US blocks Israel from Anti-Terrorism conference due to protest from Turkey - Polidicks

[quote]The United States blocked Israel's participation in the Global Counterterrorism Forum's (GCTF) first meeting in Istanbul on Friday, despite Israel's having one of the most extensive counterterrorism experiences in the world. Israel was excluded from the meeting due to fierce objections by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a Washington-based source told Globes news. According the State Department’s website, the GCTF, which was established in September 2011, aims at “strengthening the global counterterrorism (CT) architecture in a manner that complements and reinforces the CT work of existing multilateral bodies.” Twenty-nine countries are participating in the GCTF, ten of which are Arab and/or Muslim countries. "The GCTF sought from the outset to bridge old and deep divides in the international community between Western donor nations and Muslim majority nations. And it has, I think, done that quite effectively," a top US official said at the press briefing prior to the opening session. Republican politicians claim that since one third of the GCTF's members are Muslim countries, the Obama administration is trying to deepen ties with the Muslim world at Israel's expense, Globes noted. "Our idea with the GCTF was to bring together a limited number of traditional donors, front line states, and emerging powers develop a more robust, yet representative, counterterrorism capacity-building platform. A number of our close partners with considerable experience countering and preventing terrorism are not included among the GCTF’s founding members,” a State Department spokesman said in response to questions about Israel's exclusion from the GCTF. "We have discussed the GCTF and ways to involve Israel in its activities on a number of occasions, and are committed to making this happen," he added. Pro-Israeli sources say that the Obama administration decided to ignore the fact that Turkey, which has a key role in the GCTF, opposes calling Hamas a terrorist organization, even though the State Department lists it as such. In May, Turkey blocked Israel's participation in a NATO summit in Chicago and maintained that NATO–Israel relations cannot be restored until Turkey-Israel relations are normalized. [/quote] [url]http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/156733#.T9X2OPH0Rpd[/url] Right, because why would you want a country under constant threat from terrorists and therefore extensive anti-terrorist experience at an anti-terrorist conference? Gotta keep Turkey happy :downs:

The relations between the two are already heavily strained, they don't want it to get any worse

[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;36307032]The relations between the two are already heavily strained, they don't want it to get any worse[/QUOTE] Wouldn't Turkey forcing Israel out of this make it worse?

oh my god will we just let everyone kick israels ass? It's a worthless country with an ego bigger than NK.

[QUOTE=MightyMax;36307109]oh my god will we just let everyone kick israels ass? It's a worthless country with an ego bigger than NK.[/QUOTE] How can you even say something like that? Israel is doing really great, and are only trying to get some peace in their country. Everyone seems to hate on the country by seeing everything as something bad. Gaza strip: Given by Israel, partly used by Hamas to launch Kassam rockets into nearby cities in Israel. Then, when Israel counterattacks, the whole world goes bananas. Even the walls that are raised get some sort of bad reputation, even though it's one of the most humane ways to solve the bomb problem. Also, care to explain why it's worthless?

[QUOTE=Capitulazyguy;36306904]Right, because why would you want a country under constant threat from terrorists and therefore extensive anti-terrorist experience at an anti-terrorist conference? Gotta keep Turkey happy :downs:[/QUOTE] yea cause israels counter-terrorism tactics are really ones we want to spread to the rest of the world. i literally love indiscriminate bombings of civilian areas!

[QUOTE=kazookie;36307467]How can you even say something like that? Israel is doing really great, and are only trying to get some peace in their country. Everyone seems to hate on the country by seeing everything as something bad. Gaza strip: Given by Israel, partly used by Hamas to launch Kassam rockets into nearby cities in Israel. Then, when Israel counterattacks, the whole world goes bananas. Even the walls that are raised get some sort of bad reputation, even though it's one of the most humane ways to solve the bomb problem. Also, care to explain why it's worthless?[/QUOTE] Illegal settlement expansion - Intercepting and destroying aid to Palestine - No fresh food or clean water for Palestinians - Destroying the homes and property of Palestinians for more settlement expansion.

Israel has a lot of counter terrorism experience, but at the same time has a lot of disregard for civilian casualties.

[QUOTE=neigleig;36307498]Israel has a lot of counter terrorism experience, but at the same time has a lot of disregard for civilian casualties.[/QUOTE] except israels counter-terrorism tactics is one of the reasons they have such a huge terrorism problem

[QUOTE=neigleig;36307498]Israel has a lot of counter terrorism experience, but at the same time has a lot of disregard for civilian casualties.[/QUOTE] I'd consider Israel to be more counter-rebel than counter-terror.

[QUOTE=archangel125;36307497]Illegal settlement expansion - Intercepting and destroying aid to Palestine - No fresh food or clean water for Palestinians - Destroying the homes and property of Palestinians for more settlement expansion.[/QUOTE] Oww, okay, I'll have to admit I forgot about the human rights stuff. Still, it has given away so much, and achieved so little of it. When the country got the highest living standard in the middle east, I'm pretty sure people are okay as long as they have a good reason of being there. It can't be all that bad.

[QUOTE=kazookie;36307884]Oww, okay, I'll have to admit I forgot about the human rights stuff. Still, it has given away so much, and achieved so little of it. [B]When the country got the highest living standard in the middle east[/B], I'm pretty sure people are okay as long as they have a good reason of being there. It can't be all that bad.[/QUOTE] Wrong, that's the UAE :)

[QUOTE=archangel125;36307980]Wrong, that's the UAE :)[/QUOTE] Hmm, weird, because [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index#Middle_East_and_North_Africa]Last time I checked[/url] Israel is on top in the middle east. Look at the first list at the top too, Israel is way beyond UAE Sorry if this made me look like a dickhead.

