinning in the air before Ike became Prez, against the best interests of the average US citizen, and, as it turns out, against the best interess of the whole world. I can imagine that Dewey would have been even worse. There you go. It’s like choosing between the Demos and Repubs. Moneybags is everything in the USA, and has been so a long time.
I’d have dated the rebuilding of Jerusalem, which the Iranians sponsored and funded, to around 2,500 years ago. This seems to have been against the wishes of the ‘people of the land’. The need for rebuilding arose because of an Iraqi raid 70 years earlier.
3,500 – 4,000 years ago Jerusalem was founded by people not of Abrahamic descent in a region under Egyptian protection. It seems to have been an early centre of an early version of monotheism. Over most of its history its population has been of many kinds and all those involved, whatever their ancestry and whatever their faith, have built and constructed. To claim a constructive role only for one race or one faith is horrible and plainly and obviously quite untrue.
I think Natanyahu looked very depressed up there on the podium – strained smiles at the crowd, greasy forehead, ham performance: you know, soft voice when mentioning America and angry loud voice when mentioning Iran or Hamas.
I felt sorry for the bastard standing there all tough and talking shit while three inches behind his forehead the curtains were slowly closing and he knew it.
The whole soiree was all so very puerile and anti-intellectual. Cliche hasbara points regurgitated with some hi-tec lighting and fancy Hollywood orchestral music between speakers – just to bloat the occasion’s self-importance and make everyone there feel like they’re at the Oscars. Apartheid as gaudy glam.
It would be hard to say which speaker was the most deluded, but for sure all seemed drunk on wine made in Auschwitz and bottled in Jerusalem.
But, the speaker whose hatred and racism and treason revolted me to the core, distressed me the most as an American, was no less than our so called senator Charles Schumer. He gets the Aipac Lover Oscar for his hard-core pornographic love-affair with Israel. Boy was that man roused/aroused on that Aipac stage or what?! I was worried for a moment that he’d take his clothes off and start humping the Israeli flag in front of us all – his passion was sooo overflowing!!
But seriously, this man should be named and shamed for his in-your-face ‘Israel first’ message. He should be removed from every position of public service and investigated by the FBI for being a willing Israeli plant.
The man practically told us so himself.
Schumer is the blowhard of the century. Imagine trying to pass a bill and you need this guys vote? All he does is promote Israel. This is such a love fest that even Schumer can get an applause, if he’d just stop yappin’ for just 2 minutes.
Schumer is a traitor not only to the US but to the Democratic Party. Doesn’t he understand that AIPAC will not be taking a totally Republican line?
In Schumer’s America, it’s one big shopping mall where he sell’s goods for Israel and one day can retire there. Their contempt for the world is something to marvel as Bibi did not even conceal it. Well, Bibi’s our friend, because they need us 1000 times more than we need them.
How Hoyer and the other stooges stand there like that is beyond me.
Schumer and all the other AIPAC stooges should be condemned to retire in Israel. Then they’d realise what a shitty little Levantine country they’ve been supporting all these years.
Schumer’s priorities: 1 The financial security of Wall Street
2 The security of Israel
and a very distant 3 The security of the US
JINSA backs turning the US into fascist state with conscription, suppression of dissenting speech, no more namby-pampy–fight terrorism with terrorism, etc.
link to carolmoorereport.blogspot.com
And Bill Kristol is on cspan now, telling a bunch of college students he’s for a USA military draft, and the flap with Beiden was silly as everybody knows Israel will have the settlement land at issue after any peace negotiation–repeating the Israeli Prime ministers hasbara.
