TPM Cafe: Cantor Recants on Netanyahu Pledge

[marmar]

Cantor Recants on Netanyahu Pledge
By M.J. Rosenberg - November 15, 2010, 4:55PM


Soon-to-be House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is desperately trying to explain away the promise he made to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu last Wednesday.

Cantor huddled with Netanyahu just prior to the prime minister's meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Clinton was expected to reaffirm the American commitment to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and opposition to Israeli settlement expansion. Cantor wanted Netanyahu to know that he had his back.

Cantor's office itself put out a statement bragging about his pledge to Netanyahu:

Eric stressed that the new Republican majority will serve as a check on the Administration and what has been, up until this point, one party rule in Washington," the readout continued. "He made clear that the Republican majority understands the special relationship between Israel and the United States, and that the security of each nation is reliant upon the other.

For now, forget Cantor's ridiculous assertion that the security of Israel and the United States are "reliant upon the other." No, the United States provides Israel with the security assistance to survive — it is not the other way around.

But lay that aside. It is Cantor's statement of loyalty to Netanyahu that is the shocker. Specifically, it is his promise that he would ensure that Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives "will serve as a check" on U.S. Middle East policy. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/11/15/cantor_recants_on_netanyahu_pledge/?ref=c3

[jillan]

1. Logan Act.

[Canuckistanian]

2. Yup.

Prepare the summons.

[Scruffy1]

11. It has never happened.

In the time since it was passed in 1799 until know there has been one indictment and no convictions. Most lawyers feel that the law is unenforceable because it is both overly broad and vague.

[dmr]

3. He's got a helluva lot of nerve. I tell you, hubris will once again

bite the Repugs right in the ass.

Cantor ... Ilssa ... Rand ... so on & so forth.

:hi:

[pacalo]

4. It's time for Israel to become a U.S. taxpayer, if they depend on us that much.

[Graybeard]

5. Cantor's act of treason.

Supporting the leader of a foreign country and it's policies AGAINST the President of the United States and it's policies is nothing short of treason.

Mike Malloy is all over this tonight.

[jillan]

6. Glad to hear that. This story really has me riled up. I don't even think Rachel or Keith have

reported on this yet?

This story has got to get out there. But if falls under the Logan Act, not treason.

[Graybeard]

7. Thanks. Malloy just now made that correction on the air.

Violation of the Logan Act should be enough to

merit some coverage by the MSM. (...crickets...)

[jillan]

10. The media on the left has been too busy covering the Koppel story.

I really get a kick out of Randi Rhodes. She spent her whole show yesterday saying that there is no more news.

[laughingliberal]

8. If a Democrat had done anything like this under Bush, it would've been a 24/7 screech fest. nt

[TuxedoKat]

13. That is so true

and I love your description of it -- "screech fest". That is one of the most apt descriptions of right-wing hyperbole, lies and protestations that I've ever heard.

[leftynyc]

14. A Democrat did

and yes, there was a screech fest. In 2007, Nancy Pelosi went to Syria.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2995828&page=1

[seafan]

9. Juan Cole is furious over this as well.

'Why Obama gave in on Israeli Settlements in Jerusalem: Eric Cantor, Ros-Lehtinen Channel Israeli Right on Usurpation of Holy City, Displacement of Palestinians'

Link



Juan Cole:


November 16, 2010

Why in the world would the Obama administration put forward a proposal to the Israelis that allows them to continue to build illegal new squatter settlements in what the Israelis call the district of Jerusalem on Palestinian land while asking them to refrain from starting new settlements on the West Bank? The Palestinians complain that they are being asked to negotiate over a cake while the Israelis are cutting off pieces of it and gobbling it down, during the supposed talks over who gets what piece!

One answer for the naked cowardice of the Obama proposals is that the administration is being outflanked by the Republican House of Representatives, whose leaders are openly pledging allegiance to Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu and vowing to undermine the American president in his favor. (A denial by Eric Cantor that he was talking about Israel relations when he pledged to block Obama is not plausible, since he specifically mentioned relations with Israel in the body of his statement!)

.....

(video of Cantor)

.....

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Jerusalem) makes a series of false and propagandistic assertions on the House floor that may as well have been read off Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s teleprompter. These assertions urge and support direct violations of international law and of UN Security Council Resolutions.

.....

(video of Ros-Lehtinen)

.....

Rep. Ros-Lehtinen voiced a series of falsehoods. Whether she knows the truth and is deliberately suppressing it, or is engaging in a disinformation campaign, is impossible to know. What is clear is that she is a vigilante urging the violation of the Geneva Convention of 1949, i.e., urging the recognition of the conquest of territory by military means and the vast alteration of occupied territories by the occupier. That is, she is maintaining the legitimacy of the kind of behavior exhibited by the Axis Powers in World War II, a repeat of which is what the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions, and the UNSC resolutions were aiming to prevent.

It is like having a congressperson who thought South African Apartheid policies were not only just fine, but actually should be firmly supported by the US Congress. It is frightening.

(Much more information and hyperlinked sources in the post.)





Now, Cantor is retreating, but the damage is already done.


Cantor Recants on Netanyahu Pledge, November 15, 2010

Soon-to-be House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is desperately trying to explain away the promise he made to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu last Wednesday.

Cantor huddled with Netanyahu just prior to the prime minister's meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Clinton was expected to reaffirm the American commitment to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and opposition to Israeli settlement expansion. Cantor wanted Netanyahu to know that he had his back.

.....

This is boiling to the forefront of public discussion. And it is high time it does.

[myrna minx]

12. K&R n/t