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Panetta’s antagonistic speech on Israel
Washington Post ^ | 12-4-11 | Jennifer Rubin

Posted on 12/04/2011 3:45:31 PM PST by SJackson

Just when you think that the Obama administration hasn’t annoyed the American Jewish community quite enough or publicly insulted our democratic ally Israel sufficiently, along comes an administration figure willing to stick his finger in the eye of the Jewish state. On Friday, that task fell to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

Speaking at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute, Panetta mouthed some nice words about the two countries’ relationship. Platitudes were not in short supply: “[I]n this time of understandable anxiety, I would like to underscore one thing that has stayed constant over the past three years of this administration: the determination of the United States to safeguard Israel’s security. And that commitment will not change.” He continued, “I want to be clear that Israel can count on three enduring pillars in U.S. policy in the region, all of which contribute directly to the safety and prosperity of the Israeli people. First, our unshakable commitment to Israel’s security. Second, our broader commitment to regional stability. And third, our determination to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.”

But then it was time to deliver a to-do list to Israel:

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Israel; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: consequences; israel; leonpanetta; semiticromanism
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1 posted on 12/04/2011 3:45:31 PM PST by SJackson
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To: SJackson
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

2 posted on 12/04/2011 3:47:33 PM PST by SJackson (Haven't changed the environment, just take a bath. Eat a piece of chocolate. You need one. Michelle)
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To: SJackson
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

3 posted on 12/04/2011 3:47:41 PM PST by SJackson (Haven't changed the environment, just take a bath. Eat a piece of chocolate. You need one. Michelle)
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To: SJackson

Panetta is just giving tacit approval for Iran to move forward with a nuke test.


4 posted on 12/04/2011 3:52:51 PM PST by jimbo123
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To: SJackson

Neon Leon Panetta just gave any conscious Jew a good reason to vote for the Republican presidential candidate. Israel is just an inconvenience to these idiots but in the end Hashem decides all on matters like this


5 posted on 12/04/2011 3:53:37 PM PST by dennisw (I heard the old man laughing What good is a used up world and how could it be worth having-Sting)
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To: SJackson

Jennifer Rubin, the Post’s token rightie.

Rodney King rhetoric of “why can’t we all get along” needs to be addressed at least as much to Turkey as to Israel. Turkey knows darn well that it’s pricking Israel on purpose, and it’s no longer the secular Turkey of Ataturk’s day.


6 posted on 12/04/2011 3:55:02 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Sometimes progressives find their scripture in the penumbra of sacred bathroom stall writings (Tzar))
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To: jimbo123

I read today that Hillary expressed her concern that Israel is violating the human rights of women because of separate seating on buses. They are starting a leftist campaign to get BiBi out so they can get Obama’s “peace” terms met. The Left in Israel also had their own big protest against the govenrment recently. Some Western media were comparing it to OWS and the “Arab Spring.”

I hope the Israelis are not dumb enough to fall for this. Obama and his Arab Spring thugs want them dead.


7 posted on 12/04/2011 5:29:19 PM PST by SaraJohnson
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To: SJackson
Would the vast majority of American Jews be insulted if a modern Democrat politician said the Holocaust was a global cooling event? I don't think so.

While I believe literate Jews should be to the Democrat Party as oil is to water, I don't see it happening. It may be utterly impossiblle for a Democrat to insult a Jew.

8 posted on 12/04/2011 5:57:28 PM PST by stevem
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To: SJackson
“Now is the time for Israel to take bold action and to move towards a negotiated two-state solution.”

This seems like a good time to repeat my oft repeated assertion that there will never be an independent arab west bank. It will never happen. There is no practical basis for an independent state. There is no economy separate from Jordan and Israel. They produce nothing. There is no source of employment, no markets, no manufacture. They exist as a shakedown.

They make war. They get paid to not make war. They make war, and again get paid to not make war. They can't stop making war because their only source of wealth is the payoff they get to not do it, which guarantees that they must continue to do it.

they know they can’t prod Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] to do a thing. He is intransigent and belligerent...

No kidding. Do you think he is there to worry about storm drains and water treatment? Do you think his ambition is to be the insignificant mayor of an insignificant territory the size of a small county?

. With no leverage to push the Palestinians

No leverage? They exist on shakedown money paid from the UN and US and Israel. There is nothing else. They are an artificial creation sustained by a financial umbilical cord that can be cut at any time. Just do it.

