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Biden at AIPAC

By Philip Klein on 5.5.09 @ 10:22AM

Vice President Joe Biden, speaking to the annual AIPAC policy conference this morning, reiterated the basic public positions of the Obama administration as it relates to Israel.

After making the standard declarations that the administration shared a commitment to the safety and security of Israel, which he said would not change, he said that the U.S. would be in a better position to promote peace in the region once it reestablishes its leadership role in the world by "responsibly" ending the war in Iraq and stabalizing Afghanistan.

On Iran, Biden said that they supported "direct, principled diplomacy" based on "mutual respect" and said if it fails, "all options remain on the table." Biden claimed that it would be easier to obtain international support for any action to stop Iran's nuclear program should they first make an effort for diplomacy.

Biden called on Israel to end settlement activity and for Palestinians to recognize Israel and renounce violence.

He said he's been friends with Benyamin Netanyahu for a long time and "looks forward to working with him when he comes to visit."

He also said the administration would continue to "explore oppourtunities for peace with Israel."

Ultimately, Biden said, "We will be judged not by our commitment to Israel, but by the results of that commitment." That was probably the most honest part of the speech.

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George Washington| 5.5.09 @ 6:30PM

George Washington on Israel

"A passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification." ~George Washington Farewell Address

"The nation which indulges toward another habitual hatred or habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interests." ~ George Washington

"Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none." ~ Thomas Jefferson