Finally, weeks after Newt Gingrich’s remarks citing Palestinians as an "invented people," in last night’s Florida presidential debate, the GOP candidates were confronted by a Palestinian—and a Republican Palestinian too!
The man, Abraham Hassan respectfully affirmed that he does exists and asked Republican candidates to explain how they will bring peace to the Middle East. Hassan’s question:
Abraham Hassan from Jacksonville, Florida. How would a Republican administration help bring peace to Palestine and Israel when most candidates barely recognize the existence of Palestine or its people? As a Palestinian American Republican I'm here to tell you we do exist.
Before Romney spoke, the first of the presidential hopefuls to respond, the crowd applauded Hassan’s question. Romney evaded the "invented" comment, and suggested Palestinian "aggression" was caused by Obama:
Well, the reason that there's not peace between the Palestinians and Israel is because there is in the leadership of the Palestinian people are Hamas and others who think like Hamas who have as their intent the elimination of Israel.
And whether it's in schoolbooks that teach how to kill Jews, or whether it's in the political discourse that is spoken either from Fatah or from Hamas, there is a belief that the Jewish people do not have a right to have a Jewish state.
There are some people who say should we have a two-state solution, and the Israelis would be happy to have a two state solution. It's the Palestinians who don't want a two-state solution, they want to eliminate the state of Israel.
And I believe America must say the best way to have peace in the Middle East is not for us to vacillate and appease, but it is to say we stand with our friend Israel.
We are committed to a Jewish state in Israel. We will not have an inch of difference between ourselves and our ally Israel.
This president went before the United Nations and castigated Israel for building settlements. He said nothing about thousands of rockets being rained in on Israel from the Gaza Strip.
This president threw (applause) … I think he threw Israel under the bus with regards to defining the 67 borders as the starting point of negotiations.
I think he disrespected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bibi Netanyahu.
I think he has time and time again shown distance from Israel and that has created in my view a greater sense of aggression on the part of the Palestinians [Emphasis added].
I will stand with our friend Israel.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) fact-checked Romeny's comments, catching him in a lie regarding Obama. The "Massachusetts moderate," claimed Obama:
said nothing about thousands of rockets being rained in on Israel from the Gaza Strip.
The JTA pulled the speech Romney referenced and contrarily found:
The United States does Israel no favors when we fail to couple an unwavering commitment to its security with an insistence that Israel respect the legitimate claims and rights of the Palestinians. (Applause.) And -- and nations within this body do the Palestinians no favors when they choose vitriolic attacks against Israel over constructive willingness to recognize Israel's legitimacy and its right to exist in peace and security. (Applause.)
We must remember that the greatest price of this conflict is not paid by us. It's not paid by politicians. It's paid by the Israeli girl in Sderot who closes her eyes in fear that a rocket will take her life in the middle of the night. It's paid for by the Palestinian boy in Gaza who has no clean water and no country to call his own. These are all God's children [Emphasis added].
Next, Gingrich defended his assertion that Palestinians are invented. But of course, this time, he said it to an actual Palestinian (which was better than reality TV!):
It was technically an invention in the late 1970s, and it was clearly—it was clearly so. Prior to that, they were Arabs. Many of them were either Syrian, Lebanese or Egyptian or Jordanian.
Let’s stop here for a minute to clarify what is a “Palestinian.” The term, which describes those who live/d in what constituents the borders of historic Palestine, has been in parlance since the British mandatory period. The first legal definition arrives in 1925 in the “Palestinian Citizenship Order,” and then again in 1950 with Israeli’s legal categorization of “Palestinians” in the Absentee Laws. Later, the in the PLO’s 1968 National Charter, the entire first section is dedicated to defining what is the Palestinian national identity. Enough, Gingrich. If the colonial institutions can acknowledge Palestinians exists, you should be able too as well--
Gingrich continues:
There are a couple of simple things here. There were 11 rockets fired into Israel in November. Now imagine, in Duval County, that 11 rockets hit from your neighbor. How many of you would be for a peace process? And how many of you would say, "You know? That looks like an act of war." You have leadership, unequivocally—and Governor Romney is exactly right—the leadership of Hamas says, "Not a single Jew will remain." Well, you’re not having a peace negotiation then. This is war by another form.
My goal for the Palestinian people would be to live in peace, to live in prosperity, to have the dignity of a state, to have freedom. And they can achieve it any morning they are prepared to say, "Israel has a right to exist. We give up the right to return. And we recognize that we’re going to live side by side. Now let’s work together to create mutual prosperity." And you could, in five years, dramatically improve the quality of life of every Palestinian.
