Discussion: Hillary Clinton: Countering BDS Palesintian Movement 'A Priority'

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Discussion for article #238199

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Sounds about right. Moral suasion is critical, but the BDS proposals are essentially counter-productive.

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Why? (not being snarky, genuinely interested)

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Me too… If we can boycott Walmat for selling ‘Confederate Memorbilia’ why can’t we boycott apartheid/ghetto making?

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Oh, now she’s done it! NOW SHE’S DONE IT! Fly Emo Progs, fly! Punish her for failing to support the Boycott Deligitimize Slander fight against the Zionist Entity! And here you thought you wouldn’t be able to an excuse to tear her apart. (The Iraq War vote is a bit old now).

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So, sarcasm is her defense against legitimate critiques?

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The BDS movement is a way to apply pressure for real peace. Hillary also says in her letter that peace can only be achieved through “negotiations.” The Palestinians have no leverage with which to negotiate, and for almost 70 years, “negotiations” have not worked. Didn’t Einstein define insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? Many, many people did not believe that the divestment movement could help South Africa, but it clearly had an effect. Although South Africa continues to struggle, the peaceful change of government was pretty impressive. The illegal settlements, many of which seem to house the worst kinds of bigots, must be stopped. Refusing to buy goods from companies profiting from this horrid practice seems like a very good way to promote peaceful change.

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Can’t offend Israel now can we?

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She’s right… the South African government only tortured, raped, dismembered, and burned alive people within the boundaries of their own country. Israelis outsource that to territories they illegally occupy. Quite different.

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Negotiations really only work when there are honest partners on both sides and I just don’t see it. Bibi has made it quite clear that he won’t ever support a 2 state solution, finds no problem with the continuing expanding of settlements and he’s not remotely the farthest to the right on this. Israel routinely says that they don’t feel that they have an honest partner on the Palestinian side either, so I fail to see how negotiation is going to move the needle on this. Israel really needs to be out of the territories that they occupied. Seizing territory via a war is not permissible in this day and age and as it’s also become apparent that Arab citizens of Israel are completely marginalized and not afforded the same rights and responsibilities of Jewish Israelis, I’m not sure how a single state, explicitly Jewish in character, is viable for Palestinians to live in either. A 2 state solution appears to be inevitable solution, but the political environment in Israel simply doesn’t support it. Given that the current state of the occupation is untenable, what should be done?

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Being opposed to the politics of the Israeli state is in no way antisemitism. Even though her connection is implicit, it’s still obvious. She needs to be careful with the rhetoric.

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Indeed, I’m very sad that Jewish cutural cache is being expended by a thuggish regime in Israel that accuses any who oppose it of being antisemetic. Antisemitism is a real and, sadly, expanding issue in the world, but the explicit linkage of Israeli policy with Jewishness is contributing to its rise. Islam isn’t traditionally any more antisemetic than any other religion and, in fact, traditionally is much more inclusive than say, reunited Spain was. Heck, England expelled its entire Jewish community in 1290 and they weren’t allowed back until 1670. It’s a relatively new thing and I really wish for it to become rare again.

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Equating opposition to Israeli recalcitrance in affording the Palestinians an opportunity for statehood, identity and self-governance with antisemitism is nothing but campaign bullshit. I can’t say I know enough about the particulars of the BDS folks or movement to necessarily agree or disagree with Clinton or them yet, but it is abundantly clear that people like Bibi have done nothing but milk the situation for our military and financial support, all while assuring that peace fails and attacks continue because they refuse to acknowledge that the expansionist nonsense needs to stop immediately.

I see no reason we should support Israel while the expansionism continues. Period. Whatever other minor details are involved here, I couldn’t give a shit. Stop the settlement crap or get the fuck out of our country’s wallet.

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America, evangelical, Christian, Jewish, conservative support for the Jewish theft and occupation of Arab or Palestinian lands is immoral. Support for Jewish genocide against the Palestinian people is immoral. Why are we only allowed to vote for Zionist candidates that are pre-approved and selected by Zionists in America? It is not democratic or moral to allow a group immoral people to control our election process.

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The fact that this woman was Secretary of State for any length of time and yet still did not even begin to grasp the actions of Israel in the Middle East is appalling. That she would want to take this level of political pandering to an outside nation to the White House is unnerving. Her willful ignorance of the culture of the Middle East, its political realities, and her total lack of understanding of the attitude of many Americans, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, about how the current Israeli government is acting shows just how out of touch she actually is with the real world.

She can pander all she wants to her donors, but she wants to represent all the American people, and while we sanction other nations regularly for the very things that Israel is now doing in the occupied territories, the fact that she equates opposition to such tactics as anti-Semitic is both overtly racist and politically dangerous on the international stage.

One wonders if she and her husband have promised not only their Jewish donors their support, but have also worked some backroom deal with the Arabs who contribute to his foundation. This is usually their way of working within the DNC and our own government, so why not on the international scale. It guarantees a money flow from two enemies while keeping the idea alive that there will be a solution if only she is elected President. She saw it work with Reagan and Iran, so why not Israel and Palestine. She is dangerous and if we elect her president, she will either stab Israel or the Arabs in the back, and neither will be good for the US.

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You as a listener (or reader) inferred sarcasm. There are statements of facts in this letter, and no implied sarcasm because diplomats don’t have to stoop to that…

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You’re right, the Emo progs have come out in full force because. . . . she’s Hillary and not Bernie, and it won’t do to defend the only democracy in the region.

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The letter come “as the U.S. is working with allies to complete a nuclear agreement with Iran, which has been eyed warily by American Jewish leaders, and the Obama administration has sought to repair ties with Israel.”

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What did you expect?
This is the key line in the article: “in a letter to Clinton donor and pro-Israel billionaire Haim Saban.”
Gotta keep the money happy.

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What did you expect?
This is the key line in the article: “in a letter to Clinton donor and pro-Israel billionaire Haim Saban.”
Gotta keep the money happy.

This really is exactly the point.