BritPat Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/rupert-cornwell/rupert-cornwell-why-obama-is-running-into-trouble-with-the-jewish-lobby-2356509.html ...But something else was at work too – Mr Obama's policies towards Israel. A turning point in the campaign was when Ed Koch, the feisty former New York mayor and a Jewish Democrat, endorsed the Republican candidate and accused the president of "throwing Israel under the bus"... Ed puts Country before Party he chooses to put Israel before both The Democrats and The USA. ...It's not that Obama is anti-Israel; he simply hasn't heaped upon Israel the unconditional encomia to which the Jewish state is accustomed from its most important ally – a stance reflecting the need to improve the US's standing in the Arab world.... Who would have thought the US President would try to advance US Geopolitical interests ! ...History, too, must add to Mr Obama's unease: getting tough on Israel is bad for re-election in the US. By the 1980 election, Jimmy Carter was perceived as overcritical of the Jewish state. He won a bare 45 per cent of the Jewish vote and lost to Ronald Reagan by a landslide.... Jimmy Carter of the Camp David accords has been denounced as a Nazi !!! ...A dozen years later, George Bush senior tried to bring Israel to heel by blocking US loan guarantees for building new settlements, and was beaten by Bill Clinton. The loan guarantee row may have had little to do with his defeat, but the historical pattern escapes no one: Mr Obama lost a comparable settlements showdown with Israel... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrapeApe Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 But who's more important to the US now? Saudi Arabia take a slightly different view from the Jewish lobby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baz1 Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 I'm sure there are many Americans who don't know exactly how much gets spent on Israel- money that can go towards helping USA rather supporting Israel who continue to oppress Palestinians and steal land. May be Obama is having second thoughts. In his recent State of the Union address, President Obama pledged to "go through the budget line by line to eliminate programs that we can't afford and don't work." One week later, he sent his FY2011 budget request to Congress, which included a record-breaking $3 billion in military aid to Israel. This requested increase in U.S. weapons to Israel -- part of a ten-year $30 billion agreement signed between the two countries in 2007 -- qualifies on both counts as a program that the United States can't afford and that doesn't work in establishing a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Data published recently by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation shows that U.S. military aid to Israel comes at a financial and moral price that this country cannot afford to pay. Its website reveals that this same $3 billion earmark for Israel could be used instead to provide more than 364,000 low-income households with affordable housing vouchers, or to retrain 498,000 workers for green jobs, or to provide early reading programs to 887,000 at-risk students, or to provide access to primary health care services for more than 24 million uninsured Americans. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-ruebner/us-cant-afford-military-a_b_478104.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halibut Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 Forgive me for interrupting the thread BritPat, but your comment ''Fascism in England isn't alive and well despite the fact that it should be.'' Interests me - perhaps you'd care to respond to the question I asked you about that. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callippo Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 I'm sure there are many Americans who don't know exactly how much gets spent on Israel. it's not like it's any kind of secret, that's being kept from the US public. It's regulary debated on in Congress and governmental institutions in the United States. I bet a lot of the anti-Israel crowd don't know that the 3 billion figure is not a straight out-and-out gift to Israel, and is not just 'spent'. A lot of it is in the form of loans, and repaid with interest, like loans to the UK during WW2, were similarly repaid with interest. and once again, the anti Israel crowd is trying to make out that US aid to Israel is like a lot of money to the US it badly needs, when farming in Cornwall, is about that size. 3 billion dollars annually is a drop in the ocean in the context of the US budget - it's about 0.0001% of it. Most Americans, when asked, support their government's assistance to their Israeli ally overwhelmingly. 2 in 3 Americans, 170 million adults, broadly support Israel. 1 in 5 Americans, 50 million, broadly support the Palestinian Authority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
upinwath Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 It's a bit early to see who'll be the winner of the next US election but.. If I was Obama and it looked like I was in second place, I's veto all payment sna darms exports to Israel before I left office. Of course the republicans would put payments and massive free arms exports back in place before they unpacked their cases but I would love to see the Israeli government's collective faces drop when they heard the news. Of course, if you were in the room at the time, you'd need a peg on your nose to avoid the smell of the newly dirty underwear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkey Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 Forgive me for interrupting the thread BritPat, but your comment ''Fascism in England isn't alive and well despite the fact that it should be.'' Interests me - perhaps you'd care to respond to the question I asked you about that. Thanks. I'm a bit confused as to what the fascist line on anti-semitism is these days (as, obviously, are they) There has been a great trumpeting of Israel and it's military activities by many of the resident BNPers on here over the least few years, which was obviously only motivated by said BNPers hatred of Muslims. But now the campaign against Muslims seems to be getting tired round the edges, some of them seem to be returning to their roots. I wonder who they will decide to hate next? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritPat Posted September 19, 2011 Author Share Posted September 19, 2011 I'm a bit confused as to what the fascist line on anti-semitism is these days (as, obviously, are they) There has been a great trumpeting of Israel and it's military activities by many of the resident BNPers on here over the least few years, which was obviously only motivated by said BNPers hatred of Muslims. But now the campaign against Muslims seems to be getting tired round the edges, some of them seem to be returning to their roots. I wonder who they will decide to hate next? Can't win with you laissez faire capitalist liberalistas and wannabe Champagne socialists. Criticise Islam and you're a racist, criticise US/UK unconditional support of Zionist Israel and the resulting just grievances borne by Muslims which often leads to radicalisation and militancy, you are a racist. In short anyone that actually notices anything about the world and fails to keep quiet is a racist. Donkey by name donkey by nature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkey Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 Can't win with you laissez faire capitalist liberalistas and wannabe Champagne socialists. Criticise Islam and you're a racist, criticise US/UK unconditional support of Zionist Israel and the resulting just grievances borne by Muslims which often leads to radicalisation and militancy, you are a racist. In short anyone that actually notices anything about the world and fails to keep quiet is a racist. Not at all. If you had the intelligence to base your perceptions about posters on what they actually say as opposed to the crap you dream up in your extremely limited imagination, you would know that at one time or another I have been extremely critical of both the Zionist lobby and Islamic fundamentalists. I didn't call you a racist, (I've never called anyone a racist on here) but I notice you still haven't answered Halibut's question Forgive me for interrupting the thread BritPat, but your comment ''Fascism in England isn't alive and well despite the fact that it should be.'' Interests me - perhaps you'd care to respond to the question I asked you about that. Thanks. This appears to be a statement of support for fascism on your part, and fascists are invariably racists, so why would I bother pointing out something which you have pretty much openly said you are anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritPat Posted September 19, 2011 Author Share Posted September 19, 2011 Very few of you will ever read Mearsheimer and Walts's The Israel Lobby (probably wouldn't understand it if you did.) You could try the documentary if you can drag yourselves away from the soaps for an hour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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