US senators to EU: Don’t label Israeli products

[Jefferson23]

November 10, 2015

Following overwhelming vote in EU to label products from settlements, senators warn that initiative sets ‘troubling precedent’ and urges not to implement it.

WASHINGTON - Three dozen US senators sent on Tuesday a missive to the European Union expressing concern over plans to label products manufactured in West Bank settlements.

The letter, signed by both Republicans and Democrats, described Israel as “a key ally and the only true democracy in the Middle East”.


The dispatch, addressed to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, followed the EU vote in September that ended in a 525-70 decision in favor of labeling products. Prime Minister Netanyahu said then that “we already have a historical memory of what happened when Europeans labeled Jewish products”.


Senators Ted Cruz, who is currently in the running for the Republican presidential nominee, and Kristen Gillibrand, a Democrat, spearheaded the statement.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4723424,00.html

[geek tragedy]

1. "Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East, so we shouldn't nag them

over trifles like apartheid."

[Jefferson23]

2. Yes, and that's what I mean when I say, we're the enablers. n/t

[geek tragedy]

3. That's what Israel wants--enablers. And quite honestly it's a lot easier for us to be enablers

than to be friends, as long as we're honest with ourselves.

Obama genuinely cares about the Palestinians, but he was woefully mistaken when he assumed that a significant percentage of Congress or the media also did.

In a way, this is why the Republicans have a more sensible I/P policy than do Democrats (Iran and wanting to let Israel dictate our foreign policy is a whole different matter of course--Democrats remain the only sane party in that regard). Republicans don't care about human rights, and don't pretend to. The Democrats don't care about Israel's human rights record, but hold themselves out as some kind of moralists when justifying their support of Israel.

Much better to say: Israel is our ally in the area, we have their back, we don't care if they institute apartheid. The Palestinians are not our allies, and not our problem.

Drop the pretense of shared liberal democratic values.

That's pretty much where Rubio is and will be (the shared values for his crowd are rightwing ideology and dislike of Muslims/Arabs). Clinton is every bit in the tank for Israel as Rubio is, and doesn't give a shit about the Palestinians, but feels like she has to maintain the fiction.

[Jefferson23]

4. +1 Well constructed opinion. n/t

[shira]

5. I call bullshit. Tell me this - should the PA have accepted the Clinton Parameters......

....15 years ago, or not? They'd have had their own state free of occupation and settlements, half of Jerusalem, and a $35 billion dollar package for refugees.

You think the Palestinian "No" from 15 years has been worth it, or not?

[azurnoir]

6. here is a copy of the letter with the 36 signatures

http://www.cruz.senate.gov/files/documents/Letters/20151109_EU_IsraelLetter.pdf

neither of my Sentors -Al Franken or Amy Klobuchar signed

[Jefferson23]

7. Thanks. Sanders name is not there. n/t

[azurnoir]

8. Nope it is not

[Crunchy Frog]

9. Failing to distinguish between "Jewish" and "Israeli settler".

How anti-semitic of him.