Kristol also very glibly handled a call by someone who referenced a anti-neocon web site and said the US acts for Israel–”Israel fights its own wars, the US has never fought for Israel in any war, and though it gives Israel 3 bill a year he thinks that’s a good investment and besides, we give Egypt 2 bill a year and that’s an insignificant part
of our foreign aid, etc–the guy smiles and lies so smoothly and fast…
And a former president of AIPAC is on cspan saying Israel did more to protect Gaza civilians in the Gaza Turkey Shoot than any country has ever done to protect civilians
in any war in history–Israel has the most moral army ever in history, etc
CPAN still covering the AIPAC conference. Col RIchard Kemp, former commander of Brit forces in Afghanistan now is saying Israel a partner with US & England against the forces of global insurgency–all linked by international jihad; using internet, ease of global travel, and training camps–Iran is chief sponsor, using Hamas and Hezbollah; Iran indirectly caused
lots of US & Brit casualties in Afghanistan. Iran plans attacks against us by linking
insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistann–the global insurgency has in common with its various groups the embedding of themselves within the local population, using the locals to hide and as human shields. They often use mosques as weapons depots and speech platforms. Recently they used an old women to fire at our troops as a distraction. Jihadists study the international laws of war and exploit their weaknesses.
Civilized armies must get around this by winning over the hearts and minds of the locals–try utmost to avoid collateral civilian damage–even at risk of putting our soldiers at risk. During OP Cast Lead–HAMAS recently introduced crucifixion as a way
to handle its local enemies, and they use torture always. HAMAS confiscates western humanitarian aid for its own military use. Israel warned the Gazans about impending attack via leaflet drops and phoning in arabic. Israel is now doing that still in Israel’s
new OP. The IDF is not perfect; there’s always a few bad apples, but HAMAS is a totally unrestrained militia. IDF soldiers are not war criminals–I’ve met many of them–they are no different than England’s brave soldiers. The US & Western military only cause unintentional deaths- the Goldstone Report findings is unacceptable for
any nation fighting the global insurgents.
Just caught on CSPAN a congressman (Pence, Indiana), saying Obama should not focus on Israeli settlements, but on Iran’s danger to to the world. I really hate all these whitebread whores for Israel–do they really think a few more luxury goods
in their home is worth this short-sheeting of the best interests of the USA, Israel, and the World? Yes, they do. Never let it me said that US born and reared white Christians
can’t be easily bought.
link to c-spanvideo.org
Netanyahu “One allegation s that is not grounded in fact is the attempt to describe Jews as foreign colonialists in their own homeland. This is one of the great lies of modern times.”
He goes on to explain his namesake, and the bible and how the connection of the Jewish people cannot be denied. -Kind of a stretch buy any legal means.
He continues “Jerulsalem is not a settlement, it is our capitol.” The crowd gushes like it was some sort of ballad, and Bibi cracks a smile like he is the cool sheriff. In the end, he comes across as a common liar with a cheering audience. No apology for Gaza, Only that Israel’s borders always have a right to be defended. But it’s a growing border that will always incorporate more.
Juan Cole has a few historical corrections to BYahoo today.
Thanks for the link. One man who can call out the bullshit artist’s is Juan Cole.
He’s a common liar, but Cole can write an entire piece on their granfalloonery.
link to juancole.com
Well, it remains to be seen if Israel or AIPAC ever recognize that the USA has turned a major trick with Obama’s health care plan, and on the agenda now is legalizing all the Mexicans here illegally. This is another change as significant as the 1965 Immigration act and the Civil Rights act about the same time. The Question seems to be, will Israel combined with Wall ST tear down the USA into a 3rd World Power before the demography of the USA changes fully
into a demography that cannot be morally black mailed because of the Holocaust? The USA’s blacks and the browns feel no guilt for the Holocaust, nor should they. Attacking Iran, the urge of AIPAC and JINSA, for example, seems to show the way things are going. How can any American support the US troops but not the war in Iraq (or even Afghanistan) or a future war with Iran? The US troops, like grunts anywhere, have nothing independently say about the government policy they are serving. If you support our essentially Hessian volunteer soldiers, you support our government’s foreign policy to the hilt–with your sons or daughters lives.
“and on the agenda now is legalizing all the Mexicans here illegally.”
Good! Probably the best thing we can do for ourselves. They will be an asset and a blessing to our country.
I’ll start Spanish lessons immediately. I have no talent for languages (as is apparent, I’m sure) but I’ll give it my best efforts.
