NY State Senator Storobin (l) with an Israeli general, center, and the senator’s chief of staff (r)
New York state senator David Storobin’s office responded today to criticism over the senator carrying a weapon and wearing an IDF uniform in the occupied Golan Heights, on the Syrian border.
Storobin aide Steven Stites emailed:
The ginned-up controversy about the Senator’s photo on the Syrian border is quite amusing, especially to folks who have been to Israel.
As Israelis know all too well, the Syrian border is a hostile area. Visitors there are required to don a uniform and carry a gun. Even members of the Knesset do so. There are snipers on the other side. If they see an unarmed person not in uniform, they may assume it’s a leader of some kind, and that person could be a target.
This claim from Storobin’s office seems to have no basis in fact. Israeli journalist Joseph Dana was just on the Syrian border and says:
This is all insane. I have no idea what area he is talking about in fact. I mean, I was just there. Five meters from the border and everything was very calm. Of course, the other side of the border was being shelled. There were Israeli Jews and Druze all around, watching what was happening over in Syria.
This guy seems to be talking about a different place entirely.
I contacted Stites for more information and he says the IDF advised Storobin to carry a weapon and wear an Israeli military uniform. Stites wrote in an email:
They were urged to do so as a matter of safety. As to whether it’s a requirement, I’m not sure, though that’s the impression I got. I can say that if I was told to do something like that for my own safety, I’d do it — wouldn’t you?
We will follow up to confirm this with the IDF.
Senator Storobin was not at “the Israeli-Syrian border”.
He was in Syria.
The Golan Heights is part of Syria, although occupied by Israel since 1967.
He was near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights (which is part of Syria) and the rest of Syria.
My first reaction to this is that the state senator or whoever is speaking for him
is full of it.
The Syrian border was the most quiet one for decades.
But, Syria is in the middle of a war and a whole lot of people over there
would like nothing more than to cause some incident at the border
the IDF might have decided to play it safe.
What probably happened though is that the IDF commander or whoever was in charge decided that the honored guest would enjoy playing soldier, and he was right.
OlegR August 17, 2012 at 5:40 pm
“The Syrian border was the most quiet one for decades
Armistice Demarcation Line!
Bullshit excuse.
He must have gotten some flack for it and is wealsing out.
As I said, you think he should have worn a suit and tie so the Syrians would know who to shoot?
RE: “As I said, you think he should have worn a suit and tie so the Syrians would know who to shoot?” ~ Fredblogs
MY REPLY: When Rahm Emanuel and his family toured the Golan Heights in May of 2010 they wore leisure attire and did not appear to carry weapons!
PHOTO – link to coteret.com
P.S. “Sticks and stones may break our bones, but facts will never sway us.” ~ Hasbarist Creed
Actually it’s israel that shoots at civilian-clothed humans. That’s their specialty in warfare.
Fred, maybe you can explain why a sniper would be more likely to shoot a man in civvies than one in uniform. The rest of us don’t get it.
David,
More often than not, the idf shoots at unarmed civilians all the time, cuz they can’t shoot back. They think everyone else does it too.
Simple. It is a military post. Anyone dressed differently is probably a VIP of some kind come to visit the military post. Killing a VIP would get them more credit than killing a mere soldier.
I would have thought that Storobin might face some legal issues. He’s not some run-of-the-mill American claiming duel-nationality. He’s an elected official in New York State and subject to the New York State Constitution, which requires an oath of office that includes a pledge to support the United States Constitution. Donning the uniform of another state could arguably (indeed, almost certainly) imply a violation of that pledge of support.
RE: “The ginned-up controversy about the Senator’s photo on the Syrian border is quite amusing, especially to folks who have been to Israel.” ~ Storobin aide Steven Stites
MY COMMENT: Looking at the photo, I can’t help but recall Michael Dukakis’ totally excellent tank adventure in 1998 which is thought to have hurt his election prospects.
Of course, since State Senator Storobin is pretending to be an Israeli soldier rather than an American soldier (as in Dukakis’ case), it will no doubt help Strobin win reelection in his New York district.
Only in America! ! !
• Michael_Dukakis_in_tank.jpg (585 × 442 pixels) – link to en.wikipedia.org
• Michael Dukakis, The Tank Ad, 1988, ElectionWallDotOrg [VIDEO, 00:30] – link to youtube.com
RE: “I contacted Stites for more information and he says the IDF advised Storobin to carry a weapon and wear an Israeli military uniform. Stites wrote in an email: ‘They were urged to do so as a matter of safety. . .’” ~ Adam Horowitz
MY COMMENT: Yet when Rahm Emanuel and his family toured the Golan Heights in May of 2010 they wore leisure attire and did not appear to carry weapons!
