Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Cheney said Israel can 'hang' Arafat: Israeli minister
AFP ^ | 2/8/02

Posted on 02/08/2002 5:40:41 AM PST by truthandlife

Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer said US Vice President Dick Cheney told him that Israel could "hang" Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as far as he was concerned, Yediot Aharonot reported on Friday.

"The vice president told me: 'As far as I am concerned, you can even hang him,'" Ben Eliezer told the mass circulation paper, adding that he heard similar comments from advisers of US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"On this subject (of Arafat), Cheney is more extreme than Revaham Zeevi," he said, referring to Israel's far-right tourism minister who was assassinated by Palestinian radicals in October.

Ben Eliezer said yesterday after talks in Washington with Cheney, Rumsfeld and US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice that he had called upon Washington to boycott Arafat and to open a dialogue with other Palestinian leaders.

Rice and Cheney told him that talking to Arafat is "a waste of time" and the vice president was the most extreme on this point, he told a press conference in the US capital.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-100 next last
To: The Documentary Lady

True, but Condie said Israel is making a big mistake in the way it's handling everything. Sort of like throwing gasoline on a raging fire. Not appreciated at all.

I know Powell feels this way. He said last week that this administration wants a Palestinian state called "Palestine" when he spoke before Congress. He was met with icy stares from some in office.

61 posted on 02/09/2002 8:24:56 AM PST by Zviadist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

Comment #62 Removed by Moderator

Comment #63 Removed by Moderator

Comment #64 Removed by Moderator

Comment #65 Removed by Moderator

To: Zviadist, The Inquisitor, CommiesOut, tex-oma
I know Powell feels this way.

Powell: Arafat Has Lost Touch With Reality

'In comments made at the end of March, in the presence of United States President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell described Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat as a person who had lost touch with reality.

Powell’s statement will be published Monday in the German weekly Focus ,which will publish confidential memos written by Germany's ambassador to the United States, Jurgen Chrobog, at a March 29 meeting that included Bush, Powell and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

According to Schroeder, the sixth topic of his discussion with Bush and Powell was the Middle East. Bush first briefed Schroeder on his last talk with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, following which Powell briefed him on his last phone conversation with Arafat.

Powell then said that Arafat had lost touch with reality, and that he blamed everyone but himself. Powell then said about Arafat, “The guy is lost.”

It is unfortunate when these comments made behind closed doors leak out...

66 posted on 02/09/2002 10:38:51 AM PST by veronica
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: Zviadist, CommiesOut
This really is an incredible episode.

LOL.

N.Y. Times highlights U.S. PR push on front page Nov. 6, 2001

'Prince Abdullah, the head of the Saudi government, quoted President Bush as saying to him in a telephone call initiated by Bush Nov. 4 that certain U.S. newspaper reports sought to "break the ties between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. and to damage the kingdom's reputation." Said Abdullah: "The President phoned me. He began the conversation by saying that he was sorry. I said, `for what Mr. President?'

He replied, "For what is carried by the newspapers which are trying to drive a wedge between the Kingdom and America and damage its reputation."

Abdullah quoted Bush as saying: "We will not accept this and I will not accept it, and most American people will not accept it."

Abdullah said: "I told the President that newspapers had attributed their reports to some officials. He replied, `This I know. I am now looking for them and when I find them things will be straightened out.'"

White House Denies Apology

The White House Nov. 5 confirmed the call but refused to characterize the comments by Bush as an apology.

The Times on Sunday, Nov. 4, had a lengthy piece questioning whether Saudia Arabia is "heading for an Iranian-style Islamic revolution?"

67 posted on 02/09/2002 10:45:32 AM PST by veronica
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: veronica
Powell then said that Arafat had lost touch with reality

The Arabs lost touch with reality 500 years ago. Now they train their armies and militias to attack only women and children. They have sunk to the bottom of human achievment.

68 posted on 02/09/2002 10:49:03 AM PST by imperator2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: College Repub
Think Daschle. Think Gephardt.

Ben-Eliezer is not just Defense Minister, he is the newly elected head of the Labor Party.