The "two state" solution has been in place for sixty years now; its called Israel and Jordan. The world doesn't need a hole-in-the-wall-gang with a flag and Israel needs to stop pretending to take them seriously. Seal the borders. Stop pretending they are a country.

9 posted on 12/04/2011 5:59:14 PM PST by marron
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks SJackson. Sidebars from the FRchives:
10 posted on 12/04/2011 6:20:24 PM PST by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SJackson; Netz; eddiespaghetti; jjotto; redpoll; Fenhalls555; Alouette; jazminerose; Daveinyork; ...
Ping!!!

It's a bit of a pleasant surprise that the WaPo has Jennifer Rubin doing columns defending Israel against continuous badmouthing from the Obama Administration.

As Ms. Rubin states, it's probably better politically for the Democrats (including some leftist Jews) to shut up about the Israel-Islamist conflict rather than try to convince the naive and gullible that the Administration is really concerned about Israel's security in the face of ever-increasing threats to her existence.

11 posted on 12/04/2011 6:25:26 PM PST by justiceseeker93
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To: SJackson; Netz; eddiespaghetti; jjotto; redpoll; Fenhalls555; Alouette; jazminerose; Daveinyork; ...
Ping!!!

It's a bit of a pleasant surprise that the WaPo has Jennifer Rubin doing columns defending Israel against continuous badmouthing from the Obama Administration.

As Ms. Rubin states, it's probably better politically for the Democrats (including some leftist Jews) to shut up about the Israel-Islamist conflict rather than try to convince the naive and gullible that the Administration is really concerned about Israel's security in the face of ever-increasing threats to her existence.

12 posted on 12/04/2011 6:26:37 PM PST by justiceseeker93
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To: justiceseeker93

It just amazes me that with all the to-dos for the Israelis, there; absolutely NOTHING the Turks, the Iranians or the Arabs need to do. STF, Leon.


13 posted on 12/04/2011 6:35:30 PM PST by Pharmboy (Democrats lie because they must...)
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To: stevem; ml/nj; juliej; rmlew; dennisw; ExTexasRedhead; Sean Hannity; holdonnow; AJFavish; ...
While I believe literate Jews should be to the Democrat Party as oil is to water, I don't see it happening. It may be utterly impossible for a Democrat to insult a Jew.

There are some hopeful signs of Jews moving away from the 'Rats. It was only less than three months ago when a non-Jewish Republican candidate beat a Jewish Democrat in New York's 9th CD, a traditionally 'Rat district whose population is about one-third Jewish.

The result of that race may have been the catalyst for these Obamaton efforts to falsely claim to predominantly Jewish audiences that that the Administration is a friend of Israel. I don't think that this approach will be quite as successful as you think it will be. We'll find out next November. For now, the guess here is that O's percentage of the Jewish vote in 2012 will be in the 50s, significantly lower than any of their presidential candidates since Carter in 1980.

14 posted on 12/04/2011 7:04:24 PM PST by justiceseeker93
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To: SJackson

Co-ordinated attack? Panetta, Hillary and US Ambassador to Belgium, Mr. Gutman, all unload on Israel within hours of each other.


15 posted on 12/04/2011 7:35:37 PM PST by cookcounty (2012 choice: It's the Tea Party or the Slumber Party.)
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To: cookcounty
Co-ordinated attack?

Could very well be. That's a common tactic generally in this Administration.

But notice that Panetta tried to preface his attack with some platitudes about supporting Israel's security. Apparently, the Obama folks still think that pro-Israel voters can be fooled.

16 posted on 12/04/2011 9:17:10 PM PST by justiceseeker93
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To: SJackson
American Jews voted 80% for Obama in 2008.

They have been a Hard Left USA voting bloc for at least a century.

They will not break with the Socialist and Pacifist goals of the Democratic Party, even if the security of Israel is threatened.

17 posted on 12/05/2011 1:47:17 AM PST by zeestephen
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To: cookcounty

Panetta and Hillary certainly. I suspect the Ambassador just took the hint and figured venting would be OK.


18 posted on 12/05/2011 5:05:38 AM PST by SJackson (Haven't changed the environment, just take a bath. Eat a piece of chocolate. You need one. Michelle)
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To: SJackson

Those three enduring pillars cannot change, because with this administration they have been made of smoke. That smoke will not become marble, steel, or even balsa wood any time soon.


19 posted on 12/05/2011 8:31:37 AM PST by Eleutheria5 (Diplomacy is war by other means.)
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To: dennisw

Absolutely!


20 posted on 12/05/2011 3:07:59 PM PST by juliej
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