http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/gov-rick-perry-reconfirms-his-support-for-israel-and-says-as-president-he-would-consider-withdrawing-us-funding-for-the-un/Gov. Rick Perry reconfirms his support for Israel and says as President, he would consider withdrawing US funding for the UN
This is the first time I’ve ever heard any politician threaten to defund the UN. (Hopefully that would also mean resigning from it and kicking them out of NY)
And now for the Muslim response:
The Cable A top Palestine Liberation Organization official responded to Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s scathing criticisms of the PLO on Tuesday by telling The Cable that Perry’s comments were “discriminatory and racist.”
Perry hosted a pro-Israel rally in New York, during which he repeatedly accused Barack Obama of “appeasement” of the Palestinians and of bungling three years of Middle East diplomacy. He also called for the closing of the PLO mission in Washington, and the cutting off of U.S. aid to the Palestinian leadership as punishment for their drive to seek member-state status at the United Nations.
But the part of Perry’s remarks that really angered the PLO’s Washington representative, Maen Rashid Areikat, was when Perry said, “The Obama policy of moral equivalency, which gives equal standing to the grievances of Israelis and Palestinians, including the orchestrators of terrorism, is a very dangerous insult.” “I was appalled by what he said about ‘moral equivalence,’ that there shouldn’t be moral equivalence between Israelis and Palestinians. This amounts to taking a discriminatory and racist position,” Areikat said.
“I thought the fundamental principles of the United States were to support people who are seeking freedom and liberty and justice and the Palestinian people are doing exactly that,” Areikat continued. “To try to give the impression that there’s no moral equivalence between the struggle of the Palestinians and the Israelis is really something that requires condemnation. It is really surprising and unacceptable.”
Areikat also said that Perry had no authority to call for the closing of the PLO office in Washington, and that doing so would amount to cutting off the relationship between the United States and the Palestinian people. (Well, DUH! Isn’t that the idea?)
“Is he really contemplating that the United States loses its leverage in an important region in the Middle East? If he wants to close down the PLO office in Washington he is calling on the United States to call off its relationship with the Palestinian people, who are a crucial player in this conflict. So is that something that is in the interest of the United States? I don’t think so.” (Think again!)