Posted on 06/19/2007 1:25:13 PM PDT by SJackson
Report: US to increase Israel funding
US President George W. Bush agreed to increase financial aid to Israel, Channel Two reported.
Bush met with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert following a press conference the two held in the Oval Office at the White House.
"All options are still on the table regarding Iran," Bush said during the press conference.
Bush added that he understood the fear of Israeli citizens when they hear Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments about wanting to destroy Israel and that this concerned him as a strong ally of Israel.
Regarding Syria, Bush said the US had no intentions of mediating between Israel and Damascus, as Syrian President Bashar Assad had requested.
He said that Olmert was a leader strong enough to conduct these negotiations on his own.
"If the prime minister wants to negotiate with Syria he doesn't need me to mediate ... it's up the prime minister," Bush said. "This man is plenty capable of having negotiations without me mediating."
Olmert on his side also played down any possibility of a breakthrough on peace negotiations with Syria.
"The Syrian leader said that he is against any precondition on the Israel side but he is certainly for preconditions on the Syrian side," he said. "I'm not certain that the understanding of the president of Syria can lay the foundations for immediate discussions."
Israel and Syria have both recently signaled a willingness to restart peace talks. The US has opposed talking to Syria because of its ties to Iran and militants in Iraq and Lebanon. However, Bush is under pressure from allies, lawmakers and advisers who think Washington should improve relations with Syria in an effort to isolate Iran.
Both Bush and Olmert spoke positively of recent meetings between Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and the Israelis.
"I'm going to make every possible effort to cooperate with him," the prime minister said. Bush called Abbas "the president of all the Palestinians" and "a voice for moderation."
"Our hope is that President Abbas and Prime Minister Salaam Fayad - who's a good fellow - will be strengthened to the point where they can lead the Palestinians in a different direction," Bush said.
Bush and Olmert both committed themselves during the opening statement to move forward Tuesday's resolution [of holding meetings with Abbas], with Bush framing the current battle between Hamas and Fatah inside the greater ideological context of conflicts between extremists and moderates taking place throughout the world, specifically in Iraq.Print Subscribe E-mail Toolbar
In my view when it comes to foreign affairs Ron Paul has his head so far up his butt he can't se a thing through his brown covered corneas.
My thread hijacking Paulite internut, I guess the way it works is that you now claim Ron is RONALD REAGAN incarnate.
Then I point out the contempt Paul had for Reagan's foreign policy.
From Grenada where we went in at the behest of several foreign governments (he wrote about that in High Times when he was pandering to the dopers), to Central America, to Afghanistan, the source of 9/11.
Then there's Lebanon, the issue the liar wraps himself in.
Ron Paul would have gone into Lebanon as Reagan did, a mistake.
BS he's lying.
Would he have left, sure.
OOOH RAAAH/
Ron Paul=Ronald Reagan!
But oops, in leaving would he have interfered to save Arafat and the PLO? Not very Paulite.
Would he have interfered to carve out a ten mile zone in south Lebanon for Israel? Not very Paulite.
Would he have boosted foreign aid to Israel by 40%? Sure, that Ron Paul.
How about the Pershing missles in Europe. Confronting evil. Did Ron Paul confront that.
Save you Ron Paul mastubatory BS for other threads.
It is, we won't ask because without serious pressure they won't do a thing. This is their game, and we're playing by their rules.
Truth hurts, doesn’t it. Hence your incoherent reply.
No, hence your inability to address the issues.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.