Post by Paddy by Grace on May 6, 2009 19:12:27 GMT -7
MK Katz to Biden: Have Some Respect for Land of the Bible
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/131222
(IsraelNN.com) US Vice President Joe Biden spoke at the AIPAC convention in Washington on Tuesday, and said straight out: Israel must stop building in Judea and Samaria, as well as remove anti-terrorist roadblocks.
The statement drew few responses – but MK "Ketzaleh" Katz said, “The Land of the Bible, with the People of the Bible, will not be Judenrein – and for the Vice President to give ‘orders’ otherwise, against the policies of Israel’s democratically-voted government, is unacceptable.”
Katz: "It is truly shocking that though Biden said this in front of thousands of AIPAC Jews, not one of them thought to get up and protest."
Speaking before 5,000 delegates to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the U.S. Vice President said, "Israel has to work toward a two-state solution and - you are not going to like my saying this, but - [it must] not build more settlements, dismantle existing outposts, and allow the Palestinians freedom of movement.”
Some news outlets did not even report the above remarks, emphasizing only Biden’s expressed support for Israel. “With all the change you will hear about,” Biden stated, “there is one enduring, essential principle that will not change, and that is our commitment to the peace and security of the state of Israel. That is not negotiable... That is something to be reinforced and made clear.”
Biden contradicted this promise, however, by saying that the United States is “committed to achieving… a two-state solution, with a secure Jewish State of Israel living side by side in peace and security with a viable and independent Palestinian state.”
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu pointed out in a speech seven years ago that a Palestinian state obviates a “secure Jewish State of Israel: “On the day that we sign an agreement for a [Palestinian] state with limited authorities, what will happen if the Palestinians do what the Germans did after World War I, when they nullified the demilitarized zone? The world did nothing then, and the world will do nothing now as well. Even now, the Palestinians are removing all the restrictions to which they agreed in Oslo – smuggling in arms, polluting the water sources, building an army, making military deals with Iran… But when we try to take action against this, the world opposes us, not them...” he said.
“Arafat said it best,” Netanyahu continued, “when talking to reporters the day he signed the Oslo Accords: 'Since we can't defeat Israel in war, we must do it in stages, we must take whatever area of Palestine we can get, establish sovereignty there, and then at the right time, we will have to convince the Arab nations to join us in dealing the final blow to Israel.' [Israel should agree to] self-rule, yes. But a state with which to destroy the State of Israel - no...”
MK Katz, who heads the Ichud Leumi (National Union) party, said in response to Biden’s remarks, “There was once a Judenrein in Europe - but in the Land of the Bible, and for the People of the Bible, there will not be a Judenrein. Mr. Biden, whose nation is barely 230 years old, should have a bit more respect when talking about the Jewish People in their Land; we have been in our homeland many more years than his people have been in theirs, and way before they even dreamt of becoming a nation, Jews were living here for thousands of years, building our Holy Temples and holy places in the very areas that he says we should freeze – Shilo, Beit El, Shechem, etc.
“With all due respect to the Vice President of the United States,” said Katz, “he should be a bit more careful when giving instructions of this nature to the duly-elected Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Whoever heard of such a thing, that a leader of the world’s leading democracy gives orders to the leader of another democracy, the only one in the Middle East, to go against his own stated policies and platform on which he was democratically elected by the populace just weeks ago.
“In addition,” Ketzaleh continued, “it is truly shocking that though he made these remarks in front of thousands of Jews at the AIPAC convention, not one of them thought to get up and protest. He even received some applause! Have we no pride? And neither have any government ministers protested, even though there are so many of them, including many who truly love the Land of Israel. How can such words by the Vice President go unprotested?”
Ketzaleh, visibly upset by what he perceives as Biden’s “marching orders” to Israel and the lack of Jewish response, added, “If a world leader were to tell any other group of 600,000 Jews – as there are in Judea and Samaria, and growing at the rate of 6% a year, thank G-d – to stop developing, building and growing, this would be considered anti-Semitism! Can anyone imagine telling the nearly 600,000 Jews of Long Island and Queens, or the nearly 200,000 Jews of Toronto, that they have to stop growing? Would such a demand also have been received with total silence, as was his call for an end to Jewish growth in the Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria?”
The day before, Massachusetts Senator John F. Kerry, chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, made his own similar call for Israel to stop building in Judea and Samaria. "Nothing will do more to show Israel's commitment to making peace than freezing new settlements activity," he told the AIPAC audience - and even received the same slight applause that Biden did.
