Discussion: Netanyahu Backtracks From Remarks Opposing Palestinian State (VIDEO)

Discussion for article #234492

By what I’m sure is a complete coincidence, that happens to be precisely the line of most Republicans: no statehood now, but maybe in the future if they behave themselves.

But then, making it easier for the GOP to keep touting him as the sole spokesman for all Jews couldn’t possible be on his mind, could it?

(Incidentally, despite all the hype about his “crushing” victory, he did it solely by siphoning votes from other right-wing parties. The right-wing bloc actually shrank since the last election: 61 seats then, to 57 now. Israel, for now, is so polarized, it makes the US look functional.)

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EGR - “Where’s your Moses, now?”

He cannot be trusted. The US MUST completely cut off Israel.

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Yes, he’d support a Palestinian state if conditions changed. Like if all the Palestinians moved away or stopped existing. In other words, his position never changed and we’re stuck having to pretend they don’t want all the land for themselves.

There are certain issues where both sides are in the wrong, and this is definitely one of them. I don’t even like reading stories about the whole Israel-Palestine issue, because both sides have leaders who have no interest in seeing this ever end. It’s just a political charade where they do just enough to not look like true villains while ensuring that peace is never allowed to happen.

The battles in this world aren’t right versus left, religion versus religion, country versus country. Rather, it’s extremists versus non-extremists. And the extremists will do whatever it takes to convince people that non-extremism can’t work. They want to set the world on fire, to assure people that the only way to deal with it is more fire. And they’re not doing it so that their side wins, because their methods can never achieve victory. They do it because that’s how they maintain power. And even if they were to somehow wipe out their opponent, they’d just find another enemy to rail against. And in the end, it’s the extremists on both sides who are working together to make this happen.

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“When conditions change”- like when hell freezes over.

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When will the Knesset send a letter to President Obama warning
him about the untrustworthy nature of statements by their PM?

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He showed his full hand and the international community will deal with him accordingly in diplomatic relations.

It was always an illusion, and the rank and file are not really shy about their intentions (once got one of my dad’s asshole Facebook friends to admit, unprompted, that he wished they’d just exterminate the Palestinians completely - he didn’t specify HAMAS, he was very clear he meant all of them). What can you really do with that?

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Israeli voters are so stupid.

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Looks like Obama has already said Netanyahu can’t unring that bell.

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So was Netanyahu telling lies on Monday or is he telling lies today? Either way he can’t be trusted.

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It’s just that the consequences Bibi’s bad leadership are too far over the horizon for the average Israeli to see. Think about 2004. Bush was just as much an incompetent fuck-up then as he was in 2005. However, it took the simmering insurgency exploding into a civil war and Katrina being mismanaged for the greater public to shift.

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Maybe he should change his nickname from “Bibi” to “Bait and Switch”.

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Netanyahu: US has ‘no greater ally’ than Israel

What exactly has Israel done for the US in the last 65 years besides often biting the proverbial hand?

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To quote the great Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard: “Keep fucking that chicken, Benji. Keep fucking that chicken.”

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It’s too bad we can’t just give the extremists of every stripe their own planet to destroy, without using the rest of us as fodder.

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Here’s a fuller statement of what Netanyahu said. It would be useful to read it before condeming him-- which used to be a virtue in liberal circles:

“I don’t want a one-state solution,” Netanyahu told NBC. “I want a sustainable and peaceful two-state solution, but circumstances have to change for that to happen.” He added that the Palestinian leadership would need to disavow its partnership with Hamas if it was interested in attaining peace. “I never retracted my speech in Bar Ilan [University] six years ago,” Netanyahu said. “What has changed is the reality. Abbas refused to recognize the Jewish state and every territory that is vacated is captured by radical Islamic terror organizations.” The prime minister stated that he was opposed to the recognition of a Palestinian state at this stage, because “it would become a terrorist state,” and that he expected the United States to oppose all Palestinian unilateral steps. “The U.S. has said time and time again that we need a negotiated solution – you can’t impose peace,” Netanyahu said. “It’s time there is pressure on the Palestinians to show they are committed to peace.”

The prime minister also attempted to repudiate his demonization of Israeli Arab during the last days of the election campaign, which was designed to mobilize the right-wing vote. “I am not racist,” Netanyahu said. “I am proud to be the prime minister of all Israelis – Arabs and Jews alike.” He explained that he was not attempting to prevent Arab citizens from voting. Rather, he said, “I was trying to call on our voters to come out.” He accused foreign NGOs of “streaming millions of dollars” from abroad in an attempt to “get votes for a certain party of Islamists and anti-Israel groups.” His own Likud party has Arab voters, Netanyahu said, and as prime minister he had allocated billions of shekels to the Arab sector.

That didn’t take long. If he didn’t have control of nukes his facile duplicity would be amusing.

how possible is it that all the non-right parties will refuse to join?

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Watch out for Bibi’s “Nixon goes to China” moment. You read it here first.

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