Axelrod: Israel Settlement Approval an ‘Affront’; ‘Insult’

Its high time we shud seriously think about our support to Israel.
What they did last week was absolutely insult not only to VP Biden but to all Americans

It is time for the U.S to change it’s policy towards Israel. The Obama is giving Israel enough rope to hang itself and they are doing just that. They are such an arrogant nation, they think they can do anything it wants without consequences. U.S should cut all aid to Israel period! How dare they insult us!

hmpierson: The situation between Israel and the Palestinians does put U.S. interests, including the lives of military personnel, at risk. You are correct that the Arab world cares nothing about the Palestinians as people. However, they do care mightily about the Palestinians as AN ISSUE. This is why they will not allow refugee Palestinians to become citizens. The Palestinians are much more useful to the rest of the Middle East Muslim world as an issue. Every time Israel builds a new settlement, you can be sure that the jihadist recruiters have a new recruiting tool. And, yes, that does endanger the lives of our soldiers.

Poor David. Again negotiating with disinterested parties. When will he learn.
Of course the new permits place any ally of Israel at heightened risk of death. Of course the new permits were timed to create stress on the process now. Then follows the feigned effrontery of the oppressed oppressor!
We have watched this childish game kill thousands over the past 30 years. It spilled over its borders when I was a child (I’m retired now) and 10 years ago cost 3,000 American their lives on our soil.
This is analogous to a 12 year old telling his parents, “just 5 more minutes, Mom”, but the 5 minutes has turned in to a 30 year rave! When are we going to put our foot down and close this festering wound? A parent would know how to handle these children.
I want peace between these people to break out soon. I have a hard time handing this undeclared world war off to the next generation with the excuse that it has always been this way. How lazy and lame is that?

VP Biden showed his disapproval by showing up late to dinner. That should have ended it/why did the POTUS not call Bibi if he was so upset/becauswe he doesw not have this type of relationship with any foreign leader. there was no need to keep this going/if anything this POTUS has set back what little progress had been made in peace talks. There is a difference between people liking you and actually governing a nation

Classic Samantha Power move to ambush israel on sabbath so Israel can’t respond.

Every time Israel builds a new settlement, you can be sure that the jihadist recruiters have a new recruiting tool. And, yes, that does endanger the lives of our soldiers.Posted by: Beej ********************* I respectfully disagree with
your theory, Israel has been toying with us for
decades, and we have given in every time. We
have lost credibility as being a negotiator years
ago. Israel is snubbing its nose in our face. In the
mean time, they are becoming more and more
friendly with China. I hope so, because China will
actually tell them where to go, if they try their
dirty tricks, something the U.S. has trouble with.

Arafat and Abbas even agreed for ramat schlomo to be in a final agreement with israel.
It is right by the green line with no palestinians near there and this was one of the few areas agreed that there would be a land swap.
This is just putting up an obstacle making this an issue.
And no one was trying to embarrass biden.
The meeting had been set before biden said he was visiting and it was planned in advance the announcement.
The committee are appointed by jerusalem city council members so to blame bibi would be like blaming Obama for what happens on the local dc council.

. . . and I’m sure that Israel is just scared to death of that yo-yo.

Once the democrats gained power we seeing them for who they really are. Weak, cowards, anti-American values and turning on the only true friends we have in the Middle East. You must be really ignorant if you think for one minute that there will ever be a Palestine state.
It is not in the interest of the other Arab countries. They will never let that happen for whom would the Arab countries hate than? Their own oppressive Governments. By the way who do think is funding these people all these years?
It is the same as the lie we are dependent on Arab oil. Never had been, its just that we are partners with them and money counts.
How many years must have to listen to this trash, what is an affront and insult is hearing from people like Axelrod who like Obama is child like in their assessment of everything so far.
Our country is insulted everyday these two get out of bed. God help us all.

The American people need to speak out loudly against our support for Israel and not be afraid of being accused of being against the Jewish people. More pressure must be put on our elected members of congress. It is not in the U.S best interest to be close friends with Israel. It is putting our soldiers at risk overseas and it is causing us to have to spend more money to prevent terrorism at home. If the American Jews are patriotic Americans, they would speak out against Israel’s behavior.

Israel is a FOREIGN country. They DO NOT respect the United States and therefore need to be treated no different than other FOREIGN countries who are hostile to America.

We should arm the Palestinians against the Israelis. Israel continues their quest of expanding their holdings at the expense of the Palestinians. Israel has no interest in peace. I have no interest in sending my tax dollars to them.