But the political leadership would never tolerate that. And that’s why we are in a continuous state of war, where Obama undermines the Israelis. On the first day that I am president, if I do become president, I will sign an executive order directing the State Department to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The CNN moderators didn't allow Ron Paul a chance to respond. Would have been interesting to hear what he had to say.
To answer Hassan Abraham’s initial question: Neither Romney nor Gingrich will pursue any measures to help ensure peace. Rather, one will move the U.S. embassy and both will sustain U.S. aid to Israel. And, it seems, the GOP will continue to claim that Palestinians are invented.
“My goal for the Palestinian people would be to live in peace, to live in prosperity, to have the dignity of a state, to have freedom. And they can achieve it any morning they are prepared to say, “Israel has a right to exist. We give up the right to return. And we recognize that we’re going to live side by side. Now let’s work together to create mutual prosperity.” And you could, in five years, dramatically improve the quality of life of every Palestinian.”
Bullshit. Israel controls the Palestinian economy.
No mention of the settlers. Or East Jerusalem , which constitutes 40% of the West Bank’s economy. Or that it is cheaper to send a container from China to Netanya (Israeli port) than it is from Netanya to Ramallah.
Anyway Newt is a liability and has zero chance of being elected.
The other thing is that people facing foreclosure in Florida can get up in the morning and say say, “Israel has a right to exist. We give up the right to return. And we recognize that we’re going to live side by side. Now let’s work together to create mutual prosperity.”
And in 5 years they’ll still be $%^&* # because the Republican Party won’t contribute anything to solving the US financial crisis.
You have to respect Abraham Hassan for having the courage to ask that question at such a fiercely pro Israel event. That’s Palestinian pride at its finest.
Now, was anybody else watching the debate nauseous while listening to the candidates’ response to that question? How absolutely disgraceful. I betcha Sheldon Adelson was soiling his $2000 adult diaper while watching his money at work.
Yep, Real Jew, I was puking on my big screen tv. The two answers to the Palestinian American’s question treated him as if he did not exist. Absurd, scary, truly the heart of darkness beats in our wannabe leaders such as Romney, Gingrich.
If gingrich gets the nomination, Sheldon is going to implant a buzzer in gingrich. If he says the wrong thing, he gets a shock.
” Absurd, scary, truly the heart of darkness beats in our wannabe leaders such as Romney, Gingrich”
Truly scary.
MLE- Hilarious! But I doubt he will need to use it often
The definition of “Palestinian” in the Oxford English Dictionary (THE WORLDS MOST TRUSTED ENGLISH DICTIONARY):
adjective: “relating to Palestine or its peoples”.
noun: “a member of the NATIVE ARAB population of the region of Palestine”.
There you have it in b&w: NATIVE ARAB=INDIGENOUS PEOPLE.
It is amazing what some people without morals or ethics will do and say for 5 million bucks just to please their backer, briber, whatever.
This made me furious. Mr. Hassan was brave enough to ask this question, and neither candidate could even give him a dignified response. The sad part is that Romney actually sounded like he believed what he was saying, almost like he had been given the answers by somebody in case he was ever asked. Gingrich is too cynical to truly mean anything he says.
Of course, hardly any news stories mentioned it in their coverage of the debate. But come on, even a neutral observer of the Israeli/Palestinian issue would have to agree that they were both conspicuously and callously disrespectful, bordering on abusive, to this voter.
“But come on, even a neutral observer of the Israeli/Palestinian issue would have to agree that they were both conspicuously and callously disrespectful, bordering on abusive, to this voter.”
Absolutely. The narrative doesn’t recognise Palestinian rights. Gingrich was a disgrace. Romney will say anything.
Politics is about vote banks and the Republicans in Florida depend on the evangelical vote and too many evangelicals don’t regard Palestinians as people with rights since it is all about the end days.
This map is very interesting. It shows the distribution of evangelicals in the US and there is a high correlation with red states
link to thearda.com
Romney and Gingrich don’t care about anyone in the US earning less than 100K anyway . So expecting them to be sympathetic to Palestinians is a real stretch.
I could be misunderstanding your last comment, but it’s worth pointing that Palestinians tend to be well-educated and well-employed here.
Romney actually looked uncomfortable delivering his answer. If he would only listen to his own conscience
He always seems uncomfortable to me–like a bat (reeking of aftershave lotion) somehow finding itself out of the cave in the bright daylight.
Tags: OT, Arab, Angry Arab, ME culture, Bright talking.
Here is a video by “Angry Arab” As’ad AbuKhalil in Oxford, UK (this Angry Arab is Lebanse, and a professor in California). Using the sound as a radio will do.
To me, a fresh view on the ME. His site already explained to me that the “Arab ME” quite differs between the Persian Gulf states and the Mediteranian Maghreb states. I must note that his rejection of “Al Jazeera” TV channel (from Gulf state Qatar) pertains to the Arabic language channel (took some time for me to discover he was criticizing the Arab! language cannel. AJE is more OK, and is especially good for US I’d say).
link to youtube.com
Note how Romney was compelled to repeat Netanyahu’s name using the nickname.
