Lieberman heckled at Arab American talk

[DisgustipatedinCA]

Oct. 17, 2003 | DETROIT (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate Joe Lieberman was heckled Friday by several Arab Americans angry with his support for Israel as he spoke about restoring peace and trust in the Middle East.

"What about the wall?'' shouted several attending the Arab American Institute leadership conference as they interrupted Lieberman's speech. The reference was to Israel's plan to build a barrier that juts into the West Bank.

Lieberman, who is Jewish, insisted the wall is temporary.

"I regret the confiscations,'' said the Connecticut senator, referring to the Palestinian land that has been taken in the effort to build the wall.

(more)

Link: http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2003/10/17/lieberman/index.html

[donco6]

1. Regret the confiscations???!!

What a dope. Drop out already.

[sujan]

30. see he admits

[edzontar]

2. He "regrets"---JEEZ, he's worse than the Chimp on this issue...

Holy Joe should leave and go away...

Hey Hey Hey

Hey Hey Hey...

[Skittles]

3. he insists the wall is temporary?

Well isn't that special. F*** off, Joe.

[Liberal Veteran]

6. He meant it was temporary in the same sense that....

...the Great Wall of China is temporary. It make take a million or more years for it to dissappear, but it IS temporary.

[Equinox]

37. The occupation was supposed to be temporary....

:eyes:

[Bozita]

4. You can heckle Dems. They don't pre-screen the crowds

See if you EVER get to read about a heckler and Dumbya.

"First Amendment Zones" are used strictly by the Bushies.

Yes, the above line can be read in two ways. Both are true.

[Darranar]

5. He sounds like Areil Sharon...

paying lip service to such worthless ideals as peace, humanitarianism, and morality.

[Tinoire]

7. Awww shucks

All the Dems "regret" these confiscations but aren't going to do squat about it.
It's unfortunate that only one of them, Kucinich, is the only one who's clearly condemned the wall, the confiscations and the lack if even-handedness!

I will give Lieberman credit here. Had I been there I would NOT have heckled him, no matter how enraged I am about this issue because he was much more honest than the other candidates or than the people in I/P who would argue you blue in the face til hell freezes over that the land is not being confiscated.

Thank you Senator Lieberman. I do not like your positions but you do get points for admitting that it is land confiscation and for not waffling over your Iraq stance.

[matcom]

8. "CONFISCATIONS"????? FUCK YOU YOU SON OF A FUCKING BITCH!!!!

Confiscations???

Temporary????

YOU REGRET THE CONFISCATIONS?????

words have suddenly left my soul. i have nothing to say. Lieberman you fucking disgust me beyond words

[Liberal Veteran]

10. And people wonder why so many of us find Lieberman repulsive?

Worst.....candidate....ever!

[mbartko]

40. Did you forget about Pat Robertson?

Who, by the way (segue)...speaking of anti-Semitism, sure, he talks a lot of "support" for Israel, but in this guy's whatever-organ-functions-for-a-brain, it's not out of compassion for the Jewish people. This is a man who refers to all non-Christians as "termites", after all. No, for him, "support" is paying lip service to score points with God, and then in an unexplicable plot twist, stirring up wars in the Middle East so that Israel gets it's ass thoroughly kicked until - wait for it - in the midst of this horror, the entire state of Israel wakes up one morning and has the epiphany, "Holy cow! Jesus IS the Son of God!" Ta da, magic, everything's great now.

Trying to institigate bloodbaths until you come to my "correct" religion - THAT is some serious anti-Semitism and anti-Jewishness.

[jiacinto]

9. Anti-semtism at work here

I hate to say it. All of the other candidates running is pro-Israel, so why is Lieberman heckeled?

[Darranar]

11. Not true...

none of the other candidates are as right-wing as Lieberman - and that's a fact. No anti-semitism involved here.

The only one who can even approach him is Kerry, and Kerry wasn't as fanatic in attacking the "even-handed" quote as was Lieberman. Not to mention the fact that it was Lieberman speaking here, not Kerry or anyone else.

[jiacinto]

15. Please

Do you think if Lieberman were not Jewish he wouldn't have been treated rudely?

[Darranar]

17. No...

Tom Delay, too, would have gotton booed.

[Liberal Veteran]

18. Funny how the only person to bring up his faith was the same person...

...who played the anti-semitism card.

[burythehatchet]

21. ain't that the truth

:mad:

[Aidoneus]

13. if the crowd had yelled something like "go to hell Jewboy!", I might agree

challenging him on a position he supports, that's just commonplace stuff for these events.

[diamond14]

19. "Lieberman, who is Jewish, insisted the wall is temporary"....

such blatant lies set Joe apart from other candidates,,,,

here's another candidates remarks from the same article...which will
help others to understand why screaming "antisemitism at work here" is simply not valid...

Another Democratic candidate, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, said the United States must use its considerable influence with Israel to ask it stop building walls and settlements, a remark that drew applause.

[gottaB]

26. I tend to agree with you, but...

I remember you jumping on Carol Moseley Braun's case when she addressed a Muslim American group last August.