He is a candidate for Prime Minister. He mightily resents Sharon coming to the US at the same time as him, overshadowing him.

He said what he said in a stupid attempt to show the folks back home that he too has a good relationship with the top people in the US administration. That they confide in him.

It was politics, it was stupid, And I hope it drives a further nail into Labor's attempt to resurrect themselves in Israeli politics.

69 posted on 02/09/2002 10:51:57 AM PST by Sabramerican
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: The Documentary Lady
Condie never said that.

She SAID isolating Arafat might make him more popular with his people. Sheesh you get everything wrong...

Bush: We'll Keep Up The Pressure on Arafat - Jerusalem Post

Bush said America supports a Palestinian state that comes about as the result of negotiations and that recognizes Israel’s right to exist. But the president added, “It’s hard to have a peace process as long as there is terror.”

Israel's policy of isolating Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat could boomerang and end up strengthening rather than weakening Arafat in Palestinian eyes, US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice warned.

' Rice's warning came at a meeting with visiting Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer earlier this week. According to Ben-Eliezer, Rice however agreed that talking to Arafat "was a waste of time." The defense minister told Israeli reporters here that Vice President Dick Cheney is "even more extreme than me" with regard to Arafat. Ben-Eliezer yesterday briefed Sharon on his meetings with US officials.

US officials were reportedly upset with Ben-Eliezer for leaking comments made in closed-door meetings.'

70 posted on 02/09/2002 10:55:24 AM PST by veronica
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: CommiesOut
Chutzpa politics....

No, it's just politics not chutzpa politics.

At least there was no headbutting, like in the Russian Parliament. LOL!!

71 posted on 02/09/2002 11:02:21 AM PST by veronica
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

Comment #72 Removed by Moderator

To: veronica

It is unfortunate when these comments made behind closed doors leak out...

Ah, another "leak." Your Israeli buddies sure have creative -- and strategic -- leaking practices.

73 posted on 02/09/2002 1:10:53 PM PST by Zviadist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: The Documentary Lady
You can tell this thread makes some people nervous: the "hit team" has arrived.
74 posted on 02/09/2002 1:12:27 PM PST by Zviadist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 72 | View Replies]

Comment #75 Removed by Moderator

To: Zviadist
The Islamic militants throughout the world and especially he Palestinians are the only military groups in history who focus on and train for attacks primarily on women and children. It is unprecedented in history. Moslem militancy and Palestinians liberation movements specifically, have shown themselves the most cowardly group of mental defectives and malcontents.

Any one who has read the Koran, and experienced its idiotic, disjointed, and irrational ripoff of the Bible, can understand its distorting effects on Moslems' minds.

76 posted on 02/09/2002 1:18:19 PM PST by imperator2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 74 | View Replies]

To: Zviadist
If Cheney said it, what the hell is wrong with the statement?

Arafat is the face of evil. He has publicly promoted his hatred of Israel, sends in women and disturbed individuals to nail bomb innocent civilians, shelters world terrorists, etc.

Wack the son of a bitch.

77 posted on 02/09/2002 1:24:40 PM PST by spectre
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 74 | View Replies]

To: imperator2

The Islamic militants throughout the world and especially he Palestinians are the only military groups in history who focus on and train for attacks primarily on women and children. It is unprecedented in history.

Tell that to the 200 IDF Reservists who have refused to serve, and have claimed that their comrades target women and children in Palestinian territories. There are no saints in this terrible conflict.

78 posted on 02/09/2002 1:50:41 PM PST by Zviadist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 76 | View Replies]

To: Zviadist
Those soldiers are part of the the Israeli left who are just making noise like the Democrats who had a fit when Bush won and are now making a big deal out of enron.
79 posted on 02/09/2002 1:55:54 PM PST by xvb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 78 | View Replies]

To: Tea42
I think he was referring to Arafat discrediting his cause by using terrorism, not us resorting to terrorism.

I agree with what he said. Terrorism is only something you resort to when you are too weak and too unprincipaled to use anything else.

80 posted on 02/09/2002 2:01:04 PM PST by Gamma-131-I
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-100 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson