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U.S., France, Germany and Others Walk Out During Ahmadinejad’s Israel-bashing UN Speech

September 23, 2009 By Jeff Leave a Comment

It’s time for me to eat a little crow – feathers and all – here… I didn’t think the U.S. delegation would walk out during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s address to the United Nations General Assembly this evening. But they did… along with the delegations of at least a dozen other nations:

France on Wednesday led a walkout of a dozen delegations, including the United States, to protest a fiery speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the UN General Assembly.

“It is disappointing that Mr Ahmadinejad has once again chosen to espouse hateful, offensive and anti-Semitic rhetoric,” Mark Kornblau, spokesman to the US mission to the United Nations, said in a statement.

Delegations from Argentina, Australia, Britain, Costa Rica, Denmark, France Germany, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand and the United States left the room as Ahmadinejad began to rail against Israel, a European source said.

Israel had already called for a boycott of the speech, and was not present when the Iranian leader began his address. Canada had already said it would heed the boycott call.

I doubt the U.S. delegation would have walked out without White House approval so kudos to Pres. Obama for demonstrating a little moral clarity.

CBC News has great photo of the largely empty General Assembly chamber here.

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Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Lays Out Conditions for Palestinian State

June 15, 2009 By Jeff Leave a Comment

If you’ve been paying attention to the news over the last couple of days you’ve no doubt seen the headlines screaming “Netanyahu Says Yes to Palestinian State”… As is all to often the case you have to wade through several paragraphs to get the substance of what Prime Minister Netanyahu said. He did not give an emphatic yes to a Palestinian State, what he did was lay out the conditions under which Israel could accept a Palestinian State.

From CNSNews.com:

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu can wait a thousand years without finding a single Palestinian prepared to accept his offer, a senior Palestinian negotiator said late Sunday after Netanyahu in a policy speech laid down conditions under which Israel would accept a Palestinian state.

The two key conditions, the conservative prime minister said, were Palestinian recognition of Israel as the national homeland for the Jewish people; and a requirement that a future Palestinian state would be demilitarized.

Acceptance of a Palestinian state is a departure for Netanyahu. Speaking at Bar Ilan University outside Tel Aviv, he made it clear that it came with red lines.

On the first, Netanyahu said, refusal to recognize the Jewish people’s right to a state in their historical homeland was “the root of the conflict.” The “public, binding and sincere” acknowledgment by the Palestinians of that right was therefore a “fundamental condition for ending the conflict.”

On the second condition, Netanyahu said there was broad agreement in Israel that a future Palestinian state could not be militarized.

“Without this condition, there is a real fear that there will be an armed Palestinian state which will become a terrorist base against Israel, as happened in Gaza,” he said.

Such a state – “another Hamastan” – could makes military treaties with Iran or Hezbollah and import weapons and missiles.

A Palestinian state could have no army, and no control over its airspace, and effective measures would have to be put in place to prevent arms from entering, Netanyahu said.

On two other key final status questions, he said Jerusalem would remain Israel’s unified capital, and Palestinian refugees could not be settled within Israel’s future borders. Netanyahu recalled that as the young and “tiny” state of Israel had absorbed “hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab countries who were uprooted from their homes.” The problem of Arab refugees could similarly be solved, he said, implying that the refugees could be accommodated in the Palestinian state and/or neighboring Arab countries. Read the rest…

Despite the media headlines nothing has changed… The Palestinians will never recognize Israel as the national homeland for the Jewish people and consequently they will never have an independent Palestinian.

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Caught on Tape: Jane Harman & AIPAC

April 20, 2009 By Jeff 1 Comment

If even half of what’s alleged in this Congressional Quarterly report is true Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) and former attorney general Alberto Gonzales have a lot explaining to do:

Rep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence issues, was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel organization in Washington.

Harman was recorded saying she would “waddle into” the AIPAC case “if you think it’ll make a difference,” according to two former senior national security officials familiar with the NSA transcript.

