Israel Reconfigured and Reconsidered
“Obama Is No Friend of Israel” blared the headline on SayAnything.com with variations on other blogs and in the print media in the wake of the president’s announcement that he was effectively screwing the Jewish nation. His “final solution” for Israel’s border wars, though he dare not use that term, would make everyone in the area happy and peaceful and ready to play together in perpetual peace and harmony.
Confirmed and reinforced in his tense Friday sit-down with Israel’s furious, diplomatically-assertive Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Obama’s scheme is to have Israel return to its pre-6 Day War, 1967 borders, tantamount in this age of sophisticated rocketry in the bloody hands of Hamas to asking Israel to commit national suicide.
That said, two questions: One, why is it such a surprise to so many that Israel is not at the top of Obama’s buddy list and, two, why should he be? The answers to both queries are complex with the first less so than the second.
It’s either incredibly naive or amazingly stupid to be surprised that the president cares not a whit about the nation of Israel. Whether he would prefer it to be totally submerged in the Mediterranean as Arab states wish is debatable but his affinity for those states and all things and people Islamic is not. An excellent rule of thumb to gauge Obama is to note carefully what he says and then to compare and contrast those statements with what he does, has done, and refuses to do.
They’re remarkably different.
Obama tows the line with what he says, mouthing platitudes and the conventional pap about how much America loves Israel, how important an ally it is, how our support is unwavering, etc. etc. At the same time, he adamantly refuses to acknowledge a worldwide war against Islamic terrorism, he bows to Saudi potentates, he inexplicably instructs NASA to focus not on space but on building Arab self-esteem. Is pushing for a Palestinian state such a stretch? . . .
(Read more about Question Two, Why Should Obama or America about Israel? at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=4516 (Hint: We should not.)
Showing posts with label palestine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label palestine. Show all posts
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
A Tribute, of Sorts, to Helen Thomas
A Tribute, of Sorts, to Helen Thomas
I guess Helen Thomas figured that if Jimmy Carter could do it, so could she, not lusting in her heart as Jimmy admitted but consenting to an interview in Playboy Magazine.
Poor 90 year old Helen.
Grand Old Dame of the White House Press Corps, (“corpse” to Obama), 57 year UPI veteran, first female member of the Gridiron Club along with a host of other firsts, was ousted from her prestigious position in the front row at presidential pressers as well as from everything else last May after making off-the-cuff comments about Israel, Jews, and Palestinians.
Harridan when it came to haranguing Republican presidents, creampuff when it came to Democrats, Helen should have known better than to stray off PC message on issues near and dear to the hearts of the Jewish Lobby. Of Lebanese Arab extraction, she committed the unforgivable political faux pas of letting slip the truth as she saw it regarding Israel, “Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine,” embellished with a few other gems.
Banished to retirement if not oblivion for her indiscretion, Thomas re-emerges in the April Playboy to defend and reiterate her May opinions. Feisty to the end, she says, “I knew exactly what I was doing–I was going for broke. I had reached the point of no return. You finally get fed up. . . I finally wanted to speak the truth.”
Most of that is baloney; she just slipped up without thinking of the repercussions.
However, to her credit, she hasn’t backed down, saying in the interview that, “Sure, the Israelis have a right to exist–but where they were born, not to come and take someone else’s home.” She also expresses her admiration for the “wonderful” Jewish people: ”They were leaders in civil rights. They’ve always had the heart for others but not for Arabs, for some reason. I’m not anti-Jewish; I’m anti-Zionist.”
More baloney but all well and good, so far.
Then, Thomas reverts to her May indiscretions, hitting sacrosanct Jewish beliefs: “The slaughter of Jews stopped with World War II . . . They were liberated since then. And yet they carry on the victimization. American people do not know that the Israeli lobbyists have intimidated them into believing every Jew is a persecuted victim forever–while they are victimizing Palestinians . . . Why do they inflict the same pain on people who did nothing to them?”
As if that were not enough to ensure she will never get back her front row seat at White House press conferences–which was pretty unlikely, anyway–Hellacious Helen took on the Holocaust. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=3911)
I guess Helen Thomas figured that if Jimmy Carter could do it, so could she, not lusting in her heart as Jimmy admitted but consenting to an interview in Playboy Magazine.
Poor 90 year old Helen.
Grand Old Dame of the White House Press Corps, (“corpse” to Obama), 57 year UPI veteran, first female member of the Gridiron Club along with a host of other firsts, was ousted from her prestigious position in the front row at presidential pressers as well as from everything else last May after making off-the-cuff comments about Israel, Jews, and Palestinians.
Harridan when it came to haranguing Republican presidents, creampuff when it came to Democrats, Helen should have known better than to stray off PC message on issues near and dear to the hearts of the Jewish Lobby. Of Lebanese Arab extraction, she committed the unforgivable political faux pas of letting slip the truth as she saw it regarding Israel, “Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine,” embellished with a few other gems.
Banished to retirement if not oblivion for her indiscretion, Thomas re-emerges in the April Playboy to defend and reiterate her May opinions. Feisty to the end, she says, “I knew exactly what I was doing–I was going for broke. I had reached the point of no return. You finally get fed up. . . I finally wanted to speak the truth.”
Most of that is baloney; she just slipped up without thinking of the repercussions.
However, to her credit, she hasn’t backed down, saying in the interview that, “Sure, the Israelis have a right to exist–but where they were born, not to come and take someone else’s home.” She also expresses her admiration for the “wonderful” Jewish people: ”They were leaders in civil rights. They’ve always had the heart for others but not for Arabs, for some reason. I’m not anti-Jewish; I’m anti-Zionist.”
More baloney but all well and good, so far.
Then, Thomas reverts to her May indiscretions, hitting sacrosanct Jewish beliefs: “The slaughter of Jews stopped with World War II . . . They were liberated since then. And yet they carry on the victimization. American people do not know that the Israeli lobbyists have intimidated them into believing every Jew is a persecuted victim forever–while they are victimizing Palestinians . . . Why do they inflict the same pain on people who did nothing to them?”
As if that were not enough to ensure she will never get back her front row seat at White House press conferences–which was pretty unlikely, anyway–Hellacious Helen took on the Holocaust. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=3911)
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