Rivera, the Self-Described Zionist, Fools No One

[Violet_Crumble]

Geraldo Rivera has repeatedly invoked his dubious Zionist credentials in order to launch verbal assaults on the Jewish state. The latest occasion was his March 26, 2010 appearance on "Fox and Friends," in which he accused an allegedly anti-peace, obstructionist Israel of focusing on the Iranian threat in order to divert attention from its own supposed intransigence. His tirade also included the baseless allegation that Israel is responsible for American difficulties vis-a-vis the entire Middle East and the Muslim world.

Responding to a question about American-Israeli tension surrounding the Israeli announcement of plans for building 1600 additional residential units in the crowded north Jerusalem Jewish neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo, Rivera claimed the whole incident is indicative of an Israeli offense more worrisome than the Iranian nuclear crisis:

I don't think Bibi Netanyahu has any intention of making a two state solution peace with the Palestinians. I think he has no intention of ever yielding east Jerusalem. I know it's very difficult for my fellow Zionists and lovers of Israel to get our arms around what is a clear cut agenda. I think what has been revealed by this snub of Joe Biden when he went over there is far more profound than people credit. I think that what has been revealed is the policy of the Netanyahu government never to make peace with the Palestinians based on a two-state solution, never to give up Jerusalem, never, ever ever and, you know, for them to go through the machinations or continue to point to the Iranian threat as their priority is just to divert attention from the fact that there will never be under a Netanyahu or a Likud government any kind of a two state ---

In actuality, the building of homes in Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem over the Green Line, such as Ramat Shlomo, is not in violation of any peace accord, nor does it preclude any future peace settlements, including the division of Jerusalem according to Jewish and Arab neighborhoods (as was envisioned, for example, in the Clinton plan.)

In an effort to bolster his baseless argument that Israel works non-stop to block a two-state solution, Rivera erases more than a decade of withdrawals, difficult concessions and goodwill gestures on the part of the Israelis. He states:

Ever since Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, ever since the Oslo peace process went into hibernation, what moves has Israel done other than continuing to talk about getting together, to talk about it. . .

http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=3&x_outlet=15&x_article=1830

[Better Today]

1. And the problem is? Geraldo may not be the Zionist he claims,

but there's nothing wrong with his assessment of the situation as seen by most of the world these days.

[LeftishBrit]

21. Self-delete (posted in wrong place)

[LeftishBrit]

22. self-delete (posted in wrong place)

[Jefferson23]

2. I wish CAMERA had posted a direct link to the Fox piece by Rivera.

This snip cracked me up: "Fox may want to consider limiting Rivera's reporting to topics and regions that don't trigger such irrational outbursts."


And how ironic they consider his opinion, irrational..too funny.

I may have to watch Fox now, damn.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[LeftishBrit]

4. 'Should be destroyed'? How? And by whom?

Haven't the Bushies and their pals been doing enough destroying of states lately, to make us all sick of war?

[cali]

5. what is it with people who think that other countries should be "destroyed"?

[proteus_lives]

15. Wow, a mask drop.

"Meanwhile, if Israel keeps up its land theft, the state of Israel should be destroyed."

"Although Israel should not have been allowed to exist in 1948"

You make me sick.

[Codeine]

18. They slip now and then, don't they?

They get a little buzzed on a weekend and the reality pours out.

[proteus_lives]

16. They do indeed.

There is truth in wine and free-time.

[Violet_Crumble]

17. That comment was posted months ago on a Tuesday...

You and that other poster have both very slow and very selective reactions, given the ugly hatred that's been aimed at Palestinians in this forum recently and how neither of you have had a word to say about that ugliness.

[proteus_lives]

27. Like Cali said.

Your games are pathetic.

You never blink at hatred of Israel/Israelis.

[Violet_Crumble]

28. Good. Maybe you can translate what she was going on about. What games was she talking about?

She never did explain what that was all about and why she was so nasty.

Sorry, but I've spoken out against ugly comments aimed at Israelis many times in the past. As I'm unclear as to what yr definition of 'hatred' of Israel is something,(is it hatred of Israel to speak out against what Israel does to the Palestinians? Or is it hatred to say Israel must be destroyed?), I'll wait for you to clarify what it means before I continue...

[proteus_lives]

29. "Or is it hatred to say Israel must be destroyed?"

Yes, it is hate. The same kind of hate when people say that the Palestinians don't deserve their own country.

And I'm not google-farming for you. We've done this dance before. You start things then you start crying about people being mean to you when people respond. That's your game.