(Join Jeff Stein for a live online chat at 3:30 p.m. today about his story, or submit a question for Jeff.)

In exchange for Harman’s help, the sources said, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections, which the Democrats were heavily favored to win.

Seemingly wary of what she had just agreed to, according to an official who read the NSA transcript, Harman hung up after saying, “This conversation doesn’t exist.”

Harman declined to discuss the wiretap allegations, instead issuing an angry denial through a spokesman.

“These claims are an outrageous and recycled canard, and have no basis in fact,” Harman said in a prepared statement. “I never engaged in any such activity. Those who are peddling these false accusations should be ashamed of themselves.”

It’s true that allegations of pro-Israel lobbyists trying to help Harman get the chairmanship of the intelligence panel by lobbying and raising money for Pelosi aren’t new.

They were widely reported in 2006, along with allegations that the FBI launched an investigation of Harman that was eventually dropped for a “lack of evidence.”

What is new is that Harman is said to have been picked up on a court-approved NSA tap directed at alleged Israel covert action operations in Washington.

And that, contrary to reports that the Harman investigation was dropped for “lack of evidence,” it was Alberto R. Gonzales, President Bush’s top counsel and then attorney general, who intervened to stop the Harman probe.

This stinks to high heaven, not simply because of allegations against Rep. Harman and former AG Gonzales, but because of the unprecedented leak of an NSA wiretap.

That said there’s something fishy about this leak, NSA wiretaps are among the closely guarded, highly secret operations carried out by the federal Government. Even during the Bush years while various elements within the government were conducting a stealth campaign against the Administration’s War on terror policy’s via politically damaging leaks to the New York Times, no NSA wiretaps were released… I can’t help but think whoever leaked this transcript has an agenda and that is some sort of political payback.

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Anti-Israel Hate Rears It’s Ugly Head

January 29, 2009 By Jeff Leave a Comment

Someone using the name Joanna Pardue posted tried to post the following comment to a post on anti-Israel hated:

If it’s okay to kill Palestinian women and children – [collective punishment]

then it’s okay to kill Jewish women and children – outside Israel.

If a few bombs go off in Jewish daycare centers around the world… this conflict will CEASE -

Diaspora Jews will then have some skin in the game… and stop financing the genocide.

I deleted her comment from the moderation cue since in my opinion it violates the comment policy. However sunlight is still the best disinfectant and hate filled comments like Ms. Pardue’s need to see the light of day so that they can be addressed.

Ms. Pardue civilian casualties are an unfortunate reality of war, the Israelis do everything humanly possible to avoid or minimize civilian casualties. They are however locked in battle with terrorist groups like Hamas who intentionally use the civilians as human shields ensuring they will be caught in the cross-fire.

Hamas on the other hand deliberately targets Israeli civilians with indiscriminate rocket and mortar fire.

There is no moral equivalence between the two… Attacks like you’re calling will not end the conflict, they will intensify it. The international community will no longer be able ignore or rationalize the actions of terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

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Pat Buchanan: Anti-Semitic Crackpot

January 9, 2009 By Jeff Leave a Comment

There was a time when I liked Pat Buchanan (although I can’t remember when or why) but over the years he’s said a variety of things that caused me to classify him as an crackpot… Like this summer when he blamed America for Russia’s invasion of Georgia. Or like last night on MSNBC’s “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue” when he accused Israel of carrying out a “blitzkrieg” against Gaza and turning it into a “concentration camp.”

This isn’t the fist time Buchanan made thinly veiled anti-Semitic comments the Anti-Defamation League has a catalog of his comments on American Jews and the pro-Israel lobby and on Nazis and the Holocaust.

Pat Buchanan does not speak for me or the majority of conservatives, the fact that MSNBC continues to give him pulpit from which to spew his hatred speaks volumes about their motivations.

