You
don’t think I got away with my recent posting of Dr. Robert Watson’s thoughts
on President Obama’s position in support of Israel without getting some
responses, did you? Admittedly, I also
sent it out as an Email to a selected list.
Since this blog is for “everyone,” here are some of the responses I
received … with names deleted since they do not know I am posting them.
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This is a response I got
from a friend when I forwarded Dr. Watson’s thoughts on Obama’s Israel
policy.
|
Nevertheless, I
risked sending him this brief reply:
“Can you briefly list some of those many
reasons you mention?” Jack
And this is the reply I
received:
“Jack: You are relentless and at this point we
don't have to list any of the reasons as long as we are sure of our convictions
and we certainly don't want to discuss them with you as you seem to be an ultra
liberal, too, and anything we say you will counteract with fabrications.
For anyone who can't see
the light, let them support Obama. We won't and that is that. In addition, we
will do everything in our power to make sure he doesn't get a second chance to
ruin this country. The topic is over. We don't want to discuss it with you.”
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* * *
And
here is another one. I forgive the
writer for a few spelling errors.
Before I knew anything about Obama, I was
very open and I wanted to research what I could. I went to his web site and
read this... "The Palestinian people are of the most oppressed people on
the face of the earth." Who do you suppose he thinks has done the
oppressing. Not the ones who send the suiside bombs over to Israel. I think
that I know who he is when I see him kiss the ring of the Saudi King and go on
his apology tour. On another note he gave part of General motors to the Unions.
It was the unions who destroyed the company to begin with by negotiating
salaries that made the company uncompetitive in the world market. Then they get
this reward.
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And
this one is a bit more complicated to figure out. The “cousin” referred to is a Senior Fellow
with the extremely conservative Hudson Institute and is a gentleman I
personally respect as probably one of the nation’s leading experts on the
Muslim Brotherhood. The propaganda piece
which follows comes from www.Townhall.com,
a conservative website.
Some
(not all) of these people, you know, cannot think for themselves and turn to
these packaged arguments when challenged.
Do you think Hillary Clinton’s reaction to “orthodoxy” and Panetta’s
frustration with Israeli transigence warrant this kind of attack? I do not.
My feeling is that
Israel will negotiate and cede territory for a Palestinian state, but only when
they are absolutely certain that their new neighbor will not turn out to be a
violent aggressor bent on Israel’s destruction. It may take eighty years to
reach that point, but Israel must be certain before it negotiates!
This viewpoint is shared by most Israelis, except for the small minority who oppose any Palestinian state whatsoever and the ceding of any territory at all. Unfortunately, this minority position has an inordinate and undeserved influence on the opinions of Jews in the United States, including many rabbis.
President Obama is aware of this, as is Leon Panetta, and of the actions of the Palestinians which in effect keep the Israelis from the negotiation table. Remarks such as those made by Panetta will not serve to change the Israeli position, but they do serve to paint the United States as an honest broker and thus, hopefully eventually will bring the Palestinians closer to a position which will enable the Israelis to be able to negotiate with them.
But this blog aims at fairness, so read the following reply and decide for yourself.
This viewpoint is shared by most Israelis, except for the small minority who oppose any Palestinian state whatsoever and the ceding of any territory at all. Unfortunately, this minority position has an inordinate and undeserved influence on the opinions of Jews in the United States, including many rabbis.
President Obama is aware of this, as is Leon Panetta, and of the actions of the Palestinians which in effect keep the Israelis from the negotiation table. Remarks such as those made by Panetta will not serve to change the Israeli position, but they do serve to paint the United States as an honest broker and thus, hopefully eventually will bring the Palestinians closer to a position which will enable the Israelis to be able to negotiate with them.
But this blog aims at fairness, so read the following reply and decide for yourself.
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* * *
Here is the response:
I am forwarding this as an additional response to an e mail
I received regarding Obamas' loving stance on Israel.
To those who think that this administration is an ally of the only
supporter of the US (Israel) in the middle east must be informed of the truth
and not the spin coming from the White House. I am expecting a reply to the e
mail received (that Email’s contents
appeared on this blog’s most recent posting.) which was NOT
forwarded to you because of confidentiality....but might do so when I
receive a reply from my cousin's think tank in Washington. (The writer was apparently leery of forwarding Dr. Watson’s thoughts
to those on his mailing list out of concern that its factual approach, which I
suspect that even the Hudson Institute will find to be truthful, might
influence some of them.)
Please scroll down and
read.
Subject: Fwd: Obama administration's relentless attacks on Jews and Israel explode
Subject: Fwd: Obama administration's relentless attacks on Jews and Israel explode
Please print out and
take a copy of the article below to your card, golf or tennis game to hand out
to your Obama swooning friends. They might become so overwrought that you'd
gain an upper hand in whatever form of competition you're in.
Townhall.com| December 9, 2011 - Suzanne Fields
This has been a bad week
in Israeli-American relations -- more accurately, (Jewish)-Israeli-Obama White
House relations. Three White House players who should know better (and probably
do) dumped on the only democracy in the Middle East, boldly contradicting the
president's boast to Jewish donors that he's the most Israel-supporting
president in history. (Where does that leave Harry Truman?)
