OK so here’s what was published:
BLAINE, Minn. – Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin told supporters Friday that “Democrat partisans” had pressured organizers of an anti-Iran rally in New York next week to withdraw an invitation for her to appear. “This should be an issue that unites all Americans. Iran should not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons, period,” Palin said at a rally here. “Unfortunately, some Democrat partisans put politics first and now no elected official can appear. This should not be a matter of partisan politics.” Palin had been set to attend the rally protesting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad organized by major Jewish organizations and sponsored by the National Coalition to Stop Iran Now. New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton also had been scheduled to appear at the rally, but canceled after learning Palin would be there, too.The former first lady, who suspended her own presidential bid in June, has sought to avoid any appearance with Palin, who has emerged as the new female star of the 2008 campaign.On Thursday, organizers announced that they had withdrawn their invitation for Palin to attend, saying they did not want the event to be overtly political. GOP hopeful John McCain criticized the move in a statement to reporters Thursday, suggesting Obama backers pressed for Palin to be disinvited.
But guess what –it wasn’t the dems at all — it was the Jews! Yes, we can really, truly blame the Jews on this one — in particular the Zionists. http://www.jstreet.org
We collected over 20,000 signatures in 24 hours asking Iran Unity rally organizer Malcolm Hoenlein to take Sarah Palin off the schedule for Monday’s rally, and he caved to our pressure on Thursday afternoon citing the fact that the rally had become too partisan.This is the right decision. A unity rally to express communal solidarity is no place for partisan politics. And to give such prominence to Sarah Palin alone would have spoken neither to, nor for, the American Jewish community.This is a victory not just for the 20,188 others who signed J Street’s petition. It’s a victory for the broader community. And we’re pleased the rally’s organizers came to their senses so quickly.Victories like these don’t come easily – or often. But when they do, we should savor them, at least briefly.We’ll be back at it tomorrow, because our next task is making sure that the messages at the rally reflect the view of a majority of Americans – Jewish and otherwise – that the best way to deal with Iran is through tough, smart diplomacy – not saber rattling and threats of force.
I guess it’s more politically correct to blame the blameless than it is to blame the Jews, even if they really DID do it!
McCain is playing the RR. TrooperGate is McCain’s ticket to dumping Palin if he were to be elected – heathen forbid.
Poor Phreeky. He can’t see even one move ahead.
What, Alex,
I think you’re missing KA’s point that instead of doing the dirty work themselves, adults are martyring their children for the cause, and that’s KA’s objection. Would either of you resort to that tactic?
Karen
Remember before Gulf War I and how Kuwaitis were paraded before congress with testimony about the atrocities of the invading Iraqis. One particular testimony whipped Americans into a righteous blood lust. A Kuwaiti women gave teary eyed testimony about how she saw Hussein’s soldiers take babies out of their incubators and let them die on hospital floors. Problem was that it was a lie crafted by a Kuwaiti PR firm. The women that gave false testimony was in fact the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador in Washington and she was not even in Kuwait at the time. The events described simply never happened.
So I wasn’t about to comment on KA’s specific claims because a take such claims of extreme behavior with a grain of salt – where international affairs are concerned its more like a block of salt.
Also
Fact 1: Parents do extreme and hideous things to children in all countries.
Fact 2: The Palestinians have endured great oppression by the Israelis.
If occasionally a Palestinian parent were to engage in such extreme behavior I would not be surprised. Just as I will not be surprised tomorrow when I see a report that some parent in Kansas killed their child because they thought the child was possessed by a devil.
Poor comparison. Devils are not known to exist.
What
Point taken. But from the way you (and alex) answered before your further elaboration, I inferred there might be circumstances under which you might strap a bomb to your own child and sacrifice him/her for some cause. So I’m very glad you clarified for me, and you are quite right.
OTOH, I am continually dumbfounded by the idea of parents engaging in extreme behavior against their children, even though my own childhood should have jaded me to any idealistic notions concerning the subject. Sometimes sociopathy/mental illness is a factor, but more often than not, religion is at the bottom of it. More’s the pity.
