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The Spectacle Blog
I said yesterday that Quin’s take on President Obama’s Middle East speech was off-base, and while I stand by that I want to amend it a bit: A lot of people misunderstood what Obama was saying about the ‘67 lines as the basis for borders, but that was partially because he was deliberately vague — and the background statements by White House officials have made things much worse.
Previous presidents have said, essentially, that we know that Israel is never going to pull back to the ‘67 borders, but that an agreement with the Palestinians must include land swaps. Obama said “the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps.” So what had been implicit is made explicit, and what had been implicit has been made explicit. Obama said today in his joint appearance with Prime Minister Netanyahu that their disagreement is over “the precise formulations and language” — which suggests that, as I said, reading this as a substantive shift in policy is a mistake.
Except that it’s hard to read this New York Times account without concluding that the White House has gone out of its way to suggest this is a big deal — “a subtle, but significant shift” in the Times reporters’ formulation. One gets the impression that they’re practically bragging about the disagreement with Netanyahu:
Mr. Netanyahu held an angry phone conversation with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday before the speech, officials said, in which he demanded that the president’s reference to 1967 borders be cut.
Israeli officials continued to lobby the administration until right before Mr. Obama arrived at the State Department for the address. White House officials said he did not alter anything under Israeli pressure, though the president made changes in the text that delayed his appearance by 35 minutes.
Martin Indyk of Brookings is quoted later in the piece suggesting this was the White House’s way of throwing the Palestinians a bone to bring them back to the negotiating table while discouraging their campaign for recognition at the UN, which is probably right. But peace negotiations can’t and shouldn’t happen as long as the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation holds; a peace agreement with a government that includes Hamas wouldn’t be worth the paper it’s printed on. Pushing ahead on the two-state solution now is putting the cart before the horse.
All this is a long way of saying the focus on Israel in a long section at the end of Obama’s speech was a grave mistake. The word games the White House has decided to play has invited an argument over semantics that is overshadowing all the important points he made about political and economic reform in the region. The Syrian government shot at least 21 more protestors today, and, as the government’s obvious complicity in the border breach in the Golan Heights last week demonstrated, there’s nothing Bashar Assad would like better than for the Israeli-Palestinian issue to divert attention away from his brutal crackdown. By focusing on Israel, Obama granted the tyrant his wish.
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More Blog Posts by John Tabin
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/05/20/the-white-house-plays-rhetoric
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martin j smith| 5.20.11 @ 4:54PM
You bet it was a grave mistake--but I theorize that Obama is doing the work of George Soros and the United Nations. There is so much animus towards Israel that the Obama administration was not thinking clearly about the consequences. Now they got shot in the foot by none other than Netenyahu himself. That will be very bad both politically at home and abroad for Obama and the Socialist Party as well. That is a good thing , but it might ignite a war which may not be controllable and that is not such a
good thing. In the end it is the hostility of the AMERICAN LEFT TOWARDS ISRAEL AND DEMOCRACY THERE AND EVEN HERE THAT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL OF THIS.
Smirking Weasel| 5.20.11 @ 5:01PM
Who the hell gives a damn about Syria, another
hellhole full of Arab Muslims-the definition of human failure? Assad, like Qaddafi, is the lesser evil there in terms of US interests and Americans should be glad to see him smack the crap out of the indigenous blowhards. And we should hope Qaddafi blows some NATO hessians out of the sky, as well as roasting his own stooges, especially the leeches like that cowardly douche who somehow became a 'professor' at the U of Washington.
simon templar| 5.20.11 @ 5:06PM
Now that was a very poor imitation of a warmongering conservative. Try again..with more subtlety. Troll.
Occam's Tool| 5.20.11 @ 5:15PM
Actually, Quadaffi may be the lesser evil. Assad is about as bad as it gets.