Hillary Clinton went out
of her way to pick a fight with Israel in the name of feminist principle. The
secretary of state thought she was speaking "just among us girls"
behind closed doors at the left-leaning Brookings Institute, but her remarks
nevertheless made headlines in the Israeli newspapers.
Hillary was shocked --
shocked! -- to learn that Orthodox Jews segregate women and men, and buses in
their Israeli neighborhoods acquiesced by reserving front seats for men. This
naturally reminded her of Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat on a bus
in Montgomery, Ala., and ultimately set off the modern civil-rights movement.
But there is no such legally required segregation in Israel, by sex, race or
otherwise, and Israeli courts have said so.
She was shocked again,
poor lady, when she heard that several ultra-orthodox soldiers walked out of a
military concert to avoid hearing women sing; it was against their faith to
listen to women in song. The secretary of state apparently thought this sounded
like Iran, and said so. Another cheap shot, which did not go unanswered in
Israel. "The exclusion and segregation of women is something totally
unacceptable, and it needs to be stopped," Israeli Finance Minister Yuval
Steinitz told the daily Ha'aretz, "but to cite this as a threat to
Israel's democracy is a big leap."
Hillary would do better
to measure her friends in Saudi Arabia against her feminist principles. Saudi
women can't drive without a close male-relative chaperone, and if they do they
risk a lashing. Saudi women have been promised the vote five years hence, but
after decades of broken promises they're not holding their breaths. Women in
Israel already share power with men, and have done so from the founding of the
modern Jewish state. There must be someone in Foggy Bottom who could let
Hillary in on the secret.
Hillary's feminist
principles were offended, but Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, speaking at the
same conference, took a different poke at the Jewish state. He blames Israel
for delaying negotiations with the Palestinians, as though it was the Israelis'
fault there hasn't been "peace" talks for a while.
"Get to the damn
table," Panetta said, like an irate father calling obstreperous children
to dinner. He apparently hadn't heard that it was President Obama who set
pre-conditions for talking about a complete construction freeze in East
Jerusalem and the West Bank. The president delays things by making the
Palestinians even more recalcitrant than usual.
The president and his
men could usefully read a new book, "Deception: Betraying the Peace
Process," which describes the way the Palestinian Authority deliberately
and systematically undermines the mutual trust necessary to accomplish
anything. Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik meticulously document the way
the Palestinians indoctrinate children to hate Jews, to idolize terrorists and
deny Israel's right to exist.
In one chilling example
in an "education" magazine sponsored by the Palestinian Authority, a
teenage girl describes a dream of meeting her hero, Hitler, who tells her that
he killed Jews to show her how horrible Jews are.
A close reading of the
book could clear certain White House heads of the foolishness of Howard Gutman,
the U.S. ambassador to Belgium (and a chief Obama fundraiser), who draws
poisonous distinctions between the ancient anti-Semitism persistent in Europe
and the anti-Semitism of Islamists, which he says arises from the behavior of
the Jews. He wouldn't blame the Holocaust on the Jews, where European
anti-Semitism was pervasive, but suggests that the Israelis can resolve
Jew-hatred today by changing their ways. Every new settlement in Israel, he
says, exacerbates the problem.
The White House quickly
distanced the president and his administration from the ambassador's dictionary
definitions of two kinds of anti-Semitism, but not before Mitt Romney and Newt
Gingrich accused the administration of undermining an ally. Newt said the
president should fire the ambassador.
The two Republican
presidential front-runners offer strong alternatives toward Israel. Romney said
that his first foreign trip as president would be to Israel. (Obama hasn't
visited Israel at all.) Newt promises to move the American embassy from Tel
Aviv to Jerusalem. Both challenge Obama's approach as unsympathetic, if not
hostile, to Israel.
Jewish voters, many of
whom are still enamored of the president, might think long and hard about how
their man actually regards what's at stake in the Middle East, and how he might
deal with Israel if he is re-elected and no longer has to worry about running
for office or campaign money from the Jews.
* * * * *
Let no one ever say that Jackspotpourri.com is not, in the words of
Roger Ailes, “Balanced and Fair.” But I
must add that neither a trip to Israel by a “President” Romney nor a transfer
of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as a “President” Gingrich promises,
would come close to doing as much for Israel as the ultra modern armaments and
missile defense systems which President Obama has made certain Israel receives
from the United States.
Iron Dome Missile System Provided by United States
United States Embassy - Tel Aviv
And for the record, since the author of the above piece seems to
think visiting there is vitally important to our relationship with Israel, note
the following:
During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Barack
Obama made his second trip to Israel, where he spoke at Sderot of an unshakable
commitment to Israel’s security and reiterated that Israelis have, in the
United States, a friend and ally that will always stand by the people of
Israel. It should be remembered that the
only two Presidents to make an
official state visit to Israel during their first term were Presidents Carter
and Clinton. Lyndon B. Johnson and
Ronald Reagan, two of our most pro-Israel presidents, never visited Israel
during their tenure as presidents. And George W. Bush did not visit Israel
until the eighth year of his presidency.