Karen,
Honestly I dont know what I might do if I had been subjected to the hellish treatment that Palestinians suffer daily. Most Americans are totally ignorant of just how bad life is in the Gaza Strip for the Arabs and if I had seen my home and land stolen from me and witnessed my family being killed by israeli occupiers it is possible that something in my mind would snap and I would resort to extraordinary acts in order to feel as if I had some power over my fate. A childs death as a martyr might be seen as preferable to a life of unimgainable suffering.
Also, the fact is that very few Palestinians have sent their kids to their deaths as bombers but of course the few cases that have occurred are sensationalised in the media.
Please educate yourselves on the humanitarian crisis in Palestine and the truth about zionism and its ugly manipulation of guilt and history for political gain. My eyes were opened in university during a class on the Middle East and I have been on a crusade since then to let others know whats really going on. I suggest reading anything by Norman Finkelstein for the real story:
http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/
Two other great books that tell the truth about israel are Jimmy Carters book and Harvard political scientists Mearsheimer and Walts book:
http://www.amazon.com/Palestine-Peace-Apartheid-Jimmy-Carter/dp/B00119PSS8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222105856&sr=1-4
http://www.amazon.com/Israel-Lobby-U-S-Foreign-Policy/dp/0374531501/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222105735&sr=8-1
Godless sodomite
Still trying to get used to your new handle, alex. I don’t argue the treatment of the Palestinians by the Israelis, and IMO, they (the Palestinians) are entitled to their land. Or some land, equivalent to what they lost. This death-fight over what is holy or ancestral territory is stupid nonsense. I don’t have the answer. I just know I wouldn’t send my child out to fight a fight for me. I even discouraged my kids from joining the armed forces because of the possibility of the exact situation we find ourselves in in Iraq. Why should my child risk his/her life for an unjust war? The policy in our family is that we do NOT kill other people, except in the unlikely event that we have to defend ourselves.
This is exactly why the Palestinians resort to the tactics that they use; they are defending their lives.
I am amazed at the opinions I see here in regards to the Mid East.
Get off your ass and go see for yourself. Carter is right for the most part. Having spent time living in Saudi, Lebanon and, even Israel, I learned for myself what many US citizens only learn from reading (and sometimes seeing via some media source (which may or may not be reliable)) what they want to see.
KA, do you really think ALL Palestinians strap bombs on their children? I mean seriously, you bring that up almost every time – to the point that you begin to sound ridiculous. I say that because you come across quite intelligently in all other matters that I’ve seen.
Before you jump, I am also aware that innocent Israelis are dying in this conflict as well.
The US needs to realize at some point that the planet we call Earth (and it’s finite resources) does not belong solely to the Americans.
I had this silly thought that the forefathers were against colonialism. Yet we persist in trying to force our way of life on others to the point that we install military bases all over the world. Good old fear-mongering!
666:
No, & in actuality, they’re recruited by the nutbags. & in some instances, aided & abetted by the parents.
It takes believing in an afterlife (not always, but most often) to inculcate the innocent & use them as missiles.
What is the count now?
The argument that they’re forced to do these things is limp as spaghetti. There are different ways to change this.
& Finklestein, regardless of how bright he may be, is obviously obsessive, & a holocaust revisionist.
Who, pray tell, is more civilized? The Israelis, or the Palistineans?
The victim pathology wears thin, it is not enough to excuse the blights that either side has committed. So then we are reduced to this: who has the lesser track record?
Israel is a liberal democracy. Cries of ‘terrorist!’ & ‘apartheid!’ are rhetoric only.
Battles for survival are rarely clean, nor are they played by the rules we desire.
Because compromise, of course, is the weakling’s path.
Try this for a change: find the film, ‘Obsession’, alex. It truly turned me around. You can get it on Amazon.
Try listening to the other side for a change.
Oy, thanks karen. Again, I’m obliged to ye, darlin’.
I received a copy of Obsession a week or so ago in my newspaper and watched it. I pride myself on trying to be educated on all sides of an issue which is why I consume huge amounts of information from a myriad of sources and I feel as if I am very well versed on the situation in the Middle East. I have read books by both Finkelstein and Dershowitz. I am no ignornat fool.
I DESPISE islam and the threat that it poses to the West, especially my beloved Britain, but my issue with israel has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with a group of bullies treating a weaker group of people in the most inhumane ways possible.
Ain’t that the truth.
