I don't get this. Israel is one of our dearest allies. Why is Obama so rude, inconsiderate, and arrogant?? Netanyahu came for a meeting. Obama refused cameras. (Unheard of). Obama treated him like a thug. Today Obama walked out of their meeting to go eat dinner. WTF? http://hotair.com/archives/2010/03/25/report-obama-humiliated-netanyahu-at-the-white-house/
Why are they 'dearest allies'- is that property inherent to Israel- or can Israel ever be not 'dear' to US ever-? Peace be unto you Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Regardless of your political stance on the issue, there is an expected level of professionalism when you are the President.
Refusing cameras- means treating as a thug? Maybe they wanted a more confidential feel... Walking out to eat dinner- was it expected or not? Was it planned? Has Obama done this to others, or is the fact it happened to an Israeli official the reason it is so news worthy? Peace be unto you Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Why is Israel building more settlements in East Jerusalem? Why is it so rude, inconsiderate and arrogant?
Israel and the US have a disagreement about the designation for all lands in Jerusalem; it's one of the most contentious issue. Obama believe a division between Palestinian and Israel within Jerusalem is essential to the peace process and coincidently the unification of Jerusalem is the only thing a vast majority of Israeli's agree upon. Israel has proceeded under the premise of an undivided Jerusalem and has consequently designated lands for building purposes commercial and residential. These are "minor issues" in Israel because of their belief and it would be equivalent to Obama knowing there was residential development in East Borrough park. So as Biden visited Israel, Netanyahu was not actively aware of the development; Biden on the other hand viewed it as a direct insult and intentional obstruction to proceedings between the two nations. Resultantly Obama has 'rebuked' Netanyahu for the perceived insult. That being said; Israel agrees internally on very few affairs, the unification is at the top of that list right after the mere existence of the state. It's not an issue they will ever waiver on - it's Obama's fault for picking such a stupid issue to establish as a key disagreement. In my opinion he's either acting surreptitiously as an obstructionist intentionally, or he's really ignorant of the political climate of Israel.
So only Israel matters? :shrug: Peace be unto you Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Perhaps Obama actually cares about peace, unlike those who would say he is a tool of the Israeli lobby. Jerusalem isn't a minor issue, it's highly symbolic, and could be the flash point for violence.
No, my point is Obama won't get anywhere with a policy requiring a divided Jerusalem as an option. Israel would likely cease to be a state before they would divide Jerusalem - obviously, they won't do either voluntarily then. So it becomes a matter of effectivity; if Obama wants to really effectively barter peace he needs to recognize the unwaiverable issues and distinguish them from the requests which may be agreed upon - such as development ceasing in the Northern and Southern borders of the West Bank.
I don't believe in the two-state solution partly because of Jerusalem- but then again a one state solution is not something that is even discussed as a serious point (even if it may be an option)- so I don't expect any resolution of this conflict unless people seriously consider a one-state solution..... But then the question of a biased government and the Temple/Mosque controversy is a big issue on its own...... So who knows Peace be unto you Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
But no one is coming to the table as long as new settlements are ongoing. They can probably work out some kind of deal eventually, but you have to admit it's counterproductive at this point.
Counter productive to what? Israel doesn't need peace...it's the imposed will of the larger world community. They will take action on Iran if they have to and they will unfortunately destroy even themselves in a futile attempt to save themselves if things come to that. The fact is they perceive things to be; "They want us dead anyways, we might as well do what we want.", and in the broader scope of things it's absolutely true! The majority of the Islamic world wants them erased from history if their concessions fall short of everything middle eastern negotiaters request! The regranting of the Sinai penninsula did nothing to quell the violence, rather, it created opportunity for a new insurgance through weapon smuggling! From the vantage point of Israel there seems to be no obvious benefit to concession...in the end...1 president of the next 6 will surely reavow their sovereignty. And their military stature is still staggering as compared to the Middle East with respect to their homeland defense.
The article linked in the OP seems to be strongly biased and a Blog... Not the result of unbiased journalsim.
Not to mince words; there are reasonable levels of 'unbiased' journalism. Ummm Off the top of my head, Anderson Cooper might be a good example of that. Fox news, on the other hand, might be a good example of idiot journalsim.
First, Israel has done NOTHING for the US. The only things they have done for us are: spying on us, giving military secrets to the Soviets in the Cold War, or how about REFUSING to do anything we ask for 60+ years? Incidentally, the conservatives lobbyists in the Congress have been supporting Israel UNCONDITIONALLY for decades, giving them BILLIONS OF OUR HARD EARNED TAX MONEY every year. Have you even read about Israel's atrocities in Gaza? It is reducing Gaza to an uninhabitable piece of land by CONSTANTLY bombing public infrastructures such as hospitals, schools, and water lines in order to get 5-10 people that were firing rockets into Israel. The Israeli government is so focused into killing Palestinians and non-Jews that they are using the 5-10 people firing rockets as an excuse to kill innocent women and children in Gaza, not to mention that the people firing rockets would have SMUGGLED OUT TO EGYPT long before the Israel government could respond. Why is Israel killing innocent civilians to expand? Because Zionists like Benjamin Netanyahu kept saying that the land belonged to them because God gave them the land. DO YOU SEE ANYTHING WRONG WITH THIS LOGIC? The US conservatives have been giving aid to Israel UNCONDITONALLY for 60+ years ever since Israel creation in 1948, we need liberals like Obama and his supporters to finally stop Israel's planned extermination of Palestinians and to restore peace to the Mid-East. If we allow Israel to keep provoking Palestine, like the NEW SETTLEMENTS in PALESTINE's EAST JERUSALEM, peace WILL NEVER BE TRUE. Netanyahu is asking the US to strike Iran because they apparently have "nuclear weapons" and to put down the terrorists, yet the Israelis are committing crimes against humanity in Gaza!! THEY ARE THE TERRORISTS, not the Iranians!
As opposed to Keith Olbermann & Rachel Maddow (female Eli Manning Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! ). Each side has their extremes.
Does Israel need the financial support of the US? Nah, that's just hate rhetoric. There are moderate and reasonable people on both sides. Pity you can't see that. There's peace... I wonder why. See question above.
The U.S. gives Israel all of its economic and military aid directly in cash during the first month of the fiscal year, with no accounting required of how the funds are used. Also, in contrast with other countries receiving military aid, who must purchase through the DOD, Israel deals directly with the U.S. companies, with no DOD review. Furthermore, Israel is allowed to spend 26.3 percent of each year’s military aid in Israel (no other recipient of U.S. military aid gets this benefit), which has resulted in an increasingly sophisticated Israeli defense industry. As a result, Israel has become a major world arms exporter; the Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports that in 2006 Israel was the world’s ninth leading supplier of arms worldwide, earning $4.4 billion from defense sales.