[Violet_Crumble]

30. Then I agree on that...

I've spoken out against people who post that sort of stuff in the past as well, btw.

I'm not asking you to google-farm anything and I'm not sure where you get the idea I've asked you to.

I'm also not sure what I'm supposed to have 'started' to cause the nasty response I got from Cali. What I recall doing is posting an article from CAMERA to check for myself whether or not it was allowed as a source to start an OP. I made no comment in the OP, yet Cali launched into a torrent of abuse and told me to leave the I/P forum. How does that turn into me starting something, proteus?

[cali]

6. Your games are really pathetic

not to mention petulant and passive-aggressive. Don't like the rules here? Don't post.

[azurnoir]

8. I am not quite sure what your problem is here

do you have a problem with the OP or the source of the OP being CAMERA if so there is an alert button for that or do you have a problem with the person posting the OP, it almost seems an attempt to censor who posts what

[Violet_Crumble]

9. What games? You've got no idea what yr talking about...

So how about keeping the personal abuse to yrself and not waste my time trying to tell me not to post here.

on edit: Not sure what kicked off that venom from you, but I've been at DU and in this forum a lot longer than you and DU's not some police state where we aren't allowed to disagree or ask questions. I was checking to see which sources were accepted in this forum, the answer I got on my return this evening is that Arutz Sheva, CAMERA and Honest Reporting are all acceptable sources to start new threads with and Electronic Intifada isn't. If all partisan sources like those were forbidden from starting new threads, I'd think that was understandable, but that's not the case at all and it's only EI that's been singled out.I'm not at all sure why you think that's any of yr business, because it's not. As I've said to you many times before, if you spent a fraction of the time actually discussing the conflict that you spent shrieking abuse at other DUers, you might be someone who isn't on the list of trolls that I generally don't waste time replying to unless they respond to one of my posts...

btw, I don't like any rule that has such a double-standard as that one. So, I'll do what mature and sane people do when they don't like a rule they encounter. I'll ask the mods to explain to me by PM why EI is now forbidden in the I/P forum while equally partisan pro-Israel sites like CAMERA and Honest Reporting are allowed. I doubt me or anyone else who asks will get an answer, but it's worth a try. Then, and only then will I consider my future at DU. While you may be blissfully happy participating in a forum with a rule like that which bans a source that while it's partisan, isn't bigoted or RW, while allowing others, I've never been bothered wasting my time on forums where the playing field isn't at least slighly level...

[Jim Sagle]

7. Top notch work from CAMERA as always. Thanks for sharing.

:thumbsup:

[Violet_Crumble]

11. No problem at all, Jimbo! It's going to be CAMERA central in the I/P forum in future! n/t

[Ken Burch]

14. Camera is the group that refused, until the mid 1990's. to even ADMIT "Palestinians" exist

They insisted(and really haven't quite stopped insisting)that Palestinians are just "generic Arabs" bussed in in the spring of 1947 to an empty land just to stop creation of Israel. That they had NO connection to the land at all, and no real grievances. This is the CAMERA that STILL insists on the existence of the mythical "unrelenting Arab plot to destroy Israel"(a plot from which Egypt, Jordan and for all practical purposes Syria relented from years ago).

CAMERA exists for no other reason than to PREVENT the end of the Israel/Palestine dispute, unless it were to be ended(as CAMERA KNOWS is impossible)by the abandonment of any efforts at all to create a Palestininian state or to maintain any Arab population in Palestine at all.

CAMERA are cheerleaders for perpetual slaughter. They don't WANT the war to ever end.

[Violet_Crumble]

10. I don't get why CAMERA is an accepted source when EI isn't n/t

[Name removed]

12. Deleted sub-thread

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[Crunchy Frog]

13. Wow. I never thought I'd say this, but...

I think I have a little bit of respect for Geraldo.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

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[LeftishBrit]

23. I wouldn't trust either Sternthal/Camera or Rivera as a source much further than I could throw them

Camera is obsessed with trying to discredit the validity of any critics or criticism of the Israeli government's actions (some criticisms ARE invalid, but Camera seems to think that all are, and never seeks to discredit sources on the other side). And I have no idea whether Rivera is a Zionist, or indeed what any of his views on Israel are; but he is certainly very sensationalist on other issues.

Why post this? Has Rivera come up in the news recently?

ETA: I see this was posted in April!

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

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[Violet_Crumble]

26. Let's try this again...

I don't trust them. The reason I posted this back in April was because I was checking to see if the ban on EI also applied to other equally partisan sources. It doesn't. I'm not sure why it got resurrected...

[oberliner]

31. Try what again?

What have you been trying?