So altogether, you seem to be taking the position that Democrats should ignore Muslim or Arab American voters. Because they're too antisemitic? That's just bigotry, judging the whole group on the basis of a handful of loudmouths. Because they're not pro-Israel? That's just not wise. Arab American voters will by and large compromise on Palestine in 2004, but to expect them to totally acquiesce to the most extreme position is ludicrous.

I know that Lieberman isn't the most diehard Likudnik Zionist loyalist, but if he goes in front of an Arab American group talking in support of the wall, what would you expect? Hugs and kisses? For all I know he was hoping for a Sister Souljah moment, or maybe he was just speaking his mind. But it's not like he didn't say anything objectionable. So maybe it's not such a big deal that he got heckled.

Heck, he ought to be used to it by now. He'd a been tarred and feathered 18 times already if it weren't for the civility of hosts like AFL-CIO.

[sujan]

31. why would semites be anti-semites?

[Terwilliger]

38. You are a moron

but that doesn't stop you from posting, now, does it??

[Walt Starr]

12. He is worse than Bush on this issue

I cannot and will not vote for Lieberman. Period.

[Darranar]

14. They're about equal...

lip service is all either pay to peace.

[11cents]

16. Tinoire has it right

... for once! AFAIK the other major candidates haven't acknowledged that land is being confiscated. (My guy has said that the wall is useful as a leveraging device, a stand I don't agree with.) Lieberman's position on the Middle East isn't more vociferously pro-Likud than that of other (non-Jewish) politicians; during the Clinton administration he was a supporter of dovish Labor Party policies.

Can't stand the guy, but I think he deserves credit for speaking to an audience where he was liable to get heckled.

[Tinoire]

27. Cool. Hell is freezing over :) Thanks

I'll try to get it right more often. In all honesty, I've gone after all the candidates over the years- you just missed the previous fireworks... ;)

[Malva Zebrina]

20. Lieberman was the first to jump on Bush's war bandwagon

to invade Iraq. I never forgave him that and I will not forget it--I will always wonder why he was so anxious to attack that country pre-emptively and apparently be "one" with his buddy, Bush.

[Herschel]

22. Little Kucinich could learn a lesson

Lieberman stood strong for Israel. Support of Israel strengthens Democratic hopes.

[Darranar]

23. He stood strong AGAINST peace...

therefore hurting the interests of both Israelis and Palestinians.

He stood for a continuation of violence and oppression. He stood for war, not peace, Likud, not Israel.

"Little" Kucinich stood up for the human rights of both peoples. He is the true "pro-Isarel" candidate.

[Herschel]

24. You again

He is not pro-Israel. Little Kucinich is of no consequence.

[Darranar]

25. Yes he is...

he's in favor of peace and security for Israel's people, unlike Lieberman and Sharon who are in favor for more war and insecurity in Israel.

[onebigbadwulf]

28. Support for israel

Does not strengthen democratic hopes... it strengthens fascism and oppression.

The wall is not temporary, it's an immobile 20 foot tall made of concrete and barbed wire. Who spends billions of dollars on a temporary wall?? It's bullsh*t and leiberman is a piece of sh*

[_Jumper_]

32. Amen

n/t

[Terwilliger]

39. Little Joe needs to look into haru kiri...

and shut his anti-Semitic hole

[Bertrand]

29. Well, He has guts

props to him for going there since his policy views clash with theirs. I guess he's becoming immune to the booing.

[Isere]

36. Yes, he has guts

Give him credit for going to an audience that was already ill-disposed to his views.

Give him credit for calling a confiscation by its name.

Give him....oh, never mind! I forgot that you need your daily dose of Joe to punch around. He can't score a win on DU no matter what.

Go back to the playground, kids, and have at it. It's good sport here.

[Tinoire]

33. I/P is a major reason I'm backing Kucinich. Dean supports this wall

I'm sure that Kerry and Braun support it also. I'm not sure about Clark but I wasn't too reassured when he wrote a few years ago, in an article, that Gaza & the West Bank, where the Intifada was happening, were inside of Israel.

Dean

Repost from Alex88:http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=108&topic_id=5282 :

In this interview with Howard Dean by David Corn, at 34:50 on the Real Player counter, after answering the question of whether or not he thinks "the US should be applying pressure on Sharon as well as Arafat to get things moving", Howard Dean volunteered the following statement.

"One of the essential ingredients, interestingly in the Middle East is the fence. I was against the fence before I went to Israel, now I think it's critical, because it creates a fact on the ground, which means it's essentially along the border that Arafat and Barak almost agreed to and it also labels the settlements that will eventually have to be withdrawn when the army's decided are indefensable in order to get to a real peace settlement."
http://www.nationinstitute.org/radionation/

===============================================================
Each of the following four articles linked here help describe this "fence'. The first one has maps.


