Some Israelis Insulted By Obama Picture

[kpete]

Source: CBS



Israeli TV newscasters Tuesday night interpreted a photo taken Monday in the Oval Office of President Obama talking on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an "insult" to Israel.

They saw the incident as somewhat akin to an incident last year, when the Iraqi reporter threw a shoe at President Bush in Baghdad.

It is considered an insult in the Arab world to show the sole of your shoe to someone. It is not a Jewish custom necessarily, but Israel feels enough a part of the Middle East after 60 years to be insulted too.

Was there a subliminal message intended from the White House to Netanyahu in Jerusalem, who is publicly resisting attempts by Mr. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to force Israel to stop any kind of settlement activity in occupied territories once and forever?

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/06/09/world/worldwatch/entry5076128.shtml

[rocktivity]

1. Nice try

especially since Obama is allegedly a Muslim

:boring:
rocknation

[indio55555]

60. See this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpimpinturtle.com%2F&feature=player_embedded&v=Uxt9HwfPwPo

[MrBig]

62. What does this video have to do with anything???

I bet you I can find links to drunken idiots who say stupid things on any subject. Oh, but these people represent all of Israel, right? Stupid.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Or did Obama's feet hurt?

That's a stretch, seeing as he was only talking over the phone.

[bdamomma]

3. who even took that picture and is Obama really talking to Netanyahu

on the phone.

[Journeyman]

33. The official White House photographer and that's how the photo's labeled on the WH website. . .

[theoldman]

4. I wonder just how many Israelis were pissed off.

Were there more than two?

[SemiCharmedQuark]

5. lame...I wonder if other countries report every disgruntled group of ours in the news.

"Some Americans Angry at the French for Hating Freedom!"

[marshall]

They're lucky he's not showing them his a$$

Because they really need to kiss it!

[Cant trust em]

6. Israelis feel like Arabs now?

Is black white and day is night?

[DoBotherMe]

13. LOL!

That was great! Dana ; )

[aquart]

22. Arafat's great success was to remake Israel in his image.

[madaboutharry]

7. I lived in Israel a number of years ago, and of course I

can tell you that the Israelis are all so high class!!

[sinkingfeeling]

8. Really? Can Howard Arenstein please provide some names and facts?

From 1974-1981, he lived in Israel, working as a reporter for the Jerusalem Post newspaper and Israel Radio. In 1978, Arenstein was hired by United Press International as the wire service’s Jerusalem Bureau Chief and as an editor on the UPI foreign desk in New York and Washington.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. 
[link:www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules.html|Click
here] to review the message board rules.

[arikara]

26. LOL... a fake Texan at that

Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[LeftishBrit]

44. 'Force' them? How?

You sound just as paranoid in your own way as the people in the article in theirs!

[uppityperson]

47. I caught that also and agree. nt

[Strong Atheist]

56. Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[CreekDog]

67. you're toasting the "for everything they control" (e.g. Israel) person?

:eyes:

[Strong Atheist]

68. See your PM! nt.

[CreekDog]

66. "For everything they control"

and

"They can control the US media..."

:banghead: :eyes:

i don't know who you are but i don't think you're going to be around here very long.

[riverdeep]

71. Except that Bush did everything the Israelis wanted, except invade Iran.

And don't think he wasn't trying. What would they need to 'handle'?

[Captain Hilts]

10. Then they don't have to accept any aid from the US any more. Easy. nt

[Lucky Luciano]

14. Really...isn't it tiresome that we fund their national healthcare plan? nt

[aquart]

21. Wow. Ain't nothin' about them you like.

Wonder why.

[GillesDeleuze]

24. better to imply antisemitism

than to realize the funds are best used on our own health care system

[Strong Atheist]

57. Belated Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[Lucky Luciano]

29. Wow...that was probably one of the first posts I ever made

regarding Israel and now I hate them completely?!

Besides my mother is Jewish...which makes me (drumroll please.......).

Jewish!

Though I say half Jewish and half Irish out of respect for my paternal side as well.


The only point was that it was odd that we effectively finance (since money is fungible) their socialized healthcare system when we do not even have one.

[Pirate Smile]

11. RW Israelis will be insulted by whatever Obama does just like the crazy RW'ers here.

[sabra]

15. bingo! that is the real bottom line - the RW in Israel is trying to stir things up...

[fascisthunter]

54. just as US RWers get insulted when criticizing American policy

they are all extremist nutcases

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

12. B. F. D.

Some "civilizations" simply need to grow a skin and get over shit.

[Cant trust em]

27. "grow a skin".

What is that supposed to mean?

[sakabatou]

36. I think he means "grow SOME skin"

meaning Israel is thin-skinned and doesn't like to be insulted.

[Cant trust em]

38. OK. Thanks for bringing this into perspective.

I'm sure that you know where I was going with that. ;-)

[sakabatou]

39. Of course

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

48. What you said.

Thanks. My terminology isn't always perfect.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Rebubula]

17. Slow News Day

Sometimes a Pen is Just a Pen...

[BlueMTexpat]

18. The ridiculous has become standard

in RW rhetoric. Sheesh!

