Marvin will be a big fan of this guy
Richard [censored] Silverstein
Biden Gives Israel Green Light for Iran Attack
July 5th, 2009
I cannot believe what I’ve just read in the N.Y. Times. Joe Biden, in what appears to be either one of his monumental off the cuff gaffes; or else a major change in Obama administration policy–gave Israel a green light to attack Iran.
Plunging squarely into one of the most sensitive issues in the Middle East, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. suggested on Sunday that the United States would not stand in the way of Israeli military action aimed at the Iranian nuclear program.
The United States, Mr. Biden said in an interview broadcast on ABC’s “This Week,” “cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do.”
“Israel can determine for itself — it’s a sovereign nation — what’s in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else,” he said, in an interview taped in Baghdad at the end of a visit there.
If Obama doesn’t backpedal on this then we’ll have to parse the meaning assuming his remarks were orchestrated internally. If so, this would mean that Obama is talking tough to Iran for two purposes–one internal and one external. Internally, he would be trying to steal thunder from the Republicans who are criticizing his Iran policy as consisting of all carrot and no stick. The conservative leadership of the Jewish community (including Aipac and the Israel lobby) would react very favorably to such an apparent change of heart.
Externally, Obama could be sending a signal to the Iranians that his patience is not infinite and that he is willing to sick the dogs on them if they remain intransigent about their nuclear program. This sounds to me like a Dennis Ross special. It has Aipac-Israel lobby spin written all over it.
If Biden did not go off the reservation (as I hope to G-d he did), then it would mean that Obama, is at least in principle, expressing a willingness to abandon his policy, which had been yoked to diplomatic engagement and which had eschewed military solutions. Bibi has specifically begged the U.S. for a green light to attack Iran and until now Obama (and Bush before him) explicitly rejected the entreaty.
In a related development, the Times of London reports that Israel has received tacit approval from Saudi Arabia to use its airspace should it attack Iran. Uzi Mahnaimi, who wrote the story is not known for being the most reliable journalist. In this report he claims that the Mossad chief, who held secret talks with the Saudi, assures prime minister Netanyahu that the Saudis would not object to such an Israeli attack that flew over their airspace. This is a lame, incredible claim on its face. But it does show an Israeli desperation to ratchet up the pressure on Iran. And it also indicates a rather “clever” attempt on the part of the Israeli intelligence services to support their claim that it has “allies” among Arab states who would be happy to see Iran humiliated by an Israeli attack. Of course, no one in the Arab world has lent any credence to the Israeli claim. But that won’t stop them from trying.
Yet another news report claims that Israeli submarines sailed through the Suez Canal on their way to the Red Sea. The purported purpose was to signal the Iranians that Israelis subs could use their Cruise missiles as part of an attack on Iran. Lots of saber rattling going on. This is what the Obama administration has just encouraged. If you wanted to stir up a nuclear hornet’s nest I couldn’t think of a better way to do it.
For Obama to turn away from a peaceful resolution of its disagreements with Iran would be a major breach and deeply disappointing to those of us who have supported him in the expectation that we would see a realist-pragmatist foreign policy in place of the Bush era Rough Rider approach to conflict.
Someone will have to explain to me how Biden’s words are any different than those delivered by Dick Cheney on the Don Imus Show when he raised the possibility that Israel would attack Iran and that the U.S. would be understanding of its reasons for doing so. Is this why we elected Joe Biden and Barack Obama to office? So they could parrot the policies of the previous discredited inhabitants of the White House??
I’m hoping that we’re going to see a response from the White House saying Biden misspoke. If not, this is a cold wind that bodes ill.
UPDATE: This “clarification” from the White House is entirely disingenuous and dissatisfying and indicates that Obama thinks he can have it both ways (which he ultimately can’t):
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said Biden’s remarks did not signaling any change of approach on Iran or Israel.
“The vice president refused to engage hypotheticals, and he made clear that our policy has not changed.”
Obama, while he never took military option off the table, never offered Israel any opening to attack Iran. This is a new and deeply troubling page in Obama administration policy toward Iran. Saber rattling has not worked for the Bushites regarding Iran and it will not work for Obama. If you want a peaceful resolution you pursue that. If you want war, you pursue that. Trying to sit on the fence doesn’t work especially in a political-diplomatic environment which is so charged.
