'US has no better friend than Israel'

[sherdil76]

Biden says he accepts PM's stance on Ramat Shlomo building plan.

US Vice President Joe Biden tried to put the furor over announcement of plans to build 1,600 units in Ramat Shlomo behind him, saying during a speech Thursday at Tel Aviv University that he condemned the move because as a friend he was compelled to "deliver the hardest truth," but adding that he appreciated the clarifications he received on the matter from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyhau.

He opened the speech by stressing the importance of US-Israel friendship and Washington's commitment to the security of the Jewish state, saying that "US President Barack Obama and myself know that the US has no better friend in the community of nations than Israel."

Biden said that he realized that construction in east Jerusalem "is a very touchy subject in Israel," but because Israel's decision to advance the housing project, in his view, "undermined the trust required to conduct the negotiations, I – at the request of President Obama – condemned it immediately."

After pausing for a moment to listen to the applause that accompanied these words, Biden explained how he, "such a strong supporter of Israel," could speak out so strongly.

"Quite frankly, folks, only a friend can deliver the hardest truth," he said.

"I appreciate, by the way, the response given by the Prime Minister, who today is putting in place a process to prevent the recurrence that sort of event, and who clarified that the beginning of actual construction of this particular project would likely take several years. That is significant, because it gives negotiations the time to resolve this as well as other issues."

Biden said that the announcement of the plan was interpreted in the West Bank as meaning that the 1,600 units would be constructed immediately.

"Look, folks, as we move on, I promise you this, the US will continue to hold both sides accountable for any statements or any actions that will inflame tension or prejudice the actions of these talks," the US vice president said.

Just prior to Biden's speech, the Prime Minister's Office, in what was apparently a move coordinated with the US, put out a statement saying that Netanyahu summoned "Interior Minister Eli Yishai and expressed his displeasure at the timing of the announcement of another stage in the planning process of a Jerusalem building project."

"In light of the ongoing disagreement between Israel and the US on building in Jerusalem," the statement read, Netanyahu "said there was no need to advance the planning process this week and instructed Interior Minister Yishai to adopt procedures to prevent such an incident from recurring."

According to the statement, Netanyahu spoke to Biden and "expressed his regret over the unfortunate timing. The Prime Minister informed the Vice President that this specific project had moved through various planning stages over several years. The final approval process will in all likelihood take more than a year and the beginning of actual construction would likely take several years."

Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the US vice president called for a two-states solution, saying that peace with Palestinians is "profoundly" in Israel's interest, and stressing that Washington is committed to Israel's security.

"From my experience, the one precondition for progress is that the rest of the world knows this - there is no space between the US and Israel when it comes to security - none. That's the only time that progress has been made," he said.

Biden went on to say that the "status-quo is not sustainable," because Israel could not remain a Jewish state while the Arab population continues to grow and a Palestinian state has not been established.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad are both real partners for peace, Biden said, urging Israel to seize the opportunity to achieve real peace with the Palestinians.

Biden also shared some memories from his first visit to Israel as a young senator in 1973, when he met with then-Prime Minister Golda Meir and with Yitzhak Rabin.

The US vice president said Meir told him that Israel's secret weapon in its against the Arab states was that "we have nowhere else to go."

Biden told the audience they must "make no mistake about America's resolve" in its fight against terrorism and against the Iranian nuclear program.

He said that the Islamic republic has grown more dangerous in the last decade, with Iran funding and supporting Hizbullah and Hamas, and "intimidating both its neighbors and its own people."

America was determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Biden said.

"May God protect you and may God protect Israel," the US vice president concluded.

AP contributed to this report

 

[TruthSeeker]

"US President Barack Obama and myself know that the US has no better friend in the community of nations than Israel."

Americans, like myself, who believe that Israel is NOT America's friend, only it's greatest dependent, have great difficulty overcoming such tripe as Biden's above statement. It is based purely on what is best for him as a politician, given the power of the pro-Israel forces in US politics and communications media. Israel has never done anything of any significance for the USA. Pakistan's actions in support of the USA are two or three orders of magnitude more important than anything Israel has done. AND Pakistan has never killed dozens of USN sailors.

Yeah, Israel is a great friend:

"The USS Liberty incident was an attack on a United States Navy technical research ship, USS Liberty, by Israeli jet fighter planes and motor torpedo boats, on June 8, 1967, during the on-going Six-Day War. The combined air and sea attack killed 34 crew members (naval officers, seamen, two Marines, and a civilian), wounded 171 crew members, and severely damaged the ship. At the time, the ship was in international waters north of the Sinai Peninsula, about 25.5 nmi (29.3 mi; 47.2 km) northwest from the Egyptian city of Arish."



The heavily damaged USS Liberty the day after the attack.

 

[Solomon2]

So you would agree with Biden if the USS Liberty incident had never occurred?

 

[RobbieS]

Well Biden puts it pretty candidly. I am glad the US leadership is not mincing words in its support to Israel. This pretty much proves all the human rights talk is bull $hit.

 

[IRA]

Let's all be honest. I think we all know, the Americans and the Europeans don't want the Jews back in their lands because the latter always seek to take control of their economies. In fact, they already control most of US media and major US and European corporations. So in effect they're only trying to protect themselves from this menace.

 

[IRA]

It's also quite surprising that Biden did not name the UK their best friend. I think the Britons have always been on US service and done much much more for them than Israel.
Interestingly, this may also be a revelation from US foreign policy point of view: they consider this Muslim region so big a threat that they need a permanent base there to keep the Muslim from rising and challenging the US. And therefore they're appreciative of US-Israeli ties.

