Posted on 12/04/2005 5:15:37 PM PST by SJackson
ZOA Deeply Concerned: Bush Omitted Israel From List of Countries Hit by Islamist Terrorists
December 1, 2005
Contact Morton A. Klein at:www.zoa.org Attn: NEWS EDITOR
Bush mentioned Jordan, S Arabia, Iraq as victims - not Israel
ZOA DEEPLY CONCERNED: PRESIDENT BUSH OMITTED ISRAEL FROM LIST OF COUNTRIES HIT BY ISLAMIST TERRORISTS
New York - The ZOA has expressed deep concern that President George W. Bush, in a major speech in Annapolis yesterday, omitted any mention of the Jewish state of Israel when referring to countries that have been victim of Islamist terrorism. Israel is of course Islamist terrorism's most consistent target. In his speech, President Bush said, "The terrorists in Iraq share the same ideology as the terrorists who struck the United States on September the 11th. Those terrorists share the same ideology with those who blew up commuters in London and Madrid, murdered tourists in Bali, workers in Riyadh, and guests at a wedding in Amman, Jordan. Just last week, they massacred Iraqi children and their parents at a toy give-away outside an Iraqi hospital" (www.whitehouse.gov , November 30).
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, "In this speech, President Bush made mention of seven countries that have been hit by Islamist terrorist groups, yet Israel was conspicuously absent. This is despite the fact that Israel is attacked or attempted to be attacked by Islamist terrorists on a daily basis. Israel has also suffered far more from this Islamist horror than any other country in the world. In fact, over 1,700 of its citizens have been murdered and 10,000 more maimed by Islamist terrorism since 1993. It's also remarkable that President Bush mentioned three Arab countries affected in the Middle East yet not the one Jewish country in the Middle East most affected. He even mentioned Saudi Arabia, despite the fact that the Saudi regime is the world's biggest supporter of Islamist terrorism, raising funds for suicide bombers and promoting hatred and murder of Americans and Jews in its Wahhabi mosques around the world. The President also referred to specific terrorist attacks, including terrorist massacres that occurred months and even years ago, but he did not refer to any of the innumerable terrorist massacres in Israel.
"None of the countries mentioned by President Bush have suffered anything like the on-going, massive brutality meted out by the terrorists striking Israel. The President could have referred to any one of a number of terrorist assaults on Israel, from the murder of 21 and maiming of 90 people in the suicide bombing of the Tel Aviv Dolphinarium discotheque in 2001, or the murder of 26 people and the wounding of 140 more in a packed Passover Seder at Netanya's Park Hotel on Passover Eve, 2002, or the suicide bombing in the Hadera market just over a month of ago, which killed five and wounded over 30 Israelis, not to mention the hundreds of missiles that continue to land in Israel from Gaza.
"We at the ZOA cannot understand how Israel, the Middle East's only democracy and the United States' most reliable ally, could have been omitted from the President's list of countries targeted by Muslim terrorists. We urge President Bush to clarify this omission of Israel immediately. It is not in the interest of the U.S. war on terrorism to appease the Arab and Islamic countries by not mentioning Jews of Israel as the major victims of this terrorist onslaught. Omitting Israel from this victims list can only make the Western world and the Arab/Islamic world feel that the U.S. does not really care about the plight of the Jews of Israel, which can only increase the danger to Israel and its people."
If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.
In politics, and political speeches, nothing is by accident.
The list was exclusive to Al-Qaeda... It was not a comprehensive list by any means.
This is an old saw brought up again and again. Yet so often it turns out to be untrue.
What's an old saw?
Looking at the list given, lets name off some of the others who are "conspicuously absent" from countries where Islamic terrorists have hit since 9-11. The story lists the US, the UK, Spain, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq.
A quick additional 7: Russia, China, India, the Philippines, Sudan, Nigeria, Serbia.
You could easily add another 7. Lebanon, Serbia, Germany, France, Egypt, Algeria (it should probably be in bold - how do their numbers compare with Israel?), Nigeria.
You can supply the next 7.
I have an old saw...
No thanks... I'm not really looking for an old saw... LOL!
It's a dangerous misdiagnosis...
Nationalistic? If they thought it could be used to advantage, the Democrats would declare al Qaida in Iraq nationalistic in a heartbeat. And they wouldn't be far from wrong. Freeing Islamic lands from infidels is inherently nationalistic, whether it's Iraq, Israel, or Spain. As is instituting Islamic governments, whether Afghanistan, Egypt, or Saudi Arabia. And the tactic of murdering civilians is terrorism.
Does Bush have to put on a Kefiya for people to understand?
That makes the conflict local and readily solved through diplomacy.
You are right about the dems... except Al Qaida has already declared that it is not nationalistic but Islamic...
So, where are we agree what terrorism is, many experts make a difference between the types of terrorist organizations.
Think Baader Meinhoff group in the late 1970's. They, along with PFLP hi-jacked the plane to Entebbe. Baader Meinhoff group would be considered anarchists, PFLP a nationalistic group. Personally, I think they are all murdering thugs and the scum of the earth, and death is the only solution.
Israel: the victim whose name must not be spoken (diplomatically).
The President had a specific subject in his speech, hilighting terror attacks that were specifically done by Al-Qaida since 9/11....
Don't you get tired of excusing the inexcusable?
Defending the President means twisting into odd configurations explaining why one murderous Islamic terrorism gang is different then the next Islamic terrorists murderers.
If they bomb a bus in London, or murder Americans in Iraq, or bomb a hotel in Jordan, it's Al-Qaida, and evil.
If they bomb a bus in Tel Aviv, it's just Hamas, and they are misunderstood statesmen who would reform if allowed to run for office.
If you can stay on topic long enough to realize that speech he gave was specific. It was specific in context... specific in why he listed the countries he did. Israel wasn't mentioned because Israel didn't fit the criteria for this particular speech.
That's not excusing... that's stating a fact.
That's the first part of your post...
Now for the second part...
If you've read any of my posts you know that I believe that those who blow up a bus in Tel Aviv are the purest of evil... I have never heard the President say differently.
As for Hamas... how do you equate Hamas with Begin or Shamir? Same or differently...
The speech does not come in a vacuum.
It comes in a long series of Administration policies and pronouncements hostile and dangerous to Israel but favorable to her enemies.
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