ShareThis
Posted in Mideast Peace, Politics & Society | 9 Comments »
Former U.S. Congresswoman, Nobel Laureate Imprisoned by Israel
July 3rd, 2009
The Israeli government is attempting to compel the 23 abducted human rights workers who were sailing to Gaza as part of a humanitarian effort to break the Israeli blockade, to sign a deporation order that would prohibit them from visiting Israel for the next ten years. If they do not sign, Israel will continue to illegally imprison them. If they do sign, they have admitted violating Israel’s blockade and entering Israeli territorial waters without permission. That will bar them from the country for 10 years.
Just as an aside, when Norman Finkelstein was similarly and scandalously imprisoned by Israel when he attempted to visit a friend on the West Bank, he was willing to sign this deportation order, which I feel was a mistake on his part. But it’s hard to argue with the fact that spending an undetermined amount of time in an Israeli prison is one of the more unpleasant things that can happen to you and I can understand why one would seek to depart as quickily as possible. And he clearly isn’t planning or needing to spend any “quality time” in Israel anytime soon anyway. Feelings aren’t terribly warm and fuzzy between Finkelstein and the State of Israel (or its leaders anyway).
The Free Gaza Movement activists have not taken the bait and remain in prison. The U.S. government has not made the case a high profile one feeling it has bigger fish to fry regarding the settlement freeze issue. But the Obama folks are going to eventually face facts that having an ostensible U.S. ally holding four of our citizens for the crime of sailing a former ferry filled with medicine and other humanitarian aid to Gaza via international waters, is intolerable.
Someone will also have to explain to me how Gaza’s territorial waters have become Israel’s if the latter has truly withdrawn from Gaza as it likes to claim. The answer is the same as the one the White Rabbit gave: “a word means what I want it to mean, nothing more, nothing less.” So Israel conveniently abuses international maritime law and appropriates Gaza’s territorial waters when it suits; and when it doesn’t it claims it washed its hands of Gaza long ago and has no interest in it.
Also, can someone explain to me why Fox News has been providing the most extensive coverage of this incident in all the U.S. media. Not a word in the N.Y. Times, whose correspondent, Ethan Bronner apparently can’t be bothered to cover such an ‘insignificant’ story.
ShareThis
Posted in Mideast Peace, Politics & Society | 14 Comments »
A Perfect Seattle Summer Day, ‘Three Girls and Their Buddy’ Zootunes Concert
July 2nd, 2009
Wow. I’m actually taking a day off from writing about the Israeli-Arab conflict. And I’m going to write about something pleasant, peaceful and idyllic for a change.
Don’t tell anyone (in case they decide they should move here), but Seattle summers are simply glorious. And I’m going to tell you about one summer day (today).
My son, Jonah has spent the last two weeks in a musical theater camp taught by his public school music teacher. The musical’s theme was “outer space.” The kids did everything: made costumes, sets, learned lines, songs, and even baked dessert for the after performance dinner. Besides all this, they did day trips to the Museum of Flight and the University of Washington planetarium to learn more about space. They even picked 40 pounds of fresh raspberries at Remlinger Farms and made ice cream and pie out of it for the dinner.
Jonah loves tending and picking the greens in our home garden. So he informed me that we had to make a salad for the dinner. He was very worried about my doing the job and even wanted to start picking the greens the day before the event himself. I promised him I would do it earlier today so the greens would stay fresh. So I went out back and picked lettuce, spinach, sorrel, basil and Johnny Jump Ups, and the first purple bean of the season, along with snap peas from the Farmer’s Market, and we had ourselves a wonderful fresh summer salad.
The songs chosen for the musical were mostly wacky funny old rock and pop songs from the 60s and 70s. In their original form, these songs were at best insipid. But somehow when a group of children start singing about a “one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater” it is transformed into something charming. The production was amazingly resourceful. As I wrote, the kids made everything themselves. You shoulda seen the flying purple people eater! And they did it in the same spirit that Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney used to say: “Gee, let’s put on a show,” in those old MGM movies.
