Posted on 05/26/2010 3:09:29 PM PDT by Jewbacca
A White House photograph of U.S. President Barack Obama with his feet on his desk while speaking on the phone with Binyamin Netanyahu has turned into a news story in own right, with reporters in Israel and elsewhere speculating that it was meant to send a message of disrespect. The photograph, snapped by White House photographer Pete Sousa, was sent out to news media earlier this week. The ripples began with an article by a political correspondent for the Hebrew-language newspaper Haaretz who noted the photograph and interpreted its meaning in a way that is consistent with the newspaper’s pro-Palestinian Authority position: A photo released by the White House, which shows Obama talking on the phone with Netanyahu on Monday, speaks volumes: The president is seen with his legs up on the table, his face stern and his fist clenched, as though he were dictating to Netanyahu: "Listen up and write 'Palestinian state' a hundred times. That's right, Palestine, with a P." As an enthusiast of Muslim culture, Obama surely knows there is no greater insult in the Middle East than pointing the soles of one's shoes at another person. Indeed, photos of other presidential phone calls depict Obama leaning on his desk, with his feet on the floor. The story was then picked up by at least one Israeli TV newscaster, who in turn was quoted by Howard Arenstein of the World Watch news blog on CBS news. Israeli TV newscasters Tuesday night interpreted a photo taken Monday in the Oval Office of President “Obama talking on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an ‘insult’ to Israel,” Arenstein reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at israelnationalnews.com ...
If the Muslims saw the picture, then THEY got dissed, not Netanyahu because he was on the phone.
I remember once a diplomat by mistake crossed their leg while sitting in a chair facing one of the sheiks.
They had to hustle the guy out of the room before an international incident occurred.
I hadn’t seen it.
“If I recall, Bush did it all the time, too.”
In fact Ford, Bush and Obama all have had pictures taken with their feet on the desk in the oval office. Other Presidents may have been guilty of this as well, but no photographer seems to have caught them in the act.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/photos/desk.asp
The picture was released by the WH with the statement that it was obama talking to Netanyahu.
The arabs are high fiving each other.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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Still relevant but please note the date, 06/12/09
Bush’s feet-up photos were not released by the White House with the statement that he was talking to a foreign head of state. Especially one in the Middle East whose enemies know the shoe sole being shown by the muslim POTUS is an insult.
Now, I guess we never did a get a photo of Clinton talking on the phone to a VIP, with Monica’s face in his lap, did we...
But released by the WH again this week, as noted in the Israeli source dated today, at the link
What a total a&%!
Well the White House could be that stupid, but I think the date at the top of the page defaults to the current date irrespective of the age of the article. Here’s a link to a blog that posted it in July of 20009.
http://www.zimbio.com/Mumbai+Terrorist+Attacks/articles/sTJfAeWX8L2/Israeli+Report+Update+7+2
I’m not going to look anymore, since it was a stupid, offensive move, meant to demean Bibi, a Jew. Doesn’t matter if they didn’t re-release the photo, his contempt for Bibi is as obvious as the Muslim who threw the shoe at GWB.
I realize that, BUT still: Netanyahu could not see the bottom of his shoe. The arabs could.
Why? Do Jews find that insulting as well?
Did the WH really have the temerity to rerelease this photo even as Emmanuel was proffering the invitation to Netanyahu from Obama? After the diplomatic upset it caused by its appearance last year, it’s startling to think that someone could be so clueless as to send it out again!
/Had family working in State Dept and it was offered that while there were plenty of 'imperfect' guests visiting around Embassies; NO group was worse than Democrats. Nasty, arrogant and mean kids in a candy store; stealing the Embassy gift shops blind to empty. . .and ripping off the hotels etc ad nauseum. It was the hey day of Clinton 'Reps'./
Do remember, as well, the 'Navy ship' incident whereby they stole almost all the linens/bedding/towels from ship before leaving. If it was not nailed down. . .it was gone. Navy at least, cried 'foul'. . .
You and I ‘c’ eye to eye on those sitting in our House and I have been wondering of late maybe it was always so.
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