1 of 1- Max
- Colby Rasmus
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Back to '67 borders?
this should be interesting. Let's see if Mossad doesn't send out a welcoming party for Obama.
I, of course, am wildly in favor of this, and it was one of my favorite foreign policy initiatives of the Bush I regime. The true friends of Israel and Jewish people everywhere, will not play the role of handmaiden to the Israeli far right.
- artie_fufkin
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Re: Back to '67 borders?
"The true friends of Israel and Jewish people everywhere, will not play the role of handmaiden to the Israeli far right."
Unfortunately, criticism of Israeli foreign policy these days is interpreted by most Jews as an attack on Judiasm, even when it comes from a Jew. Ballsy move by Obama, though.
- Max
- Colby Rasmus
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Re: Back to '67 borders?
Yes, and Romney was quick to latch onto that and claim that Obama had thrown Israel under a bus.
There was a good OpEd in the NYT a few months back, which I believe we shared here somewhere, might have been by Roger Cohen. It was about an American Jew who went to Israel and complained about something or other, and was shouted down by fanatics. Jews in Israel have more freedom to criticize Israeli policy than do Jews, or just about anyone else, elsewhere, and that will rankle as time goes on. So I predict we are moving, slowly but surely, to a period when the pushback will begin.
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Thread Starter- artie_fufkin
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Re: Back to '67 borders?
"So I predict we are moving, slowly but surely, to a period when the pushback will begin."
I hope so, but the ham-fisted reaction to the Goldstone Report and Goldstone himself was troubling. Jews have been persecuted for 5,000 years and been the victims of some of the most awful atrocities in the history of mankind. We all understand Israel is surrounded by countries that have vowed to wipe it off the face of the Earth. But there were some allegations made in Goldstone that raise some legitimate concerns about what's going on there that can't be dismissed because one side says they're not happening.
- Max
- Colby Rasmus
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Re: Back to '67 borders?
I don't know much about it, and had to google. There is little question that Jews have been oppressed in various places and at various stages throughout history, particularly during the many thousands of years when they did not have a state in which to take refuge. For the US government to accept that there should be a state based upon a religion or ethnicity, while comforting for Jews and for everyone who wants the Jews to find a place where they feel safe and secure, opens up a can of worms, in terms of our county's ideology. I don't claim to know what to do, but I think that in the big big picture, Israel is in danger of losing the war, in spite of having won every battle. They don't seem to have many friends in this world outside of the USA, and for that support we are rewarded with condemnation and admonition if we have opinions that run counter to the Israeli far right. I don't see Americans supporting that status quo much longer, and that will be a very sorry day for Israel and the Jewish people.
Last edited by Max (5/20/2011 8:40 am)
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Thread Starter- Max
- Colby Rasmus
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Re: Back to '67 borders?
Well, son of a gun:
“You get so many reports that Bibi is playing politics in your backyard that eventually you’ve got to draw the conclusion that there’s nothing there to work with with this guy,†said Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator who is now a fellow with the New American Foundation.
. . .
But both men will have to manage any additional irritation as they prepare for the United Nations vote that is headed their way, American and Israeli officials said. Neither side wants to see an overwhelmingly lopsided United Nations vote for Palestinian statehood, with Britain, France and Germany joining the rest of the world and isolating Israel further, with only the United States and a few others voting against it.
“I think the Europeans are sliding†toward voting for Palestinian statehood “because they don’t see a peace strategy coming out,†said David Makovsky, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
He said that the two leaders had to figure out a way to work together to stop a United Nations vote that could harm both the United States and Israel. “If they are incapable of being able to translate a common interest into a common strategy, then it’s a very sad commentary on both countries,†Mr. Makovsky said.
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