Israel's U.S. envoy: We face monumental challenges this Passover

[IndianaGreen]

Last update - 03:46 27/03/2010

Israel's U.S. envoy: We face monumental challenges this Passover

By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service

Israel's Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, on Friday issued a Passover message to the American Jewish community urging it to overcome differences and "unite as a people" at a time when Israel faces monumental challenges.

"Passover 5770 finds Israel and the Jewish people facing some of the most monumental challenges in recent memory," said Oren in the message sent to rabbis and other Jewish community leaders. "While Iran strives, unimpeded, to acquire nuclear military capability, and its leaders swear almost daily to wipe Israel off the map, efforts to deny Israel the right to defend itself - or even exist - proliferate."

Oren went on to say that Israel also faces the challenges of achieving peace with its neighbors. He said that Israel has made "unprecedented and far-reaching gestures to facilitate the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians" that have been met with little goodwill from the Palestinians.

"Unfortunately, the Palestinians have refused to negotiate or even to prepare their people for peace," Oren said. "The Palestinian leadership persists in sponsoring the deeply slanted Goldstone report, which accuses of Israel of war crimes, in promoting violent demonstrations, and in glorifying terrorists."

However, he said, Israel remains committed to renewing the peace talks and "moving swiftly to a resolution of all the core issues, including Jerusalem, and achieving an historic peace."

The Israeli envoy also addressed the controversial subject of Jerusalem in his holiday greeting, reiterating what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others have been saying this week, that Israel's policy in Jerusalem has remained unchanged for 42 years.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1159419.html

[Jefferson23]

1. Oren has no shame, none at all.

Obama is going to have his work cut out for him, this is a few days old, but it outlines who is supporting Obama and who can still
be persuaded to sign on.


It is critical that Members of Congress support the president rather than thwart a courageous Presidential initiative that is right for America and Israel.

Some members of Congress can be expected to do the right thing and support the Administration, despite outside pressure.

For instance, the following House members signed on to an initiative organized by J Street and other pro-Israel, pro-peace organizations to ease the blockade of Gaza that continues to devastate the people of that unhappy place. They can also be expected to back the President in his determination to stop the expansion of settlements.

They are:

Raul Grijalva (AZ)
Lois Capps (CA)
Sam Farr (CA)
Bob Filner (CA)
Barbara Lee (CA)
Loretta Sanchez (CA)
Pete Stark (CA)
Michael Honda (CA)
John Conyers (MI)
John Dingell (MI)
Carolyn Kilpatrick (MI)
Keith Ellison (MN)
Betty McCollum (MN)
James Oberstar (MN)
Peter Welch (VT)
Jim Moran (VA)
Jim McDermott (WA)
Adam Smith (WA)
Lynn Woolsey (CA)
Jackie Speier (CA)
Diane Watson (CA)
George Miller (CA)
Jim Himes (CT)
Andre Carson (IN)
Bruce Braley (IA)
Donald Payne (NJ)
Rush Holt (NJ)
Bill Pascrell (NJ)
Yvette Clarke
Maurice Hinchey (NY)
Paul Tonko (NY)
Nick Rahall (WV)
Tammy Baldwin (WI)
Gwen Moore (WI)
Glenn Nye (VA)
John Yarmuth (KY)
Elijah Cummings (MD)
Donna Edwards (MD)
Michael Capuano (MA)
William Delahunt (MA)
Jim McGovern (MA)
John Tierney (MA)
John Olver (MA)
Stephen Lynch (MA)
David Price (NC)
Mary Jo Kilroy (OH)
Marcy Kaptur (OH)
Earl Blumenauer (OR)
Peter DeFazio (OR)
Chaka Fattah (PA)
Joe Sestak (PA)
Brian Baird (WA)
Jay Inslee (WA)

But there were some House progressives who were not on that list. Some of these are strongly pro-Obama, including on issues related to the Middle East, but will need encouragement to withstand the pressure that has already been unleashed on them to back Netanyahu this time.

This list includes:

Reps. Nancy Pelosi (CA) Jan Schakowsky (IL), Henry Waxman (CA), Jared Polis (CO), Rosa De Lauro (CT), Steve Cohen (TN), Nita Lowey (NY), Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (FL), Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX), Barney Frank (MA), Ed Markey (MA), Alcee Hastings (FL) and Howard Berman (CA), the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Others such as Anthony Weiner (NY), Brad Sherman (CA), Steve Israel (NY), Alan Grayson (FL), Eliot Engel (NY), Steny Hoyer (MD), Chris Van Hollen (MD) and Shelley Berkley (NV) not only consistently support AIPAC positions, but are extremely vocal about it.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/17/aipac_asks_congress_to_back_netanyahu_not_obama_ha/

[MUAD_DIB]

2. Does Oren want the USA to give Israel the green light to attack Iran?

Is there any sane politicians in the Mid East any longer?