Rashid Khalidi's dream come true?
On Sunday, CNN's Fareed Zakaria interviewed former JPost editor and current Wall Street Journal editor Bret Stephens and 'Palestinian' professor Rashid Khalidi. You will recall that during the election campaign, the Los Angeles Times had but did not release a video of Khalidi's going away party from Chicago, which was attended by Barack Obama, at which some extremely anti-Israel statements were made.Let's go to the videotape and then we'll talk about it. This is a long tape. The segment about Israel with Khalidi and Stephens starts around the 11:00 mark and ends around the 27:15 mark.
Ron Radosh notes the part that is most problematic.
During the discussion, Zakaria asked whether or not it was “a shift for the — the United States to be suggesting that this stalled peace process [between Israel and the Palestinians] hurts America’s ability to pursue its interests.” What the administration is now saying, Khalidi responded, “is that Israel is a drag on the United States. It’s not a strategic asset, and this is a discursive shift of some significance.” (my emphasis) To put it a bit differently, Rashid Khalidi, who in 2008 worried that because of American politics Obama had to appear to be a supporter of Israel, now believes that Obama’s promise to move U.S. policy towards the Palestinian perspective is coming true.Khalidi goes far beyond saying that the conflict is a drag. He says Israel is a drag - that Israel is no longer worthy of being an American ally. Recall that Khalidi is one of Obama's closest friends. Is that what Obama's thinking? I would bet on it.
Khalidi again emphasized his main point: “that Israel is not the strategic asset it was touted as during the Cold War” and that the U.S. had returned “…in effect, to the Eisenhower administration’s view of the Middle East as an area where the United States has problems, and Israel is, in some small way, one of those problems.” Clearly, all the boilerplate assurances coming from the Obama camp in the past few weeks — assuring Americans that the U.S. commitment to Israel as a major ally is as firm as ever — have not dissuaded Khalidi from reaching a quite different conclusion.
Khalidi’s perspective, of course, comes entirely from that of the Arab world and its perpetual narrative: that Israel alone is at fault for the failure to attain peace or a Palestinian state. He explained: “If Israel continues to act in a way that antagonizes opinion all over the Muslim world, all over the Arab world, and in other parts of the world, to tell you the truth. You go other places, people say, why is the United States supporting this crazy policy? Then it becomes a liability instead of an asset.”
The debate became sharp, as Stephens retorted that rather than moving a peace process forward, everything the Obama team has been doing is moving things in the opposite direction. As Stephens said, “It basically sends a signal to Israel that this administration is not reliable, there’s no longer a kind of a hug-me-close mentality, which has — which has, in fact, moved Israel to, for instance, remove its settlements, its settlers from Gaza.”
Radosh has more here.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:55 AM
5 Comments:
Every time I watch Fareed Zakaria, I get the distinct feeling I'm watching the official Obama Ministry of Information.
I would bet the only thing that restrains Obama from applying more pressure on Israel is the fact Congress is critical of what he's done so far. And an image of relative toughness on Israel with the Arab and Muslim World may be all that Obama wanted to maintain his "street cred" with them.
Yonatan, I had the same feeling, like I was watching an Obama infomercial.
Every so-called spokesman for muslims is the same: they pretend to be moderate and reasonable. But then a Jew speaks - or any one who does not kowtow to their reasoning, and their faces become a mask of vicious hatred(as here).Then they start insulting Israel without answering the complaints made about muslims.
Clearly here, as you say, this Farid is a muslim and he is supporting muslims, probably on behalf of your fraudulent muslim president.
I have had to stop watching, because although I normally have low blood pressure, I am now getting pains in my chest with fury.
Thank you for posting this, tho'!
it really is wonderful to see a supposed scholar like khalidi spew talking points that are easily refuted and outright lies
"sharon on his own withdrew from gaza"
love how that was easily smacked down.
"illegal settlments on the west bank and east jerusalem"
true...but only if you follow what has been a corrupted international court.
he talks about israel supporting corrupt regimes and not allowing democracy to flourish in the middle east....huh????
democracy and islam cannot coexist...and he knows that...he uses the same argument that is found in his books...an argument that has thoughroully been debunked by reality
to khalidi, arabs are children, who have been easily manipulated by western powers. what a doosh he is.
as for khalidi being one of obama's closest friends...not really sure about that.
they had a collegial friendship...but as far as i know, he isnt one of obama's advisors.
if he were, i would never have supported him.
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