PHOTO – link to coteret.com
MOST LIKELY: The IDF advised Storobin to carry a weapon and wear an Israeli military uniform as a matter of hasbara. . .! ! !
This reminds me of the time that Prince Harry wore a Nazi uniform to a fancy costume party. Storobin is so clueless he has no idea how this looks to the American people. Public officials should know better than to appear more loyal to a foreign power than they do to the United States.
He’s running for State Senator in a district heavily populated by very pro-Israel Orthodox Jews and mostly Jewish former Soviet citizens who are very hawkish on Israel; both groups tend to have extensive family ties in Israel. Dressing up in an IDF uniform will probably play very well with many constituents in his particular district. While it’s definitely insincere political showboating (State Senators don’t usually have much to do with foreign policy), if he was an Italian-American pol running in a heavily Italian-American district who visited Italian NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan and posed for a photo op donning an Italian uniform, I can’t imagine there would be any fuss.
Mikhael,
Except that Italian-Americans don’t have that freakish fetish with the Italian Army, like American zionists have with the israeli army.
Please do not attempt to normalize this weird behavior of our politicians.
american politicians shouldn’t be donning foreign military uniforms. that seems like kind of a no brainer. i suppose the exception could be some kind of swahili ritual outfit. didn’t clinton do that once? see if you can name all these bigwigs
link to shenews.projo.com
it’s a robe tho, not a warrior uniform.
/Except that Italian-Americans don’t have that freakish fetish with the Italian Army,/
Maybe that has something to with the fact that Italy does not have an army
worth speaking of :)
Oleg,
Come back and tell us this when the idf can beat an egg let alone hizbollah.
But granted, your dudes should still be proud of the israeli army: they are experts at snipping unarmed civilians – hurrah israel: nobody does this kinda killing better than the idf.
But really, “maybe it has something to do with the fact that” Italian-Americans CONSIDER THEMSELVES AMERICANS AND AMERICANS FIRSTLY AND ONLY!!!!!!
” if he was an Italian-American pol running in a heavily Italian-American district who visited Italian NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan and posed for a photo op donning an Italian uniform, I can’t imagine there would be any fuss.”
There wouldn’t be any fuss because no Italian-American would have such confused loyalties that he would even think of donning the uniform of a foreign power.
Yeah of course you need to carry a weapon to a stupid coffee shop with nasty Israeli coffee on top of a mountain/hill…Zionists lie while the native people continue to die.
The biggest danger to a visitor on the border of the occupied Golan Heights is of stepping on an Israeli land mine. These have long been a danger to Druze children playing just outside their villages; but Israeli tourists have also stepped on them, especially when they have been hidden by snow. All sorts of tourists in civvies visit the region often. When was the last time that a Syrian soldier shot at one of them?
“NY state senator David Storobin’s office: ‘Visitors [to the Israeli/Syrian border] are required to don a uniform and carry a gun’”
That’s one of the more ridiculous assertions I’ve heard. Since those reporters who were watching the killing of the Palestinians there a year or so back didn’t have to do it, it evidently isn’t true — but even if it were, it would still be ridiculous.
Why do all supporters of Israel lie? Is it some kind of prerequisite? Like passing a physical to get into the army?
These are all gems. All completely illogical. All completely ignorant. All INCREDIBLY STUPID!
“Syria is in the middle of a war and a whole lot of people over there would like nothing more than to cause some incident at the border
the IDF might have decided to play it safe” … “the IDF commander or whoever was in charge decided that the honored guest would enjoy playing soldier, and he was right” … “They were urged to do so as a matter of safety. As to whether it’s a requirement, I’m not sure, though that’s the impression I got. I can say that if I was told to do something like that for my own safety, I’d do it — wouldn’t you?” … “Visitors there are required to don a uniform and carry a gun. Even members of the Knesset do so. There are snipers on the other side. If they see an unarmed person not in uniform, they may assume it’s a leader of some kind, and that person could be a target.”
In a military uniform, carrying a gun, one IS A VALID MILITARY TARGET!
Talknic, wouldn,t it be just too hilarious if he was shot because he was perceived as a member of the Occupying force, IDF.
Israel and it,s apologists just keep digging their own grave.
What a comedy they are.
“Visitors to the border are required to wear a uniform and carry a gun.”
Now I understand why, when visiting the St. Peter cathedral in Rome, had the wear a sultan and carry a huge cross.
It comes from that old jewish tradition of showing what you have.
For an Israeli take on the “visitors are required to wear uniform & carry a gun” go to Noam Sheizaf’s article in 972.
link to 972mag.com