Barack Obama has been busy – offering the Jewish People blessings for Rosh Hashanah, and recording a flattering video for the President’s Conference in Jerusalem and another for Yitzhak Rabin’s memorial rally. Only Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah surpasses him in terms of sheer output of recorded remarks.

In all the videos, Obama heaps sticky-sweet praise on Israel, even though he has spent nearly a year fruitlessly lobbying for Israel to be so kind as to do something, anything – even just a temporary freeze on settlement building – to advance the peace process.

Before no other country on the planet does the United States kneel and plead like this. In other trouble spots, America takes a different tone. It bombs in Afghanistan, invades Iraq and threatens sanctions against Iran and North Korea. Did anyone in Washington consider begging Saddam Hussein to withdraw from occupied territory in Kuwait?

But Israel the occupier, the stubborn contrarian that continues to mock America and the world by building settlements and abusing the Palestinians, receives different treatment. Another massage to the national ego in one video, more embarrassing praise in another.

This is an absolute cracker of an article, albeit with a left wing bias, on a question that is on the minds of many. Does Levy have a point?



  1. iseeclearly says:

    I wouldn’t say he’s sucking up…I’d say he’s placating them so he can keep them from attacking Iran. He knows that as soon as Iran gets the bomb, the Israeli problem will be solved in a flash. He also knows that Iran will nuked in response…two birds with one stome.

    Obama plays rough, Chicago-style, but he will see to it that the next President will not have this problem hanging over their head.

  2. Hmeyers says:

    There are far to many Jewish people in power structure of both political parties (Rahm Israel Emanuel, for example) for the answer to this question to even matter.

  3. RTaylor says:

    Just what we need, bait for another Jewish world conspiracy crowd.

  4. Mr Diesel says:

    Does anyone really have to ask this question? Of course we are sucking up to Israel.

  5. Jon says:

    Why do you assert that Israel is an “occupier”? Prove it honeyman.

  6. Rufus says:

    Israelis should be living on reservations and Palestinians should have a state, not the other way around.

    Don’t forget the $2.3 trillion that disappeared at the Pentagon when Dov Zakheim was in control of its finances!

  7. Named says:

    5 Jon,

    Please try to read correctly. The term occupier was used by Gideon Levy. That’s why it’s in those big quotation marks.

  8. bradkap says:

    How is this tech related ? How about sticking to Tech comments for which you are qualified to make ?

  9. Phydeau says:

    Just like the expat Cubans in Florida, the Israelis wield influence far greater than their size. “A man with a cause is worth a thousand with only interests.”

  10. Sea Lawyer says:

    #8, Maybe you should go back to playing Hello Kitty Online.

  11. dvdchris says:

    8, are you new here?? This is not a tech blog. Read the header. This blog has had political posts for the years I’ve been reading it.

  12. iHeartSocks says:

    If the US sucks up to Israel it’s because the latter demands it. Kind of like when a master demands that his submissive offer gratification.

    When Israel tells the US to jump, the US asks how high and how much money does Israel want to pop out of the US’ pocket.

    The US is in Israel’s pocket and I’m tired of it!

  13. ArianeB says:

    “Is America sucking up to Israel?”

    What a dumb headline. For the past 62 years the answer has been YES, and hasn’t changed.

  14. Improbus says:

    If you want to bring Israel to the table stop giving them money and arms. Would some please explain to me why we are supporting still Israel? We don’t need a proxy state that doesn’t do what we tell them to do.

  15. chuck says:

    Regardless of what some nut-balls say, Israel did not fly planes into the World Trade Center towers, and they don’t have regular “death to USA / great Satan” rallies.

    And, when we need someone to bomb Iran, they are happy to help. So why not a little sucking up?

  16. Named says:

    15 chuck,

    so, you’re saying that Iran has death to USA rallies just for shits and giggles and that is has nothing to do with the fomenting of revolution to impose the Shah of Iran and his notorious SAVAK secret police / death squads which then created the Islamic revolution? All because the US and the UK didn’t like Mossadegh and his nationalization of the oil fields? Yeah… I didn’t think that was the reason either.