 

[Avatar]

Let's all be honest. I think we all know, the Americans and the Europeans don't want the Jews back in their lands because the latter always seek to take control of their economies. In fact, they already control most of US media and major US and European corporations. So in effect they're only trying to protect themselves from this menace.

Judging by your statement I learnt that you have a tendency that Jews are smarter than the average American/European. Is that true ?

 

[sherdil76]

Americans, like myself, who believe that Israel is NOT America's friend, only it's greatest dependent, have great difficulty overcoming such tripe as Biden's above statement. It is based purely on what is best for him as a politician, given the power of the pro-Israel forces in US politics and communications media. Israel has never done anything of any significance for the USA. Pakistan's actions in support of the USA are two or three orders of magnitude more important than anything Israel has done. AND Pakistan has never killed dozens of USN sailors.

Yeah, Israel is a great friend:

"The USS Liberty incident was an attack on a United States Navy technical research ship, USS Liberty, by Israeli jet fighter planes and motor torpedo boats, on June 8, 1967, during the on-going Six-Day War. The combined air and sea attack killed 34 crew members (naval officers, seamen, two Marines, and a civilian), wounded 171 crew members, and severely damaged the ship. At the time, the ship was in international waters north of the Sinai Peninsula, about 25.5 nmi (29.3 mi; 47.2 km) northwest from the Egyptian city of Arish."



The heavily damaged USS Liberty the day after the attack.

i observed the same feeling in majority of British people, just take the victoria or northern line (north bound) and see how people react when a guy with black dress and a same coloured hat boards on tube.

 

[jamal18]

Israel is America's greatest parasite, causing America to earn the hatred of many countries and people.

 

[Solomon2]

I'm sure that if America refrained from going to war after 9-11 Americans would be liked more, but I think there would also be far fewer Americans. Being liked isn't worth as much when you are dead.

Until the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 Israel was the greatest force against united tyranny in the middle east. In many ways, it still is. That's one of the main reasons why Israel is worthy of U.S. support.

As for Israel being a "parasite": what do you think Israel would do if the U.S. announced it would cut off aid tomorrow? What choice would Israel have other than to attempt to destroy its enemies as violently and quickly as possible? Since 1973 the U.S. policy to keep Israel the strongest power in the mideast is there both to assure Israel that it would never have to do this and to keep America's allied Arab regimes secure.

 

[Thunder Omni Role]

Israel lobby has carefully slipped the notion of dual loyalty...that Americans SHOULD be loyal to both Israel and the U.S. even though they are not Israeli citizens...this pill has been slipped and unkowingly much of America through the Church has been tricked into alligning with a cancer that will be the downfall of the Western world in the coming decades. Every single tax payer cent to pay for white phosphorous bombs and bulldozers is being counted by Allah (SWT)

 

[Thunder Omni Role]

8.30. Remember how the Unbelievers plotted against thee, to keep thee in bonds, or slay thee, or get thee out (of thy home). They plot and plan, and Allah too plans; but the best of planners is Allah.

Zionist Lobby can only plot for so long.

 

[TruthSeeker]

I'm sure that if America refrained from going to war after 9-11 Americans would be liked more, but I think there would also be far fewer Americans.

The irony of your statement Solomon2 is that there would never have been a 9/11 attack were it not for the USA's lockstep support of Israel. The ONLY reason that the USA cannot serve it's interests in the Middle East in the same fashion as do the Chinese is our "need" to keep Israel safe. We took out Saddam to make the area safer for Israel. Our whole problem with Iran is its threat to Israel.

We get nothing from the relationship with Israel.

 

[Thunder Omni Role]

Judging by your statement I learnt that you have a tendency that Jews are smarter than the average American/European. Is that true ?

The Jew is not at fault, it is the Zionist who operates under the cloak of Jew or Christian.

 

[Solomon2]

there would never have been a 9/11 attack were it not for the USA's lockstep support of Israel.

Not Israel. Saudi Arabia. It was the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, who served as the defense of Saudi Arabia against possible attack from Saddam Hussein, that drove Al Qaeda to issue a fatway in 1996 and begin attacks against America. Bin Ladin also cited the suffering of Iraqi children due to the various trade embargoes against Saddam Hussein. link

The U.S. suffers because it defends Arabs from Arabs, but Israel gets the blame. Very convenient for Arabs, but not at all honest.

The ONLY reason that the USA cannot serve it's interests in the Middle East in the same fashion as do the Chinese is our "need" to keep Israel safe.

I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean.

We took out Saddam to make the area safer for Israel.

Alone among U.S. allies, Israel blamed Hezbollah for 9-11 and wanted the U.S. to invade Iran, not Iraq. link The Israelis were quite sure Saddam's chemical weapons had been destroyed by the U.N. and had, of course, destroyed Saddam's nuclear program themselves.

We get nothing from the relationship with Israel.

I'm sure the U.S. "gets" more out of its relationship with Israel than its relationship with Greece or dozens of other countries. The Israelis fight to keep their individuality, and for the U.S. that is perhaps the most important.

U.S. support of a Jewish State in Palestine dates back to the closing days of WWI and the American rejection of imperialism. The Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian Empires were broken into national components. The Arabs are dominant in the Middle East but are one of many peoples present: Armenians, Jews, Bahais, Iranians, Kurds, Maronite Christians, Assyrians, etc.

The creation of a Jewish State, while quite satisfying to Jews, was meant, in the geopolitical context, as part of the post-WWI rearrangement and was seen as ensuring global peace.

And still is. It's easy to imagine the mideast without Israel, for the world had seen it for thousands of years: the quick decay of individual nations into warring Empires, either using the Levant as a battleground or uniting to attack Europe and beyond. Death on a massive scale, made even worse with modern weaponry.

There are other reasons, of course, but the geopolitical, anti-imperial one tends to get lost in all the noise.