Sarah Palin: The Newest MidEast Policy Expert
Sarah Palin spouted right-wing Christian talking points during an interview last night with ABC's Barbara Walters
“Going Rogue” apparently means anyone can be an expert on American foreign policy in the Middle East.
Sarah Palin told ABC’s Barbara Walters that President Obama’s policies are “back assward” last night and graded him a 4 out of 10. Among the policies the barely educated former Alaska governor felt competent to comment on was Middle East peace:
The former Alaska governor also said she fully supports an expansion of Israeli settlements into Palestinian territory, noting that the “population of Israel 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,” Palin said.
Walters followed up by asking if Palin would support expanded settlements even if it was into “Palestinian areas.”
“I believe that the Jewish settlements should be allowed to expand,” Palin answered.
The American Jewish organization J Street felt compelled to answer this new foreign policy expert thusly:
J Street rejects Sarah Palin’s comments attacking President Obama’s sensible policy on Israeli settlements in the West Bank ….
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.
For decades, American presidents have held that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are an impediment to peace. They are joined by the majority of Israelis and pro-Israel Americans who view the growing settlement enterprise as a threat to Israel’s very future as a Jewish democracy.
However, all is not so simple with the administration’s policy – and with its policy spokespersons. As one of my favorite conservatives, Michael Goldfarb, points out in the Weekly Standard: “But isn’t Palin just following the administration’s lead? Indeed, the Israelis continue to build — allowing for natural growth — and at the same time Secretary Clinton has praised the Netanyahu government’s “unprecedented” concessions on settlements. ”
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Ms. Read,
What is astonishing about Ms. Palin’s comments are myriad. On simple factual level, what makes Ms. Palin think “More and more Jewish people will be flocking to Israel in the days and weeks and months ahead…” as compared to previous days, weeks, or months? This assertion is shear delusion. Beyond that, even if it were true, the idea that Jewish settlements in the West Bank are simply a response to increases in Jewish population is non-sense. Jewish settlements are a deliberate attempt to drive out Palestinians and defy world opinion. What is really embarrassing is to see journalists let her make ridiculous statements without any challenge at all.
David, Let’s deconstruct this: Jewish people do and should emigrate to Israel, or “make aliyah.” Have you been? Israel is amazing – a beautiful Mediterranean country; a democracy; a thriving, viable economy; a polyglot of peoples who share the Hebraic religion. It is a symbol of the triumph of humanity over barbarism; a people returning to its land after being driven out nearly 2,000 years ago. Whatever your political views, to know Israel is to believe in the possibility of the human condition. It’s the settlement of the West Bank, which is land given by the United Nations to the Palestinian people, that is the problem. Sarah Palin has barely left Wasilla, so she is simply spewing right-wing Christian talking points when she talks about settlements. BTW, one of my tests of Christian right-wingers is to ask them, would you let your daughter marry a Jewish man? The answers usually reveal a deep well of anti-semitism. I’d love to pose that question to Ms. Palin.
Ms. Read,
If Jewish people “should emigrate to Israel” then why object to Ms. Palin’s suggestion? If, after all, every Jewish person in the world moved to Israel, where would they all live? They would have to move into the West Bank. You are quite correct, there are those would love to rid the United States of Jews, the battle cry of the German anti-Semites was “Juden Raus” after all, so of course those with a similar ideology today would love to see them all go to Israel. All of that not withstanding, I do not see how you can argue that all of the Jews of the world should go to Israel but their should not be Zionist settlements on the West Bank.
In response to another comment. See in context »