The White House is criticizing Syria for violence against protesters that is now spreading beyond its borders and into Israeli territory.
“We regret the loss of life and our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of those killed and wounded,” spokesman Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One as President Obama traveled to Memphis.
Carney said: “Israel, like all countries, has the right to prevent unauthorized crossings at its borders. Its neighbors have a responsibility to prevent such activity. We would urge maximum restraint on all sides.”
As for Syria, Carney said: “We’re also strongly opposed to the Syrian government’s involvement in inciting yesterday’s protests in the Golan Heights, such behavior is unacceptable and does not serve as a distraction from the Syrian government’s ongoing repression of demonstrators in its own country.”
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24 Responses
Mazel Tov! It is about time the U.S. stops blaming Israel for all of the strife in the Middle East.
PS NOT MUCH NEED TO SYMPATHIZE WITH THEIR LOSSES. THEY ARE “SHAHIDS” GOING TO PARADISE
It is the fear of the pro-Israel lobby and Glenn Beck-types that is causing the Obama Administration to bow to Israel.
We hope and pray that after the elections, the Obama Administration will finally be able to stop the Israeli aggression to its Arab neighbors and the Palestinians.
What was wrong with Palestinian refugees returning to their homeland? Why did the Israeli army need to shoot them? Why shoot defense-less women and children?
” It is about time the U.S. stops blaming Israel for all of the strife in the Middle East.”
The US can’t stop doing that because it never HAS blamed Israel for all of the strife.
ProudLiberal, by any chance is your nickname Troll?
More double talk by America.
It started with, “Israel is a sovereign country”……….but, give up some of your land to the terrorists.
Now it is, “Israel has a right to prevent unauthorized crossings”…………but,
“we urge restraint ON BOTH SIDES”.
I see how America restrains itself against it’s terrorists.
Now lets see how Israel gets blame. obama Israel should display maximum restraint; how but letting them run over the whole country like you are doing on the SOUTHERN US border.
Maybe you don’t consider it a US border but most Americans
do. By the way proud liberal do you think the US’s Southern border ought to be open???
@mamashtakah,
You don’t agree with my opinions, so you call me names?
Typical [moderated].
@yitzchoky,
Yes, I believe that there should not be borders, as do most Americans. Don’t forget, all Americans were immigrants to this country, and we have no right to stop other immigrants from coming and enjoying the same rights and benefits of our country.
Especially the Palestinians who’s land was stolen by the Israelis. These poor Palestinian refugees definitely deserve their land back.
Yo Proud aka Troll,
Nobody stole the land. Also troll who gave money to the palestinians not their arab brothers who btw would rather see them dead but the Israeli gov’t who built their infrastucture. Look what those ingrates did after Israel left the west bank. They destroyed green houses that were left for them. So troll take a hike and go live with your hamas brothers and become an ingate like your arab brothers. See the good life they would have if they did not squander the money the Israeli gov’t gave them.
“Nobody stole the land.”
That is a very debatable, to say the least. Israel expropriated all land that had been owned by Arabs who had fled for their lives during Israel’s War of Independence, even when the owner was an Israeli Citizen who had moved to another part of Israel. Jordan did the same thing to Jewish-owned property in places like the Etzion region, the Old City of Jerusalem, and downtown Chevron. If Jews can take back Chevron, then the proper Arab owners should be able to return to their homes in places like West Jerusalem, Lod, Tzfat, Haifa, Jaffa, and Beersheva.
Israel has also built West Bank settlements on land for which the title was questionable.
“Proud aka Troll”
Don’t feed the troll.
Proud Liberal:
I assume you are joking, at least i hope you are. If you are not however, then you cannot deny the fact that Israel is our land. If you believe that the Palestinian people are correct, you must believe them because of what they are basing it on. You, and the rest of the Palestinian people who are fighting against Israel miss one important fact. In college, I had to read the Qu’ran as part of a comparison on religion. Are you aware of what it says in “Night Journey” Chapter 17 verses 100:104? If you are not, give it a look and come back here to discuss. It clearly says that The land of Jerusalem is the Jewish land.
Proud liberal, I somewhat understand what your saying.. But now in 2011, we must protect the land the Jews live on from these savages. Its a matter of life and death, so no we can’t let them cross the border and violently riot!
CharlieHall..I admire both your persistance and your restraint. Also, I agree with your admonishment not to feed the troll. Very funny, actually…he’s either a “double troll” (maybe you?)…or simply not clever or smart enough to be effective as an agent provocateur.
On a more serious note, my late father, a German refugee from Hitler, used to see red at any jingoism in the Jewish community…don’t people understand, he’d say…that this sort of behavior is what’s at the root of the “Good German” syndrome? Blind, unquestioning fealty to one’s government or authority, where any criticism or dissent, no matter how small, is dismissed as treasoness.
Listen guys, I am not going to get into a philosophical debate over whether God promised the land to the Israelites or not. These questions are beside the point.
You all need to wake up to reality. The Western world is facing a tremendous threat of terrorism, because of our support for Israel. There is no way around it, we’re going to have to stop supporting Israel very soon. Whether you agree or not, this is going to happen. President Obama has said so, and many of his advisors have said so. I realize that this is a very Conservative blog (influenced by Glenn Beck), and I am not going to change your opinions. But you all must realize where we’re headed. When we declare the Palestinian state, Israel will finally be on the defensive, and we’ll see some justice for the Palestinians. We all hope that Israel will at least deal with the reality and not be in denial.
