BF2S Forums Israel and Palestine

The White House has rejected Republican calls to sack the US envoy to Belgium over remarks he made last week on anti-Semitism in Europe.

Ambassador Howard Gutman said failure to resolve the Middle East conflict was breeding a new type of bigotry.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney accused the envoy of downplaying anti-Semitism.

But the Obama administration said it had "full confidence" in the diplomat, and that he was expressing his opinion.

"He was sharing his views on an issue," state department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters on Monday. "Our commitment to Israel's security is ironclad."

The diplomat said a new form of anti-Semitism was growing, in which Jews were being targeted because of resentment over the Arab-Israeli conflict.

"It is the area where every new settlement announced in Israel, every rocket shot over a border or suicide bomber on a bus, and every retaliatory military strike exacerbates the problem and provides a setback here in Europe for those fighting hatred and bigotry," he said.

"Were a lasting peace in the Middle East to be reached, were joint and co-operative Israeli-Arab attentions turned to focus instead on such serious, common threats such as Iran, this second type of ethnic tension and bigotry here in Europe - which is clearly growing today - would clearly abate."

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urged Israel on Friday to get back to the "damn" negotiating table with Palestinians and take steps to address what he described as the Jewish state's growing isolation in the Middle East.

Panetta, addressing a forum in Washington, also made one of his most extensive arguments to date against any imminent military action against Iran over its nuclear program, saying he was convinced that sanctions and diplomatic pressure were working.

"You always have the last resort ... of military action. But it must be the last resort, not the first," Panetta said.

Militarily strong, Israel is battling a diplomatic storm as Arab uprisings upset once-stable relationships in the Middle East. But Panetta warned Israel against viewing uprisings like the one in Egypt that toppled president Hosni Mubarak as an excuse to enter a defensive crouch.

"I understand the view that this is not the time to pursue peace, and that the Arab awakening further imperils the dream of a safe and secure, Jewish and democratic Israel. But I disagree with that view," Panetta said.

He said Israel needed to take risks, including by breathing new life into moribund peace talks with Palestinians. When asked by a moderator what steps Israel needed to take to pursue peace, Panetta said: "Just get to the damn table."

"The problem right now is we can't get 'em to the damn table, to at least sit down and begin to discuss their differences," Panetta said.

Israeli government ministers have reacted with fury to comments made by Hillary Clinton expressing her concern for the state of democracy in Israel and the status of Israeli women.

The US Secretary of State reportedly criticised legislation proposed by Benjamin Netanyahu's government that would curb funding from international bodies to organisations working to promote human rights withn Israel.

She told the audience of US and Israeli officials on Saturday of her shock on hearing reports of gender segregation on buses operating in Jerusalem, which she claimed was "reminiscent of Rosa Parks", the African American woman who refused to give up her seat on to white passengers on a bus in 1950s America.

Mrs Clinton went on to claim that recent incidents of gender discrimination against female Israeli soldiers reminded her of the situation facing women in Iran.

A spokesman for Israeli prime minister declined to issue an official response to Ms Clinton's remarks, claiming they were made in a private forum. However speaking off the record, an official within the foreign ministry claimed the Israeli government was "astonished" by her remarks.

"We fail to see why this is a matter of such importance for the US Secretary of State. Does she deal with the same urgency to the social problems in states other than Israel?

Last edited by Dilbert_X (2011-12-05 15:49:39)

Israel has said it will respond to cyber-attacks in the same way it responds to violent "terrorist" acts after the credit card details of thousands of its citizens were published online.

A hacker named OxOmar claiming to be Saudi said on Thursday he had leaked the private information.

Credit card companies say at least 6,000 valid cards have been exposed.

Reports say OxOmar may be a 19-year-old living in Mexico.

Such cyber-attacks are "a breach of sovereignty comparable to a terrorist operation, and must be treated as such", Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon has said.

"Israel has active capabilities for striking at those who are trying to harm it, and no agency or hacker will be immune from retaliatory action," he added, without giving further details.

Cheeky_Ninja06 wrote:

Didnt America already say cyber attacks would be considered an act of war?

FEOS wrote:

Cyber sovereignty and reaction to attacks/attribution is an entire thread unto itself, really.

slayerslayer wrote:

Turquoise wrote:

slayerslayer wrote:

nuke israel and give it back to the ppl that deserve it, not greedy and dangerous lunatics.

Who would deserve a radioactive wasteland?

that's the only problem lol.

find some way to get rid of the jews then give it back to the muslim/god's people and the palestinians, etc.

Last edited by Macbeth (2012-02-28 15:21:24)

Macbeth wrote:

The Jewish kid thinks bringing up the holocaust and accusing everyone of antisemitism is a great debate tactic. The Arab is under the delusion that anyone cares about the plight of the Palestinian people and that people give a shit about stolen land.

That said, they are both failures.

But the game has raised fears among top American planners that it may be impossible to preclude American involvement in any escalating confrontation with Iran, the officials said.

Dilbert_X wrote:

There is no such thing as anti-semitism in the broad sense, they simply have a knack of making themselves unpopular and then seek to characterise any antipathy as irrational.

Are the Palestinians 'anti-semitic' because they don't like having their homes bulldozed and their children shot in the head?

Is Spearhead 'anti-semitic' because he objects to Israel's 'right' to attack any country they feel like?

Either they've managed through their own actions to antagonise every race and civilisation they've come into contact with over the last 2,000 years, or anti-semiticism is a genetic trait in every race except the jews.

It basically stems from their central belief that they are superior beings and every other race exists only to serve them - its just inevitable thats going to put peoples backs up.

On the forthcoming attack on Iran, its pretty much a given that the US will be involved, the only question is overtly or covertly.