Posted on 11/02/2011 7:45:30 AM PDT by tobyhill
Western countries have criticised an Israeli decision to accelerate settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague called the Israeli move "provocative and unhelpful".
France and Germany said it would hinder efforts for peace.
Israel announced its intention to speed up settlement building a day after the Palestinians won full membership of the UN cultural organisation, Unesco.
"This settlement building programme is illegal under international law and is the latest in a series of provocative and unhelpful settlement announcements," Mr Hague said in a statement.
He also criticised Israel's temporary withholding of Palestinian tax revenues, which was announced at the same time, and called for a reversal of both decisions.
French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said: "Settlement building in the West Bank as well as in east Jerusalem is illegal in international law and is a threat to the two-state solution".
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Israel is shrugging it off. If the Europeans had used a tenth of the outrage they direct at Israel to prevent the Palestinians from abrogating their Oslo obligations, Israel’s measures would not be necessary. They should sit down and shut up!
Let me see if I have this straight.
Firing missiles at Israeli civilians: Not provocative.
Building houses: Provocative.
So what?
My first reaction to this story is, “Who gives a rat’s ass what the Europeans say about ANYTHING?”
However, I must respond. The English bloke should shut his pie hole until he issues a formal apology to the world for his nation’s several hundred years of colonization and brutal occupation of many countries. Also, when the Brits leave Ireland and Scotland, maybe they’ll have a leg to stand on in lecturing Israel...a couple hundred years later.
France? Really? Ask the Vietnamese and the Algerians (for starters - there are a lot more victims of the Fwenchies) what they think of French occupation - those that survived, that is. Oh, and after that “little” dust-up started by Napoleon (which could easily qualify as the first true world war), maybe the Froggies should also STFU.
The Germans?! The same ones that in the span of a single lifetime invaded France 3 times and started no less than 2 genuine world wars and murdered well over 10 million people during the last episode - all in the name of lebensraum - THOSE Germans are going to presume to lecture the Israelis about building housing units for its population on land taken away from an aggressor nation in a war of self-preservation, on land that is without any doubt the ancestral homeland of the majority of Israelis? Really?
I like the Europeans better when they stick to making food (the French - please, not the English!), beer (the Krauts) and making movies that poke fun of their own inbred, demented culture (the English - thank you, Monty Python). Otherwise, they should really just STFU, they only make fools of themselves and cause more trouble.
Damn well said!
Thanks, for putting it in print.
God's chosen people, that continue to be secular, and the peoples devout and orthodox, have and do live according to the social justice rules they agree upon and they do share with the Palestinians. Electricity, food, monies .. it is a war zone, daily.
Tough way to live.
Father God protect thy people with thy mighty hand and keep them safe. Give them understanding and wisdom, and bless and curse not. In Jesus name amen.
The US has joined criticism of Israel's decision to accelerate settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem after Palestinians joined UN cultural agency, Unesco.
So, shouldn't you include the US in your tirade. Here, let me do it for you.
"The USA? Really? Ask the natives there when they'll be getting their land back...maybe Obama should STFU and those Americans should stick to making bad rom-coms instead of telling Israel what to do."
Hope that helped.
Of course, all Western nations should STFU when it comes to lecturing Israel about its settlements.
First of all, the US is not as pure as the driven snow when it comes to treatment of various minority populations. For example, Indians, Blacks and the Japanese-Americans in WW2. That said, we’re quite far from the low standards set by the Europeans over the centuries. Further, no country (well, Canada, maybe) can credibly claim no abuse in this regard - and I think that the entire world would be far better off if they just stayed out of everyone else’s business.
WRT what the Obama Administration just did, it has placed itself on a very low moral level. Obama may legally speak for this nation regarding foreign affairs, but he doesn’t speak for the sentiment of its people. The US has been incredibly friendly to Israel over the last few decades, and it is because of that sentiment that it has been.
Do you really want to throw in with Obama, and the traditionally anti-Israel Europeans?
Hope that helped, too.
I don't know if the poster has changed the headline, or the BBC changed it after it was linked to here on FR. Either way it gives the impression that the US has been removed from the story so that it is only Europeans criticizing Israel.
You then launch into a rant - "inbred, demented culture". I just pointed out that if you're going to bash the UK, France and Germany based on this story, you should bash the US as well.
P.S. "Also, when the Brits leave [...] Scotland..." makes about as much sense as "When the Americans leave New York"
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