• De Blasio: "Part of my job description is to be a defender of Israel"
    30 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Mayor Bill de Blasio gave an unannounced speech at a gala of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the leading pro-Israel lobby group, in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday night, assuring its members that “part of my job description is to be a defender of Israel.” [...] “We went to the children’s center in Sderot,” Mr. de Blasio said, “and we saw what it meant for everyday families. If they wanted to have time for their kids to play, they have to be in a missile-proof, bomb-proof play area, because you could not know otherwise if your children would be safe.” “You can’t have an experience like that and not feel solidarity with the people of Israel and know that they’re on the front line of fighting against so many challenges,” he continued. As public advocate, Mr. de Blasio, who was raised Catholic, was a staunch defender of Israel, accusing Saudi Airlines of discriminating against Israeli citizens and criticizing companies that do business with Iran.[/QUOTE] [URL="http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/01/25/nyregion/de-blasio-in-private-speech-to-aipac-stresses-commitment-to-israel.html?_r=0&referrer="]The New York Times[/URL]
Ugh your job is to run NYC fuckwit And you already suck at it
[QUOTE=LoganIsAwesome;43660335]Ugh your job is to run NYC fuckwit And you already suck at it[/QUOTE] Considering this maybe he should focus on Israel and let the city sort itself out. I have more faith on random strangers than on this guy.
I've never understood the whole "We must help Israel!" mentality... And I'm a white, moderate, Bible-Belt Christian. I'm sure that if the current state of Israel is actually backed by God, then God can probably protect them a heck of a lot better than we can. I don't know, it just seems weird to me.
There's no doubt that Israel faces threats that most modern nations couldn't even dream of but I don't get this Israel fetishism amongst our politicians Negative opinions aren't the threat to Israel, "defending" it from your soapbox doesn't help at all
[QUOTE=Zeke129;43660450]There's no doubt that Israel faces threats that most modern nations couldn't even dream of but I don't get this Israel fetishism amongst our politicians Negative opinions aren't the threat to Israel, "defending" it from your soapbox doesn't help at all[/QUOTE] That's not to say they're completely incapable of protecting themselves... And it's also not to say a lot of why they're hated isn't their own dang fault. If you don't go building settlements in the country next to you, you won't have to deal with them being angry about those settlements. Also, Israel's the only country in the region with confirmed nukes. Which is part of why the rest of the region hates them. They sort of have the military force to do whatever they want in the region, with very little repercussions. On top of that, if someone goes after them, we kind of bomb them to pieces and oust their government. While they are threatened, I'm sure they could handle themselves if they wanted.
How come Israel seems to have its hands so deep in the pockets of politicians?
[QUOTE=Killer900;43660641]How come Israel seems to have its hands so deep in the pockets of politicians?[/QUOTE] Because they're like the only country in the Middle East with mostly positive ties to the US, and we want to keep it that way?
[QUOTE=woolio1;43660652]Because they're like the only country in the Middle East with mostly positive ties to the US, and we want to keep it that way?[/QUOTE] "Positive ties." Yeah. Right. Which is why the Pentagon hates them, the DoD considers them to be our number one source of miss-information, and that they keep selling the shit we give them to china?
[QUOTE=Sir_takeslot;43661171]"Positive ties." Yeah. Right. Which is why the Pentagon hates them, the DoD considers them to be our number one source of miss-information, and that they keep selling the shit we give them to china?[/QUOTE] Obviously there's some reason we're keeping them on board. If not that, then what?
[QUOTE=woolio1;43661254]Obviously there's some reason we're keeping them on board. If not that, [B]then what?[/B][/QUOTE] this [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Zionism[/url] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Israel_Public_Affairs_Committee[/url] when you have millions of dumbasses who literally want "apocalypse" plus a VERY strong lobby group and to top it off, you have the fact israel may decide to simply nuke certain countries around it, if they lose the ability to bully them around with their army(they need the US cash to maintain it at the rate they use it) due to the fact the current right-wing government in charge makes ariel sharon seem nice(at least he wanted a solution to the damn thing).
[QUOTE=Wizards Court;43661329]this [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Zionism[/url] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Israel_Public_Affairs_Committee[/url] when you have millions of dumbasses who literally want "apocalypse" plus a VERY strong lobby group and to top it off, you have the fact israel may decide to simply nuke certain countries around it, if they lose the ability to bully them around with their army(they need the US cash to maintain it at the rate they use it) due to the fact the current right-wing government in charge makes ariel sharon seem nice(at least he wanted a solution to the damn thing).[/QUOTE] So people are lobbying for support of Israel because they want the world to end, and we're supporting Israel so they don't just destroy the Middle East? Wow. Seems almost like some sort of Mafia-like agreement. A "You give us money, we don't plunge our oil-filled region into nuclear winter." deal.
[QUOTE=woolio1;43661371]So people are lobbying for support of Israel because they want the world to end, and we're supporting Israel so they don't just destroy the Middle East? Wow. Seems almost like some sort of Mafia-like agreement. A "You give us money, we don't plunge our oil-filled region into nuclear winter." deal.[/QUOTE] it's scary how you're spot on with your description
Israel's foreign policy is literally give us money or we'll nuke the world and you can't do anything about it.
You know, if I had to choose between Rob Ford and this guy, I simply can't stay mad at a lovable happy drunk. Even if he sometimes isn't so happy and threatens to rip an unknown person's eyes out. It's better than [I]this[/I] shit. (I just wish I could pretend I didn't know what Harper's dumb ass said in Israel this week, too.)
Isn't this the same guy who said conservatives should leave New York? Who'll help him defend Israel then?
