West Slams Pope Francis...
Rational Nation USA
Purveyor of Truth
Thus sayeth Allan West and Newsmax.
Perhaps it's time to attempt something different? Seeing as how the strategy and methodology of the past and present obviously hasn't worked out so well.
Via: Memorandum
Purveyor of Truth
Thus sayeth Allan West and Newsmax.
RAWSTORY - Former Republican Congressman Allen West on Thursday suggested that Pope Francis was guilty of “disdain and anti-Semitism” after the Vatican announced plans to recognize the “state of Palestine.”
“This is horrific,” West told Newsmax host Steve Malzberg on Thursday. “At a time when Islamic terrorists are slaughtering Christians — Catholics — all over the Middle East, for the Pontiff to recognize a terrorists organization — which is really, either Hamas or Fatah, they’re both terrorists organizations, it’s just the degree of the actions that they’re taking.”
“This is unconscionable that he is doing that,” the former Republican congressman insisted. “And it just goes to show the level of propaganda success that the Palestinians have, and the level of disdain and anti-Semitism that there is out there.”
“And it is even coming from the Vatican.”
Perhaps it's time to attempt something different? Seeing as how the strategy and methodology of the past and present obviously hasn't worked out so well.
Via: Memorandum
Perhaps, Les. Considering your statement, and those of others, and that you come from a point of view without even a whiff of antisemitism.
ReplyDeleteOne of the many, many things that ticks me off today is the tendency to call me a racist when I disagree with one person or another. Another is that old accusation of anti-semitism in the same context. It's a cheap substitute for facts and reason. Disliking Al Sharpton and despising Allen West doesn't make me a racist and disliking Netanyahoo doesn't make me an anti-semite. Likewise hating Hamas or terrorism in general doesn't mean I hate Muslims. It's typical of the idiot West to make sweeping generalizations about people in response to a specific question. I think it's called bigotry. It's also called being a stupid SOB with a very short memory.
DeletePlaying off the right wing in America will not do Israel any good in the end. Years of Netanyahu have done a lot of damage. He is not respected around the world. He, Likud, the radical settlers, the welfare rabbis, are not doing any good. They need a return to the days they had far, far better leadership, that and some kind of compromise with the locals. The Palestinians are the locals after all. As far as they're concerned, a bunch of Europeans moved into the neighborhood 67 years ago and displaced them. It's a perfectly understandable perspective.
ReplyDeleteJMJ
Jersey: The Israelis are the locals as well. And consider that Arafat, the most famous Palestinian of the modern era. came over from Africa. and he is not the only one.
ReplyDeleteThe Israeli leadership is not the real problem here. Of course they could be better. But look at what they have to deal with: Hamas's charter which it runs by insists on killing every Jewish person in the area. The "moderate" wing of Abbas insists that no Jews be allowed to remain in the new Palestinian state.
Faced with options that range from complete genocide to a supposedly non-violent cleansing of Jews. Likud comes across as quite moderate.
As for "the perfectly understandable perspective", it is outrageous, and not understandable at all. The intense hatred of by the current Palestinian government toward the Jews of the area includes all Jews. Even those with direct ancestors going way back, in that area.
I agree that a Palestinian state is inevitable, and likely the best idea. But it is the Palestinians who need new leadership, and to compromise a lot more, and to completely get the idea of murdering and expelling millions of people "off the table".
Allen West is little more than a troll who has built a career on belligerence, bombast, and outrageous claims with a streak of McCarthyism. Yet, he is not alone; McCarthy-style demagoguery is the DNA of the rabid reactionary rightwing (3R) fringe. Make no mistake: Leveling charges of anti-Semitism does not necessarily make him -- or any fringe politician -- a friend of Israel. In fact, these people are more likely closet anti-Semites themselves.
ReplyDeleteHere is some perspective: Israel, like many countries, has a peace movement. Will Allen West call these voices of conscience anti-Semites too?
Twenty years ago, I lived in Paris France where I met foreign exchange students who attended the Sorbonne. One weekend, I was invited to a block party by one of the Israeli exchange students. The party was in a hilly section of northwest Paris in an area called Butte Chaumont. There I met Palestinian exchange students who co-organized these street events with the Israeli students. Yes, they ate together, partied together, danced in the streets together … and were the best of friends.
What would happen when they returned home, I asked of them? “We’d probably be at each other’s throats,” a reply infused with laughter to mask a grim irony.
My point: The Israeli-Palestinian impasse is political. Frankly, Allen West, Hamas, Hezbollah, radical settlers, welfare rabbis, and Bibi Netanyahu are all cut from the same cloth, IMO.
Many years ago, Anwar Sadat and Menachim Begin signed a peace deal that has lasted over 35 years. The region lacks this kind of visionary leadership.
" As far as they're concerned, a bunch of Europeans moved into the neighborhood 67 years ago and displaced them. It's a perfectly understandable perspective."
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like an almost exact quote from a guy I used to know, a Lakota Sioux. Mo, I'm not making that up. There is a variety of opinion amongst the locals though. Some are citizens of Israel, many have refused the offer. There is obviously also a variety of opinions among all Israelis as well and you're very right, some real leadership not tied to hard line intransigence might make a difference.
Why it's so hard to understand that lack of support for Netanyahoo can't mean support for Isreal and/or lack of support for peace, I don't know.
I generally agree, Capt. Though I don't think Net''n'Yahoo is as bad as others, the election of his opponents would certainly not have spelled doom for the Israelis.
DeletePersonally, I tend to agree with Rep. Bernie Sanders on Israel more than I do about West, who is now a failed politician.
ReplyDeleteI simply don't equate recognition of a Palestinian state with endorsement of the extermination agenda of Hamas/etc.