John S – A bit simplistic. I don’t think that’s quite the point here. The US has been instrumental (with the encouragement of both Israel and Palestine) in negotiating peace talks between the two. One of the major, MAJOR, bones of contention is the settlements on what is perceived to be Palestinian territory. Israel’s continuing to expand settlements, especially at a time when both sides seemingly want to come to an agreement, is, indeed, a slap in the face to all concerned, the US included. It is in everyone’s interest to see peace, finally, in that part of the world. It just ain’t gonna happen if Israel is perceived as an aggressor(and vice versa). And, if this makes me sound like I’m supporting the Palestinians at the expense of the Israelis, you’re wrong. Both sides need to get rational and understand that they need to accommodate each other. Personally and sadly, I doubt that will ever happen.

Dont we have enough problems without us trying to be the world police? We need to work on the USA and let the others fall where they may

I strongly support Israel, especially since they’re surrounded by millions of insane fanatics bent on their destruction. But Israel is now going too far. The world has told them many times over to stop the settlement building and they continue to flaunt their defiance. And now they spit in the face of the United States, their biggest ally. It’s time the US started putting more pressure on Israel. Of course, none of this would be happening if that dirtbag Arafat had agreed to the eminently fair deal that Pres. Clinton worked out years ago and the Arafat was too much of a moron to sign.
And also let me say that Israel makes up less than 1% of the land of the Middle East. If the hypocritical Arab countries really care so much for the Palestinians, as they’re always crying they do, they should give up some of their land for the Palestinian state. The UN should take part of Iran and make that a Palestinian state.

So, Jason, it is OK for Bibi to dine with Rev Jim Hagee plotting Obama’s overthrow with the GOP and religious right the night before the Vice President’s arrival in Israel for peace talks?
And it is OK to insult and then spit in his face claiming Obama should have come instead?????
And it is OK to take a cheap shot at Samantha Power who had nothing to do with the Biden/Clinton/White House reacions?
It is not OK with Americans.
We want our money back and a stop to Israel’s welfare status.

The Obama Administration is not Israel’s friend.
Obama bows to our enemies and betrays our allies.
Just ask Gordon Brown and Poland.

axelrod is obama’s mouthpiece… Obama’s disregards to Israel is obvious.. he has nothing but hatred to them even though during the campaign he affirmed his support to Israel…
obama’s talk is cheap… his promise is as good as a Child promising not to eat candy for the rest of their lives…
hahaha
sayonara

Stop giving Israel billions of dollars in foreign aid annually and we can easily pay for medical coverage for all Americans plus stop supplying Israel with the money necessary for them to continue building in the occupied territories.

Once again, Israel is sowing the seeds of its own destruction. By continuing to confiscate Palestinian land, Israel is ensuring there cannot be a viable Palestinian state. The only remaining solution, then, will be a one-state solution in which Israel is forced to absorb all the Arabs it has displaced, occupied and terrorized for the last 50+ years. There will only be one state and they may still call it Israel, but it will not be a Jewish state for long, unless Israel fully embraces the apartheid policies they are now practicing surreptitiously. The Palestinians will not leave their land which, in fact, their ancestors occupied for far longer than any ancestor of any Jew living in Israel. So if Israel insists on controlling that land, it will have to take the people living on it too. The settlements will be the ultimate destruction of Israel as a Jewish state.

Plainly put, Obama’s administration tries to appease the Arab street on account of the Jewish state. From 90s Israel made huge concessions to Palestinians (let Arafat and his gang into the West Bank, gave up Gaza and etc.) but received back only more terror and hostility.

I have not heard from any Jewish organizations in the US on this matter. Are they backing our government or not? Let them speak out. I know a lot of Jewish-Americans send tremendous amounts of money to Isreal. Is this monbey designated for “PEACE” or building “weapons of destruction.”

Why is it that Isreal has no friends in the world except for the US. The answer can be found in its actions. In order to have friends you have to be one first. I guess the world considers them as unfriendly. If they really wanted peace they could have achieved it by now. They don`t want peace, they want land that they took in previous wars. While most countries in war give the land back after the war, Isreal did not. Is this a matter of “GREED.” If they ever attack Iran I hope we keep out of it and say “its your war.” Because this is one act that will bring the entire muslim world together and even Russia could get into this. Isreal is not worth a world war which could mean the destruction of the world.

