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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNetanyahu INSULTS THE U.S. To Their Face While Taking $8.6 Million IN AID EVERY DAY
Is a stable and strong Israel important to the Middle Eastern region? Of course it is. However, that doesnt mean we need to agree and bow down to everything that comes out of reelection hopeful Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus mouth. Republicans in Congress cant seem to get enough of the warhawk prime minister. And its certain they wish President Obama was more like him and less like the logically sound, deep thinking, diplomatic chess player, and effective leader that he is. Republicans feel if you throw enough money at a problem overseas with enough might that somehow peace can evolve from an iron fist. However, this isnt World War II. Conflict in the Middle East hasnt suddenly risen overnight and isnt the work of one man creating an opposition for domination. Middle Eastern conflict has existed longer than history books can recall. Throwing money and military might at the conflict will not solve anything long-term. In fact, it could make things far worse. President Obama is thinking long-term, and thats why he is working on a deal that of course isnt perfect, but is a step in the right direction in hopes of resolving conflict diplomatically. Diplomacy should always be the first option. Now, as Netanyahu spoke in front of a joint meeting of Congress, he approached his speech in a very skillfully formulated manner. He started by praising President Obama, this of course got a few Democrats to stand up and applaud well-played, prime minister.
He said:
Now, some of that is widely known.
(APPLAUSE)
Some of that is widely known, like strengthening security cooperation and intelligence sharing, opposing anti-Israel resolutions at the U.N.
Some of what the president has done for Israel is less well- known.
I called him in 2010 when we had the Carmel forest fire, and he immediately agreed to respond to my request for urgent aid.
In 2011, we had our embassy in Cairo under siege, and again, he provided vital assistance at the crucial moment.
Or his support for more missile interceptors during our operation last summer when we took on Hamas terrorists.
(APPLAUSE)
In each of those moments, I called the president, and he was there.
And some of what the president has done for Israel might never be known, because it touches on some of the most sensitive and strategic issues that arise between an American president and an Israeli prime minister.
But I know it, and I will always be grateful to President Obama for that support.
After that however, he decided he would tear into the president and spout off inflammatory rhetoric that he has used for decades and American conservatives eat up every word as though it is brand new.
So when it comes to Iran and ISIS, the enemy of your enemy is your enemy.
Holy sh*t. Bravo for that line, Hollywood may hire him after that one.
~snip~
To put it bluntly, Netanyahu wants things done his way or no way at all. He doesnt want a deal with Iran to work, because then he doesnt get his war. His entire speech was a rallying cry for war with Iran. If he wants to protect Israel hed be best to let President Obama and Secretary John Kerry do what they need to do to protect Israel. If you think Im being inflammatory myself saying Netanyahu wants war, look no further than Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), because he agrees. First he said:
Theres that World War II rhetoric I told you about. Then he said:
That is what he told us, isnt it? Cruz continued, parroting Netanyahu:
If this deal is implemented, it will lead, ineluctably, to Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.
What the Obama administration doesnt understand is these are radical Islamic zealots who have pledged global jihad and have openly stated their desire to murder as many Jews and as many Americans as possible. . . And if history teaches one lesson, it is that if somebody tells you they want to kill you, believe them.
Comparing Iran to Nazi Germany? Well if thats not a rallying cry for imminent war, I dont know what is.
cont'
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/03/03/netanyahu-insults-the-u-s-to-their-face-while-taking-8-6-million-in-aid-every-day/
Segami
(14,923 posts)Aid to Israel from the United States averages out to be around $8.6 million dollars per day. In 2010, U.S. aid to Israel was $2.775 billion, then $3 billion in 2011, and $3.07 in 2012. Israel is receiving $3.15 billion per year from 2013-2018.
Then Netanyahu has the audacity to come to the United States, speak in front of the people who have given his nation these billions every year, and tell them their nation and leader is wrong...."
Autumn
(45,096 posts)RKP5637
(67,109 posts)Segami
(14,923 posts)Iliyah
(25,111 posts)AngryDem001
(684 posts)H2O Man
(73,558 posts)Thank you.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)in America really know about Israel. Born in 1948 out of a answer for a place for the Jewish Refugees or displaced Jewish Population of World War 2 to call home. Roosevelt and Churchill didn't want them and Stalin would only send them to some Goulag,Palestine became the default Country. And Yes,we are still cleaning up the failed Empire of England,what a meal ticket. And now they are biting the very hand that feeds them.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)The Balfour Declaration (dated 2 November 1917) was a letter from the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Baron Rothschild (Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild), a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland.
His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.[1][2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration_of_1917
Chaim Azriel Weizmann (Hebrew: חיים עזריאל ויצמן? Ḥayīm Wayzman; 27 November 1874 9 November 1952) was a Zionist leader and Israeli statesman who served as President of the Zionist Organization and later as the first President of Israel. He was elected on 16 February 1949, and served until his death in 1952. Weizmann convinced the United States government to recognize the newly formed state of Israel.
Weizmann was also a biochemist who developed the acetonebutanolethanol fermentation process, which produces acetone through bacterial fermentation. He founded the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaim_Weizmann
In WWI, the allies needed acetone to make ammunition. Weizmann told the British they could use his patented method to produce acetone for free and all he wanted in return was Israel.
The leaders of the Zionist movement were for the most part loyal friends of the Allies during WWI and helped the Allies win.
The Ottoman Empire of which the Palestinian area was a part sided with Germany in WWI. Turkey sided with Germany in WWII. And the Palestinians in the Gaza strip were anti-Jewish in WWII. Eisenhower was dismayed to learn that in one of the countries in North Africa in which he wanted to see cooperation among all the people, he was told that would not work because the Jews were so unpopular.