Warrior | 5.21.11 @ 8:10AM
It's like asking do you want to be kicked in the nuts or punched in the stomach. Neither option has any appeal. However, liberals seem to be enamored with Syria. Everyone seems to be glossing over the trip Pelosi and her minions made in 2007 and came away with assurances that Assad wanted peace. Like their visits to Cuba and glowing reviews of Castro, the left seems to have a similar and just as illogical love affair with the Syrian leadership.
Occam's Tool| 5.21.11 @ 5:36PM
Ahhh, Warrior, I'm starting to like you better and better as well.
simon templar| 5.20.11 @ 5:01PM
Your track record sucks on most of these issues. It is too late to dial it back, Tabin. I think you need to sit down and make some critical decisions about what you are, what you believe, and who you stand with.
Occam's Tool| 5.20.11 @ 5:14PM
Simon and Martin,
thank you both for kicking so much ass. I'm on call this weekend, so have a great one!
BD57| 5.20.11 @ 5:44PM
"... a peace agreement with a [Palestinian] government ... wouldn't be worth the paper it's printed on."
Fixed it for you, John.
Really - with all due respect, Abbas & Fatah are no more interested in a true peace than Hamas.
Watching the West (especially) pretend otherwise is like living in an episode of the Twilight Zone.
lisahandbags | 5.20.11 @ 9:03PM
As such, these findings might shed new light on chronic pain. Park said.
Wayne | 5.20.11 @ 11:06PM
The statement by Obama had nothing to do with a peace agreement. It was about ginning up the Arab world against Israel, as if they need more help. He in effect is saying that he is with them, and since Israel is not going to return to the 1967 borders, they have a grievance. Then he can do like he does with Syria, nothing, when Israel again gets attacked.
Meanwhile Iran, the 800 pound gorilla everyone seems to ignore is sending missiles to South America. Just lovely.
Greg| 5.21.11 @ 3:04AM
Sure
we should trust Obama, like with Obama care, we should trust him to say the truth, like we always know he will, we should actually believe him when he treats Isreal with contempt and then calls them "friends" we should believe him when he says he wants Isreal' s security, while he goes about undermining their security and this nation's support for them.
you just go right ahead and defend him and tust him
I'd rather move to Isreal and stand with them, if need be, die with them
Judgement Day will bring to light who is on the right side of this one
Mimi| 5.21.11 @ 9:53AM
We don't have to wait for Judgement Day to bring to light who is on the right side of this one.
We have been on the side of Israel and there we will always stay .... and for this , we have God on our side forever...like he was at our FOUNDING! Right now , we can get confused because we chose the WRONG leader. Most of us know instinctively what is right and what is wrong. The fact that Obama thinks he can HIDE his favoritism to the Palestinian cause and actively attempt to change long held POLICY is outrageous. Of course we must oppose all the OUTRAGES as we see them and forcefully speak-out....We have 19 months to BEAR all this, and hopfully we can elect a person we can TRUST and be bathed in Patriotism. Until then, we must all be vigilant, and wrap our Patriotism around our county and PROTECT her!!!
JmsA| 5.23.11 @ 12:23AM
That was powerfully stated, Greg. Thank you.
Timothy L. Pennell| 5.21.11 @ 7:54AM
It's funny how ABU HUSSAIN, goes about picking his fights. Hes either very particular, or he's using a Dart Board.
He's all Piss and Vinegar, when it comes to Pakistan and Egypt. Two Quasi Allies. Yet, it seems that he could care less, about the Muslim Countries that are, clearly, our Enemies.
He goes to WAR, because Libya is killing her own people. Yet, he does NOTHING, as the Civilians in IRAN and SYRIA, are Murdered by the hundreds.
He was always going to destroy ISRAEL. It's in his blood. It's in his DNA. It's even in his BOOK.
He comes down HARD on Honduras, for Constitutionally, removing a would be Hugo Chavez clone, from it's Presidential Palace, while remaining deafeningly SILENT, on the Marxist Dictator in Venezuela, even as we learn that he is building MISSILE FACTORIES, with his pals in Tehran.