There’s already, in Florida they tell me, a Spanish-Yiddish hybrid argot, spoken mostly by Jewish hipster retirees from New York who all married Puerto Rican women after seeing West Side Story. Funny how that works, huh?
No problem here, Mooser. My own son lives in LA, in a latino neighborhood. As a USA Army grunt, I lived with, and liked latino Amerians–they were, inter alia, my trench buddies, so to speak and in reality,there and then. My best buddy in the US Army married a Mexican-American girl, and we remained tight friends. OTH, do your favor open borders? Do you think the question of Who will pay for that, and is that
a good policy for current Americans as a whole, is a total rascist question?
” If you support our essentially Hessian volunteer soldiers, you support our government’s foreign policy to the hilt”
Of course we support our governments foreign policy and Hessian soldiers! To the hilt, baby! That’s why we are so angry about those damned Israelis endangering them with their intransigence. Those damned Israelis, who went halfway around the world to invade Iraq and Afghanistan and establish a years-long occupation…
How the hell are we ever gonna be sucessful in Iraq and Afghanistan with those damned Israelis endangering our troops.
Why, I bet if it wasn’t for those stupid Israelis, we would have found those weapons of mass destruction, and gotten Bin Laden! (Like we don’t know all that stuff ended up in Israel!)
Okay, okay, I know, we are all good progressives and abhor the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. But we can learn to love those wars, if it brings our troops close enough to Israel to be endangered by those lousy Israelis!
US soldiers are volunteers; Israel has a conscripted military force. US soldiers are motivated by having no chance for a job other than flipping burgers and, for some of them, additionally, patriotism, which is not completely dead in rural USA. Your statement obscures this simple fact. Why do you do that, Mooser? I can’t make any sense out of your comment except you don’t like blaming Israel for anything. I never even remotely suggested that the USA’s problem was caused by Israel alone, or even
AIPAC & JINSA et all. It takes two to tango. The Average American, I’d bet, is very ignorant about the issues debated on this blog. Do you disagree?
I think it’s the continued occupation and the bias the US has towards Israel that endangers US troops. Wasn’t that the point of Petraus’s dog and pony show in DC?
I think Jeff Blankfort’s comment about the Lobby’s representatives in Congress still being likely to block a quick shift in U.S. foreign policy is accurate. Possibly, some folks within the U.S. national security/military power elite apparatus might now more energetically try to throw its support to the Israeli political opponents of Netanyahu within Israel/Palestine; and might now more energetically attempt to build up a domestic lobbying group in the USA among people of Jewish background that would attempt to counter AIPAC’s negative influence of U.S. foreign policy formulation.
Regarding the special corporate interests that are apparently profiting from Netanyahu’s policies in Jerusalem, readers might want to check out the Century 21 Jerusalem site, which states, for example, the following:
“Jerusalem’s real estate property values have been steadily rising as a result of massive expansion in Jerusalem and are expected to continue rising. Century 21 Jerusalem is proud to offer you some of the most potentially lucrative real estate investment opportunities in Israel and the world today.” (See following link for more info)
link to century21jerusalem.com
As I understand it, Petraeus is running wars in which ‘money is a weapons system’ – people are paid to take our side. He considers that his task is made harder if the people he’s trying to entice are made reluctant by a sense that the West is unreservedly anti-Islamic and pro-Israel.
This makes some sense, and I think Mooser is dismissing Petraeus a bit too brusquely. Maybe P deserves some brusqueness: I find him quite sinister. On the other hand Mooser has, I’d say, a good point: P cannot be saying that there would be no conflict if only Israel were out of the way, only that there still would be a West-Muslim conflict which we would win more easily. I have certainly never had any suspicion that Mooser resolutely dislikes blaming Israel for things where blame is deserved.
I admire much of what Citizen says, but I’m not certain about the suggestion that holocaust propaganda doesn’t work in Latinos. Only the Dominican Republic made positive offers as a result of the Evian Conference, after all.