Jews lived all over the Middle East but were not much safer there than they were in Europe.
During the negotiations for the Treaty of Versailles at the end of WWI, the negotiators were informed that the population of the area then recognized as Palestine was under one million.
Mark Twain, at the end of the 19th century reported that the area was only sparsely inhabited.
True? False? That was the information of the allies at the time of the Balfour Agreement.
I base these facts on Ike's Spies by Stephen Ambrose and Paris 1919, 6 Months that Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan and as for the statement about Mark Twain -- sorry I don't remember the source.
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=ike%27s+spies&tag=mh0b-20&index=stripbooks&hvadid=3481176596&ref=pd_sl_7zwg86lzb1_p
http://www.amazon.com/Paris-1919-Months-Changed-World/dp/0375760520/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425429251&sr=1-1&keywords=1919%2C+six+months+that+changed+the+world
I highly recommend both of these books. But the Paris 1919 Six Months that Changed the World is long.
Anyway, my point is that Israelis have done a lot over the course of the past few hundred years to keep western civilization ahead of the game in terms of military power and culture.
The problem is that Netanyahu treated his speech before our Congress like a speech before the parliament of a country that is organized in a parliamentary way. We have a very different system, and his speech was completely out of place in our system.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)Had totally forgotten about Balfour,old age and diminished memory hits again.
politicman
(710 posts)Can anyone on here or anywhere else seriously continue to argue that the congress and other powerful positions in this country are not controlled by AIPAC and the 1%?
Even the president who was being directly insulted by Bibi giving a speech in front of Congress has to choose his words carefully so as not to upset AIPAC and its supporters.
How on earth can we be in a situation where the most powerful man on earth (the president) finds it difficult to publicly condemn the very man that has come to the U.S to publicly denounce the presidents foreign policy?
craigmatic
(4,510 posts)The only reason why we're still helping them is the southern bible thumpers. What a waste of tax money. We get nothing for it. What does Israel do for us? What have they ever done for us?
davidn3600
(6,342 posts)tavernier
(12,389 posts)Which flag is it that Boehner now wants us to fly? Are we still Old Glory, or are our colors now primarily blue and white? Or are we back to the rebel flag of the confederate days? (Gosh, this new congress is really confusing!)
RKP5637
(67,109 posts)we know for sure when Boehner switches flags!
Brigid
(17,621 posts)While kids in this country show up at school hungry and wonder what they're going to eat over the weekend or anytime school is not in session.
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)The USA can no longer support itself, but yet it wants to support everyone else. No, thank you.
ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)in history.
the money is being skimmed by the 1%.
RKP5637
(67,109 posts)falling apart in so many ways, but the crooked monopolistic MSM seldom reports on that, sometimes, but not often IMO! Millions of people in the US are in very bad situations. One day, we'll be sitting here or our kids looking at a devastated US, many wondering, how the F did this happen.
Segami
(14,923 posts)..next thing you know, your car door has a small hole on the bottom.
wildbilln864
(13,382 posts)calimary
(81,295 posts)He slaps us in the face and sticks it to our President? And we still shower money on him? Hmmmm... starting to think otherwise about this, I'm afraid.
whathehell
(29,067 posts)I know they need us, but just why is it we need them, now.
DCBob
(24,689 posts)Agony
(2,605 posts)sneaky little right wing f**ker
craigmatic
(4,510 posts)Over the last 70 years or so they've done us more harm than good. They never fight in any of our wars in the middle east. They basically keep taking un-needed aid and now they want us to go to war with Iran. They're also not particularly friendly to African refugees who settle there. This is stupid. Any other country would've long pulled back from them.
Omaha Steve
(99,653 posts)Simply for saying cut some of the funding ASAP and Netanyahu won't get reelected.
AwakeAtLast
(14,130 posts)Because you are not the only one. I think it's pretty clear
Joe Johns
(91 posts)calimary
(81,295 posts)Glad you're here! This guy scares the crap out of me. And that he has such a large and prominent platform to pull this shit scares me even more.
Joe Johns
(91 posts)Without AIPAC, Bibi would'vr been told to go screw himself long before Obama came along.
mother earth
(6,002 posts)deteriorates because no amount of money is enough for these warmongers & the oligarchs...time to wake the hell up.
It's blatant insult to the USA, our own Congress adds insult to injury.
K & R, Segami!!!
Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!! FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!!
Oh, did I say FUCK YOU NUTANDYAHOO!!!????
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)to a higher position than the POTUS. Which gives him the right, he believes, to admonish and/or praise the President for what this character who clearly IS about the Present believes he earned good or bad marks for.
The problem is, Congress appears to agree with him.
Faux pas
(14,681 posts)Bucky
(54,013 posts)DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)K&R
LiberalArkie
(15,716 posts)AngryDem001
(684 posts)for all I care.
Carolina
(6,960 posts)I feel the same. Israel is a bully nation led by a bully yahoo and the US needs to cut it loose to sink or swim on its own.
Time to spend our tax dollars at home rather than aiding and abetting Bibi with more than $8 billion of our $$$$
spanone
(135,839 posts)they invited the leader of a foreign nation to stand where the President stands and then shit all over him while
getting standing ovations. ain't that something.
ain't that america.
Cha
(297,262 posts)Segami
(14,923 posts)..that I didn't hear any reTHUGS shout out 'BIBI, YOU LIE'.......I guess not,...they save such disrespect for the sitting President of the United States while addressing congress at The State Of The Union......
sendero
(28,552 posts).... about how Israel is our "friend" in the Middle East. I see 8.6 daily million reasons we are their friend, but when are they our friend? They ignore every thing we say, they do as they please and they expect US to fight and die for their interests.
It's ridiculous.