He may have been Born here, but he is NOT one of us. I see no Love of Country, in him. No Pride. No sense of Connection. He's not American.
He's Frank Marshall Davis and he's Jeremiah Wright. He's Louis Farrakhan and he's Bill Ayers. He's Father Pfleger and he's Bernadine Dohrn. He's the Black Panthers and he's Khalid Rashidi.
He is the SUM of all of his parts.
"Men shall know you, by the company you keep."
Indeed.
He is ABU HUSSAIN. Destroyer of Worlds.
Occam's Tool| 5.21.11 @ 11:53PM
Mr. Pennell,
nicely put. Also, nicely proofread.
Joe| 5.21.11 @ 1:28PM
"Ezekiel 38 through 39 tells of a future invasion of Israel by a vast coalition of nations that surround it. As we read the headlines in the newspapers of today, and witness the conflict in the Middle East, it's not hard to imagine that this invasion prophesied over 2600 years ago, could be fulfilled in our lifetime. Ezekiel 36-37 predicts a gathering of the Jews to the nation of Israel, which will be followed by this massive invasion. For 19 centuries the Jewish people were scattered throughout the world, and until May 14, 1948 there was no nation of Israel to invade. With the nation of Israel now a reality, the stage seems set for the war that will usher in the tribulation and the rise of the Antichrist; a war that will end with the destruction of Israel's enemies by God Himself, and lead to the signing of a peace treaty with the Antichrist.
As you read Ezekiel 38 and 39, it isn't just the creation of the nation of Israel that makes this prophecy seem likely to be fulfilled in the near future. The nations that God tells us will form this coalition against Israel seem more likely now than perhaps ever before to form just such an alliance."
righthook38 | 5.22.11 @ 5:33PM
Joe, you've hit the nail on the head. Obama seems to despise Israel as much as those in Muslim nations do. Did you see the look in his eyes during the joint press conference the other day? If looks could kill....literally. This leadership is a complete embarrassment. I was thrilled that Netanyahu put him in his place, but did so in a diplomatic yet firm way. I have tremendous respect for the prime minister. I wish I could say the same for our so-called leader.
Stan Redmond| 5.22.11 @ 8:08AM
Can I throw in some honesty here? What do a bunch of dead Syrians have to do with Obama's re-election campaign? Nothing. Nothing is more important than Obama's re-election. I wonder, does Obama think it would be easier to be the Syrian 'president'?
martin j smith| 5.22.11 @ 2:38PM
Speaking of rhetorical games, I was amazed to hear some o folks at a recent social gathering--many of whom are Jewish. Many of these supported and voted
for Obama in 08. Now they are dismayed. Just now they are realizing his stand towards Israel is a disaster and they do not understand why. I suspect like many others of believed in, voted for and supported Obama there are those in many other social and ethnic groups who are wondering about him and about why they supported and voted for him. The problem is, all he has to do is lie right to their faces and all will be forgiven. They do not look at the contraryness of Obama's policies and how amoral they are. This crwd with whom I rubbed elbows so to speak I strongly suspect are motivated by a desire no only to like Obama but to believe they have overcome the racial divide and are truly pure and free of racism
because they support Obama. They are fooling only themselves.
Tevi| 5.23.11 @ 8:20AM
"Obama said "the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps.""
People with brains recognize this as what must be said as an alternative to saying "based on some line somewhere in the sandy bit".
People without brains recently suggested here that Obama told Israel to "drop dead" when he said what is today being called a reaffirmation of the Bush administration's guarantee to Israel.
The difference between these 2 speeches being an explanation for the slowest kids in school that "mutually agreed land swaps" meant "mutually agreed land swaps between Israel and Palestine".
The POTUS was forced to explain this. Because a significant portion of his country's population is retarded.
Anyway, what a wonderful showcase we've seen for the past 4 days of literally nobody frequenting a right-wing blog who had any independent thought of their own which disagreed with this entirely fake outrage over a completely BS characterization. Been like SheepFest 2011.