Rilek1Corner

Tag: Benjamin netanyahu

  • Benjamin Netanyahu Slams John Kerry’s Speech, Thanks Donald Trump For Friendship

    Benjamin Netanyahu Slams John Kerry’s Speech, Thanks Donald Trump For Friendship

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took parting swipes Wednesday at the Obama administration, calling John Kerry’s earlier speech “unbalanced” but saying he had “no doubt” the alliance between the countries would endure despite disagreements.

    Earlier Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry defended the Obama administration’s decision to abstain from voting on a U.N. resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity in areas Palestinians seek for a state. Allowing it to pass was seen by some as a slap to Israel. He questioned Netanyahu’s commitment to Palestinian statehood, which has been the basis for serious peace talks.

    “If the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or democratic, it cannot be both, and it won’t ever really be at peace,” Kerry said.

    Kerry’s speech came amid the final days of an administration that has had tense relations with Israel. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to repair the relationship. Trump has condemned Obama for allowing the resolution to pass and said Wednesday that the current president has put up “roadblocks” for Trump’s transition.

    Trump’s comments on U.S.-Israeli relations clash with past precedent in which presidents-elect did not comment on foreign policy until they took office.

    Netanyahu on Wednesday thanked Trump on Twitter for his “warm friendship” and “clear-cut support for Israel” after the president-elect tweeted that Israel should “stay strong” as his administration approaches.

    Netanyahu said Kerry’s speech was “almost as unbalanced” as the U.N. resolution, which he harshly criticized. He said that peace will not be achieved through speeches or U.N. resolutions but through direct talks.

    “Israel remains committed to resolving the outstanding difference between us and the Palestinians with direct negotiations,” Netanyahu said.

    He also contended that Kerry spent “most of his speech blaming Israel for the lack of peace.”

    In his speech, Kerry stressed that Obama’s commitment to Israel has been as strong as previous presidents, giving assurances that the Obama administration is not planning any other parting shots at Israel and saying it would not recognize Palestinian statehood. He did not focus only on Israel’s failings in the peace process, criticizing Palestinian leaders’ “incitement” of violence.

    Obama has expressed frustration about the growth of Israeli settlements, and Israel’s government has argued that curbing them should not be a precondition to peace talks.

     

    Source: www.cnbc.com

  • Benjamin Netanyahu ‘Told New Zealand Backing UN Vote Would Be Declaration Of War’

    Benjamin Netanyahu ‘Told New Zealand Backing UN Vote Would Be Declaration Of War’

    Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told New Zealand’s foreign minister that support for a UN resolution condemning Israeli settlement-building in the occupied territories would be viewed as a “declaration of war”.

    According to reports in Israeli media, the Israeli PM called Murray McCully, the foreign minister of New Zealand, before Friday’s resolution, which was co-sponsored by Wellington. Netanyahu told him: “This is a scandalous decision. I’m asking that you not support it and not promote it.

    “If you continue to promote this resolution, from our point of view it will be a declaration of war. It will rupture the relations and there will be consequences. We’ll recall our ambassador [from New Zealand] to Jerusalem.”

    McCully, however, refused to back down, telling Netanyahu: “This resolution conforms to our policy and we will move it forward.”

    A western diplomat confirmed that the call took place and described the conversation as “harsh”.

    The details of the call – disclosed in Haaretz – suggest a mounting sense of panic on the part of Netanyahu in the run-up to the UN security council resolution that passed on Friday demanding an end to settlement building.

    As well as the Netanyahu call, a senior official in Israel’s foreign ministry called New Zealand’s ambassador to Israel, Jonathan Curr, and warned that if the resolution came to a vote, Israel might close its embassy in Wellington in protest.

    Israel responded furiously to the vote, threatening diplomatic reprisals against the countries that voted in favour. Diplomatic ties with New Zealand were temporarily severed and ambassador Itzhak Gerberg was recalled.

    But in a sign that the international pressure may be being felt by the Netanyahu administration, scheduled plans to consider for approval 600 new settlement houses in occupied east Jerusalem were abruptly removed from the agenda of the city’s municipality on Wednesday.

    Netanyahu’s language and behaviour – which has resulted in ambassadors being reprimanded and consultations with foreign leaders, including the UK’s Theresa May, cancelled – has raised eyebrows among foreign diplomats, who point out that the UN resolution does no more than confirm the longstanding view of the international community on Jewish settlements.