[QUOTE=kazookie;36308169]Hmm, weird, because [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index#Middle_East_and_North_Africa]Last time I checked[/url] Israel is on top in the middle east. Look at the first list at the top too, Israel is way beyond UAE[/QUOTE] HDI? Yeah, The UAE is second, now. They had been on top when I lived there, before the recession hit them hard.

[QUOTE=Marbalo;36308193]The only downside to Israel is the way they're handling the Palestinian situation. Everything else about the country is really great, you have a lot of LGBT rights, (Tel Aviv is consistently ranked as one of the top LGBT destinations in the [I]world[/I].) People have a full freedom of expression and the country has one of the most liberal media outlets in the Middle East while also giving journalists pretty much absolute freedom. (Unless, again, we're talking about Palestinian journalists). Not to mention Israel is extremely ethnically diverse. It's a damn shame we treating the Palestinians with such contempt and paranoia. It completely overshadows everything else Israel is factually doing good in. I believe if we loosened up and actually stopped treating our neighboring civilians like shit they would surely be more cooperative and more and more folks would stop harboring and putting up with Hezbollah's shit.[/QUOTE] I have a feeling that the Arab World will never forgive Israel their crimes against the Palestinians. Nor do they feel that Israel can be trusted to honor any peace treaty. Israel may be a good country in some ways, but your government has doomed you. The only hope Israel has now is to not only make peace with Palestine, but to fully compensate them for all the harm that has been done, and give them their land back.

i know this sounds dumb, but why can't israel and palestine just combine to form a new state? sure it would take a lot of work to accomplish, and no doubt, disputes would break out, but would that really any worse than what's going on right now?

[QUOTE=Marbalo;36308193]The only downside to Israel is the way they're handling the Palestinian situation. Everything else about the country is really great, you have a lot of LGBT rights, (Tel Aviv is consistently ranked as one of the top LGBT destinations in the [I]world[/I].) People have a full freedom of expression and the country has one of the most liberal media outlets in the Middle East while also giving journalists pretty much absolute freedom. (Unless, again, we're talking about Palestinian journalists). Not to mention Israel is extremely ethnically diverse. It's a damn shame we treating the Palestinians with such contempt and paranoia. It completely overshadows everything else Israel is factually doing good in. I believe if we loosened up and actually stopped treating our neighboring civilians like shit they would surely be more cooperative and more and more folks would stop harboring and putting up with Hezbollah's shit.[/QUOTE] if it wasn't for zionism or the hardout orthodox jews i think israel would be a very lovely country and an example for the rest of the east. as is, like with most the middle east, the extremist few fuck it up for the moderate majority

[QUOTE=archangel125;36308183]HDI? Yeah, The UAE is second, now. They had been on top when I lived there, before the recession hit them hard.[/QUOTE] Yeah, HDI. [quote=Wikipedia]The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite statistic used to rank countries by level of "human development", taken as a synonym of the older terms (the standard of living and/or quality of life)[/quote] Was there a different system you where thinking about when I said living standard? [QUOTE=archangel125;36308229]I have a feeling that the Arab World will never forgive Israel their crimes against the Palestinians. Nor do they feel that Israel can be trusted to honor any peace treaty. Israel may be a good country in some ways, but your government has doomed you. The only hope Israel has now is to not only make peace with Palestine, but to fully compensate them for all the harm that has been done, and give them their land back.[/QUOTE] Give them their land back? The whole area was under British mandate before the state was created. There where never an actual Palestine state, and the one that exists now is basically a joke that claims all the land of Israel. No, I don't think the Palestine should go, they deserve to stay, but the land was never officially theirs.

[QUOTE=Marbalo;36308289]Orthodox jews aren't even taken seriously in Israel either. At least where I live, and no matter with how many people I talk to about this they basically either dont take them seriously or dont even care to begin with. A good comparison would be the way WBC is treated in the US, I reckon. This is why [url]http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/11/ultra-orthodox-jews-vandalize-jerusalem-s-holocaust-memorial.html[/url][/QUOTE] but like, what about all those psycho settlement dickheads? aren't they hard out orthodox?

[QUOTE=kazookie;36307467]How can you even say something like that? Israel is doing really great, and are only trying to get some peace in their country. Everyone seems to hate on the country by seeing everything as something bad. Gaza strip: Given by Israel, partly used by Hamas to launch Kassam rockets into nearby cities in Israel. Then, when Israel counterattacks, the whole world goes bananas. Even the walls that are raised get some sort of bad reputation, even though it's one of the most humane ways to solve the bomb problem. Also, care to explain why it's worthless?[/QUOTE] Pretty much this, when they aren't illegally occupying the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and building even more illegal settlements there.

Why can't we just pick Israel up, and put them near Mexico. They would be far better off.

I say we annex Israel

[QUOTE=kazookie;36307467]How can you even say something like that? Israel is doing really great, and are only trying to get some peace in their country. Everyone seems to hate on the country by seeing everything as something bad. Gaza strip: Given by Israel, partly used by Hamas to launch Kassam rockets into nearby cities in Israel. Then, when Israel counterattacks, the whole world goes bananas. Even the walls that are raised get some sort of bad reputation, even though it's one of the most humane ways to solve the bomb problem. Also, care to explain why it's worthless?[/QUOTE] State-sponsored terrorism.