Where on earth is the "liberal" media that we hear so much about?

:shrug:

[mitchum]

19. Whatever

[nyc 4 Biden]

20. Wow, what a stretch. This is faux outrage if I ever saw it. n/t

[GillesDeleuze]

23. i couldn't yawn louder.

[CJCRANE]

25. Another great article from the Onion!

:rofl:

Oh waitaminute...

:shrug:

[gratuitous]

28. But they're strangely not offended

When Israeli troops funnel Arab students into a waiting mob of Jewish toughs to get beat up on their way home from school.

I have a friend with Christian Peacemaker Teams, and one of their tasks is escorting Arab students home from school. One afternoon, all the exits from the schoolyard were cut off by young Israeli soldiers, leaving the only egress through a gate where a bunch of bullies were waiting to beat the snot out of the Arab students as they departed. My friend tried to go out another gate, but was blocked by a soldier. He tried to reason with the soldier, who stood firm and told him that the only way for the students to leave was by the gate where the bullies were waiting. "Security" reasons, doncha know.

In the middle of the conversation, my friend's cell phone rang and he answered it. After a moment he held the cell phone out to the soldier and said, "It's your mother; she wants to know what you're doing." The young soldier hesitated for just a second before realizing that there's no way his mother would be on the other end of the line, but that's all it took. As my friend finished the call, the soldier began edging out of the way, and about 30 seconds later left enough room for my friend and the students to slip out the side gate and avoid the bullies.

I wonder how many of the unnamed newscasters in this CBS story would be offended by the use of their troops in aiding and abetting a bunch of bullies?

[Name removed]

32. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hulk]

30. Who really cares?? Nobody!

The "insulted israelis" are so similar to the "troop loving republicans" of this ass back wards country.

I honestly don't give a shit if they are insulted. It's a phony crock in the first place. Being an Arab custom, since when do the israelis take on the customs of the Arabs, except to be insulted???

They can eat shit and bark at the moon. I'm sick of these morons grasping at any distraction to divert from their own transgressions. F*CK THEM ALL!!

[RedCloud]

31. If those are his shoes, why aren't his legs attached to his feet?

Look at the angle of his torso. Can someone contort like that?

Are those shoes even the same size?

[notadmblnd]

51. i agree, it looks like a photo shop

either that or Obama has some swively hips.

[ooglymoogly]

34. Good grief

If the Israeli's are insulted by this utter nonsense; That ridiculous and feigned perception is an insult to the worlds intelligence.

[Jefferson23]

35. LOL, how fucking desperate can anyone be!

[CJCRANE]

37. BTW I doubt Israelis give a flying fig

how Obama sits when he's talking on the phone. It's a fake RW outrage.

[LeftishBrit]

43. I think you are absolutely right!

It's a few right-wingers, who don't like Obama anyway, and will find any excuse to complain about him.

[AlphaCentauri]

40. the president is not raising his middle finger to them

those news casters should understand the western cultures first

[apnu]

41. "Some Isrealis" are morons

This proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that morons abound in the world.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Oh wait, we already knew that.

[LeftishBrit]

42. Some people will find any excuse to be insulted

This is ridiculous. First of all, since when did people's shoes get transmitted over the phone? Secondly, even if it is an Arab insult, neither Obama nor Netanyahu is an Arab. I only wish Nutty and his supporters would find some OTHER things that they have in common with the Arabs!

[Mr. Sparkle]

45. Most extremists get insulted by just about anything .

They one set of rules for themselves, and another set for everybody else.

[ChiGal]

46. That's ridiculous

Plenty of past presidents have been photographed with their feet up on the desk.

[Strong Atheist]

58. Belated Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

49. Is that gum on his left shoe?

That must mean something insulting to someone in the world...North Korea, maybe?

[notadmblnd]

50. Were they tied to a chair and forced to look at it?

as a woman, Hustler magazine offends me. I don't buy or look at it. Problem solved.

[Blue_Tires]

52. and this nonstory is news? someone is *REALLY* trying to stretch here....

of course Howard Arenstein doesn't quote the first israeli (or anyone else, for that matter) in the story, so i guess it is Arenstein himself who is putting words in the mouth of an entire nation...

[ProudDad]

53. If he thinks that's an insult...

I have a one-finger salute for Bibi...

[question everything]

55. Emphasis on "some"

How would you like it if all of us were held responsible for the success that the Limpdicd has? or Fox? (Success in terms of number of dittoheads)

[noiretextatique]

59. "It is not a Jewish custom necessarily, but Israel feels enough a part of the Middle East..."

:eyes:

[Zhade]

61. Why? Because he's not kneeling to service Israel's rightwing government like past presidents?

Fuck the Israeli government. The Israeli people deserve better leaders.

[New Dawn]

63. Cry more, please.

[bemildred]

64. I'm insulted by their insultedness, so what?

What a bunch or whiney morons.

[Zorra]

65. No surprise. Right wingers are assholes no matter what country they're from. n/t

[Vidar]

69. Who cares? His feet, his desk, & he wasn't in Israel at the time.

[Abq_Sarah]

70. They're really reaching.