If Bibi is a pragmatist, he is a closet pragmatist and his moment to out himself will come if and when there is a chance for an Israeli Palestinian peace treaty roughly along the lines of the Clinton parameters of Dec. 2000, roughly along the lines of the Geneva “Accord” of Dec. 2003. At that time he would ask Livni to join his coalition so that he could jettison his right wing partners and sign a peace treaty. Until that time he has no need to exit the closet (if he is indeed in the closet) and he can keep his right wing coalition. So from his point of view the moment is not now, but possibly in the future.
And why would the Palestinians agree to that? How has it worked out so far for the Palestinians, every time they agree to something? The Israelis just break any agreement with impunity.
There’s nothing pragmatic about Israel. It’s a racist apartheid state that — like South Africa before it — can only sustain itself via a large financial base imported constantly from the West. And like that prior state, that financial base is eroding rapidly.
It’s not sustainable because ultimately it’s based on contempt. That is no formula for longevity. Zionism has passed its sell by date. End of. the next 10 years are going to be very hard for anyone with the Zionist Weltanschauung.
They would agree to it to end the occupation. They would agree to it to better the lives of their populous.
Show me some proof that the financial base is eroding rapidly? Perhaps you are referring to the multi-million dollar IDF fundraiser in NYC?
All the ‘nearly made it’ peace treaties of the past missed the target by a mile as far as the Palestinians were concerned. The ‘we offered them every thing, but still they refused’ comes entirely from the Israeli side, and is a manufactured, made-for-the-US myth, and no, they didn’t offer them everything, but left a great deal out. The Palestinians fell for the Oslo Accords, which offered a lot of promise (and a photo op), but still left a lot out, and Netanyahoo practically rescinded them in 1996.
The Palestinians aren’t going to fall for the same trick again, and since the whole Palestinian enterprise is in the shit anyway, with Israel doing its damndest to make their lives miserable, they figure they can wait it out until Israel turns itself into a state that will finally cannibalise itself. After all, they did that with the crusaders, as my great-great-…….grandfather Richard Coeur de Lion would attest, if he was still alive to tell the tale.
All the ‘nearly made it’ peace treaties of the past missed the target by a mile as far as the Palestinians were concerned.
They missed the mark because nothing was ever up for negotiations. The Israelis aren’t about to halt their plans over some peace treaty, and withdraw from territory they have successfully conquered, occupied and colonized for decades (with Western complicity and supervision, no less). What’s the point of military might when you are to give way to diplomacy? You can have one and not the other. For Israel the only diplomacy they can engage in is PR: superficial matters (asking the Palestinians to recognize the Jewish state), baseless accusations against the Palestinians being obstructions, because what the Israelis want they get with their “facts on the ground,” not some terms hammered out in a treaty.
Now when it comes to the crux of the matters involving the conflict, Israelis have made some things resoundingly clear. Some issues simply aren’t up for discussion, they are outside the confines of negotiations, they are self-evidently within the eternal entitlement of Israel. For the settlers illegally occupying territory, and its supporters in the government, this is not only a staunch political position but a matter of religious conviction.
So, we have the Israelis openly declaring, that E. Jerusalem, West Bank, the Palestinian right of return etc. are all non-negotiable. Namely, each and every act of the Israeli violation of international law that has resulted in gross human rights violations for millions of Palestinians, is simply not even in the realm of compromise.
Israel has always insisted that it wants a piece treaty, something not to be confused with a peace treaty. The Sudetenland solution imposed on the Czechoslovakians Powers gave Germany the piece treaty it demanded but did not give the peace the Great Powers deluded themselves into believing they had made possible.
Wasn’t that great warrior a childless gay man? It’s clearly true that there was terrible dissension among the crusading kingdoms, also that Richard was advised by his friends the Templars that even after his major victory over Saladin at Arsuf it would not be possible to maintain the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the long run by means of a professional army against a huge mass of population and that diplomacy was now essential.
I’m sorry – the above should have been a reply to Richard Parker.
Following serbrshi, I’d suggest that even though Abbas is essentially under western control and would after theatrical displays sign anything put in front of him it is hardly conceivable that Israel would sign anything that accepts the idea that Palestinians have a right to exercise sovereign power anywhere in Palestine, since the core proposition of Zionism is that that right belongs only to people who are Jewish.