Charles Krauthammer: Kerry's False Plan for Peace (Peace = sacrifice Israel)

Town Hall ^ | October 22, 2004 | Charles Krauthammer [Washington Post Writers Group]

[quidnunc]

The centerpiece of John Kerry's foreign policy is to rebuild our alliances so the world will come to our help, especially in Iraq. He repeats this endlessly because it is the only foreign policy idea he has to offer. The problem for Kerry is that he cannot explain just how he proposes to do this.

The mere appearance of a Europhilic fresh face is unlikely to so thrill the allies that French troops will start marching down the streets of Baghdad. Therefore, you can believe that Kerry is just being cynical in pledging to bring in the allies, knowing that he has no way of doing it. Or you can believe, as I do, that he means it.

He really does want to end America's isolation. And he has an idea how to do it. For understandable reasons, however, he will not explain how on the eve of an election.

Think about it: What do the Europeans and the Arab states endlessly rail about in the Middle East? What (outside Iraq) is the area of most friction with U.S. policy? What single issue most isolates America from the overwhelming majority of countries at the United Nations?

The answer is obvious: Israel.

In what currency, therefore, would we pay the rest of the world in exchange for their support in places like Iraq? The answer is obvious: giving in to them on Israel.

-snip-

[Mamzelle]

re: All American Jews wake up, without Bush, there will be no Israel.)))

What if the demise of Israel is exactly what the US Jews (mostly liberal) want?

[Tolik]

Charles Krauthammer:

...He [Kerry] really does want to end America's isolation. And he has an idea how to do it. For understandable reasons, however, he will not explain how on the eve of an election.

Think about it: What do the Europeans and the Arab states endlessly rail about in the Middle East? What (outside Iraq) is the area of most friction with U.S. policy? What single issue most isolates America from the overwhelming majority of countries at the United Nations?

The answer is obvious: Israel.

In what currency, therefore, would we pay the rest of the world in exchange for their support in places like Iraq? The answer is obvious: giving in to them on Israel...

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[SJackson]

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[rang1995]

it will not just be Israel....Israel is the canary in the coal mine,next europe,then the U.S.

[blteague]

Prophecy will be fulfilled. I am convinced that
America has been blessed due to our unwavering support for Israel. I pray that we never turn our back or walk away from Israel, but it will happen. The world will turn it's full attention to the elimination of Israel and God has warned that the country will not be eliminated. Those countries who turn against the nation of Israel will receive the full wrath of God. May we continue to stand on her side regardless of world opinion.

[My2Cents]

I honestly wonder how supportive American Jews are of Israel. Doesn't it make sense that those who strongly support the right of Israel to exist have already relocated there?

[My2Cents]

How many states did I get wrong???

Has Michigan actually flipped that convincingly to Bush?

[television is just wrong]

I think you are right. They not only want the destruction of Israel, but the U.S. itself.

[My2Cents]

Ed Koch has been stellar.

[sitetest]

Dear BCrago66.

By "the Jewish press," specifically whom do you mean?

Is the support of the Jewish press monolithic?


Thanks,


sitetest

[SERKIT]

Well, Kerry is working getting a display in the PLO Victory Museum in his honor, that's all. THE RECORD MATTERS!

[rmlew]

There is a newspaper based in NYC called "The Jewish Press". It is an orthodox publication.

[sitetest]

Thanks.

[DuncanWaring]

If Kerry gets elected, we better learn which way is Mecca, so we'll know where to face five times a day.

"Not in my lifetime."

[anglian]

Senator Kerry has spoken of former president Jimmy Carter and former secretary of state James Baker — as his choice for emissaries to the Middle East. He has also retained as advisers many of Bill Clinton’s discredited Oslo architects and others.
Kerry told an audience at an Anti-Defamation League dinner that he wanted to be an "honest broker" in the Middle East, despite all the political baggage that phrase has assumed and as if there were a moral equivalence between Israel and Palestinian terrorists. Or that Mr. Kerry told an Arab group that the Israeli defense wall — which has sharply curtailed the murder of Israelis — was an "impediment" to peace in the region and was "provocative and counterproductive."

Kerry also called Yasir Arafat a "statesman" and a "role model." He has said that we must "look to Chairman Arafat to exert much greater leadership." On "Face the Nation," he said the Israel-Palestinian conflict is "an extraordinarily complicated, incredibly deep-rooted problem… Arafat has forces around him, underneath, close by him that don’t want peace, that are working against what he is doing."

In short, Arafat, according to Kerry, is not the problem — some around him are. Kerry also stated on "Meet the Press" that "Israel’s presence [in Gaza and the West Bank that] puts Israel in difficult circumstances and obviously creates an enormous handle for Osama bin Laden for all the radicals and extremists to hand on to."
Kerry; `We need to engage more directly and more respectfully with Islam, with that state of Islam, with religious leaders, mullahs, imams, clerics, in a way that proves this is not a clash with the British and the Americans and the old forces they remember from the old days, `and that’s all about your diplomacy.`

[DAC21]

Need to move Oregon over to toss up also

[GeronL]

Has Michigan actually flipped that convincingly to Bush?

Just a couple of polls giving Bush about a 3-pt lead

[lainde]

bttt

[Donna Lee Nardo]

Thanks for this ping.

This is one of the absolute best articles I have read in a long while on the subject. Krauthammer lays out the potential dangers ahead for Israel and the U.S. in the most direct way yet. I think he outlined the situation correctly.

GWB must be re-elected.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

"How many states did I get wrong???"

Indianapolis is not a state.