I have seen docs on both sides. Both have behaved deplorably. While I don’t like what Israel is doing it is easy to see how fear can lead to oppressive behaviour just as desperation leads to fanaticism.
KA,
Thank you. Agreed.
(Side: Not a fan of Finkelstein et al so I assume you’re conveying that to someone else.)
OOPS
Fixit time:
Again, agreed. Yet we fairly consistently take Israel’s side. (And, yes, I do understand it’s so that we can maintain a foothold in the M.E.(so that we can protect our (corporations) interests.) Repeating: The US needs to realize at some point that the planet we call Earth (and it’s finite resources) does not belong solely to the Americans.
I would say neither. I personally have a hard time reconciling placing “others” (in other words – painting with so broad a brush) in what is effectively a concentration camp setting as being “more civilized”.
Sorry for the blockquote gaffe.
as long as capitalism exists [talking about big business]you will have war.oil has been a curse for the muslim world as the great powers have supported tyrants to gain control of the oil.
israel should get out of the west bank or deport the refugees and annex it.either option is better than the current policy which imposes so much hardship on the arabs.
Well, I have read your comments, and after being bored by them decided to get back to the topic of the thread.
Without going into a huge history lesson, Israel has a right, decided by world court to exist within the boundaries established by the UN. You can argue that PaleoArabic tribes existed and possessed the land before Joshua led his genocide across the region. But, the the Babylonians shitstompt them, took their land and dispersed their tribes. Then later the Romans shitstompt em, again.
Bottom line, no one has a claim to that land other than legal. The UN was rather slow in the task defining surveyable borders on the land given to the Nation of Israel, but, two things have factored in rather strongly. One, that immediate hostile intent was pronounced from every side, and therefore, two, the need to establish buffer zones against sudden surprises offensives.
Now, I will admit, that I have always admired the Israellis for standing on their own, taking shit from no one. But, let’s lay all of the cards on the table. If the Israellis had always played by the rules mandated by the UN, stayed inside of their borders except for buffer zones against military threat, the question would be much simpler. But, they didn’t, they established residential settlements well inside borders of separate territories. Now, to hope for legal peace, they must either evacuate those communities, so far choosing to demolish them which defies logic in a vacuum of acts of good faith. (Why not give them to the Palestineans instead of leaving scorched earth?) The other option is to buy that property at a fair price from the Palestinians. I have never heard a whisper of such an offer in any newscast I have ever heard.
But the fact is that the Israelli populace is as divided as we are here, between the idiots who think that the land was given to them by god, and is therefore irrevocable. Then there are those who seek to preserve Israel and all they have built despite their hardships, on the basis of its legal claim to statehood by the UN.
The Jews are not blameless, neither are we, and neither am I.
NeoWolfe
Neo
Well, I have read your comments, and after being bored by them That’s all I read of your’s.
Blockquotes don’t fail me now.
That’s all I read of your’s.
Okay, What,
I probably deserved that. But, when I read things like this, from godless:
“I DESPISE islam and the threat that it poses to the West, especially my beloved Britain, but my issue with israel has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with a group of bullies treating a weaker group of people in the most inhumane ways possible.”
To me it’s frustrating to hear that kind of uneducated bluster, and having been drawn into more than a few debates on the reality of history, I do grow tired and bored.
For example, a huge misconception is that the Jews arrived back in Palestine and kicked all the Palestinians of the land they owned for generations. A HUGE LIE!!! The reality is that Jews required only one thing as they were establishing their new state, that land owners register their claim on the property with the new incoming government. No one was asked to leave, EXCEPT by the Palestinians who vowed do drive the Jews into the sea, and warned any Palestinian who stayed in the Israeli state would share their fate. So many left, and they, and their families are the ones occupying the refugee camps on the border, the hives of terrorist activities, and lauchpoints for most of the missiles lobbed into Israeli residential sections. Now, as a condition of peace, Palestinians demand the “right of return” which means that all those “refugees” can move back and reclaim the land they abandoned when Israel was being established. That is, of course, impossible, and the fact is even though they know they made their bed, they refuse to sleep in it.
NeoWolfe
How can they sleep when their beds are burning? (OK, that might not be appropriate here, but somehow you put Midnight Oil songs in my head.)