Jack
Lippman
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***
And here are a couple
of short stories to take your mind off of the serious matters addressed above. Neither of them were written by me. Hurrah!
BANG!
Harvey Sage - Author of Tuna
Food www.harvo1.com
The reflection in the
mirror pleased him, so he smiled. After one last brushing of his ample hair,
and a wiping of his forehead, Jay was ready to go. His newest girlfriend was
waiting.
As he left his bedroom,
which he shared with Amy, his wife of twenty years, he looked at her picture
and felt a tinge of guilt. “Too bad babes. I love you, but a man gotta do what he gotta
do. Gonads you know.” He turned and started to leave. A thought flashed through
his consciousness. He went to the dresser drawer and opened it. Jay looked at
the bright shiny revolver laying there. It was a five shot 38 caliber Taurus.
Should he lock it up with his many other guns? Jay hesitated. “Nah. What good
is a gun locked up. Besides, I’m running late and fun is afoot.” Turning, Jay
left. The house was empty. But not for long.
They were young and
scroungey. Though school was in session, Delray and Hendry didn’t go. Who
cared? The day was bright, the weather mild, and the area basically deserted. A
great opportunity to rob and pillage at will. These were not known as “bad
kids,” just mildly retarded and involved with petty crimes. In another county
the school system would have dealt with them through alternative schools. Their
day would have been regimented and they would be trained to work in a variety
of menial and entry jobs. Their lives would be productive and they would be
content.
Sad to say, in this
county the education gurus dictated no help for the lower classes. They were
seen as trash and garbage, destined to fend for themselves. Church programs and
after school activities didn’t apply here. Delray and Hendry were deemed useless
flotsam and jetson. However in the world of the street they possessed a
survivor’s dose of genius. That is why they meandered through this gated
neighborhood, eventually picking out a house. No one was around as they came
round the back and forced their way in, closing the door behind them.
They were fast and
thorough. Each grabbed a pillow case and then they went through the bedrooms
looking for jewelry and other plunder that could be transformed into cash. Cash
meant drugs, a high, a good time with girls, an escape from the humdrum life.
As the juvenile entrepreneurs searched they came upon an unexpected find. “Look
a here Delray. It’s a gun and it’s a beauty.” Then they heard the front door
open.
Jay was pissed. Elaine,
his girl friend, hadn’t showed. “The bitch stood me up! My whole day off shot to hell.” He thought of what he could have done- golf,
fishing or even taking his guns out to the target range. Jay enjoyed shooting.
A rabid supporter of the Second Amendment, Jay took his gun ownership
seriously. His favorite saying was “The only way you’re going to take away my
gun is to pry it out of my cold, dead hands.”
Jay went upstairs and
froze. At the top of the stairway stood a boy. In his shaking hands was Jay’s
.38. The boy shouted “Don’t move!” Jay saw he was scared. Instead of turning
and running for help, he started to climb.
Delray backed away. The
gun shaking, he let himself be boxed with Hendry into a room as Jay - big,
strong muscular Jay - kept coming.
“Come on son,” Jay said
in a soft voice. “ You don’t want to get into trouble, do you. Give me the gun
and get out of here. I won’t tell the cops and we’ll forget this ever
happened.” Jay extended his hand and DelRay, who had never held a gun in his
life went to give it to the big man. He was shaking very badly and in the midst
of the transfer the inevitable happened. BANG! A body fell lifeless to the
floor. Tragic.
***
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Hey You!
Sid
Bolotin
Hey you! You in your fancy car with the windows rolled
up. I see you trying to avoid looking at me, to avoid seeing me. My name is
Nitolob, and I’m a person just like you. I know, I know; you can’t wait for the
traffic light to change so you can escape. My appearance and my presence
affront you. Well, I’m living in my culture, the culture of the great unwashed.
You are part of the opposite culture, the one with all the haves, the cars, and
the gated communities. I may be dirty, smelly, and unemployed, begging at
traffic lights, but I am not uneducated. I was in college when I chose to
forego my draft exemption and join the army to fight for my country. Maybe it was the jungle of ‘Nam or the deserts
of Iraq or Afghanistan which shredded my high noble ideals. Don’t matter which. My mind never fully reconciled the dichotomy
of that experience when I finally came home. Oh I tried to return to the life I
left, but I found it impossible. I’ve been drifting all these years without
roots, city- to- city, job to job. Now
in Florida I’m part of a community of displaced people, struggling to exist
within a paradox of economic opposites that rub shoulders with each other. You
think we’re all shiftless, irresponsible failures who could catapult ourselves
into your world if only we would try hard enough. Not so, my judgmental friend.
Oh, I suppose some could; but the majority of us are not in this culture by
choice. Various circumstances dropped us off the edge and have kept us here.
Smiling and crying, I live in the streets. Smiling when I’ve gotten a few
dollars to buy food; crying when I’ve spent ten hours on the roadway’s island
in the burning heat without a single dollar to show for all that time and
indignity. Think about this the next time you see me at a traffic light. Soften
your heart and contribute a dollar or two to create a smiling day for both of
us.
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are alerted by Email every time a new posting appears. If you wish to be
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JL
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