    Israel didn’t attack the WTC, but they did attack the USS LIberty.

  17. cantwait says:

    I’m glad to see that the US obsession with Israel is over….this is just window dressing by Obama…he makes the right sounds to placate them, but he will leave them to the tender mercies of their neighbors, the people who know them the best (who better to decide their fate?).
    Israel is doomed, and it’s about time. A violent, cruel, criminal people, a criminal state with no right to exist, they deserve no mercy and no future. They have been a parasite on the wealth of he world for too long. All right-thinking people will laugh when they get their just desserts at the hands of Iran. And don’t expect a telethon to help them…everyone wants them to just vanish…and they will!

  18. igeek says:

    Your swastika is showing.

  19. igeek says:

    #17. Your swastika is showing.

  20. LowTechNo says:

    A tribute (from Latin tributum, contribution) is wealth one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as WAS OFTEN CASE in historical contexts, of submission or allegiance.

    It also incorporated certain aspects of regulated trade in goods and services between the parties under a contractual relationship formed upon duress, and based upon the potential for threats if specific performance did not occur.

  21. Improbus says:

    @igeek

    You don’t have to be a Nazi to dislike Israel and their politics. They are the new South Africa and they should be treated like it.

  22. The Monster's Lawyer says:

    #20 – No, but it helps.

  23. bill, wondering who is special says:

    Israel is not really all that special. The US doesn’t treat anyone better than our friends in Saudi Arabia. Even when fifteen of their people led by a prominent family member flew airplanes into our buildings we didnot even utter a peep. The first thing we did was evacuate their people, when no one else was allowed to fly. If anyone owns the US it is Saudi Arabia, so much so that it is not even discussed.

  24. Named says:

    22, bill

    Japan and China “own” the US. Saudi just keeps the engine running.

  25. Jopa says:

    As I have stated many times before, I am an Israeli.

    When I saw the title of the article and the link to the Israeli news paper (Haaretz), I immediately knew who was the “reporter” that wrote this piece of junk. The man is called “Gideon Levy” and he is an absolute nut job. This is a man that lives under the protection of the state of Israel, enjoys all it’s freedoms and benefits but for some reason is on a quest to destroy it. And I mean *completely destroy*.

    Every country has such insane individuals that hate their own people, their own country and themselves. Any sane human being should disregard this A-hole.

    America is not sucking up to Israel – never have been and never will. This is not the kind of relations our countries have. There is no reason on earth why America should do that and even if Israel had some ability to cause the US to act like that, the Israeli government will never be foolish enough to humiliate the US. You don’t humiliate your allies and you bet your as* you don’t humiliate the strongest guy on the hood.

  26. Named says:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_Levy

    Warning. Wikipedia contradicts some of Jopa’s anecdotes.

  27. Jopa says:

    Named (#26),

    The difference between you and me is that I do not need a Wikipedia link in order to understand who Gideon Levy truly is.

    I saw him a hundred times on one of the Israeli TV channels talking in plain Hebrew spewing venom about Israel and its people. The man is insane – a complete nut-job. He is the equivalent of 9/11 conspiracy theorists mixed with the likes of jane fonda.

  28. Phydeau says:

    #27 Jopa, as long as he states facts that are plainly obvious, but that the U.S. political establishment tries to hide and ignore, we’ll take him seriously. He didn’t sound nutty in that article.

    Now is your cue to call people who disagree with the political decisions of the Israeli government, anti-semites. Happens all the time.

  29. Improbus says:

    I assume by insane you mean he isn’t a Zionist.

  30. Named says:

    27 Jopa
    “The man is insane – a complete nut-job.”

    As Wikipedia is fond of saying… CITATION NEEDED.

    Judging by his history and his accolades, he seems like he did a lot FOR Israel… probably a million times more than you ever will do. You don’t like his politics, that’s fine. But character assassination is always cheap.


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