The entire thing was utterly charming from start to finish. Jonah was also jazzed that his mom invited a whole group of neighbors to walk down the street to the local church which hosted the performance. He had a very friendly audience! But the kids would’ve won over the most somber audience.
Even after we left the church grounds on our way to hear Emmylou Harris’s Three Girls and Their Buddy concert, my wife kept marveling at how wonderful the performance was.
At any rate, we made our way to the Woodland Park Zoo, where one of my favorite female performers in the world, Emmylou Harris was joining with Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin and Buddy Miller for an outdoor performance in the Zoo’s north meadow. The space is a wonderful bowl surrounded by mature maple and pine trees. The summer evening was gorgeous with brilliant sunny weather.
At the Zootunes concert last week, when we came to see Mavis Staples and Allen Toussaint, we witnessed a bald eagle trailed by 10 crows who harried it incessantly. A wonderful sight and only here in our beautiful Northwest.
The concert was wonderful. I especially love the Shawn Colvin song which she sang tonight, I Don’t Know Why I Love These Things But I Do. It is simply one of the most profound, moving love songs I’ve ever heard and one of the best songs she’s ever written. As an aside, Allison Krause and Union Station turned it into a pretty credible up tempo bluegrass tune in their cover version.
But the piece de la resistance was Patty Griffin’s closing encore, Mary. The YouTube video here only begins to do justice to the gorgeous interweaving of heavenly harmonies in the final minute of the song when the three women’s voices simply soar. But listen to the video to get an approximation of how it sounded tonight.
Because Zoo Tunes concerts begin at 6 PM, tonight’s show ended at 8 and we didn’t want to go home before the kids were asleep (what’s the point of going out if you come home and have to put your kids to bed?). So I suggested that we have dessert at the Volunteer Park Cafe, which turned out to be lovely idea. We had a blueberry rhubarb crisp topped with whipped cream. It came out of the oven steaming hot. The sauce was thick and syrupy and had an intensely strong blueberry flavor. Again, another perfect Northwest summer dessert.
Even though we’ve lived here now for ten years, I still had to tell my wife how lucky we are to live here.
And please, remember, you didn’t hear this from me. We’d prefer to keep Seattle a secret just amongst ourselves. Just keep in mind all that foul, dark rainy winter weather we’re supposed to have (we actually average 10 inches LESS of rain yearly than New York City!). That ought to keep most of you away!
ShareThis
Tags: emmylou-harris, patty griffin song mary, seattle summer, volunteer-park-café, woodland park zoo, zootunes
Posted in Children & Family, Folk & World Music, Seattle, The Arts | 1 Comment »
N.Y. City Council Votes to Add Muslim Holidays to School Calendar
July 1st, 2009
Quick, someone get Daniel Pipes, the Islamists are restless. It appears they’re about to take over the NYC school system and perhaps even the City Council. How else to explain that the Council voted with only one nay to add the two most important Muslim holidays to the school calendar.
The only city official standing in the way of the adoption of the measure is the mayor, who remains to be convinced that a religious group comprising 12% of the school population deserves to have its own holiday recognized by the city. If Mayor Bloomberg is smart he’ll get those trusty Islamist-busters, Pipes and Stop the Madrasa on the case. In short order, they make a total mess out of the situation and have Jews and Muslims at each others throats. Which is just as it should be, right?
What puzzles me is that Bloomberg, who is up for re-election, doesn’t seem to be able to do the math: there are 600,000 Muslim voters in N.Y. To diss them doesn’t seem like an optimal election strategy. Furthermore, this comment isn’t going to help things:
The mayor told reporters before the vote that not all religions could be accommodated on the holiday schedule, only those with “a very large number of kids who practice.”
“If you close the schools for every single holiday, there won’t be any school,” he said.
Of course, Bloomberg is also thinking about the flack he’ll catch from the Muslim-haters among the 2-million Jewish voters. So I guess Mike’s solution is to ignore the Muslims and hope they’ll just go away. That oughta work.
