Netanyahu Says Obama 'Wearing Badge of Honor'
PM Binyamin Netanyahu thanked US president Barack Obama for standing with Israel, saying it was "a badge of honor."
By Gavriel Queenann
First Publish: Arutz Sheva - 9/21/2011, 8:46 PM
[Freeman Note: We wish Natanyahu would tell the truth that Obama is the most anti-Israel and anti-Jewish president the US has ever had. Remember the old saying "When you have dinner with the Devil, you had best use a long fork. And never sit too close."
Netanyahu, 11.9.11
Israel news photo: Flash 90
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu thanked US President Barack Obama for his continued opposition to the Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas' statehood gambit at the United Nations, saying the president's stance was "a badge of honor."
"I want to thank you, Mr. President, for standing with Israel and supporting peace through direct negotiations," Netanyahu said. "We both agree this is the only way to achieve peace. We both agree that Palestinians and the Israelis should sit down together and negotiate an agreement of mutual recognition and security. I think this is the only way to get to a stable and durable peace."
Netanyahu did not directly challenge Obama's assertion that "the Palestinians deserve a state," but did dissent by saying PA arabs were unwilling to give Israel in peace - and that the bid "will not succeed."
"You’ve also made it clear that the Palestinians deserve a state, but it’s a state that has to make that peace with Israel, and therefore their attempt to shortcut this process, not negotiate peace – that attempt to get state membership in the United Nations will not succeed. I think the Palestinians want to achieve a state in the international community, but they’re not prepared yet to give peace to Israel in return," Netanyahu said.
Expressing hope the international community would back away from support for Abbas' unilateral move in favor of bilateral negotiations, Netanyahu said, "And my hope is that there will be other leaders in the world, as part of the UN, who will meet your call, Mr. President, and oppose this effort to shortcut peace negotiations – in fact to avoid them – because I think that avoiding these negotiations is bad for Israel, bad for the Palestinians and bad for peace."
Netanyahu also commended Obama for standing firm in the face of the "automatic majorities" commanded by the Arab League and its allies in the Organization for African Unity, and Organization of Islamic Countries, which have traditionally voted as a block.
"I know that these leaders are under enormous pressure and I know that they are also in this house which has, from personal experience I can tell you, automatic majorities against Israel, but I think that standing your ground, taking this position of principle, which is also, I think, the right position to achieve peace – I think this is a badge of honor and I want to thank you for wearing that badge of honor, and also to express my hope that others will follow your example, Mr. President. So I want to thank you."
Netanyahu is attending the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York in order to "speak Israel's truth to anyone who will listen."
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Senators Challenge Obama on Foreign Policy on Israel
A resolution introduced by several U.S. lawmakers challenges Obama’s policy on Israel by opposing an Israeli withdrawal to 1949 armistice lines.
By Elad Benari
First Publish: Arutz Sheva - 6/15/2011, 2:39 AM / Last Update: 6/15/2011, 3:13 AM
File photo
Several U.S. senators have decided to challenge President Barack Obama’s policy towards Israel by introducing a resolution that opposes any
Israeli withdrawal to the indefensible 1949 armistice lines.
The resolution was introduced last Thursday by Republican Senator Orrin Hatch from Utah and independent Senator Joe Lieberman from Connecticut.
“It is contrary to United States policy and our national security to have the borders of Israel return to the armistice lines that existed on June 4, 1967,” the resolution states.
It calls Israel “a liberal democratic ally of the United States” and notes that it has been “repeatedly attacked by authoritarian regimes and terrorist organizations that denied its right to exist.” It then acknowledges that the United States Government “remains steadfastly committed to the security of Israel, especially its ability to maintain secure, recognized, and defensible borders; Whereas the United States Government is resolutely bound to its policy of preserving and strengthening the capability of Israel to deter enemies and defend itself against any threat.”
The resolution then mentions the United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 of 1967 which recognized Israel’s “right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force,” and acknowledges that “the United States has long recognized that a return to the 1967 lines would create a strategic military vulnerability for Israel and greatly impede its sovereign right to defend its borders.”
In his policy speech at the State Department on May 19, President Obama said, “We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.”
Republican Party members were quick to criticize Obama for his statements, with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (a friend of Israel who recently declared his candidacy for president in 2012) saying Obama had “thrown Israel under the bus” and “disrespected Israel and undermined its ability to negotiate peace. He has also violated a first principle of American foreign policy, which is to stand firm by our friends.”
After Obama’s speech, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gave his own speech to Congress on May 24, in which he said that Judea and Samaria are part of the ancient Jewish homeland that our forefathers walked in and that the 650,000 Jews living there "are not ‘occupying’ the region.”
Netanyahu also stressed in his speech that Israel “will not return to the indefensible borders of 1967.”
In a statement he released after he submitted the resolution, Senator Hatch said, “Boundaries that existed on June 4, 1967 placed Israel in a precarious military situation that threatened regional stability. This resolution reaffirms that it is the policy of the United States to support and facilitate Israel in maintaining secure, recognized and defensible borders.”
In addition to Senator Lieberman, 29 other lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors, including Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden (Oregon) and Ben Nelson (Nebraska).
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