And Netanyahu was not only weak enough to submit to this ludicrous demand, but he failed to get a single concession in return - not even the release of Jonathan Pollard who has been rotting in a US jail for 28 years for 'spying for Israel' (longer than any other spy has ever been imprisoned in the US).
As Barry Rubin explains there is simply no good reason why Israel has agreed to this 'concession'.
If Obama really is not a pure antisemite - as every one of his foreign policy decisions clearly indicates - then for consistency the next time he wants to negotiate (say, with the Russians) I assume he will offer to release a large number of mass murderers in the US as a gesture of goodwill. For example, Charles Manson and his followers would be a good start because Obama could then claim that their release will bolster the position of all ageing Hippies in the community. Or even better Obama can simply release his own mass murdering jihadists such as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (the Boston bomber) and Nidal Malik Hasan (the Fort Hood killer). Such a gesture - as well as the prisoners themselves - would be welcomed by every one of the world's 58 Muslim countries.
I am sure Obama will be as well supported by the US people as Netanyahu is by the Israeli people in agreeing to such a prisoner release.
Charles Manson: For consistency Obama should now release him as a gesture of goodwill to the Hippie community |
Great post. I was going to get in touch to tell you what I heard on Sky news around lunch time a few days ago. Tim Marshall was on to explain the background to the peace talks. Tim Marshall shares salient points and explains concessions made by Israelis with the prisoner release, but then the female anchor says "so both sides have made major concessions then....". I thought 'hang on a minute, I didnt hear Tim Marshal say anything about Palestinian concessions. What is going on?
ReplyDeleteAbbas has also stated that he does not want 'one Jew' in their territory or future state. Where is the outrage in this statement? In Israel most Arabs are accepted and live in piece. It's only the Palestinian zealots that regularly stir up unrest. What would be said if any western country wanted to expel all but indigenous peoples and allow no incoming migration?
Brian
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. Sky News are in many respects even worse than the BBC (have complained to them many times about their bias). Regarding the "Jew-free" Palestine: indeed the EU is obsessively in favour of freedom of movement across international borders, and obsessively against anty kind of expulsions ..... all except of course when it comes to the Jews...