"The "Separation Wall" - separating Palestinians from their land... "

"The Wall is the concrete manifestation of the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and yet another method of carrying out a policy of confiscating more Palestinian land. If Israel would genuinely be interested in the security of its citizens, and in separation from the Palestinian people, it would have erected the wall on the "Green Line"(the border that existed before the 1967 war). But this is not the case. The majority of the planned wall cuts deep into Palestinian territory, incorporating into Israel about 10%-15% of the occupied territories, a huge portion of very fertile land full of olive groves, greenhouses, vegetable fields and water resources. It will cut off villages and towns from their farmland, centres of trade, education and culture. It will intensify the ongoing environmental destruction and degradation taking place in the occupied territories. It is also an attempt to legitimise the Israeli settlement policy. In short, it is intended to be a death blow to any possibility of a viable Palestinian state.
For hundreds of thousands of Palestinian farmers, the wall will represent a prison with no warden
with no means of sustaining their families - to the point that will force many of them to simply leave their homes, and try living elsewhere as refugees.
This is an intention of quiet ethnic cleansing, the sort that cannot be photographed, but is nevertheless as effective and devastating.
for this reason, we have decided to refer to the wall as a transfer wall."
http://www.gush-shalom.org/thewall/index.html


"The Fence Crosses Agricultural Roads and Pathways and Cuts Off Residents from their Water Resources, Schools,Businesses and Public Services"
http://www.gush-shalom.org/thewall/worldbank.html


"A Wall in their Heart"

"A look at the map leads to a simple conclusion - the separation fence being built at this time basically overlaps the Sharon map for a Palestinian state. A bit more than 40% of the West Bank, split and sliced into pieces. The northern West Bank is cut off from the
southern West Bank and to go from Bethlehem to Ramallah a Palestinian will have to cross two border crossings"
""You leave us no room to grow, you leave us no room to live," says Jamal Juma. The only thing left the Palestinians is to live in huge pens and to work in industrial zones that will no doubt be built in the settlements, near the openings to these pens. "You want us to live like slaves"
http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/wall_yediot_eng.html


"'The misleading term 'fence'"
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=318686&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

[Tinoire]

34. Clark on the Wall

The Learning Curve...
Early excerpts from a soon-to-be-released book, "Winning Modern Wars," by Retired General Wesley Clark, reveal that the new candidate is a little uninformed on Middle East Issues. According to a recent Washington Post article on the book, Clark "recommends greater focus 'on getting at Islamic terrorism's root causes,' including extreme Wahhabite ideology, funding from Saudi Arabia and madrassas, or Islamic schools, in Pakistan." Also, in an interview with Clark in the latest Rolling Stone magazine, Clark states "Israel has a unique problem. It is beset by nations that want to destroy it. Any nation that is under attack has the right to self-defense," and that "the process of building the fence is very important." And when asked about the Palestinians, Clark answers: "The Palestinians have always been used by the Arabs as a weapon against Israel." These words would be more than troubling from a seasoned politician with broad knowledge of the Middle East, but Clark is new, hasn't dealt with these issues before, and it seems he has some things to learn. Certainly the Rolling Stone interview is problematic, but hopefully with time, and with the help of the many Arab American staffers that he has already hired for his campaign, Clark will become better informed.

http://www.aljazeerah.info/News%20archives/2003%20News%20archives/October/5%20n/Arab%20American%20News%20Focus%20Democratic%20Candidates.htm

I am very excited about the upcoming speeches Clark will be giving about his plans for domestic policies. However no one is talking about the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. I am so concerned about this because it seems to be one of the great issues the terrorists have with us: that we financially and politically support Israel and deal with the Palestinians in such an un-even-handed way. There are many, many Jewish people here and in Israel who know that the way to a secure and prosperous Israel is to treat the Palestinians with respect and dignity (check out Rabbi Michael Lerner and his journal TIKKUN). I know in the ROLLING STONE article Clark says he supports the building of the wall. I am against it and do not feel that will insure any kind of peaceful life for either group.

http://wesleyclarkweblog.com/archives/000481.html

[legin]

41. Revised link for interview

http://www.deanarchive.info/audio/audio.html
(top link. A little I/P section starts at 33:15)

Corn gives Dean two openings to criticize Sharon and he ducks both of them whilst at the same time slagging off Arafat.

Lots of mentions of terrorist acts by Palestinians.

"creates a fact on the ground" is the sort of word games that Netanyahu uses, and what he says about it following what Barak and Arafat agreed it somewhat contradicted by the Gush-Shalom map.

Thanks Alex88 (and Tinoire) as a Dean supporter I wish I hadn't heard that, true it could be a lot lot worse but it is not what I wanted to hear seeing how the I/P issue is my one big concern with Dean.

[Tinoire]

35. Kerry? Gephardt? Sharpton? Braun? on the Wall? Any quotes?

I'm not expecting anything earth-shattering because as far as I've seen Kucinich is the only one who's condemned it.

Any quotes would be greatly appreciated...

I think Braun supports it because she's consistently voted pro-Israel her entire time which is why she is not getting high marks from some of the more progressive groups paying attention to this.

Thanks