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/131222
(IsraelNN.com) US Vice President Joe Biden spoke at the AIPAC convention in Washington on Tuesday, and said straight out: Israel must stop building in Judea and Samaria, as well as remove anti-terrorist roadblocks.
The statement drew few responses – but MK "Ketzaleh" Katz said, “The Land of the Bible, with the People of the Bible, will not be Judenrein – and for the Vice President to give ‘orders’ otherwise, against the policies of Israel’s democratically-voted government, is unacceptable.”
Katz: "It is truly shocking that though Biden said this in front of thousands of AIPAC Jews, not one of them thought to get up and protest."
Speaking before 5,000 delegates to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the U.S. Vice President said, "Israel has to work toward a two-state solution and - you are not going to like my saying this, but - [it must] not build more settlements, dismantle existing outposts, and allow the Palestinians freedom of movement.”
Some news outlets did not even report the above remarks, emphasizing only Biden’s expressed support for Israel. “With all the change you will hear about,” Biden stated, “there is one enduring, essential principle that will not change, and that is our commitment to the peace and security of the state of Israel. That is not negotiable... That is something to be reinforced and made clear.”
Biden contradicted this promise, however, by saying that the United States is “committed to achieving… a two-state solution, with a secure Jewish State of Israel living side by side in peace and security with a viable and independent Palestinian state.”
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu pointed out in a speech seven years ago that a Palestinian state obviates a “secure Jewish State of Israel: “On the day that we sign an agreement for a [Palestinian] state with limited authorities, what will happen if the Palestinians do what the Germans did after World War I, when they nullified the demilitarized zone? The world did nothing then, and the world will do nothing now as well. Even now, the Palestinians are removing all the restrictions to which they agreed in Oslo – smuggling in arms, polluting the water sources, building an army, making military deals with Iran… But when we try to take action against this, the world opposes us, not them...” he said.
“Arafat said it best,” Netanyahu continued, “when talking to reporters the day he signed the Oslo Accords: 'Since we can't defeat Israel in war, we must do it in stages, we must take whatever area of Palestine we can get, establish sovereignty there, and then at the right time, we will have to convince the Arab nations to join us in dealing the final blow to Israel.' [Israel should agree to] self-rule, yes. But a state with which to destroy the State of Israel - no...”
MK Katz, who heads the Ichud Leumi (National Union) party, said in response to Biden’s remarks, “There was once a Judenrein in Europe - but in the Land of the Bible, and for the People of the Bible, there will not be a Judenrein. Mr. Biden, whose nation is barely 230 years old, should have a bit more respect when talking about the Jewish People in their Land; we have been in our homeland many more years than his people have been in theirs, and way before they even dreamt of becoming a nation, Jews were living here for thousands of years, building our Holy Temples and holy places in the very areas that he says we should freeze – Shilo, Beit El, Shechem, etc.
“With all due respect to the Vice President of the United States,” said Katz, “he should be a bit more careful when giving instructions of this nature to the duly-elected Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Whoever heard of such a thing, that a leader of the world’s leading democracy gives orders to the leader of another democracy, the only one in the Middle East, to go against his own stated policies and platform on which he was democratically elected by the populace just weeks ago.
“In addition,” Ketzaleh continued, “it is truly shocking that though he made these remarks in front of thousands of Jews at the AIPAC convention, not one of them thought to get up and protest. He even received some applause! Have we no pride? And neither have any government ministers protested, even though there are so many of them, including many who truly love the Land of Israel. How can such words by the Vice President go unprotested?”
Ketzaleh, visibly upset by what he perceives as Biden’s “marching orders” to Israel and the lack of Jewish response, added, “If a world leader were to tell any other group of 600,000 Jews – as there are in Judea and Samaria, and growing at the rate of 6% a year, thank G-d – to stop developing, building and growing, this would be considered anti-Semitism! Can anyone imagine telling the nearly 600,000 Jews of Long Island and Queens, or the nearly 200,000 Jews of Toronto, that they have to stop growing? Would such a demand also have been received with total silence, as was his call for an end to Jewish growth in the Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria?”
The day before, Massachusetts Senator John F. Kerry, chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, made his own similar call for Israel to stop building in Judea and Samaria. "Nothing will do more to show Israel's commitment to making peace than freezing new settlements activity," he told the AIPAC audience - and even received the same slight applause that Biden did.