Tough on Israel 1/5 [Doha Debate]

BBC 090404
- Doha Debate Mch 25, 2009
An often heated discussion at Georgetown University in which a 450-strong mainly student audience voted 63-37 percent in favour of a new Israel policy reflected a sharp mood swing in America, commentators said.

The motion 'This House believes it's time for the US administration to get tough on Israel' was carried convincingly despite passionately-argued support for the status quo from Dore Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the UN, and Alan Dershowitz, a prominent Harvard law professor. The vote came at a time when President Obama's administration is seeking to implement fresh initiatives in the Middle East. It delivered a message to Capitol Hill that America may be ready to ditch decades of virtually unqualified support for Israel.

Arguing in favour of the motion, Michael Scheuer, founder and former head of the CIA's Bin Laden tracking unit, suggested that the present US-Israel relationship undermined national security and Israel should be left to its own devices. He referred to a 'pro-Israel fifth column of US citizens' that 'corrupt US politics' and subordinate US interests to those of Israel. That support had turned Israel into the most 'arrogant, avaricious and treacherous American ally'. Mr. Scheuer said America should cut all ties with Israel and the Palestinians, leaving both sides to settle their disputes without support or interference from outside on the principle that 'no nation has a right to exist and the war's outcome is irrelevant to America'. Supporting him, Avraham Burg, former speaker of the Israeli Knesset and a senior member of the Labour Party spoke of the 'cowboy, isolationist, indifferent, arrogant policy' of the Bush administration which had achieved nothing but a stalemate in the region. Only a 'dramatic turnaround' could change the situation. He likened America's attitude to Israel to that of a 'bad parent' who never says 'no' to their offspring. 'If it calls for tougher measures to unlock the locked horns of both sides, then so be it'.
- http://snipurl.com/fc0li

Category:

Education

Tags:

• US
• Israel
• Palestine
• Doha
• jjvanka

[jjvanka]

@jacoby841 - Within its 1947 borders.

[LordofBarons]

Michael Scheuer reminds me of JFK.

[AbsitReverentiaVero]

lsraeI was actually given conditional terms for statehood, and has failed miserably in upholding them. Making themselves illegitimate. How certain people have used and abused the Jewish world communities to create a Nation/Race is insane. Lost to the public's memory are the true sentiments of worldwide Jewry in the early 20th century. The Jewish community in Palestine actually went to the UN and demanded a "Right of Exclusion" in 1928, to remain sovereign from those forming a state..

[Nir31]

@zeroceiling

I am not outraged. If you are not honest to yourself and see that I am right, I cannot do anything for you.

I honestly will debate even with Neo-Nazis, morbid Antisemitic people or Arabs that are for the total eradication of Jews and Judaism.

But I will never debate with shithead like you that are cynical and hypocrites.

Enjoy your life and happy new year.

From now on I will ignore you so don't waste your time

[Nir31]

@zeroceiling

bye