Bob Gorrell for March 24, 2010

ISRAEL is the one with the real firepower, guns, airplanes, drones, artillery, rockets, nukes, at least get real about it.

The Conservatives have a very simple rule, whatever Obama says or does is wrong.

If he supports Israel he is he is killing the chance for peace in the Middle East, if he opposes Israel he is – well just look at the cartoon.

It’s not opposing Israel, it’s opposing specific Israeli policy. There’s an important difference. I support the peaceful existence of Israel within secure borders (just as I support the desire of the Palestinian people to a viable state of their own), but that doesn’t mean that I have to agree with everything the government of Israel does (or that the Palestinians do, either). At this point, it seems that Israel is not interested in negotiations in any serious way and they are not doing anything to move the peace process forward. In the long run I think that’s a serious mistake.

He continued to stand beside Israel, but Israel wasn’t standing beside him… Let’s be honest here, if any other country had pulled the trick with Biden’s visit, the US would be furious at the insult and actually take serious measures. Measures that, chances are, won’t be taken against Israel pretty much… ever.

Is it surprising so many people -particularly Arabs - think the US middle east policy is decided not in the White House or Pentagon, but in Jerusalem?

I like what the administration is trying to achieve by stopping new settlements and becoming oppressors themselves.

Mr. Gorrell, how about denouncing the ugly violence that’s now occurring, as well as admonishing those that are encouraging it?

Ken Warren said …”whatever Obama says or does is wrong.”

Proof positive that terrorism pays:

A few decades ago Palestine and Palestinian was generally referred to as Jewish.

The two-state solution meant Israel and Jordan.

After a few decades of terrorist bloodshed we are now talking about a state for a new Arab ‘nation’, over the territory that was once Jordanian and Egyptian, but they will not accept it back … .

American Jews continue the sheep-like death-wish behavior of their WWII European brethren - they keep voting for Democrats.

While Republican administrations always stood with the Israelis, the Democrats have and continue to sell them short.

Right, their “selling short” got Israel a peace treaty with its most dangerous neighbor - Egypt - and pushed for one of the longer thaws in relations with the Palestinians. Republicans gave them… posturing. Thanks, they can do that quite well themselves (and in fact are doing that just now).

The GOP is big on grandstanding and loves to boast how good they are for Israel (or, at least, the Israeli right wing), but objectively it has done little more than that. If anything, the policies of the last administration left the Middle East even less safe for their supposed BFF.

And there is the other side of the equation… how the relationship between the two countries has benefitted the US.

Church, the problem is that the deaths on the other side, which tend to be in the region of twenty times more, aren’t reported. I have no love for extremists who bombard cities and kill innocents - but a lot more innocents die during the “reprisals” too - when will conservatives denounce those?

The Camp David Accord.

Were it planned by Carter, it would have been brilliant, but the buffoon stumbled into it:

He called for an international conference on the Middle-East, asking the then Soviets to co-chair.

This got Anwar Sadat so outraged, that he simply got on the plane and flew to Tel Aviv …and than the direct talks moved to the Camp.

Clinton’s Oslo treaty however is more interesting - lucky for Israel and the US, Arafat refuted it just before its fulfillment.

Wow! Israel slapped the US in the face with a f*(king 2x4 and you’re all upset about how Obama is mad at them? Who’s the wuss now wingnuts?

This reflects a fundamental difference between right and left. Left wants a compromise that will allow 2 groups of people to have a life. The right just wants to kill enemies.

And Lord O – opposing Israel’s hawkish tendencies makes us hate all Jews? Whatever ya nut-job crawl back under your rock.

“Left wants a compromise that will allow 2 groups of people to have a life. The right just wants to kill enemies.”

You have got it almost right.

It depends upon the ‘enemy’ though.

If our enemy loves death more than we love life, we should certainly accommodate them.

With respect to the current ‘controversy’ - it is entirely of 0bama’s making - the clowns should not have demanded that which Israel cannot and must not give up - its sovereignty and Jerusalem, its Capital

Asking Israel to give up Jerusalem is like asking Saudi to parcel up Mecca. Stop wasting your breath.

^The issue is about a small part of Jerusalem that contain no jewish holy sites.

And keeping holy cities for any abrahamic religion doesn’t make any sense; Both Islam and Judaism claim no inanimate object can be divine, yet one gang prays to a wall and the other prays to a rock. And both are at each other’s throats over a piece of real estate.

Another of the many reasons I’m not a christian anymore, though IMHO of the three abrahamic faihs, christianism makes the most sense.

^I like your attitude!

Hmmm….maybe I should scan for sarcasm first…

^Jews have been there, okay, but they were not alone. How do you explain other people live there as well? Evil desert sheik sent them to piss off the West?

Problem is Bruce one side has a massive arsenal (provided by us) and the other side has rocks and a few rocket launchers. Not even a remotely fair fight armaments-wise.

Okay, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. They slaughtered all the tribes that were in the “promised land” before them. Who were those folks? Right, the Arab tribes and other Semites (all these argumentative jerks descended from Shem) they stole the land from. That was a long time before 1948- so who was the “Johnny come lately”?

lalas; rocks and rocket launchers and lots and LOTS of people.

The trouble with Israel (the State, not the people who live there) is that it is an “artificial” state, like the states created during the crusades; most of the jews there are descendents of post WW2 immigrants and are a mere 6 millions surrounded by arab states, a foreign power put it in place and now it can’t survive without the help of these foreign powers. The conflict has lasted too long and I fear it can’t end in anything else than a bloodbath (as if the Jews needed another one in their history). The longer this war will last, the bigger the massacre, I fear.

^ Erm, why would they let one off in their own neighbourhood? A nuke’s deterrent ability is for long range effect. Local, not so much.

CF: Good points although I don’t share your longterm fear.