Wow! I mean, Thomas Friedman has always been biased towards Israel, which is natural since he is Jewish and has lots of connections and friends there. I am really surprised that he comes down so hard on the Israeli government here. He is well respected in the Middle East so what he says carries a lot of weight. In case you missed the prologue to this unfolding drama, Israel is getting a serious dressing down by USA officials because of there disrespect of Vice President Joe Biden, purposely deciding to undermine him by releasing information on a new settlement expansion in Arab East Jerusalem. So to get an idea of what happened to lead to this opinion piece by Thomas Friedman, read the story in this link first, it will give you a good background on what happened and how the USA responded after the fact: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-us-israel14-2010mar14,0,7367713.story And here is the Friedman article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/opinion/14friedman.html
Friedman was iirc the NYT correspondent to the Middle East about 25 years ago. He wrote a good book, "Beirut to Jerusalem "iirc. It was sort of balanced. He therefore caught a lot of crap from the Jewish lobby. He learned his lesson and has always been careful to please them since. This could perhaps explain his constant and continuing cheerleading for the Iraq War, despite fading claims to be a sort of liberal. Of course Friedman's evolution might be because he married into a billion dollar fortune. This does explain his equanimity at sending US jobs, even high tech ones abroad. Despite this, he can be entertaining and interesting. I read him to see what his type of elitist is thinking. You must always always somewhat discount his views and anecdotal observations due to his love of liberal imperialism and this fellow global elite.
Biden to Israelis: "This is starting to get dangerous" http://harpers.org/archive/2010/03/hbc-90006710 it looks like the military leaders in the USA are the ones pushing Israel into a corner on this thing, they are claiming that Israeli actions are directly endangering USA troops in the region and undermining the fight against terrorism.
sorry, this is the original piece http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/po..._biden_s_embarrassment_is_not_the_whole_story
Amazing article, but only amazing to the point that the obvious is never allowed to be uttered. Mullen. The briefers reported that there was a growing perception among Arab leaders that the U.S. was incapable of standing up to Israel, that CENTCOM's mostly Arab constituency was losing faith in American promises, that Israeli intransigence on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was jeopardizing U.S. standing in the region, and that Mitchell himself was (as a senior Pentagon officer later bluntly described it) "too old, too slow ... and too late." Well, duh. It will be interesting to see if the military lobby as the author calls it can stand up to the Israel lobby. I'm not sure the military, hamstrung as it is by the duty to follow civilian leaders can.
You guys really still do believe the American media is fair and free and that no censorship takes place? If not, then this should not be surprising at all. A loooooooooooong time ago, mainstream media everywhere realized that the best way to control certain public perceptions of important non-negotiable issues was to filter the news. State controlled media blast you over and over again with the same narrative which is too obvious, the American mainstream media and channels like Aljazeera decided to do the next best things, which is to only cover the news they want you to see so you can form the opinion they want you to form. It is a more intelligent form of censorship.
I don't see why he mentioned the president, he's the last guy to blame for the little spat that occurred. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8573657.stm Netanyahu's brother-in-law calls Obama 'anti-Semitic' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has distanced himself from his brother-in-law's description of US President Barack Obama as anti-Semitic. He said he "strenuously" objected to Hagai Ben-Artzi's comment and expressed his "deep appreciation" for Mr Obama's commitment to Israel's security. Mr Ben-Artzi was responding to US criticism of Israeli approval of plans for 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem. Later, Mr Obama said the decision had not been helpful to the peace process. But despite the disagreement, he told Fox News that there was no crisis in US-Israeli relations and that the two countries had a special bond that was not going to go away. "Friends are going to disagree sometimes," he added. On Sunday, a top aide to Mr Obama called Israel's announcement "calculated", "destructive" to peace efforts and an "insult" to the US. Both sides had just agreed to hold indirect "proximity talks" to revive the peace process, which has been stalled for more than a year. 'Difficult situation' In an interview with Israel Army Radio, Mr Ben-Artzi said his brother-in-law should learn from previous Israeli prime ministers. "Once the Americans tried to intervene in anything related to Jerusalem we told them one simple word: 'No'," he explained. r Obama, he added, not only disliked Mr Netanyahu personally, but "dislikes the people of Israel". "For 20 years, Obama sat with Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who is anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli, and anti-Jewish." He said it was clear Mr Obama agreed with Rev Wright because he had remained a member of his congregation. "Think about it. If you had heard of someone who for 20 years sat in church and heard anti-Semitic sermons and didn't get up to leave after two weeks, wouldn't you think he identifies with it?" he asked. "As a politician running for presidency he had to hide it, but it comes out every time and I think we just have to say it plainly - there is an anti-Semitic president in America," he said. "Unfortunately this creates a difficult situation for Israel, but we will never give up our deepest interests - Jerusalem and our ties with it." r Obama broke with the Trinity United Church of Christ in 2008 after some of Rev Wright's controversial sermons emerged on the internet. In one, he said the 9/11 attacks were an example of "America's chickens coming home to roost". "I have a deep appreciation for President Obama's commitment to Israel's security, which he has expressed many times," Mr Netanyahu said in a statement afterwards. But despite the rebuke from his sister's husband, Mr Ben-Artzi repeated his criticism of Mr Obama in a later interview with Israel's Channel 2 television. The Palestinian Authority has refused to resume direct talks with Israel because of its refusal to put a stop to the expansion of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In November, Israel announced a 10-month suspension of new building in the West Bank, under heavy US pressure. But it considers areas within the Jerusalem municipality as its territory and thus not subject to the restrictions. Close to 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.
