Palin on settlements: Jews ‘flocking’ to Israel need a place to live
Sarah Palin says she disagrees with the Obama administration's demand that Israel halt settlement construction, although her reason for that opinion is puzzling (or at the least demonstrates she's not familiar with the term "natural growth" that much of the debate has revolved around). She tells Barbara Walters that she disagrees with the White House because all the Jews moving to Israel need a place to live. From ABC News:
I disagree with the Obama administration on that," Palin told Walters. "I believe that the Jewish settlements should be allowed to be expanded upon, because that population of Israel is, is going to grow. More and more Jewish people will be flocking to Israel in the days and weeks and months ahead. And I don't think that the Obama administration has any right to tell Israel that the Jewish settlements cannot expand.
J Street responded by releasing a lengthy statement which condemned Palin's comments and accused her of pandering and ignorance. An excerpt:
J Street rejects Sarah Palin’s comments attacking President Obama’s sensible policy on Israeli settlements in the West Bank yesterday during an ABC News interview with Barbara Walters.
Palin’s pandering to her right-wing base comes at the expense of the security of the State of Israel, the lives of those actually living the conflict, and the fundamental American interest in achieving a two-state solution in the near term. Her words reveal a glaring ignorance of damaging facts and a callous disregard of past and present U.S. policy.
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This is a topflight woman with common sense, good values,a record of achievement, and a solid grounding as an American. Everything that Obama isn’t. No wonder libs and the media wing of the Democrat party fear her.
I just want to tell J street, as an Israeli citizen living in a city on the other side of the so-called green line: You don’t speak for me or for most Jews in Israel. Sarah Palin understands the Jewish soul better than you do, and she also speaks the truth about the Jews coming here in the near future. With the current US prez making a shambles of the US, the safest place for Jews will be Israel. I’ve been telling my family and friends this for years; soon maybe they will listen. Jews will be scapegoated again, thanks to the J Street types in the administration. I say, thank you Sarah Palin for your support and understanding, and for speaking outside the box that everyone else is in. I don’t understand why the writer is puzzled by her opinion, since it agrees with that of many, many Jews. She’s a lot more hep on the Middle East than the administration.
Who cares what an anti-Semitic, anti-Israel organization like J Street thinks.? Good for Sarah Palin! Unlike J Street, at least she is proving herself a true friend to the Jews and Israel and not false friends like J Street activists.
Bravo Sarah .. Right on the Money Again. The Osama administration’s orientation toward Israel is nothing short of scandalous. As an American Jew, I am really mystified as to why so many Jews blindly supported him ... and apparently continue down this path of destruction. J Street? Now WHO are THEY?
Palin “supports” Israel for the sole reason that she thinks the End of Days is near, and all Jews will move to Israel, die, and bring back her god, and has just said as much. With “friends” like this, we don’t need enemies. When this doesn’t happen, she will be the first one hunting Jews from her helicopter, because she will believe we “prevented” her god from returning. Don’t we learn anything from our history? These Evangelicals hated us 30 years ago, and history shows, the cycle will complete itself, and they will once again call us Christ Killers.
Whatever it is that Palin meant, It is myopic for Jews not to flock to Israel. Enough of being citizens of a world that does not want us! Wake up and leave, American Jews. A hundred generations of ancestors who perished longing for “ next year in Jerusalem” is in your blood. Hear their call and come on aliyah!
Carl, you’ve got a point about learning from history. Jews should always be vigilant and circumspect. That being said, did it occur to you on 9/11/2001, followers of Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson flew those jets into the World Trade Center towers? When you read of a suicide / homicide atrocity in Israel or a driver plowing through cars and people on the streets of Jerusalem, does the thought cross your mind that it is Evangelical or Christian inspired terrorism?
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