Monthly Archives: May 2016

Venezuelan ambassador to U.N. comes under fire for comparing Israelis to Nazis

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Published May 12, 2016

  • Rafael Ramirez Israel.jpg
    (PHOTO BY MICHAEL CARONNA-POOL/GETTY IMAGES)

Venezuela’s ambassador to the United Nations Rafael Ramírez sparked a diplomatic war of words with Israel last week after making comments during a Security Council meeting comparing Israeli policy toward Palestinians to that of the Nazis in Europe during World War II.

“What is Israel planning to do with the Palestinians?” Ramírez asked during the meeting. “Do the Israelis want the Palestinians to disappear? Is Israel preparing a ‘final solution for the Palestinians similar to what was done to them?”

The comment, which occurred the day after Holocaust Remembrance Day, was quickly condemned by officials in Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom and France.

“This statement by the Venezuelan Ambassador is clear Anti-Semitism against the Jewish state,” Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon said in a statement. “His remarks are a direct continuations to the Palestinian representative’s statement a few days ago comparing Israel to the Nazis. The Palestinians are bringing Antisemitism into the halls of the UN and are legitimizing racists and crass language in the parliament of nations.”

Ramírez’s comments also earned him the criticism of the person who previously hold his job.

“Instead of contributing to the subject, the representative of Venezuela chose to attack the Israeli state in such a miserable way that he has prompted a very serious international reaction, “Diego Arria, the former Venezuelan ambassador to the U.S said.

Ramírez has since apologized for the comment, saying that he was sorry to the “Jewish people if they were offended by the remarks,” but added that Israel had made a “disproportionate response” to his comments.

“We want to clarify that our country has no position against the Jewish people, no position against the Israeli people,” he said. That statement “was politically used there is an entire lobby [effort] aimed at turning our words into something we don’t feel.”

This Ramirez fellow, doesn’t he know that when it comes to Israel he is not suppose to tell the truth or speak his mind? The Israelis don’t like it when someone has the guts to tell it like it is if it’s not in their favor, therefore if you think it, don’t say it. However, if your criticism is directed toward the Palestinians, feel free to announce it to the world.

Thousands of Arabs march for Palestinian return in Israel

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Rahat (Israel) (AFP) – Thousands of Arab Israeli protesters marched in favor of a right of return of millions of Palestinians on Thursday, the same day Israel celebrated its independence.

The Israelis of Palestinian origin were seen carrying Palestinian flags and others holding up signs demanding the right to return for refugees at the rally in the Negev desert. Organizers said it was the first time such a demonstration has been held in the Negev.

Israeli Jews, in contrast, celebrated in public parties in two very different sets of reactions to the 68th anniversary of Israel’s founding. Israelis hail independence day as what they call the reformation of the Jewish state.

For Palestinians, however, the events of 1948 are seen as a “nakba” — catastrophe in Arabic — as more than 760,000 Palestinians, estimated today to number about 5.5 million with their descendants, fled or were driven from their homes.

The Nakba will be formerly marked on May 15. Marchers carried the slogan “On the anniversary of your independence, remember our nakba.”

For the Palestinians, the right to return to homes they fled or were forced out of is a prerequisite for any peace agreement with Israel, but it is a demand the Jewish state has rejected out of hand.

The Israelis Just Can’t Stand it!!

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Bernie’s Israel-Bashing: How Symptomatic Is It?

BY P. DAVID HORNIK APRIL 12, 2016

It’s a strange spectacle from the vantage here in Israel: of the five remaining U.S. presidential candidates, one, lately, has been bashing Israel—and it’s the only one of the five who’s Jewish.

Bernie Sanders’s “recollection” that “over 10,000 innocent people were killed in Gaza” during the summer 2014 war was, as many have noted, five times beyondHamas’s claims. Sanders then changed it to “the number was I think 2100”—which is actually the figure that the UN, not known as a pro-Israel body, came up with, and even the UN said about one-third of that total were terrorists.

That’s a lie. According to the UN report, the vast majority of the people killed were civilians of which 495 were women and 253 children. Assuming that the writer’s figures are correct, that means 1400 civilian people were killed for no reason, not to mention the numerous buildings that were destroyed which housed thousands of people.

For the record, Israel’s Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center carried out a name-by-name analysis of the 75% of the Gaza fatalities who could be identified, and found that, of those, 55% were combatants. (Here former U.S. Chief of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey says that Israel went to “extraordinary lengths” to limit civilian casualties in Gaza.)

Another lie. Israel did not go to “extraordinary lengths” to limit civilian casualties, they actually targeted civilians by destroying their homes and apartment buildings.

Sanders’s astonishing ignorance—he’s been a U.S. senator since 2007—was further revealed when, asked what he thought of Michael Oren’s criticism of his inflated Gaza figures, he answered, “Who is Mr. Oren?” Oren is, of course, the former high-profile Israeli ambassador to the U.S. (2009-2013) and author of the bestselling book Ally on the Obama administration’s hostility toward Israel.

It’s obvious that Bernie Sanders was not ignorant. The only ignorant person is the writer of this article.

But Sanders’s ignorance is not just a personal foible. When it comes to Israeli issues, Sanders is an ideologue. He parrots the standard ideological line of people who do not know what they’re talking about and don’t feel they need to know what they’re talking about, since the ideology comes prepackaged. Trying to add nuance, Sanders said Israel “has a 100%…right to live in freedom,” then added: “we will not succeed to ever bring peace into that region unless we also treat the Palestinians with dignity and respect.”

The last statement of this article, after “then added” is the best and most honest statement that anyone could make. No American President or any member of the congress has the courage to say it but Bernie Sanders did. The Israelis expect to bully their way through the “so called” peace negotiations which the Palestinians long rejected. 

Sanders was not bashing Israel, he was just telling the truth, and the Israelis just can’t stand someone telling the truth when it comes to the Palestinians and Israel!! Why else would a Jew make such unflattering statements about Israel, and bashing Mr. Sanders is not going to change the facts that the Israelis are trying very hard to hide and criticizing Sanders for mentioning them. By the way, only a Jew can get away with such a speech; if someone else said that, he will be branded Ani-Semitic and Israel hater. 

Here’s the rule that the Israelis want everyone to abide by: If the truth is favorable to Israel, which’s rarely the case, announce it to the world; but if the truth condemns Israel, either lie about it or keep it to yourself. That’s why Mr. Sanders does not rank high on their favorite people’s list, because he neither wants to hide the truth nor lie about it.