Most Americans fail to realize the huge link between our cozy relationship with Israel and the vast amounts of anti-American sentiments among Muslims in the Middle East. I understand that we are allies with Israel, but we need to call them out and bring some consequences when they continue to engage in reckless behavior that threatens peace in that region and thus the world. Petraeus is right to point out that we appear weak and lose respect in the rest of the world when we fail to stand up to the actions of Israel. I'd pay to see a battle between the pro-Isreal people in power and the military.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/prnewsw...1003101051PR_NEWS_USPR_____DC68258_print.html New FBI Files Alleging AIPAC Theft of Government Property and Israeli Espionage Released 03.10.10, 10:59 AM ET WASHINGTON, March 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Declassified files detailing an FBI investigation targeting the American Israel Public Affairs Committee are now available on the Internet. AIPAC was investigated after it acquired and circulated classified government information provided in strict confidence by US industry and worker groups opposed to AIPAC sponsored economic legislation. The 50 pages now available as portable document files (PDF) include: FBI reports of Israelis circulating classified documents in the US Congress, "compromising" the authority of the U.S. President. http://irmep.org/ila/economy/06201984.pdf US Trade Representative concerns that AIPAC was tactically "divulging" classified information supplied by US industries opposed to AIPAC lobbying initiatives. http://irmep.org/ila/economy/06211984.pdf Reports from the International Trade Commission that AIPAC and Israeli operatives "usurped" US government authority and that an Israeli intelligence service operative was working undercover on AIPAC's staff: http://irmep.org/ila/economy/08131984r.pdf Internal Department of Justice prosecutorial opinions that "theft of government property" had occurred: http://irmep.org/ila/economy/08301984.pdf An FBI director order that the Washington Field office give the AIPAC investigation top priority after Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard was caught on video surveillance stealing classified US national defense information: http://irmep.org/ila/economy/11151985.pdf FBI special agent interviews of Israeli minister of economics Dan Halpern who claimed diplomatic immunity. Halpern admitted passing classified US documents to AIPAC but refused to name his source: http://irmep.org/ila/economy/03071986DHALERN.pdf FBI special agent interviews of AIPAC's former director of legislative affairs detailing how he made copies of the classified documents for AIPAC's lobbying use after being ordered to return them to the US government. http://irmep.org/ila/economy/02131986DB.pdf FBI interviews of key AIPAC employees involved in handling the classified US government information (full document listing): http://irmep.org/ila/economy/ According to research director Grant F. Smith, the newly released files present startling new insights into AIPAC's activities in the United States. "These files, available on the Internet for the first time, reveal activities that undermined rule of law and governance. They have wrought massive economic harm to American businesses and workers. We urge all concerned Americans to carefully review and ponder the implications of these FBI files and other documents now available from the Israel Lobby Archive." The Israel Lobby Archive, http://IRmep.org/ila is a unit of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington. The Archive digitizes declassified documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act filings with law enforcement, economic, diplomatic and intelligence agencies. IRmep is a Washington-based nonprofit that studies U.S. Middle East policy formulation.
