Michele Bachmann: A donor's promised to pay to move Embassy to Jerusalem

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"In a pledge that raises so many questions — none of which we can answer here right now — Michele Bachmann just told the RJC crowd that she's secured a promise from a donor to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, per POLITICO's Juana Summers:

I also want you to know it will be on Inauguration Day under my administration that the United States will move our Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem," she said. "I already have secured from a donor who said they will personally pay for the ambassador's home to be moved from Tel Aviv to Jersualem."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70014.html#ixzz1fyH2PBxl


Gingrich’s vow on Israel might come back to bite him

<snip>

"Newt Gingrich might have checked with Joe Clark first.

The Republican presidential hopeful and – according to some polls – the current front-runner in the race to oust Barack Obama from the White House vows his first act in the Oval Office will be to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“In a Gingrich administration, on the opening day, there will be an executive order about two hours after the inaugural address. We will send the Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as of that day,” he said.

Mr. Clark, a former Canadian prime minister, made a similarly bold campaign promise in 1979 seeking support – as is Mr. Gingrich – from the relatively small but politically very active bloc of Jewish voters. Once in office and faced with the political realities, Mr. Clark quickly ditched the pledge and Canada’s embassy remains in Tel Aviv."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/worldview/gingrichs-vow-on-israel-might-come-back-to-bite-him/article2264285/



Romney says Obama has ‘chastened’ Israel; he would visit nation in first trip as president

<snip>

"Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told a conservative Jewish audience Wednesday that his first foreign trip as president would be to Israel, contrasting his strong support for the Jewish state with President Obama’s policies, which he said had “chastened” the long-time Middle East ally."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/romney-says-obama-has-chastened-israel-he-would-visit-nation-in-first-trip-as-president/2011/12/07/gIQA8qWbcO_blog.html



Gingrich, Bachmann promise on Israeli embassy would be hard to keep

<snip>

"In remarks to the Republican Jewish Coalition, GOP presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Michelle Bachmann made nearly identical promises to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem if they are elected.

The two candidates were appealing Wednesday to a crowd that wanted to hear pledges of unwavering U.S. support for Israel, and in a climate where evangelical primary voters — among the strongest supporters of Israel — hold unusual sway. But the promises Gingrich and Bachmann made have a long history of not being kept."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fact-check-gingrich-bachmann-promise-on-israeli-embassy-would-be-hard-to-keep/2011/12/08/gIQAAjFYfO_story.html

[southernyankeebelle]

1. I know we support Israel but this is ridiculous. Shame on them.

[Angry Dragon]

2. Why don't they promise to move to Jerusalem themselves??

[Old and In the Way]

3. Why stop there? Why not move the White House, Capitol, and the rest of our functioning government

there as well. It would be much easier for Michelle to get her marching orders from Israel if she does this.

[Scurrilous]

4. Newt Gingrich: U.S. should consider clemency for Jonathan Pollard

Leading Republican White House hopeful says he has a study under way comparing Pollard's sentence with comparable people sentenced for comparable deeds.&#8236;’

<snip>

"Leading Republican White House hopeful Newt Gingrich discusses Jonathan Pollard in an Interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN Wednesday. Gingrich says he is leaning towards clemency in the case of Jonathan Pollard, but hasn’t all the information needed to make up his mind.

“There are secrecy things involved here that I frankly don't - and I want to have access to as a candidate, and I don't think it's necessarily appropriate to have access to it,” he said. “But I am very cautious about what position I would take on that.”

“I am prepared to say my bias is towards clemency, and I would like to review it. He's been in a very long time. But we are pretty tough about people spying on the United States.”

Gingrich says he has a study under way “to compare his sentence with comparable people who have been sentenced for very long sentences for comparable deeds.&#8236;”

http://www.haaretz.com/news/u-s-elections-2012/newt-gingrich-u-s-should-consider-clemency-for-jonathan-pollard-1.400408

[oberliner]

5. The Responses to this Post are Ridiculous

The US Congress has already voted to move to embassy to Jerusalem (which Israel claims as its capital).

Presidents Clinton and Obama have also both expressed agreement with this in principle, though they have taken steps to delay such implementation.