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Rockets Fired into Northern Israel From Lebanon

January 8, 2009 By Jeff Leave a Comment

At least two rockets were fired into northern Israel from Lebanon today. It’s not clear from media reports who was responsible for the attack.

Hopefully this was an isolated attack by small group Palestinian militants and not attempt by Hezbollah to open a second front.

From Fox News:

A Hezbollah minister in Lebanon’s Cabinet denies any involvement by the militant group in the firing of rockets from Lebanon into Israel.

At least three rockets were fired Thursday, and Israel responded with a few artillery shells into Lebanon, which borders the country to the north. The exchange threatened to open a second front as Israel continues its offensive against the militant group Hamas on its southern border, in the Gaza Strip.

Two people were lightly injured, and the rockets that exploded in Israel’s north raised the specter of renewed hostilities with Hezbollah, just 2 1/2 years after Israel battled the guerrilla group to a 34-day stalemate. Hezbollah started the 2006 war as Israel was battling Palestinian militants in Gaza.

No group claimed responsibility and Lebanon’s government, wary of conflict, quickly condemned the rocket fire. But Hezbollah has been suspected in the past by Israel and its opponents in Lebanon of using allied radical groups to irritate Israel with a lower risk of retaliation.

In the absence of evidence to the contrary I’m willing to take Hezbollah at it’s word… I doubt Hezbollah is any hurry for a rematch with Israel. Their 2006 war may have ended in an effective stalemate but Israel did significant damage to Hezbollah’s manpower and materials.

CNSNews.com, the Wall Street Journal and Ynetnews.com have additional details on the rocket attacks.

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The Hate Just Keeps Rolling

January 4, 2009 By Jeff Leave a Comment

Little Green Footballs has photos from another hate filled anti-Israel rally… This time in Melbourne, Australia.

I’ll repeat what I said before, as long this kind of hatred exists there will never be peace.

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More Anti-Israel Hate

January 4, 2009 By Jeff 4 Comments

I posted video from a hate filled pro-Hamas rally in Fort Lauderdale yesterday. Today  Michelle Malkin points out  reports on two hate filled protests in San Francisco… One from Zombie the other from The Back of the Hill.

I’ll repeat what I said yesterday, as long as this kind hatred exists there will never be peace.

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Disgusting: “Get Back to the Oven!”

January 3, 2009 By Jeff 1 Comment

This video has been making the rounds on a few blogs so thought I might as well post it here. It was shot at a pro-Hamas demonstration in Fort Lauderdale,  FL on December 30, 2008.

The defining moment comes at around the 3:20 mark.

There’s a lot of things I could think to say but I think the video speaks for itself… As long this kind of hatred exists there will never be peace.

H/T: AoS.

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Breaking: Israeli Troops Enter Gaza

January 3, 2009 By Jeff Leave a Comment

Israeli troops have begun moving into Gaza.

From the Jerusalem Post:

For the first time since the start of Operation Cast Lead, IDF ground troops entered the Gaza Strip on Saturday evening, exchanging fire with Hamas gunmen.

The IDF said that a large amount of troops from the Armored Corps, Engineering Corps and Infantry Corps entered the territory with the purpose of destroying Hamas infrastructure and preventing rocket fire by taking control of launching pads “in order to greatly reduce the quantity of rockets fired at Israel and Israeli civilians.”

The IDF warned that terrorists using civilians as human shields would bear full responsibility for their fate. The IDF spokesperson emphasized that “anyone who hides a terrorist or weapons in his house is considered a terrorist,” adding that “the residents of Gaza are not the target of the operation.”

The army reiterated that the operation was in line with “decisions of the Security Cabinet,” saying that this stage of the operation was “part of the IDF’s overall operational plan, and will continue on the basis of ongoing situational assessments by the IDF General Staff.”

The cabinet also approved the call-up of thousands of reservists, mostly from combat units, but also from the Home Front Command.

Haaretz, the Wall Street Journal and Hot Air have more.

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