Scott Walker’s foreign policy education begins w/ lesson: East Jerusalem is not occupied

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is in Israel and occupied Palestine so as to gain the foreign policy bona fides needed to run for president. I wonder what that guy is telling him at the Western Wall. About plans to build the third temple? Or maybe he’s describing the occupation?

Matt Brooks of the Republican Jewish Coalition, a co-sponsor of the trip, tweeted that photo and said that the governor was in Israel.

Hitting the day running on first day in #Israel w/ @ScottWalker -visited the Kotel, Christian holy sites and Old City

The governor also said that East Jerusalem is Israel:

Great 1st day in Israel yesterday @ Western Wall, Mount of Olives, Church of the Holy Sepulchure & Via Dolorosa

Governor Scott Walker in Jerusalem, from his twitter feed
Governor Scott Walker in Jerusalem, from his twitter feed

All those sites are in occupied Jerusalem. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel made the same mistake.

Here he is with Natan Sharansky of the Jewish Agency.

Scott Walker and Natan Sharansky
Scott Walker and Natan Sharansky

Matt Brooks also tweeted that meeting: 

Awesome mtg this morning with @ScottWalker and a true hero, Natan Sharansky, discussing democracy and freedom.

And here he is learning about the security challenges relating to Syria, on the Golan Heights.

Scott Walker on the Golan Heights with Uzi Dayan
Scott Walker on the Golan Heights with Uzi Dayan
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“Awesome mtg this morning with @ScottWalker and a true hero, Natan Sharansky, discussing democracy and freedom “.

For Israeli Jews only , right Scott.

Now you can return to your campaign trail suitably educated in the so called facts about the ME and spout all the right hasbara .

Why do Americans insist on voting in a soulless , morally vacuous , bought and paid for zionist patsy.

I know, they get no choice anymore.

I’ve always voted Democrat but I respect intelligence and free-thinking in people of any political stripe, and I previously considered Walker reasonably intelligent and free thinking. (Re the latter, he had the gumption to stand up to overwhelming public opposition to many of his policies in Wisconsin, just because he thought that they were right.)

No longer. Walker is now officially just another tool.

Ugh.

Speaking of Occupied East Jerusalem:

“Report: Palestinian-American teen brutalized by Israeli police received at White House

U.S. officials believe Israel takes a nonchalant attitude toward army killings and woundings of Palestinian-American minors, CNN reports.

Tariq Abu Khdeir, the 15-year-old Palestinian-American seen on video last summer being beaten brutally by three Israeli policemen, was received last month at the White House by U.S. National Security Council officials, ahead of an upcoming Abu Khdeir family visit to East Jerusalem.

CNN also reported on Monday that many Obama administration officials believe Israel takes a nonchalant attitude toward army killings and woundings of Palestinian-American minors, unless the incidents are captured on video.

Suha Abu Khdeir, who accompanied her son to the West Wing meeting on April 15, said they had sought American assurances that Tariq would not be targeted by police during their visit to East Jerusalem’s Shoafat neighborhood, where many members of their extended family live.

“I’m hoping that they can do something to help us … [so] we don’t endure any difficulties on our travels when we get there,” said the mother. White House officials, she added, “didn’t guarantee anything.” The Abu Khdeirs live in Tampa, Florida. …

…U.S. official: ‘We expect meaningful answer’

Also according to the CNN report, a senior administration official said that the U.S. is working with Israeli authorities and expects “to receive a meaningful answer” from an investigation into the death of an American citizen in the Palestinian town of Silwad in October. The official was referring to Orwa Hammad, 14, a Palestinian-American killed by the Israel Defense Forces on Oct. 24. The IDF said Hammad was preparing to throw a Molotov cocktail onto a road.

The senior administration official said the White House was “concerned also by the arrest and detention of several American citizen minors in recent months, including most recently Abdallah Abdo in Jerusalem who told us he had been severely beaten while in police custody, as was American citizen Tariq [Abu] Khdeir in July. Our consular team observed injuries on Mr. Abdo that appear consistent with his version of events. If accurate, we strongly condemn such excessive use of force.”

The official stressed that “whenever an American citizen is harmed, we expect full, transparent and credible investigations and – if necessary – accountability.”

Last August, after numerous members of the Abu Khdeir extended family had been arrested in East Jerusalem protests, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said U.S. officials were “concerned about the fact that members of the [Abu] Khdeir family appeared to be singled out for arrest by the Israeli authorities.”

CNN’s Jake Tapper reported Monday that off-the record interviews with numerous administration officials indicate “a widespread belief within the Obama administration that the Israeli government does not take these incidents against American citizens with the seriousness U.S. officials believe they merit. Unless there is video evidence that excessive force was used, as in the case of Tariq [Abu] Khdeir, Israeli government officials inevitably conclude that the action taken was justified and in keeping with national security needs, officials say.”

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.655975?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

I’ll believe the WH et al when I read a headline and see some action along the lines of “U.S. officials believe Israel takes a nonchalant attitude toward army killings and woundings of Palestinians”.

The US should just shutter its embassy, and end the farce. They offer zero assistance to Americans who are denied entrance, nor those that are beaten, arrested, or killed.

In the photo from the Golan, that’s Uzi Dayan with Gov. Walker.

I recall that when Sharansky arrived in Israel in the late 80’s he said all the right things about working for peace and learning Arabic. There was a hue and cry at this because his wife was thick with the settlers and they were having none of that. It seems that someone took Natan into a room and after rubber hosing him for a while he came out spewing the garbage he currently speaks. I cannot fathom why so many people admire him.