Hillary Clinton on Israel

From Hillary Clinton’s website, her position on the two-state solution:

Hillary Clinton believes that Israel’s right to exist in safety as a Jewish state, with defensible borders and an undivided Jerusalem as its capital, secure from violence and terrorism, must never be questioned.

The fact that the Clintons, after George W. Bush, are the worse thing that happened to US foreign policy in the Middle East must never be questioned.

0 thoughts on “Hillary Clinton on Israel”

  1. And Obama’s any better?

    http://www.antiwar.com/frank/?articleid=10683

    This is a problem with American politics: without Jewish financial support, Democrats have no chance of being elected. Alienate the Jewish leg of the party and it falls apart. However, that leads to bad foreign policy. My pessimistic view is that we have to find the candidate with enough connections to say one thing (support israel) and do another (force peace talks and concessions) without the Jewish lobby getting angry. Either way, any democrat would be better than McCain.

  2. I follow American blogs, and I find with increasing frequency questions about the unflinching support of Israel by the USA government. This gives me hope that this alliance may weaken in the future.
    What worries and irks me is, however, that these questions are sometimes couched in very strong anti-semitic (not just anti-zionist) terms. The fear is that, if in the future there should be a backlash against the subordination of USA foreign policy in the Middle East to Jewish interests, it may be violent.

  3. It’s the “must never be questioned” part that truly concerns me. “Question authority” is the basis of my thinking. We must always question conventional wisdom. Without the ability to question any assumption, any policy, any theory, we commit ourselves to supporting an idea even when new facts emerge or events change around us and new approaches are needed. How many American presidents have said that Israel needs to stop the settlements in the West Bank, yet we go right on supplying arms despite their oppression.

  4. The question is: historiquely – Is Jerusalem is or is not a jewish city. if it is – why not leave it undivided ??

    And why the hell we need to fight for stons and simbols ?? dont we just have to urge for peace in any price ??

    Why we cars what does the CLINTONS say ? do we – Arbs, know what we say ?

    I, say : i just want peace and the hell with simbols !!

  5. I tend to agree with the comments made above. Obama recently made comments at the AIPAC forum which, while supporting Israel in the traditional manner of US presidential candidates, made it clear that the present relationship (based on support of Likud policy as he put it) can’t be the basis of the US-Israel relationship. This I believe is a statement worth examining (along with the policy experts he has surrounded himself with) in any attempt to understand his Israel policy.

    Furthermore, if in the general election Obama draws widespread support and is able to win the election handily, I think we might see a more constructive Israel policy. This is b/c such a mandate coupled with his willingness to be himself (even in the face of criticism) would give him some room to move things forward. However, even if the person occupying the office of President decides to buck the Israel lobby they will have to contend with a Congress who is less inclined to do so.

  6. As long as the US remains an antiterror state it can not give its back to Israel. so, Obama maybe an anti Likud president – but if he want’s to be a practical antiterror leader he will have to find a way to accept Israel’s conditions to a peace agreement. I dont care, as others – what are these agreemebts, i do care that peace will finely come !!

    As i said above the questions of Jerusalem and the rights of return does not interst me – I am living here and i want to have peace – the sooner the better !

  7. The “jewish financial support” comment is bullshit. Campaign finance limits have made this election all about who can cull massive amounts of small donations, usually over the internet from people who are inspired by Obama. The whole idea of rich jews controlling politics is….wait for it….. anti-semitic. Get over yourself and your “jewish conspiracy” tick. Anyways, anyone who follows the news these days knows that it’s the Christians who are leading the pro-Israel fight.

  8. Akila, the article you link to is ridiculous. If you read a steady diet of stuff like that… you should at least leaven it a bit with some articles from opposing viewpoints. There *are* other ones, y’know. They can’t all and always be wrong, can they?

    I mean, really, Israel is bullying Iran? Really? Iran’s president continually issues cooky but menacing statements about the destruction of Israel, and Israel’s the bully? I don’t remember Israel making veiled threats about its being able to hurt Iran before Iran started making overt, outrageous claims about it being able to wipe Israel of the map.

    As for Obama’s “Nobody is suffering more…” The question is not about suffering, as much as it is about whose fault is it. You lay *all* the blame at Israel’s feet, so you expect it is Israel’s job and ability to make hey-presto changes for the better. To which I say: humbug. Read some other news sources for a change. Anything else. Get some variety, will you? 5.4 MILLION — frakking MILLION! — people died in the Congo since 1998, and you talk about the Palestinians, whose guiding political principle for the past 60 years–guided by the greater Arab world–has been the destruction of Israel; that is, who have put themselves in the position they are in. But, y’know, it’s harder to report a story from Congo than from Tel Aviv, so no swarms of foreign reporters go there to get you riled up about it.

    I won’t even get into your finance comments — I wonder how comfortable you’d be if you realized the things you’re saying are nigh-quotes of crap originated by Nazis, Czarist secret police, conspiracy theorists and garden-variety racists. Issandr had a quote up here the other day, on this blog: I shall know ye by the company you keep.

    (I am not re-reading my quick typing so if this has a boat loads of typos… well, what can ya do.)

  9. There may be a small glimmer of hope… take a look at jstreet.org. Josh is right, we need to work at the congressional level and that seems to be what jstreet is aiming at.

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