Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Thomas Friedman, "Why Not in Vegas?": How About a Little Honesty, Tom?

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Why Not in Vegas?" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/opinion/friedman-why-not-in-vegas.html), Thomas Friedman attacks Romney for pandering to AIPAC and Israel. Friedman begins by observing:

"I’ll make this quick. I have one question and one observation about Mitt Romney’s visit to Israel. The question is this: Since the whole trip was not about learning anything but about how to satisfy the political whims of the right-wing, super pro-Bibi Netanyahu, American Jewish casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, why didn’t they just do the whole thing in Las Vegas? I mean, it was all about money anyway — how much Romney would abase himself by saying whatever the Israeli right wanted to hear and how big a jackpot of donations Adelson would shower on the Romney campaign in return. Really, Vegas would have been so much more appropriate than Jerusalem. They could have constructed a plastic Wailing Wall and saved so much on gas."

Obama today believes that the US should not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital? Did it ever occur to Obama and his foreign policy advisers, including Samantha Power, who advocated sending US troops to protect Palestinians from Israel (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFdt6fjdHQw), that his refusal to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital adds credibility to Arab attacks on Israel's legitimacy?

It should come as no surprise that Friedman showers praise in this opinion piece on Jimmy Carter, who accused Israel of apartheid, yet cowardly refused to debate Alan Dershowitz on the issue; Henry Kissinger, who infamously told Nixon during the War of Atonement, "Let them [the Israelis] bleed a little"; and James Baker, who was quoted as saying, "Fuck the Jews - they didn't vote for us anyway."

Yes, I find Friedman revolting. Enough said.

5 comments:

  1. Friedman is revolting. I really, really, really don't understand how such individuals can live - no conscience, no scruples, just pushing and grabbing. Monsters.

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  2. There is an infamous photo of Tom Friedman cuddling up next to Yasser Arafat in Beirut and smiling broadly with Yasser. Friedman appears to be Arafat's charge in the photo. The photo was taken during the heyday of Arafat's murderous terrorist attacks based in Lebanon against Israeli civilians. It came after the terrorist attacks in Kiryat Shmona, Maaolot, the Tel Aviv Haifa highway and so many others. Yet none of this deterred Friedman from snuggling up to Yasser for what appears to be a family photo. That says all one needs to say about Tom Friedman. But in case anyone wants to delve further into Friedman's past, as a student at Brandeis University, Friedman was very active in a movement criticizing Israel at every turn (and this was when Israel was governed by the Labor Party).

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  3. Thanks, anonymous. I suppose you are referring to the picture above.

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  4. Thank you for the videos and picture. I am fuming.

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