ShareThis
Tags: add two muslim holidays to school calendar, new york city council
Posted in Jews & Judaism, Mideast Peace, Politics & Society | 4 Comments »
IDF Kidnaps U.S. Citizens, Nobel Laureate in Gaza Waters
June 30th, 2009
Let anyone who claims there is no difference between a Likud or Kadima government take note of Israel’s act of piracy on the high seas today when it surrounded an unarmed former ferry carrying 23 human rights activists (including a former U.S. Congresswoman, a Nobel laureate and 21 others) and humanitarian aid to Gaza. In similar past circumstances, the Olmert government allowed several such ships to dock in Gaza with their humanitarian cargo. The ship seized earlier today was attempting to break Israel’s siege against Gaza, which itself is a violation of international law.
All American citizens, whether you agree with the politics involved or not should be outraged by this violation of the norms of international and maritime conduct. American officials should be demanding that its four citizens be released immediately. Israel had no right to intercept this ship, nor to impound it or detain its passengers. It has no right to forcibly transfer them to Israeli territory.
The Free Gaza Movement released this statement by former Rep. McKinney:
“This is an outrageous violation of international law against us. Our boat was not in Israeli waters, and we were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip,” said Cynthia McKinney, a former U.S. Congresswoman and presidential candidate. “President Obama just told Israel to let in humanitarian and reconstruction supplies, and that’s exactly what we tried to do. We’re asking the international community to demand our release so we can resume our journey.”
And Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire made the following protest:
“The aid we were carrying is a symbol of hope for the people of Gaza, hope that the sea route would open for them, and they would be able to transport their own materials to begin to reconstruct the schools, hospitals and thousands of homes destroyed during the onslaught of “Cast Lead”. Our mission is a gesture to the people of Gaza that we stand by them and that they are not alone” said fellow passenger Mairead Maguire, winner of a Noble Peace Prize for her work in Northern Ireland.
I should add that the Israeli navy will impound the ship in order to inhibit the future work on the FGM. Pressure must be exerted to get Israel to release the ship undamaged (it is highly likely that Israel will render the ship inoperable or permanently crippled if it ever does return it).
FGM suggests that those who wish to help may contact the following:
CONTACT the Israeli Ministry of Justice
tel: +972 2646 6666 or +972 2646 6340
fax: +972 2646 6357
CONTACT the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
tel: +972 2530 3111
fax: +972 2530 3367
CONTACT Mark Regev in the Prime Minister’s office at:
tel: +972 5 0620 3264 or +972 2670 5354
[email protected]CONTACT the International Committee of the Red Cross to ask for their assistance in establishing the wellbeing of the kidnapped human rights workers and in securing their immediate release!
Red Cross Israel
tel: +972 3524 5286
fax: +972 3527 0370
[email protected]Red Cross Switzerland:
tel: +41 22 730 3443
fax: +41 22 734 8280
Red Cross USA:
tel: +1 212 599 6021
fax: +1 212 599 6009
ShareThis
Tags: free gaza movement, israel seizes gaza peace ship, nobel laureate kidnapped by idf
Posted in Mideast Peace | 61 Comments »
Barak Meets Mitchell, Result–’Bupkis’ (Nothing)
June 30th, 2009
Smiles belie disagreements between Israel and U.S. (AP)
Smiles belie disagreements between Israel and U.S. (AP)
Last week, Bibi Netanyahu was scheduled to meet with George Mitchell in Paris. Shimon Shiffer of Yediot Achronot reported that Mitchell cancelled and told the Israelis to come back when they had something real to put on the table. The result was Ehud Barak’s half-baked settlement freeze “compromise,” which had the legs cut out from under it by half the members of the senior ministerial committee that considered it, before Barak even presented it to the Americans. Such is the fragmented, dysfunctional nature of the current Israeli government.
Anyway, Israel’s Mr. Smith went to Washington and met with Mitchell today and the result was…bupkis–nothing. But what’s really interesting is to see how two Israeli reporters report the same event. Let’s start with the more credible version from Maariv’s Meirav David (in Hebrew):
According to Barak, the meeting was positive. But by its conclusion there was no resolution of the disagreement between Israel and the U.S. Barak tried to persuade Mitchell to open a more comprehensive regional peace process [rather than dealing with settlements].
Those in Barak’s party agreed that in the longer-term it will be necessary for Israel to agree to a formulation which will stop settlement construction. But in the course of the meeting neither Mitchell nor Barak succeeded in finding a satisfactory formulation.