    Later on Wednesday the US secretary of state, John Kerry, will make a speech outlining the parameters for how the Obama administration sees a settlement of the Middle East peace process.

    Kerry’s speech, less than a month before Barack Obama leaves office, is expected to be the current administration’s last word on a decades-old dispute that Kerry had hoped to resolve during his four years as America’s top diplomat.

    It could also be seen in Israel as another parting shot at Netanyahu, who has had an acrimonious relationship with Obama since they both took office in 2009. Israel’s public security minister, Gilad Erdan, told Israel Army Radio that the planned speech was a “pathetic move” and “anti-democratic”.

    The US on Friday broke with a longstanding approach of diplomatically shielding Israel and abstained on a United Nations security council resolution that passed with 14 countries in favour and none against.

    An Egyptian paper supportive of the country’s president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, reported what it said was a leaked memo allegedly confirming Israel’s allegations that the Obama administration and Palestinian officials had coordinated positions over the wording of the resolution to allow the US to abstain in the vote. The state department denied the report.

     

    Source: www.theguardian.com

  • Damanhuri Abas: I Protest Benjamin Netanyahu’s Planned Visit To Singapore

    Damanhuri Abas: I Protest Benjamin Netanyahu’s Planned Visit To Singapore

    I read with great consternation that Singapore will be hosting the Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu as a state guest.

    The Israeli PM is directly responsible for the current continued oppression of the Palestinian people through its illegal occupation of Gaza and the West Bank as stated by numerous UN resolutions which Israel continuously ignores with the shameful backing of the US government. Its occupying forces conducts numerous crimes against Palestinian civilians and its forces have conducted many agressions in occupied Palestinian territories that are culpable to war crimes, as recent as the last Gaza incursion in 2014 that claims thousands of Palestinian lives through excessive use of powerful bombs on densely populated Palestinian residential areas.

    The Singapore government may seem to think that it is acceptable to host the Israeli PM afterall the Israelis are the pioneering country that provided military assistance in terms of training and guidance to the Singapore Armed Forces when Singapore first setup its nascent military defence unit after independence.

    It serves as no great solace to know that we had relied on Israeli military advice and guidance in the formation of our Armed Forces. This is especially so as a Malay/Muslim Singaporean who has felt direct discrimination towards his race in the Singapore Armed Forces.

    This discrimination has most probably arisen from the advice and guidance of the Israeli military consultants who may have sowed distrust towards the Malay/Muslim citizens serving the Singapore Armed Forces likely rationalized and justified by their own experience and paranoia towards the Palestinan people (and the Arabs too) that they have kept under siege for 60 years encounting with no end to hostility nor nearing any peaceful settlement to the last remaining illegal occupation to exist on God’s earth.

    Such inhumane treatment that the Israelis imposed upon the Palestian people in the occupied territories has resulted in extreme distrust between them and the Palestinians and overtime have led to a toxic unsustainable relationship based on fears and suspicion with no end in sight.

    Likewise, a toxic relationship too may have emerged in our own land caused by our own policies for the last 50 years that blankets the entire Malay/Muslim population as suspicious and not to be fully trusted to be given full access to all military positions, especially so-called ‘sensitive areas’ in the Singapore Armed Forces. This unjustified and unproven fears that have shaped and colored policies preventing Malay/Muslim citizens full meritocratic access to all possible ranks and files in the military must end immediately.

    Only when this happens will the process of correction and rapprochement begin to eradicate the poisoned perceptions that have developed overtime by the majority towards Malay/Muslim trustworthiness in and beyond the Military into other aspects of society. This disriminatory policy must stop for the sake of fairness, justice and a true harmonious multi-racial/multi-religious Singapore that we intend to build for this nation.

    For all the above reasons, as a Malay/Muslim Singaporean I protest the coming of Mr Benjamin Netanyahu to my country. He is also an alleged war criminal.

    I forward below an email from our very own Dr Ang Swee Chai from Medical Aid for Palestinian, a London based NGO, in support of my involvement in previous protest effort against the brutal acts of the Israeli government towards the Palestinian people that the invited Isreali PM is currently heading.

