Obama and Netanyahu Jointly Denounce Hamas Attacks as “Senseless Slaughter”
EmailABC News' Sunlen Miller reports: Declaring it a “senseless slaughter” President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke standing side-by-side from White House colonnade today to denounce the killing of four Israelis in the West Bank on Tuesday. “There are going to be extremists and rejectionists who, rather than seeking peace, are going to be seeking destruction,” President Obama warned on the eve of the formal direct talks Thursday, “And the tragedy that we saw yesterday, where people were gunned down on the street by terrorists who are purposely trying to undermine these talks, is an example of what we're up against.” The two leaders had just emerged from their private bilateral meetings in the Oval Office but rather than speak about the negotiations, the two first wanted to address the violence in order to send the message that the actions will not derail the direct talks starting with Secretary of State Clinton on Thursday. “I want everybody to be very clear: The United States is going to be unwavering in its support of Israel's security, and we are going to push back against these kinds of terrorist activities,” Obama said, “the message should go out to Hamas and everybody else who is taking credit for these heinous crimes that this is not going to stop us from not only ensuring a secure Israel, but also securing a longer-lasting peace in which people throughout the region can take a different course.” The president said that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s presence in Washington, during a “difficult time for his country” shows his commitment to peace. Netanyahu called the attacks the face of “savagery and brutality” and said that their bilateral meetings also centered on the need to have security arrangements that are able to roll back this kind of terror and other threats to Israel's security. “That is a fundamental element, an important foundation of the peace that we seek and work for,” Netanyahu said, adding that he appreciates President Obama’s efforts, “to advance this peace for us and for our neighbors, for our region and, I think we can say, for the world.” This afternoon President Obama will meet with President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority in the Oval Office, and before he left the podium President Obama added that Abbas too has condemned the attacks. “I have the utmost confidence in him,” Obama said of Abbas, “and his belief in a two-state solution in which the people of Israel and the Palestinians are living side by side in peace and security. And so I'm also grateful to him for his presence here today.” The president said that much work is left to do, especially as there are those who will “do everything they can” to undermine the peace talks. “But we are going to remain stalwart,” he pledged. As the two men turned to walk away from the podium they both put their arm on each other’s back briefly- and President Obama walked the Prime Minister to his car parked on the driveway of the South Lawn. President Obama will make a statement to press from the Rose Garden late this afternoon following a full days worth of private, bilateral meetings – with President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, King Abdullah II of Jordan, and President Mubarak of Egypt. The five men will also each be given the opportunity to speak before a closed-door dinner in the State Dining Room this evening. -Sunlen Miller
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Way to go out on a limb Hussein. Be ready to walk it back with a caveat you were not saying you were against marching the Jews into the sea.
Posted by: nat turner | September 1, 2010, 1:45 pm 1:45 pm
There are really only two choices: Jewish-dominated apartheid or non-Jewish democracy.
Posted by: Flash Override | September 1, 2010, 1:54 pm 1:54 pm
There was no legitimate reason to kill people in cold blood, we already knew that a ‘peace process’ without Hamas is doomed to fail.
While we condemn these senseless killings, it is important to note that they did not happen in Israel, and have nothing to do with Israeli security. Indeed, they were colonialist criminals, breaking both international and Israeli law.
Abbas has denounced these crimes – now it is time for Netanyahu to denounce the senseless Israeli police violence against the peaceful demonstrators in Silwan today, and the continued settlement in places like Beit Hagai.
The speaker of the Israeli Knesset said today that their response to these killings will be “A new construction push”. Israeli Minister of Science and Benny Begin took part in a ceremony of laying the cornerstone for a new neighborhood in this settlement – during the alleged “settlement freeze”.
These are not people interested in peace.
Posted by: Flash Override | September 1, 2010, 2:18 pm 2:18 pm
Obama and Netanyahu Jointly Denounce Hamas Attacks as “Senseless Slaughter” – ABC News
That’s nice.
I hear something from the palestinian Abbas.
That’s nice too but not significant.
Now let me listen to hear the loud Arab and Muslim voices from around the world denouncing the Slaughter.
- s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s -
That’s the Sound of Silence.
That’s where the problem lies.
There’s no chance of Peace with Hamas, none.
Posted by: Noz | September 1, 2010, 3:26 pm 3:26 pm
@FlashOverdrive…There are really only two choices: Jewish-dominated apartheid or non-Jewish democracy…………….Oh yeah, there are so many Arab democracies, I can name NONE! And, Gaza, what a flourishing Oasis of freedom and human rights.
Posted by: pauldia | September 1, 2010, 3:36 pm 3:36 pm
Posted by: Noz | Sep 1, 2010 3:26:09 PM posted: “There’s no chance of Peace.”
A Christian Evangelical neighbor explained that there are many who support Israel because they are convinced we are in the “End Times” – a war between Israel and Iran is prophesied in the Old Testament, leading to the Second Coming of Christ.
Pentecostals are fueled by the likes of televangelist John Hagee, who believes the US must join Israel in a preemptive military strike against Iran to “fulfill God’s plan”.
Hagee has turned Bible-thumping into a multi-million dollar TV business and a “Christian” pro-war movement. (He takes home a million-dollar compensation package.) Hagee’s warmongering book has sold roughly 500,000 copies, and his TV ministry, TBN, is the largest Christian television network in the world, supposedly reaching more than 92 million households in the US.