Now note how Haaretz’s Barak Ravid reports the same meeting:
Defense Minister Ehud Barak and U.S. special Mideast envoy George Mitchell agreed during their talks in New York this week that Israel must take action toward easing access for Palestinians in the West Bank and halting settlement activity.
Their four-hour discussion brought Israel and the United States closer to ending its dispute over settlement construction, a source close to Barak said.
Mitchell did not explicitly tell Barak that Israel must impose a complete freeze on settlements – as the U.S. has been demanding – but rather emphasized that Jerusalem must take “action” on the matter, according to a Defense Ministry statement following the talks.
Asked whether Israel would declare a temporary settlement building freeze, Barak told reporters following the meeting: “I think that it’s a little bit too early to predict.
…While significant progress was made in the talks, said the source close to Barak, differences remain over a number of subjects.
“There is still disagreement, but the direction is positive and there is a good dialogue,” a source close to the defense minister said.
First, Ravid has told you that Barak’s “freeze-lite” proposal either wasn’t even floated at the meeting or wasn’t taken seriously when it was. Second, Ravid has spun the meeting with some positive flim-flam that has absolutely no basis in fact. You read his article and find me one concrete factual development that accords with the positive spin he’s given to the story. Then, keep in mind that the Maariv reporter more accurately noted there essentially was no agreement on anything of substance. The only thing they agreed on was that Mitchell would be back in the Middle East in two weeks. Big deal.
Third, the notion that Mitchell didn’t tell Barak that Israel had to impose a total settlement freeze is preposterous on its face. After all, this IS declared U.S. government policy. To believe that Mitchell would not have reiterated the stated policy of his own government is to say that Mitchell is an incompetent envoy. And believe me, Mitchell is NOT incompetent.
So as far as Ravid’s report is concerned, it’s simply not credible. Among close observers of the Israeli media Ravid is a reporter known for having extremely cozy relationships with his establishment govenrment sources. In such an environment, reporters and sources scratch each others’ backs and the former tailor reporting to make their sources look as good as possible. It appears that Meirav David doesn’t feel the need to do this, bless him.
H/t Sol Salbe. Comment is Free today published my take on the meeting, Settlement Freeze Fraud, which was written yesterday before it had taken place. As usual the comment thread with a few exceptions has been monopolized by pro-Israel rightists and a bit of reason and light from those with a different perspective would be helpful.
ShareThis
Tags: barak meets mitchell in new york, barak ravid, israel u.s. cannot reach agreement on settlement freeze, meirav david maariv
Posted in Mideast Peace, Politics & Society | 2 Comments »
Sabeel Founder, Naim Ateek, in Seattle-Everett
June 30th, 2009
Canon Naim Ateek
Canon Naim Ateek
July 18-20, 2009
Canon Naim Ateek is an Episcopalian priest, and often referred to as “The Desmond Tutu of Palestine”. He was born in the Palestinian village of Beisan, south of the Sea of Galilee, and grew up in Nazareth. Ateek established the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem in 1991. Before that, he served as Canon of St. George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem and as a parish priest in Haifa and Nazareth.
www.sabeel.orgHe is scheduled to speak on:
SATURDAY, JULY 18th
Kadima House, 10:00 to noon - 12353 8th Ave. NE, Seattle 98125
This service will be the first time that Ateek has been a guest at an American Jewish congregation
Ascension Episcopal Church, 6:30 PM – 2330 Viewmont Way West, Seattle
Reservations: $50 at Brown Paper Tickets (800) 838-3006
www.brownpapertickets.comSUNDAY, JULY 19th
Saint Marks Cathedral – 1245 Tenth Ave. East, Canon Naim Ateek will preach at the regular 9 and 11 am services.
MONDAY, JULY 20th
First Presbyterian Church, – 2936 Rockefeller Avenue, Everett, lunch with Canon Naim Ateek featured speaker. 12 noon to 2:00 PM Reservations by calling 425-259-7139. Leave name and number attending.
Ateek’s newest book is A Palestinian Christian Cry for Reconciliation, which will be available on his July tour in Western Washington.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/ copy and paste he blocked this site