    —— Forwarded message ———-
    From: SWEE ANG <[email protected]>
    Date: Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 3:08 AM
    Subject: In support of your work
    To: “[email protected]” <[email protected]>
    Cc: AimeeShalan <[email protected]>, stevenjames <[email protected]>

    Dear Damanhuri Abas and FMSA,

    Thank you for emailing me so that I can support what you and the Fellowship of Muslim Students Association are doing. As you know a ceasefire is in place after 150 Gazans were killed and nearly a thousand injured. As you know Gaza is half the size of Singapore and home to 1.7 million people, 80% of them refugees from the rest of Palestine. They were forced out from the rest of Palestine in 1948 and took refuge in Gaza. Since 2007 Gaza’s people are under constant military blockade. All her borders with Israel are sealed by the military and none can move in or out, except through Rafah which until recently was also closed by President Mubarak. The sea of Gaza is manned by Israeli warships and no one from Gaza can wander beyond 3 nautical miles. The targetting of fishing boats and killing and injury of fishermen by warships firing at them even with the 3 nautical miles are all too often.

    Even before this recent assault, military helicopters regularly fly into Gaza and kill and injure civilians. When you hear the word targets mentioned by the BBC and the Western Press, you do not hear the cries of the mothers who lost their babies, who are sometimes just called collateral damage. The skies of Gaza are patrolled by drones and the whole of Gaza is under surveillance and drone attacks are frequent.

    Electricity is scarce, many of the 21,000 homes and buildings destroyed from Cast Lead four years ago not rebuilt since there is also a blockade on building materials. The schools destroyed during Cast Lead are also not rebuilt and children are now crammed into whatever school buildings which are still functional. Many people are still living in tents or in temporary buildings. Unemployment is high since factories and workshops cannot function and even if they function the military siege makes it impossible to export their goods and import raw materials. It is the same with agriculture produce – all forms of trade is made impossible by the blockade. Hospitals are starved of medical supplies.

    Water is also a problem in Gaza since Israel has dug deep wells and siphoned off the natural water from Gaza. The water from Gaza now is heavily polluted and contains high nitrates and unfit for washing and drinking.

    You can find more facts from various sources including from the website of Medical Aid for Palestinians and Palestine Solidarity Campaign – I have only given you a very sketchy description.

    So when F16s bomb Gaza the last 9 days, hitting hundreds of “targets” daily, those of us who know Gaza well can only cry out in shock and anger against this atrocity and injustice. Yet many of us are astonished by the courage of people in Gaza in resisting the assault. The ceasefire is agreed on mainly because Israel knows it cannot beat down Gaza despite pounding it incessantly with bombs. They had planned a land invasion but did not go through with it not because they are humane, but because they know they cannot win and do not have the stomach to go through with it. Hilary Clinton got to turn round from her visit to Burma to fly Cairo to support a truce called by the new Egyptian Government.

    Your supporters need to know the following:

    Israel is the sixth largest military power in the world. In 2009 it has –

    200-300 nuclear warheads
    300 F16s
    60 military helicopters
    60 warships
    3650 tanks
    Plus daily military aid of eight million dollars from the USA ( as opposed to non-military aid) and the huge support of the Western Press and governments.

    Palestine has none of the above. Gaza has home made rockets.

    But Palestine has truth on her side. Despite the killing and the suppression of truth, people from all over the world are beginning to find out. And I hope your meeting will help others understand what is going on. Up to 1982, I was the victim of lies against the Palestinians until I went out to work in Sabra and Shatilla. By God’s grace I have seen the truth and may this never depart from me.

    I hope one day your Association will have the chance to visit Gaza and West Bank, and meet the people there. But until then take it from me that it is a great honour to be able to support them. For me it is a personal privilege that Medical Aid for Palestinians have been able to be partners to the humanitarian Palestinian institutions in Gaza, West Bank and in Lebanon. I hope your institution will be the same.

    Best wishes
    Dr Ang Swee Chai.
    22 November 2012

     

    Source: Damanhuri Abas

  • In NY, Netanyahu Goes To The Bathroom With 20 Guards

    In NY, Netanyahu Goes To The Bathroom With 20 Guards

    New York got a glimpse on Tuesday of Benjamin Netanyahu’s massive security detail, when the prime minister answered the call of nature accompanied by 20 guards.

    Netanyahu went out for dinner with his wife, Sara, at the Harry Cipriani restaurant, one of the city’s swankiest. Before his arrival, the joint was scoped out by 20 security guards, and then when the prime minister himself arrived he was accompanied by another 20 agents, the New York Post reported.

