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Obama: "America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements." | |
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Amb. Bolton was discussing this ("the most radical anti-Israel speech I can recall any president making") on Glenn Beck's TV show yesterday. Here's a transcript of that segment:
BECK: ... I want to start with a clip here from the president speaking at the general assembly. Listen to what he said here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: We continue to call on Palestinians to end incitement against Israel. And we continue to emphasize that America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. The time -
(APPLAUSE)
The time has come to re-launch negotiations without pre- conditions that address the permanent status issues - security for Israelis and Palestinians, borders, refugees and Jerusalem.
The goal is clear - two states living side-by-side in peace and security. A Jewish state of Israel with true security for all Israelis and a viable independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967 and realizes the potential of the Palestinian people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: OK. Occupation that began in 1967. That's weird. It was a war. They won.
JOHN BOLTON, FORMER AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Well, this is the most radical anti-Israel speech I can recall any president making. I just want - let me just -
BECK: I was just going to ask you that.
BOLTON: Glenn, two phrases in what you just heard.
BECK: Yes.
BOLTON: The president says America does not accept and I'm quoting now, "the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements," not new Israeli settlements - continued Israeli settlements, which - you know, this is Mr. Wordsmith here.
That calls into question in my mind all Israeli settlements. Then he says that we want a Palestinian state that is contiguous. By the way, Gaza and the west bank were never contiguous Palestinian areas before. And that ends the occupation that began in 1967. That means I think a return to the '67 borders. Now, he doesn't say that ...
BECK: Show me - OK.
BOLTON: ... but that's certainly implicit in the statement.
BECK: Show me what this means. OK. Here is Gaza. Here is the west bank. Contiguous means that it should go like this.
BOLTON: Well, that or the idea is a road between Gaza strip and -
BECK: That's not contiguous.
BOLTON: It makes it contiguous because you're going to make it Palestinian territory. There is one small problem with that -
BECK: So wait - then Israel is not contiguous.
BOLTON: Well, do you think that matters to the Palestinians? I mean, that is the kind of approach to an issue that is attempting to decide the outcome of the negotiations before the negotiations. That's why I think the Israelis should be worried. He has laid out where he wants to end up.
BECK: Can you show me where is 1967?
BOLTON: Well, in this map, the territories that are brown, west of the Jordan River and the Gaza strip, are the so-called occupied territories. And the '67 borders would put Israel back there with only a very narrow strip between Palestinian territory and the Mediterranean.
BECK: OK. Jerusalem?
BOLTON: And that would be - that would remain divided. That would be the capital -
BECK: We have never been for a divided Jerusalem.
BOLTON: Well, we have said it is a matter for the final negotiations. Our State Department, over the years, has resisted any effort by the Israelis to say that Jerusalem is a unified city and the capital of their country, the only country that I'm aware of where the United States disputes what the capital is.
BECK: Did we sell out Israel today?
BOLTON: I think it's very close to it. As I say, I think it's the most anti-Israel speech I can remember by an American president. And the important thing is, when you have the Palestinians in as weak a position as they already are now, to have Barack Obama be their lawyer in effect puts them in a very strong bargaining place.
BECK: All right. I saw some other things in this - that really, really disturbed me. We'll have more with Ambassador Bolton in just a second.
BECK: We're keeping our eye on things here in America. Boy, the world is teetering on the edge. We're back with former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton. Bad day at the U.N.?
BOLTON: Yes. I have to say I was very shaken by this speech. I was disturbed by it because it shows the president in the most naive mode talking about how many problems he wants to solve through the United Nations.
He did everything but say, "Why can't we all just get along?" And I think the warm reception that he received at the U.N. is a reflection they know exactly what he is saying.
BECK: Right.
BOLTON: The other thing that struck me about the speech was how personal it was to him and how it was his presence and the changes he has made that have enhanced American security, whereas in fact we have seen, just in recent days, a dramatic reduction in that security, cancellation of the Eastern European missile defense sites and evident unwillingness to do what his own commanders think is necessary in Afghanistan, the signaling of potentially large reductions in our nuclear arsenal, all of which is just being done without a thought to the consequences.
BECK: Jeremiah Wright said about a month ago that the president couldn't talk to him because the Jews are telling him exactly what to do and who he can and cannot meet with. I don't think the Jews were talking to him about this speech.
BOLTON: Yes. Well, you know, this is part of a conspiracy theory that a lot of people on the left have, that the Jews are running our foreign policy. And you know, here you and I are - you're a Mormon. I'm a Lutheran - not a very good one - talking about the security of Israel. We're not a part of the Jewish conspiracy.
BECK: Yes.
BOLTON: But a lot of people think that that is something that Obama needs to overcome. And he said today in the speech that America is not doing a service when we couple our interest in Israel's security with a lack of insisting that Israel look out for the Palestinians' rights. There has never been a point where American presidents haven't done that.
BECK: Do you think it's possible to sit in the church with somebody who is as anti-Semitic as Jeremiah Wright is and not come away with an anti-Semitic view?
BOLTON: Well, I think at a minimum, he was either asleep for 20 years or we need an explanation, which we didn't really get in the Jeremiah Wright speech as in the campaign.
BECK: Have we seen that kind of - I mean, we're changing our policy towards Israel at least.
BOLTON: Yes.
BECK: It may not be anti-Semitic, but we are changing course almost 100 percent.
BOLTON: Dramatically. No, I think we have put Israel on the chopping block. This speech demonstrates to the Palestinians they don't have to make concessions. The president is going to take care of it.
BECK: Do you think we put ourselves kind of on the chopping block as well? I mean, I heard we have one piece of sound here, "No one nation can or should try to dominate." Do we have that?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: No one nation can or should try to dominate another nation. No world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will succeed. No balance of power among nations will hold.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: OK, "No world order that elevates one nation or group over another will succeed." Well, we shouldn't be domineering, but all nations are not created equal.
BOLTON: The liberal international economic order, stability in the world as a whole since 1945, has rested on the United States, rested on us and allies in many cases, but rested on our nuclear deterrent, rested on our armed forces, rested on our determination to preserve freedom in the world. And I think what he just said is that our policy for the last 60 years has been wrong.
BECK: And we are going for a one world order kind of -
BOLTON: He has made it very clear how much he wants to do through the U.N., an overwhelming percentage of our policy and we will see more of it. | |
| Posted 2009-09-24 11:42 AM (#23695 - in reply to #23601) By: SteveSchulin
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