“Benjamin Netanyahu—Bibi Netanyahu.” Chummy
Would that be a Palestinian-American “former” Republican? Courage rewarded with blather. Again. Face slapped. Again.
Since there are 3M-5M ME-descended Muslim citizens of the US, it would appear, yet again, that all this Repub rhetoric on Israel v. Palestine is not about votes. Not at all. As if we needed more evidence of that.
Dems aren’t much better (if they are in any way better) in their respective level of dismissive-ness (P) and obsequious-ness (I).
Great observations, AD.
I guess there are still more racist votes to be won than Muslim or Latino votes, although apparently the Cuban vote is highly sought after in Florida.
I’ve met so many Muslims and Latinos who would be great Republicans if it weren’t for the R in Republican standing for Racist. The Democrats take their votes, but they don’t offer them anything special. They just say, “Vote for us, because the guy who set your mosque on fire or assaults you at night votes for the other guys.”
Indeed. I can’t imagine, were there any Dems of prominence forcing Obama into debate, that such an exchange would be much different. Locally, the biggest long-term financial backer of Democratic Party causes in Alaska is David Gottstein, the AIPAC Alaska Chief. Last year, he pressured Anchorage’s Bartlett Democratic Club with some rather strenuous half nelsons to keep pro-Palestinian speakers from the weekly noon forum, unless David’s nominee or nominees could be provided last word. A lot of Democratic Party forums could probably relate similar experiences across the country.
I’m glad Mr. Hassan was given an opportunity to show his courage and ask the question in such a meaningful way. Wolf Blitzer (aka Zev Barak in the Israeli press), former AIPAC employee, by not giving Ron Paul an opportunity to respond to Mr. Hassan, was doing his duty as gatekeeper.
Good to see the JTA doing real fact checking on this. A bit off topic, but it was also good to see Gal Beckerman of the Jewish Daily Forward and Linda Sarsour of the Arab American Association of New York appearing together on Friday on Democracy Now, in a segment on Gingrich and Sheldon Adelson.
Forget about war with Iran, a sure world war 3 firestarter would be for america, or any other country in the world, to move it’s embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem.
And if the American zionists think for a moment that there will be no severe consequences to this, then they’d better think again. Not even their Arab zionist pals in the House of Saud would EVER allow for this.
Gengritch (can’t be bothered to spellcheck his name – that’s how really irrelevant he is to me) – yeah he’s just paying lip-service to the American zionists to get their bread and butter in his fat election belly. That the ‘smart’ American jews believe otherwise is funny, but not haha funny.
The Adelsons, Newt’s single couple money machine have only once concern: they “want to be good citizens of Israel” while feeding off dummies in America: link to electronicintifada.net
Thanks to Counterpunch for this:
Q. How did Newt get Sheldon Adelson to give him $18 million?
A. He promised his next wife would be Jewish.
newt gingrich is an historian? then how does he come up with the one about palestinians being an invented people? – in the 70s, he says. how is it then that the word palestinian appears on the earlier u.n. security council resolutions that divided palestine? didn’t the security council members know that palestinians wouldn’t be invented until a couple decades later? could it be that newt gingrich is what was invented, cause he doesn’t quite seem real?
Hahahahaha good one yourstruly!
Allison. your article was picked up by Beirut’s Daily Star today”
“BEIRUT: Several weeks after calling Palestinians an ‘invented people,” Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich was approached and confronted by a Palestinian, reported the Middle East news and commentary website Mondoweiss.
link to dailystar.com.lb
Hooray for the courageous man who asked.
Fuck you, Newt.
Fuck you, Mitt.
And fuck whoever was responsible for not letting Ron Paul answer. He has already contradicted Gingrich in an Iowa debate. His stance is also articulated here:
“While I do not see UN membership as a particularly productive move for the Palestinian leadership, I do not believe the US should use its position in the UN Security Council to block their membership. I believe in self-determination of peoples and I recognize that peoples may wish to pursue statehood by different means.”
link to paul.house.gov
He clearly recognizes the Palestinians are a people.
It has been days since this happened and yet the incident still makes my blood boil. I have never seen a member of the cheering section treated so badly by those who depend on the cheering section. Newt showed that he has no clue how the rest of the world would react if the US opened the gates of hell by moving the embassy to Jerusalem. Romney showed an absolute lack of curiosity about the conflict and no understanding whatsoever of the plight of the Palestinian people.
Dear God, please save us from them.
And I fervently hope the young man who was treated so badly is no longer affiliated with the Republican party.