This is the cauldron where we see the Conservative fears bubble and simmer: Obama is a Muslim, good Republicans against evil Liberals, Judeo-Christian against Islamic civilization, and America must support Israel against a Palestine state.
It is also the foundation of disdain for the United Nations – these people who claim to be “Christians” DO NOT WANT PEACE in the Middle East. In fact, there is a reason to actively work against it. A nuclear confrontation between America and Iran (Hagee says it is foretold in the Book of Jeremiah) will lead to God’s renewal of the Garden of Eden.
Now I’m all for freedom of Religion. But when a twisted notion that nuclear war is unavoidable becomes part of a Christian sect, it’s time for our national politics to stand against this lunacy and move ahead with whatever it takes to promote stability in the Middle East.
Posted by: green.goddess | September 1, 2010, 3:55 pm 3:55 pm
@green.goddess
Your assertion that this group of Christians are driving our Iran policy should be mocked and ridiculed but I don’t have the energy.
Mahmoud has an interesting idea for stability. Do you have a problem with it?
Posted by: Foghorn Leghorn | September 1, 2010, 5:59 pm 5:59 pm
Well greenie, nothing like stereotypes-”Pentacostals are fueled by the likes of …John Hagee”. What would you know what Pentacostals believe? Do you even know any?Then you put up the strawman “Obama is a Muslim” statement as if it is the policy of the Republican Party.Let’s assume for a moment that it is true-SO WHAT?I would rather have an honest Muslim running the country instead of an agnostic who pretends to be something else for political expediency.I would rather have an honest agnostic as President than a Christian who isn’t completely truthful.I don’t care what god Obama prays to-if any.I do care that he seems completely unsuited for the job.After last night’s speech even his sycophants in the press are starting to see that there is no “there” there.
Posted by: Nephron | September 1, 2010, 6:24 pm 6:24 pm
@pauldia:
“arab democracy” is of course a contradiction in terms, as is “jewish democracy”.
Institutionalized religion is incompatible with democracy, as we Americans know very well.
Posted by: Flash Override | September 1, 2010, 7:50 pm 7:50 pm
Just as talks are to begin Hamas attacks… No surprise to those in the region since… Israel CREATED Hamas… You can look it up!
Posted by: CBA | September 1, 2010, 9:37 pm 9:37 pm
Foghorn Leghorn | Sep 1, 2010 5:59:17 PM posted: “Your assertion that this group of Christians are driving our Iran policy should be mocked and ridiculed.”
In reality, I think TV preachers like Hagee have more influence over their audience than U.S. Iran policy. Hagee promotes contempt for diplomacy and uses his interpretation of Genesis 12:3 to argue that America should unconditionally back Israel.
But Hagee’s political impact should not be dismissed either. He launched a lobby organization, Christians United for Israel (CUFI) back in 2006. At CUFI’s July 2010 conference Israeli PM Netanyahu spoke via video and other discussions warned that Muslims would somehow “undermine the fundamental values of the United States.”
For almost a decade the Republican Party has rubbed shoulders with TBN, happy to add their audience as part of a conservative Christian constituency.
Posted by: green.goddess | September 1, 2010, 9:55 pm 9:55 pm
‘Hypocrisy: US condemns killing of Israelis’: M J Rosenberg
September 2, 2010
Finally, someone who dares to question what can only be termed the obscenity of the dehumanization of non-Israeli life and of non-Israeli families.
FOUR Israeli citizens, non-combatants, were murdered yesterday near Hebron. NINE HUNDRED Palestinian citizens, non-combatants, were murdered by the IDF, in Gaza, in January 2009.
The former crime is rightly termed murder. The latter crime is termed collateral damage.
ONE Israeli soldier on active service was captured by Hamas some years previously, is still imprisoned and has now become a cause celebre.
THOUSANDS of Palestinian activists, or suspected activists, were arrested by the IDF some years previously, are now held in Israeli prisons without trial, and are completely forgotten.
What is this termed? JUSTICE? PROPAGANDA? HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS? POLITICAL CORRUPTION? or merely US-Israeli peace initiatives.
There will be clearly be no peace in the region because:
1. LIKUD will never countenance a Palestinian state west of the Jordan and
2. In Israeli and US-Israeli eyes, Palestinians are inferior and unworthy.
3. For so long as such a nonsensical, racist mindset persists in Israel and America, then there will be no peace – not in 2010, 2011 nor 2050 should the US continue to support such an inhumane and racist attitude towards non-Israelis.
Posted by: colindale | September 2, 2010, 7:14 am 7:14 am
The problem is not to hard to understand if you take time to read the”Torah”; if you do you will find that the Jews are not the true Israelite”s of the (Books)… War is good for business, and please don’t even write about blood shed of inocent people; look it, Oh wait,can’t see what (our) bombs on those people in the middle east have done… Two state salutation; “Try to divide the land and listen to the Jew’s scream”. (Bad for business)…
Posted by: Thom Barnes | September 2, 2010, 9:10 am 9:10 am
Islam: The belief in (one God)– Who has No Mother and No son… Muslim: A Person that believes in Islam– The belief in (ONE GOD)… Having been raised a Christian Catholic I had trouble understanding Islamic monothieism untill I read the Torah and Quran…
Posted by: Thom Barnes | September 3, 2010, 7:44 am 7:44 am