Israel Matzav

Saudi prince blasts US for not 'curbing' Israel

Well, here's a direct result of the Obama policy of bowing to foreign leaders. A Saudi prince has blasted the United States for not 'curbing' Israel.

“It has failed to curb the brutal Israeli policy of collective punishment, arbitrary arrests and killings,” charged Prince Turki al- Faisal, former Saudi ambassador to the US and ex-director of Saudi intelligence.

He also criticized American officials for not standing up to Israel, maintaining, “It is these officials who propose that the Netanyahu government should be rewarded for its intransigence rather than sanctioned.”

He said that Riyadh and other Arab countries had agreed to back the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations “under the United States-negotiated partial colony freeze” – whereby America had pushed Israel to impose a settlement freeze before talks started.

That freeze expired on September 26, and Palestinians with the support of the Arab League have been unwilling to continue talks until the freeze is resumed.

“The United States failed to stick to its assurances, and to add insult to injury, offered the Netanyahu government more money, arms, protection from UN sanctions and, shamefully, the stationing of Israeli troops on Palestinian territory as if the territory were part of American sovereign lands,” Turki said of reported US proposals to get Israel to renew the freeze.

Speaking to the annual conference of the National Council for US-Arab Relations, Turki also lambasted the Israel lobby, saying that “There has grown over the years a web of very tight and strong strings that bind the US to her client state, Israel.”

He led off his address, which followed a presentation on how Sesame Street uses muppets in children’s television across the Middle East to foster tolerance and respect, by saying that puppets don’t only appear on TV screens.

“There are live human muppets in Washington here who are run by AIPAC, and unfortunately what they bring is war and suffering,” he said.

He also noted at the beginning of his remarks that some friends who had seen his speech suggested he be “princely,” but that he had opted to go with “genuineness.”

This speech was two days after Congress was asked to approve $60 billion in arms sales to the Saudis. Some thanks the American taxpayer gets.

Funny, I haven't seen this in the US media yet. I guess the Obama administration doesn't want this kind of embarrassment ten days before the elections. But it's a direct result of his policy of sucking up to third world dictators. Maybe NPR will report on it....

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:05 AM