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Is the State Department antisemitic?
Times of Israel ^ | October 8, 2015 | Jonathan Neumann

Posted on 10/09/2015 11:02:02 AM PDT by SJackson

Much has been made of the apparent double standard the State Department has applied to the Israel Defense Forces as against the U.S. military.

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Last summer, the IDF reportedly shelled an UNRWA school in Rafah, an act condemned immediately by the State Dept., before any investigation had taken place, as “disgraceful” and “appalling”. The rationale was that “the suspicion that militants are operating nearby a site like this…does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of innocent civilians.”

With the U.S. bombing of a Doctors Without Borders facility in Afghanistan this week, the spokesperson was asked whether that act should be similarly described on the same grounds. The spokesperson was left dumbstruck, appealing to reporters to wait for investigations to be completed – a mercy that Foggy Bottom had not afforded Israel a year prior.

This double standard is remarkable because it is so glaring (watch the video: it’s cringeworthily).

But yet more remarkable is that it seems to fall foul of the State Department’s own definition of antisemitism. That definition provides “examples of the way in which antisemitism manifests itself with regard to the State of Israel”, and among those examples is “applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”

No doubt the U.S. government will show contrition over this bombing if, following investigations, it is deemed to have been unwarranted. But the question is whether the rationale the State Dept. used to condemn Israel – that the proximity of civilians must thwart military objectives – which is a rationale to which State presumably believes Israel should adhere, will also be adopted by all U.S. military and other agencies in future. If they do not, then it presumably qualifies as behavior demanded only of Israel and thereby falls within the definition. So will it now also guide all U.S. operations from here on out?

That seems doubtful. And that’s because it is a profoundly foolish approach. While civilian causalities should always be minimized, when your enemies deliberately fight in areas densely populated with civilians and consider as one of their chief objectives to maximize civilian casualties – including of locals – to comply with the State Department’s reasoning would mean paralysis in the face of terror. The United States likes to insist that it does not negotiate with terrorists; yet what the State Department is advocating is even worse: simply succumbing to them.

Last summer, the administration’s posture of hostility toward Israel was unprecedented in recent memory, demonstrated by, among other things, knee-jerk reactions like this. In the administration’s eagerness to condemn the Jewish State, it has put its own integrity and possibly also U.S. servicemen and women, and ultimately the American civilians they serve to protect, in jeopardy.

It was not Israel’s act that was disgraceful or appalling but the State Department’s response. As if that was not enough, it now turns out that that response may have been, by that body’s own reckoning, also antisemitic.


TOPICS: Editorial; Israel; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: antisemitism; statedept

1 posted on 10/09/2015 11:02:02 AM PDT by SJackson
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To: SJackson

Is the UN antisemitic?


2 posted on 10/09/2015 11:06:11 AM PDT by Perseverando (For Progressives, Islamonazis & Totalitarians: It's all about PEOPLE CONTROL!)
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To: SJackson

3 posted on 10/09/2015 11:06:35 AM PDT by Diogenesis ("When a crime is unpunished, the world is unbalanced.")
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To: Perseverando

“Is the UN antisemitic?”

Is a bear Catholic? Does the Pope poop in the woods?

Some answers are perfectly obvious.

It is the question that is sometimes confusing.


4 posted on 10/09/2015 11:09:08 AM PDT by alloysteel (Do not argue with trolls. That means they win.)
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To: SJackson

John Kerry probably has architectural blueprints for the Auschwitz main camp framed on the wall of his den at home.


5 posted on 10/09/2015 11:23:46 AM PDT by 17th Miss Regt
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To: SJackson
Yes.


6 posted on 10/09/2015 11:24:15 AM PDT by darkwing104 (Forgive but don't forget)
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

By the administration's standard, yes.

7 posted on 10/09/2015 11:28:07 AM PDT by SJackson (Everybody has a plan until they get hit. Mike Tyson)
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To: SJackson

This double standard is remarkable because it is so glaring


8 posted on 10/09/2015 11:31:53 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: Perseverando

Is the EU antisemitic?


9 posted on 10/09/2015 11:32:13 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: Perseverando

Exactly


10 posted on 10/09/2015 11:34:04 AM PDT by FourPeas ("Maladjusted and wigging out is no way to go through life, son." -hg)
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To: SJackson

Clearly, by the State Department’s own definitions, the State Department is indeed antisemitic.


11 posted on 10/09/2015 11:34:37 AM PDT by Yaelle
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To: MarvinStinson

When I was stationed in Saudi Arabia years ago, I was told of a Foreign Service Officer who had recently departed post. He was a non-practicing Jew who DEMANDED to be sent to Jeddah. After some months of being ignored by the Saudis, with whom he was supposed to interact, he DEMANDED to have his tour cut short and to be reassigned elsewhere.


12 posted on 10/09/2015 11:39:44 AM PDT by Ax ("You'll Never Walk Alone" (LFC))
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To: SJackson

effeminate, sweaty palms, soiled pantyhose, grinding teeth,
irrational and totally emotional, able to lie and smile simultaneously, illogical, feel that jobs will solve the muslim jihadi issue, left/commie, anti amerika, are you a psaki like or harf like indiviual, are you glbt or gender confused or hit ac/dc... HEY YOU JUST PASSED THE STATE DEPT ENTRY QUIZ....

you could be a foggy bottom talking head and the get drafted to the WH.... if you are mentally disabled and willing to look like the southbound end of a northbound horse... giddyap


13 posted on 10/09/2015 11:42:19 AM PDT by zzwhale
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To: SJackson

if the Muslims weren’t already anti=Christian and anti-Jewish, they could learn how excellently from the Snake Department


14 posted on 10/09/2015 12:12:28 PM PDT by faithhopecharity (Brilliant, funny, and incisive Tagline coming to this space soon.....)
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To: SJackson

Is a duck’s ass watertight?


15 posted on 10/09/2015 2:09:45 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows (My music: http://hopalongginsberg.com/ | Facebook: Hopalong Ginsberg | Instagram: hopalonginsberg)
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To: SJackson

No, it’s just pro-jihadi. ;p


16 posted on 10/09/2015 9:59:15 PM PDT by Impy (They pull a knife, you pull a gun. That's the CHICAGO WAY, and that's how you beat the rats!)
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To: SJackson
Is the State Department antisemitic?

Is James Brown dead?

17 posted on 10/09/2015 10:42:36 PM PDT by rdb3 (SOCIAL MEDIA IS A SEWER!)
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