ProudLiberal…Greetings Comrade – you appear to me to be more a MisguidedSocialistWorker…or a ProudCPUSADinosaur.
(And the rest of you…there are real Socialists and Communists out there…I refer to them and not merely anyone who disagrees with right wingers)
More seriously…I assume you are neither…just horribly misguided. I remember when folk of your ilk tried to peddle legitimate civil rights grievances as so-called evidence of facism. You have neither a sense of balance nor, in the present case, an appreciation of the very real existential threat facing Israel.
I’m a Liberal…I am not happy with many of the hardline policies in Israel…and I fear that those very hardline policies could, chas v’shalom, lead to trajedy…but I recognize and regard as real, perhaps because I am 60, the historical intransigence of many if not most of the Arabs…even when Israeli governments were Labor…and even pre-’67 when the “West Bank” all belonged to Jordon. The threat to Israel and to the Jews living there is very real..not just some academic point of view or theory.
I would defend your right to speak up and express your views…but I think from where you come is naive at best and very dangerous at worst.
Hey…It just struck me…
ProudLiberal writes “Listen guys, I am not going to get into a philosophical debate over whether God promised the land to the ISRAELITES or not…”
Use of the word Israelites in this context, rather than Jews, is decidedly Christian…
#15: Muslim hatred towards the West isn’t because of their support for Israel; they will hate the West regardless of Israel. The Arabs will always find scapegoats to blame for their hatred for the West. The Arab regimes are dysfunctional, this is why they forment hatred in their societies.
Charlie Hall: Historically, countries with different ethnicity which have fought wars which resulted in newly created borders, have naturally caused refugees from both sides to resettle in the country of their ethnicity. This has happened with India and Pakistan. The Arab countries intentionally used the Palestinian refugees as pawns against Israel and they have not allowed the refugees to resettle in their countries.
Thank you YonasonW, I’m happy to see that there are others on this blog who see the light. Not every YWN reader is a Glenn Beck dolt.
Whenever Conservatives read my comments on the many blogs I frequent (and I’ve just discovered this one recently), they hyper-ventilate. But the fact is that I say out loud what we all think, and so many of us are not allowed to say publicly because of the pro-Israel lobby in this country.
The time has come, and I say this proudly, to take back our country from the Wall Street Banksters, the Bernie Madoffs, the Bernankes, the International Banks, and the Rothschilds of the world, who are robbing all of us blind. This recession was caused by evil and greedy NY Goldman types, and we all see through it, but we are all scared to say it because there is no freedom of speech in this country. We are called anti-Semites if we dare tell the truth.
The answer is socialism. We need to take the wealth that the rich stole from us, and give it back to its rightful owners….. the poor and the working class.
Obama’s hands are being tied by the Republicans in Congress, who are in bed with the banksters. But come Nov 2012, when the American people see through these tactics, and finally vote these Republicans out of power, we will begin to get some real Hope and Change in this country.
I think that “ProudLiberal” is an example of a strawman sockpuppet.
So far he has associated President Obama and liberals with Palestinians (When we declare the Palestinian state), socialists (The answer is socialism…Obama’s hands are being tied), and anti-Semites (Rothschilds…Goldman…We are called anti-Semites if we dare tell the truth). Sounds pretty conservative to me.
‘he’s either a “double troll” (maybe you?)…’
Not me. I sign my own comments.
“The Western world is facing a tremendous threat of terrorism, because of our support for Israel.”
Nonsense. The Western world is facing a tremendous threat of terrorism because of terrorists and their supporters who despise Western values.
“The Arab countries intentionally used the Palestinian refugees as pawns against Israel and they have not allowed the refugees to resettle in their countries.”
I agree and I have said that often; most recently just yesterday in a thread on dailykos.com. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remain stateless in Syria and Lebanon, unable even to travel as they do not have passports. I have suggested that the US, Canada, and the EU offer permanent residency and a path to citizenship to any of these oppressed people who want it — NOW. This would also alleviate the “right of return” issue to some extent.
to comment #3 by “proud liberal” You wrote “What was wrong with Palestinian refugees returning to their homeland? Why did the Israeli army need to shoot them? Why shoot defense-less women and children?”
It’s time for you and all your liberal friends to stop being such hypecrates. When a ‘innocent and defence-less’ breslover chasid goes to daven by kever yosef and gets murdered in cold blood, why don’t we hear your liberal comments like the one you posted now? The answer is quite logical and typical for the liberal mind-framed people like yourself,it is, ‘protect the dangerous evil-doers and ignore when they do evil’. If one doesn’t go against evil, than he has evil in him. By the way I like the way you prefice you other comment (#15) by ” Listen guys, I am not going to get into a philosophical debate over whether God promised the land to the Israelites or not. These questions are beside the point.” I think thats exactly the point because with this fact you have absolutly nothing what to argue!I suggest you stop your posting your silly comments and stop poisoning the minds of the innocent.
charliehall, you haven’t been reading the New York Times lately have you nor have been listening to the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. either, right?