Zinni: I Never Called Arafat A Mafioso.....Well, you shoulda!
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Posted on 01/27/2002 3:56:46 PM PST by RCW2001
Zinni: I never called Arafat a mafioso
By Janine Zacharia
WASHINGTON (January 28) - US special Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni said yesterday certain people are trying to spoil his mediation effort by attributing false statements to him about the Palestinian leadership.
Zinni told The Jerusalem Post that reports in Hebrew-language newspapers claiming he described the Palestinian Authority as a "mafia" and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat as the "godfather" of the mafia were false.
"It is lies and gross distortions that are only designed by those who put it out to hurt our peace efforts," Zinni said.
A report in the daily Ma'ariv said Zinni, at a closed dinner meeting at the White House over the weekend, called Arafat "capo di tutti capi" (head of the mafia), and that preventive security service heads Jibril Rajoub and Mohammed Dahlan behave like "capi," or members of the mafia.
The report said he also referred to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as a "papa bear." But no such dinner took place at the White House, and Zinni was not in Washington this weekend.
A similar report in Yediot Aharonot said Zinni had described Arafat as "an incorrigible liar" at a recent meeting in Washington with AIPAC and senior officials at the Israeli embassy in Washington.
An Israeli official in Washington said Zinni made no such comments during the meeting at the embassy on January 17 during IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz's visit, and an AIPAC official, when asked about the reported "mafia" comments and others, said he had never heard anything of the sort.
Zinni said he had no idea where the report originated.
The alleged comments were sent to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem in a diplomatic cable from Washington by diplomats here who were briefed by an unidentified Jewish official.
The reported comments emerged as the US reevaluates its relationship with Arafat and as the most senior US officials openly question Arafat's integrity.
Herb Keinon adds:
A participant in the dinner where Zinni's remarks about Arafat were allegedly made said last night that the reports were "grossly distorted."
Steve Rosen, AIPAC's director of foreign policy issues, said reports of Zinni's remarks at the dinner last Tuesday night in Washington, which included three other Jewish leaders, "are grossly inaccurate and misrepresent what he said."
According to Rosen, the reports of the conversation omit much of what was said, thereby dramatically altering the meaning and "creating a false picture."
Rosen said Zinni "spoke in a candid manner, as people do. He said many punchy things about all kinds of personalities. Some of the things are accurate in a narrow sense, but misrepresent the overall meaning - leaving out things that change the meaning."
There were "no survivors" when Zinni finished, Rosen said, "no one came across that great." Rosen said the reports "distort Zinni's intended meaning, and are grossly unfair to him."
Should be very satisfying. Does that make Bush an Israel Firster? (-:
Zinni: I Never Called Arafat A Mafioso.....Well, you shoulda!
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Yeah right!! Never seen you on threads, carrying on about the hateful things that appear in the Arab press about Bush, the USA, etc. No outrage then from you...and that stuff is really foul.
I have no doubt Zinni said this, and meant it. Did not mean for it to get out to the press though. But, stuff happens.
BTW - it was reported in EVERY news outlet today.
Israel drives 'em nuts. Toooooo funny....
I'm not going to tell you what I think of Objet working for Keyes. She might whine to the moderator.
Please stop lying about me and distorting the truth. And please stop lying and saying I dont think this or that or WHATEVER about Keyes! You do NOT know my heart towards him nor do you know on what issues we disagree, tho it should be obvious to most that if I were to have cared enough to volunteer my time for his campaign I certainly agree with him more than I disagree.
I certainly am "on his side" enough to feel upset that YOU would try to smear him because of me or me because of him.
Now, you can parse these words too, into a million little peices and reconstruct them to fit your needs, I ask that you don't but expects that you will (hard to drop your MO, ya know)..
Stop what? Stop telling the truth? Are you disputing the rheems of anti-Israel stuff you've posted over time? Or are you now disclaiming it? When you get on this site, you better be prepared to defend your positions. If you can't, your cries of being ill done by will prove as vacuous as the substance of your posts.
I certainly am "on his side" enough to feel upset that YOU would try to smear him because of me or me because of him.
Smear him? Now we see who's lying. I should think it has been apparent that I respect him. Obviously more than you. And I respect him even more now that I see that he has a principled position with respect to support for Israel. A position which, in your eyes, would mean he's not an "American firster". Not a "True Patriotic American". Maybe you should start reevaluating the slanders you castigate people with, and particularly the Jewish posters as you implicitly suggest a dual loyalty. I think YOU need a little sensitivity. As Jews they are well cognizant that a seminal feature of anti-Semititism in Europe was such an accusation. For example. Jews fled the anti-Semitic pogroms started in 1881 in Russia. Thousands escaped and settled in many countries, such as Britain and France (as well as the U.S.). When conflicts arose between European powers because the Jews had fled from one European pogrom to the other they were held in suspicion in each of the countries they resided in - dual loyalty was a fundamental feature of this suspicion. But whether you carelessly fling your slanders to Jews or non-Jews, it is you who should be castigated for your scurrilous accusations. Hence, if you want to dish it out be prepared to get some back in your lap.
Now, you can parse these words too, into a million little peices and reconstruct them to fit your needs, I ask that you don't but expects that you will (hard to drop your MO, ya know)..
I don't "parse". I call them as I see them.
Years ago before almost anyone had heard of Alan Keyes, PBS, the very liberal public broadcasting network, was going to run a documentary about the "Palestinians" made by a very leftist source. There was protest at the one sided propaganda by pro-Israel interests.
As a compromise, PBS agreed to have a panel discussion following the show.
There it was, and to represent the pro-Israel views was a man named Alan Keyes, described as formally of the US mission to the UN.
My first reaction was whatthe****. This is how PBS was going to be fair? A unknown foreign service officer?
My reaction after the first things Keyes said (and later) was
:-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-): -):-):-)
I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I had never heard anyone, Jew or Gentile, state the pro-Israeli position with more clarity and articulation. He was beyond perfect.
Where Israel is concerned, I would love to see Keyes as President.
But sadly, as we now know (from reading above)poor Alan Keyes is manipulated, is an Israeli Firster, and is not "a true American Patriot".
I need your help, Lent.
Read the above "astonished" statement.
Now read this: From the Saudis:
What do you think? Coincidence? Or does our treacherous astonished jihad supporter get her agenda from the Saudis?
Help me out.
Is the bold lie when they reported he said it or is the bold lie when they reported he didn't?
Other Israeli papers are not retracting.
As usual, Alan Keyes has got it right. He has correctly identified the problem, which is this desire on the part of some people to try to be "friends" with people who have hate in their hearts and want to murder innocents and commit genocide against a nation.
Of course, I don't really believe that even most of them (those who argue against the US-Israel relationship) believe it has to do with "geopolitics". In many cases, the geopolitics part of it is, IMHO, a cover story for their own prejudice. As Keyes correctly points out, it has to be about principle. If we live as individuals and a nation only for the material world, we are nothing more than idol worshippers. Principle and morality must supercede the material if we are to be a righeous people and a righteous nation. We simply cannot assent to anyone's destructive tendencies just because they have a lot of money and influence.
Alan Keyes is simply amazing.
Looks like Patria the Astonished one gets her propaganda directly from the House of Saud. Not surprising of course.
Unfortunately it is because he thinks everything through, and through a filter of principle and righteousness, that the unprincipled, the pluralists and other assort weasels attempt to marginalize him.
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