Rabbi Goodfellow = more of your voice please. This is not about Judeaism, its about politics.
Consider this:
$6billion military/economic/diaspora aid to Israel in 2004 (latest figures).
$6billion total taxes collected in entire state of Mississippi for all services 2009.
Israel pays US zero taxes but gets all our services while Mississippi pays all taxes and gets zero services.
Now I understand….

What’s with this “new settlement” business?
The Palestinians have always demanded Jerusalem, but it was never called a “settlement”.
What the problem with these reporters?

How dare Israel insult America.
That’s Obama’s job.

It is long overdue for the U.S. to re-evaluate its “special relationship” with Israel. No American would support building whites only settlements in Mexico. Israel builds Jews only settlements connecting by Jews only highways in West Bank, defying official U.S. policies and UN resolutions . We continue to give $3b/year aid to Israel.
Their contempt for the U.S., in particular, the Obama administration is mind boggling.

How much money is actually given to Israel in direct contributions each year? And how much is given in military planes etc. And I have heard that money contributed to Israel by US citizens qualifies as a tax deduction under our tax laws (and why would that be allowed?) Does someone know the answer?
If it is not a significant amount then the situation is not so bad, but if it is significant, why are we sending vast amounts to them when our own children go to bed hungry in increasing numbers.

If BHO is insulted now just wait until he gets to Indonesia and finds out the students are throwing shoes at his picture.
Indonesia even moved the statue of little Barry because of protests.
Now that’s an insult!

The Obama administration has been anything but a friend to Israel. They should not be surprised when the Israeli’s pay it back in kind.

What’s a little insult? Elsewhere in the world, Barack reacts to getting insulted by offering a little extra humility.

An insult you say, this was much more. How long is the west going to take their rhetoric, how much longer are we going to listen to apartheid government. There is a lot i don’t understand about how we let this government get away with what they do, and if we say anything critical about their overt actions we are label as antisemitic. This is not true in my case, i just think they should be held accountable for their action..it is also funny how very few reporters go there to get the real facts.

Jay that is ridiculous about Israel asking permission to build in occupied territory. That is like saying that the U.S. should and can build U.S. only settlements in Iraq and Afghanistan. We went to war and are occupying it. So we can build settlements. That is the logic. Well there is international law that says according to the Fourth Geneva Convention that transferring a population from an occupiers territory to the occupied territory is ILLEGAL. It is a violation of international law! And Israel has violated international law for over forty years and gotten away with it with no consequences ALL because of us in the U.S. And that is precisely why this gets such passionate responses on both side in the U.S. Some people in the U.S. don’t want to be subsidizing something that is morally wrong and illegal. And we have been doing this for years. Not to mention it is one of the major recruiting themes and propaganda for Al Queda and Iran.

Poor Palestinians. Why do they bring rocks to a rocket fight? They throw rocks at the Israelis, the Israelis in turn fire American made rockets at them. That’s not a fair fight. America should at least arm the Palestinians with rockets so that they can defend themselves against the thuggish Israeli military.

it is also an affront to jam a health care bill that most don’t want. If this diverts some effort towards that, good

The picture of a smiling Biden, posing under the picture of a smiling Arafat was the real insult here.And by the way, the land Israel is planning on building these housing units belongs to Israel, not some future mythical terrorist state called Palestine.

Israel is not our ally. They need us far more than we need them. Cut off their aid already and they’ll fold like a tent. They need to recognize Palestine, forfeit land, and engage in good faith for some acceptable level of peace.