[QUOTE=lazyguy;43664681]Isn't this the same guy who said conservatives should leave New York? Who'll help him defend Israel then?[/QUOTE] Are you implying Democrats are any less pro-Israel?
[img]http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/5cols/leading_images/Oct17-Netanyahu_0.jpg[/img]
I don't get it. Aren't Christians at odds with Jews because they think the Jews killed Jesus or something?
[QUOTE=A B.A. Survivor;43667831]I don't get it. Aren't Christians at odds with Jews because they think the Jews killed Jesus or something?[/QUOTE] The Catholic Church used to be, but they stopped. The US's version of Christianity has been very tightly intertwined with Judaism since the 50s/60s.
[QUOTE=A B.A. Survivor;43667831]I don't get it. Aren't Christians at odds with Jews because they think the Jews killed Jesus or something?[/QUOTE] Jews didn't kill jesus, Romans killed jesus for being a jew, or 'false prophet' or something.
[QUOTE=Usernameztaken;43669258]Jews didn't kill jesus, Romans killed jesus for being a jew, or 'false prophet' or something.[/QUOTE] but the jews were part of the actions to have him arrested and murdered
we are talking about nyc, highest proportion of jews outside of israel it's really not that outlandish that he feels part of his job is to protect what might be one of the interests of his constituents. not saying it's legitimate, but understandable, certainly?
Fuck political correctness, but this makes it appear as if AIPAC is Jewish Cabal that hosts private meetings with influential politicians to hear how "prepared" said politicians are in representing their interests. I am so tired of hearing how our politicians show up to AIPAC (secret and public) meetings to reaffirm their servitude for pro-Israel interests.
[QUOTE=Usernameztaken;43669258]Jews didn't kill jesus, Romans killed jesus for being a jew, or 'false prophet' or something.[/QUOTE] The Romans had Jesus executed, because he was a threat to their local authority in Judea. Just like any rebel at the time.
[QUOTE=Lamar;43669829]Fuck political correctness.[/QUOTE] uh yeah sure woo
[QUOTE=Zeke129;43660450]There's no doubt that Israel faces threats that most modern nations couldn't even dream of but I don't get this Israel fetishism amongst our politicians Negative opinions aren't the threat to Israel, "defending" it from your soapbox doesn't help at all[/QUOTE] US parties get massive funding from rich jewish people living in the US, who happen to like Israel and like to keep it "protected". abandoning the policy of protection would lead to a lot of losses in the jewish voting segment actually so no one dares to go against the status quo.
[QUOTE=wraithcat;43678636]US parties get massive funding from rich jewish people living in the US, who happen to like Israel and like to keep it "protected". abandoning the policy of protection would lead to a lot of losses in the jewish voting segment actually so no one dares to go against the status quo.[/QUOTE] Which is kind of funny because the conspiracies about this existed long before any proof, and now nobody's seeing what's right in front of them.
[QUOTE=katbug;43684410]Which is kind of funny because the conspiracies about this existed long before any proof, and now nobody's seeing what's right in front of them.[/QUOTE] Jewish people with money ranked among most likely to fiscally support Israeli cause, what a shocker. Protecting self interest is not really a conspiracy. It can be morally objectionable, but hardly a conspiracy.
In the lead up to the elections there was some red-bating towards De Blasio due to his support for the Sandinistas of Nicaragua back in the 80s before he entered into politics, this coupled with his speeches about inequality led to some of the more idiotic people thought his election would herald some sort of NYC-version of Hugo Chavez or some business like that. De Blasio's appearance there is probably is way of patching up his relations with the Jewish community in NYC. Before the 2000s they were pretty reliable supporters of the Democratic Party- which was more or less the same case nationally- but recently the Jewish community has become less and less Democratic and indeed many have been flipping over to the Republican Party chiefly over the Israel issue as the media often paints the Dems as being "weak" on the Israel issue (oh god forbid someone criticizes settlements) despite reality showing otherwise. You can find plenty of prominent Democrats attending AIPAC summits, both before this recent rut and currently. During the run-up to the mayoral elections, De Blasio's main opponent, the Republican Joe Lhota made it a point to nurture ties with the Jewish community in NYC on virtue of De Blasio's image of being a progressive Dem which was a red-flag for being anti-Israel as the media sees it (though Lhota also had some Jewish descent from his mothers' side). Come election day it seems to've worked- there was a split in Jewish votes with some of the more orthodox communities [url=http://jewishvoiceny.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5689:vote-for-the-most-qualified-candidates-on-november-5-the-jewish-voice-endorses-the-following&catid=112:new-york&Itemid=295]even endorsing Lhota[/url], though admittedly the mayoral elections had a weak turnout (25% or thereabouts). Numbers vary, but the New York Times' exit polling indicates that there was [url=http://www.nytimes.com/projects/elections/2013/general/nyc-mayor/exit-polls.html]a 53-44% split in Jewish voters going to De Blasio and Lhota respectively[/url]. Anthony Weiner, who we know now more for taking pictures of his dong, was more well-known in Washington circles for being among the most hawkish pro-Israel representatives from the New York delegation, which was an achievement in of itself. As an example, he was of the opinion that there was no 'occupation' of the West Bank by the Israel government- He said this back when he was still in the running to be NYC mayor. He had hoped would be his comeback and could've had a good chance of happening, but he just can't stop taking pictures of his dong apparently. But Weiner also held the [url=http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/jimmy-mcmillan-endorses-anthony-weiner-95048.html]distinction of being endorsed by Jimmy McMillan[/url], AKA Rent is Too Damn High guy.
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