    The restaurant only seats about 100, so Netanyahu’s entourage took up a lot of space — not to mention the other guards placed discreetly and not so discreetly around the venue, both inside and out.

    Sara and Bibi’s quiet dinner was interrupted when the premier needed to take a bathroom break. The toilet was a few feet away in the adjacent Sherry-Netherland Hotel, and, aware of the risks of peeing alone, his-ever vigilant security detail knew the drill.

    “Around 20 security guards got up with Bibi and a few went into the bathroom with him. One watched the door, and the rest lined up with their arms up to form a human barricade, so nobody could enter the bathroom or even get close,” a bystander told the Post. “He must be the most protected man in the world right now.”

    Celebrity diners treated to the routine included Charlie Rose, billionaire Ronald Perelman, Barbara Winston, ­Jason Binn and Iris Apfel.

    Netanyahu is in New York to address the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday — his eighth speech at the annual plenary session.

     

    Source: The Times Of Israel

  • Benjamin Netanyahu Distorts History, Claims Mufti Of Jerusalem Instigated Adolf Hitler To Terminate Jews

    Benjamin Netanyahu Distorts History, Claims Mufti Of Jerusalem Instigated Adolf Hitler To Terminate Jews

    REUTERS — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu provoked controversy on Wednesday, hours before a visit to Germany, by saying the former Muslim elder in Jerusalem convinced Adolf Hitler to exterminate the Jews.

    In a speech to the Zionist Congress late on Tuesday, Netanyahu referred to a series of attacks by Muslims against Jews in Palestine during the 1920s that he said were instigated by the then Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini.

    Husseini famously flew to visit Hitler in Berlin in 1941, and Netanyahu said that meeting was instrumental in the Nazi leader’s decision to launch a campaign to annihilate the Jews.

    “Hitler didn’t want to exterminate the Jews at the time, he wanted to expel the Jews,” Netanyahu said in the speech. “And Haj Amin al-Husseini went to Hitler and said, ‘If you expel them, they’ll all come here.’

    “‘So what should I do with them?’” Netanyahu said Hitler asked the mufti, who responded: “Burn them.”

    Netanyahu, whose father was an eminent historian, was quickly harangued by opposition politicians and experts on the Holocaust who said he was distorting the historical record.

    Palestinian officials said Netanyahu appeared to be absolving Hitler of the murder of six million Jews in order to lay the blame on Muslims. Twitter was awash with criticism.

    “It is a sad day in history when the leader of the Israeli government hates his neighbor so much that he is willing to absolve the most notorious war criminal in history, Adolf Hitler, of the murder of six million Jews,” Saeb Erekat, the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s secretary general, said.

    “Mr Netanyahu should stop using this human tragedy to score points for his political end,” said Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator with the Israelis.

    Even Netanyahu’s defense minister, close ally Moshe Yaalon, said the prime minister had got it wrong.

    “It certainly wasn’t (Husseini) who invented the Final Solution,” Yaalon told Israel’s Army Radio. “That was the evil brainchild of Hitler himself.”

    It is not clear what sources Netanyahu was relying on for his comments. A 1947 book “The Mufti of Jerusalem” and a newspaper report at the time said a former Hitler deputy had testified at the Nuremberg war crimes trials that Husseini had plotted with the Nazi leader to rid Europe of its Jews.

    Husseini was sought for war crimes but never appeared at the Nuremberg proceedings and later died in Cairo.

    HISTORICAL RECORD

    But the point several historians made was that Netanyahu was distorting timelines and drawing false conclusions.

    The meeting between Husseini and Hitler in Berlin took place on November 28, 1941. More than two years earlier, in January 1939, Hitler had addressed the Reichstag and talked clearly about his determination to exterminate the Jewish race.

    “To say that the mufti was the first to mention to Hitler the idea to kill or burn the Jews is not correct,” Dina Porat, a professor at Tel Aviv University and the chief historian of Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum, told Israel Radio.

    “The idea to rid the world of the Jews was a central theme in Hitler’s ideology a long, long time before he met the mufti.”

    Porat and others pointed out that the murder of the Jews began in June 1941. Even if the mufti wanted the Final Solution to be expanded, he wasn’t the one who came up with the idea.

    “For somebody who knows something about history and grew up in the house of historian Professor Benzion Netanyahu, he should know well,” Porat said of the prime minister. “But in my humble opinion, to say that the mufti gave Hitler the idea is wrong.

     

    Source: www.huffingtonpost.com