sister harb
05-17-2008, 06:07 AM
IslamOnline.net & News Agencies
"You have raised a modern society in the Promised Land," Bush told Israeli Knesset. (Reuters)
May 16, 2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — US President George W. Bush's speech to Israeli Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's creation on the rubble of Palestine has earned him ecstatic praise from right-wing Israeli leaders, describing the Republican president a "great friend of Israel".
"It was a Zionist speech in the full sense of the word," said former foreign minister Silvan Shalom, of the Likud party, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported on Friday, May 16.
"His speech was the speech of a member of the National Religious Party," NRP chairman Zvulun Orlev added.
In his speech on Thursday, Bush hailed the close US ally Israel as a mighty democracy where liberty and justice thrive.
"Over the past six decades, the Jewish people have established a state that would make that humble rabbi proud," Bush said.
"You have raised a modern society in the Promised Land.
"And you have built a mighty democracy that will endure forever and can always count on the United States of America to be at your side."
Bush, who arrived in Saudi Arabia on Friday, praised the "unbreakable" alliance between the US and Israel.
"The alliance between our governments is unbreakable, yet the source of our friendship runs deeper than any treaty.
"It is grounded in the shared spirit of our people, the bonds of the Book, the ties of the soul," he said, drawing ecstatic praise from Israeli leaders.
"We were lucky that you sealed this alliance. And for that, Israel owes you a big historic debt," parliamentary speaker Dalia Yitzik said.
Hawkish opposition leader and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, called Bush "a great friend of Israel, a great American patriot."
Politics of Fear
Bush also sparked furor in the US for comparing Democrats who want to speak to Iran and Syria to "Nazi appeasers".
"The president's extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel," Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said.
"It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack."
Bush accused Democrats who seek to speak to Iran and what he said radical groups as being "Nazi appeasers".
"Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939.
"We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."
Obama said in a Democratic presidential debate last July that he would be willing to hold talks, without preconditions, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba.
But he also said he would take no option off the table to stop Iran from using or obtaining nuclear weapons.
Obama's rival Hillary Clinton also denounced Bush's speech as "offensive and outrageous."
"President Bush's comparison of any Democrat to Nazi appeasers is offensive and outrageous, especially in the light of his failures in foreign policy," she said.
"This is the kind of statement that has no place in any presidential address."
Senator Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, accused Bush of indulging in an "ugly pattern" of using national security for political gains.
"Under George Bush, the Middle East has become much more dangerous -- the United States and our allies, including Israel, are less secure. His policy has been an abject failure.
"For him to call those who rightly see the need for change appeasers is truly delusional. And for him to do it from abroad is truly disgraceful."
http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m44091&hd=&size=1&l=e
"You have raised a modern society in the Promised Land," Bush told Israeli Knesset. (Reuters)
May 16, 2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — US President George W. Bush's speech to Israeli Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's creation on the rubble of Palestine has earned him ecstatic praise from right-wing Israeli leaders, describing the Republican president a "great friend of Israel".
"It was a Zionist speech in the full sense of the word," said former foreign minister Silvan Shalom, of the Likud party, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported on Friday, May 16.
"His speech was the speech of a member of the National Religious Party," NRP chairman Zvulun Orlev added.
In his speech on Thursday, Bush hailed the close US ally Israel as a mighty democracy where liberty and justice thrive.
"Over the past six decades, the Jewish people have established a state that would make that humble rabbi proud," Bush said.
"You have raised a modern society in the Promised Land.
"And you have built a mighty democracy that will endure forever and can always count on the United States of America to be at your side."
Bush, who arrived in Saudi Arabia on Friday, praised the "unbreakable" alliance between the US and Israel.
"The alliance between our governments is unbreakable, yet the source of our friendship runs deeper than any treaty.
"It is grounded in the shared spirit of our people, the bonds of the Book, the ties of the soul," he said, drawing ecstatic praise from Israeli leaders.
"We were lucky that you sealed this alliance. And for that, Israel owes you a big historic debt," parliamentary speaker Dalia Yitzik said.
Hawkish opposition leader and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, called Bush "a great friend of Israel, a great American patriot."
Politics of Fear
Bush also sparked furor in the US for comparing Democrats who want to speak to Iran and Syria to "Nazi appeasers".
"The president's extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel," Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said.
"It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack."
Bush accused Democrats who seek to speak to Iran and what he said radical groups as being "Nazi appeasers".
"Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939.
"We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."
Obama said in a Democratic presidential debate last July that he would be willing to hold talks, without preconditions, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba.
But he also said he would take no option off the table to stop Iran from using or obtaining nuclear weapons.
Obama's rival Hillary Clinton also denounced Bush's speech as "offensive and outrageous."
"President Bush's comparison of any Democrat to Nazi appeasers is offensive and outrageous, especially in the light of his failures in foreign policy," she said.
"This is the kind of statement that has no place in any presidential address."
Senator Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, accused Bush of indulging in an "ugly pattern" of using national security for political gains.
"Under George Bush, the Middle East has become much more dangerous -- the United States and our allies, including Israel, are less secure. His policy has been an abject failure.
"For him to call those who rightly see the need for change appeasers is truly delusional. And for him to do it from abroad is truly disgraceful."
http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m44091&hd=&size=1&l=e