[vminfla]

6. The responses are referred to by their logical fallacy name of Argumentum ad abusrdium

No one can legitimately complain about the street address of an embassy.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. The US already own the land there

[Scurrilous]

8. Top Holocaust scholar blasts 'Holocaust-abuse' by U.S., Israeli politicians

Deborah Lipstadt lambasts 'unhealthy and embarrassing' pandering of Republican presidential candidates; says U.S. envoy Gutman’s comments on Muslim anti-Semitism were 'stupid.'

<snip>

"Renowned Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt says that American and Israeli politicians who invoke the Holocaust for contemporary political purposes are engaging in “Holocaust abuse”, which is similar to “soft-core denial” of the Holocaust.

“I think it is dangerous, just plain dangerous. It’s a distortion of what Israel is all about, what Zionism is all about,” said Lipstadt, who has just published a retrospective book “The Eichmann Trial” on the 1961 Jerusalem trial of the infamous Nazi criminal.

“When you take these terrible moments in our history, and you use it for contemporary purposes, in order to fulfill your political objectives, you mangle history, you trample on it,” she said.

In a hard-hitting interview with Haaretz, Lipstadt singled out Republican presidential candidates for rebuke, describing their “pandering” as “embarrassing” and “unhealthy”. Of last week’s appearance of the top Republican candidates at a Washington forum organized by the Republican Jewish Committee, she said: “It was unbelievable. It made me cringe. I couldn’t watch it.”

“You listen to Newt Gingrich talking about the Palestinians as an ‘invented people’ – it’s out-Aipacking AIPAC, it’s out-Israeling Israel,” she said. .”There’s something about it that’s so discomforting. It’s not healthy. It’s a distortion,” she said."

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/top-holocaust-scholar-blasts-holocaust-abuse-by-u-s-israeli-politicians-1.401821

[Jefferson23]

12. This should be a thread on its own. ..recommend. n/t

[Ken Burch]

9. Is it legal to use private funds to move the home of a U.S. ambassador?

n/t.

[Scurrilous]

10. Romney to Conf. of Prez's: I'm undecided on Pollard & moving U.S. embassy to J'lem

<snip>

"Mitt Romney wouldn't commit to moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and said that he hasn't yet decided if the Israeli spymaster Jonathan Pollard should be released from prison, according to a source who attended an off-the-record sit down yesterday with the Republican candidate that was organized by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

"He answered (questions) very frankly," said one attendee.

On the topic of Pollard, Romney said that he "was open to examining" the issue, but stopped short of saying that he would free the spy from federal prison, the source said.

When asked if he would move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem -- a promise that Republican presidential candidates make with ease (but ultimately break once in office) -- Romney said that he would "consult with the government of Israel" before he makes a final decision."

http://washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=88&SubSectionID=275&ArticleID=16302

[azurnoir]

11. The Republican controlled House in 1995 made a law

that stated the US embassy to Israel should be in East Jerusalem, as that is still disputed territory no President including Bush has moved it

[Scurrilous]

13. Santorum Insists West Bank Is ‘Part of Israel’

<snip>

"Following Rick Santorum’s sudden rise to prominence in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, new attention has been paid to his views on foreign policy issues, which apparently include a firm conviction that the West Bank is “part of Israel.”

Writing in The Jewish Week on Monday, Douglas Bloomfield reminded readers that Mr. Santorum told a man in Iowa six weeks ago that “all the people that live in the West Bank are Israelis. They’re not Palestinians — there is no Palestinian — this is Israeli land.”

A video of the exchange, which was recorded by CNN, shows that Mr. Santorum responded to a question about whether or not Israel “should dismantle its settlements” by suggesting that the West Bank was as much a part of Israel as Texas and New Mexico are part of the United States. The entire territory, Mr. Santorum added, “is legitimately Israeli country,” so Israelis “have a right to build things based upon their ownership of that land.”

The candidate said much the same thing in June, when he attended a Republican Jewish Coalition event in Iowa. Weighing in on the debate over Israel’s 1967 borders, Mr. Santorum said then: “I think this is really important to understand: that Israel’s neighbors attacked Israel. Israel responded to those attacks and in so responding was able to take ground that gave them more of a defensible posture vis-à-vis future attacks — the Golan Heights and the West Bank in particular.”

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/santorum-insists-west-bank-is-part-of-israel/

[Jefferson23]

14. Just when you think they've reached the pinnacle of crazy, a guy like this comes

along and proves you wrong.

[Little Tich]

15. I had to watch the clip twice, I thought I heard wrong the first time.