the land Israel “occupies” was never palestinian land.Jews comprised 2/3 of
the people living in east Jerusalem when they were forcibly evicted from their homes legally bought from turkey
and arab landowners in the 19th and early 20th century.
furthermore,isreal was attacked by the combined armies of egypt syria jordan
lebanon and iraq in the process of defending itself.
no other country in the world has had to do that repeatedly in the last 60 years.
for your information,all of this country is occupied land. just ask any native american.russia occupies huge tracts of land of japan and oppresses
many minority populations for their resources.
china has occupied tibet which is 500 times the size of Judea and sumeria
which incidentally are Jewish names of those territories where Jews have their 3300 year histories.
arabs began to come into what became called palestine after ww1 mostly after Jews began emigrating to it and building it up.read FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL for the real story as to who built the land and who lived where and who was displaced and whose holy sites were violated-only Jewish ones were while Arabs stole thousands of homes in hebron ,jerusalem after 1948.
as to who is an ally of this country?
besides the liberty which was an error
made by an errant individual Israel has cooperated with the US in every phase of international politics. how often have the arabs voted for us interests?
how many jewish terrorists have blown up buildings or organized suicide bombings that have caused tens of thousands of deaths and tens of billions in property damage.did a Jew shoot up fort hood?did they take out the pentagon or try to get the president and congress?
have you read about the wahabists who are al quaida’s teachers.they are related and supported by saudi princes
not by zionists.they are the most dangerous movement in the world and have billions given to them in order to prevent them from attacking the saudis.
yes israel has the wherewithall to do much damage.who have they gone after? men with the blood of innocent children on their hands. not innocent civilians in a resturant or a mosque ,checkpoint or synagogue.
i oppose all foreogn aid. by now israel can rely on itself and the foreign aid is mostly for purchases of us product.
in exchange israel has scuttled its own products that often were as good or better than the american ones.
the fact is that israel is the US’s most stable and democratic ally.
btw all israelis-jews christians and 1.5 million arabs vote in israeli elections for representatives of their choosing.as nice as the iraqi elections were ,the constitution they came up with only allows moslems the right to vote.Jews can’t vote in syria or the other arab countries,certainly not for jewish representatives.Jews are not even allowed in saudi arabia,where prayer different from islam is publicly barred.women have no rights to vote,to drive cars or even walk out alone at night.wahabism plots the overthrow not just of israel but london paris and washington as well. they are funded by saudis and related to the royal family.
but israel building in a place that is Biblical Jerusalem ,where Jews were the majority until forcibly expelled, where Jews will not negotiate the safety of their children by giving away areas necessary for their security- that makes them an enemy. keep your saudi friends and give me more enemies like israel.

Posted by: chaim bergstein | Mar 15, 2010 1:44:21 AM
Time to learn how to make some peace chaim.

I guess after the USS Liberty, they feel they can do anything they want? if we didn’t stop aid then, when would we ever? look up the USS Liberty, if you don’t know what they did.

How long is it going to take, for the US to get the message??????
The Palestinians have had opportunity after opportunity to make peace, and to have their own country. They have chosen to reject it, every time,…..for over 40 yrs.
I think that Israel has the right to tire of listening to the US, espouse solutions that don’t work.

So Tapper wants to know if Jews building an apartment block in Jerusalem puts US soldiers at risk?
Here’s what puts US soldiers at risk:
- Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) sent
by the Iranian govt to Iraqi terrorists
- Al-Qaeda terrorists with free transit
from Syria into Iraq
- Saudi financing of Muslim extremists
throughout the world
- Pakistani serving Army officers helping
the Taliban in Afghanistan
And when the oil price comes down below $30, you’ll hear Jake Tapper talking about those.

I know that Isreal did not mean to insult the United States. It could not have!! You see we elected a new president 14 months ago and he promised that once he was elected the world would love and respect us. He went around and made all the speeches…its a done deal…everyone loves us. You see, there must be a mistake, Jews and Arabs alike, they all love and respect us.

When did this baby-boomer adminstration get so sensitive about protocol? Gheez!!! I wonder if the British PM is enjoying his CDs or if the SC will show up for the next State of the Union.

Typo correction: democracy

“The President’s top adviser David Axelrod . . . . .” – ABC News
? ! ? ! ? ! ? ! ?
Axelrod is the President’s TOP adviser! ? ! !
Good Lord, the situation is more dire than I thought, we are all in a heap of trouble.

The comment by reporter Jake Tapper,that Israeli building in Jerusalem could “put at risk the lives of U.S. troops” is nothing less than a deliberate and insidious provocation, whose purpose is to incite hostility toward Israel. He should be harshly reprimanded.
It is also time for the Obama administration to recognize that Israel
is not some American, Banana Republic satelite – Israel will not be dictated to. The people of Israel will not tolerate outsiders planning their future – more specifically those Americans and Europeans who pander to the terrorist regimes, always ready to
appease while paying with Israeli currency.
The Land of Israel belongs to the Jews;
Jerusalem is their Capital; so says G-d
Almighty, and that’s good enough for me
- Period!

If Israel isn’t a Banana Republic then why does it take so much in U.S. aid and security? U.S. interests matter. Human rights interests matter. Do not avoid the issue by of illegal settlements by bringing up irrelevant biblical history or palestinian terrorism.

America want his benefit..always..not other..