Israeli Ambassador Denies Statement On 'Tectonic Rift' With U.S., Despite Numerous Reports

Washington Post:

Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren denied Sunday that he had told Israeli diplomats a "tectonic rift" was emerging between the United States and Israel -- incendiary words first reported in the Israeli press and then repeated in media outlets around the globe.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[lbsaltzman]

10:59 PM on 06/29/2010

Let us hope that these reports are true a tectonic shift away from our blind support of Israel is exactly what is needed.

[who38]

11:26 AM on 06/29/2010

Oren: "I said shift, not rift, but that may be a subtlety that escaped the Israeli ear,"

Is there a word for "subtle" in Hebrew?

[StCuthbert]

10:46 AM on 06/29/2010

I like how this "non-story" is given top billing on the HP.

[banker67]

09:48 AM on 06/29/2010

And we expect exactly what from someone representing a nation that officially believes their personal 3000-year-old deity created the planet in seven days and gave only Israelis the right to conquer and annihilate everyone else who lived near them? And also demands that everyone repeat out loud daily that they don't have nuclear weapons.
In an age of a Hadron collider, nuclear warheads, robots probing the moons of Saturn and genetic healing, the men who pay this man's big salary want us to believe their right to kill whomever they please is part of their 'mission from God." Hey fellas, that was a comedy movie line thirty years ago, which automatically disqualifies it to now be the guiding principle of state policy for one of the biggest nuclear powers on earth.
The only thing more depressing is seeing so many world governments happily allow Israel's nuclear arsenal to rest in the hands of men who, politically and militarily, believe in the Easter Bunny.

[60699]

09:57 AM on 06/29/2010

You were pretty scary there, right up until the Easter Bunny part. You do have a sense of humor. Good one.

[TheLonelyGod]

02:01 PM on 06/29/2010

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you don't know very much about Israel, aside from the fact that it's a Jewish state.

[Wisdo]

08:07 AM on 06/29/2010

"Oren on Sunday emphatically denied as "a lie" a report that he had suggested in the briefing that Obama operated out of cold calculation, not emotional attachment to Israel."

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the President of the United States is SUPPOSED to base his decision making regarding foreign affairs which concern Israel on EMOTION and not CALCULATION?

Am I reading that right? am i f••ing reading that right?

[Khirad]

10:23 AM on 06/29/2010

Given that Israel, especially a Likud gov't, is currently more counterproductive to US interests in the region than not and has increasingly proven a liability, that's pretty much one of the only arguments left apart from the Biblically-based ones - 'emotional attachment'.

Well, emotionally, it's been an exploitative relationship. Support should be based on good behavior, not on unconditional, pathological codependency. (I hold the Palestinians to the same standard of good behavior, in case that cheap deflection is attempted.) But, as such, I see it hypocritical to hold one side up to standards if the other isn't held to commensurate opprobrium.

Israel has far too long gotten away with what almost any other country wouldn't have. I just ask that international justice be distributed relatively equitably, and the US not to block it. It hurts American credibility to continually shield this state. If Israel wants a friend, I would hope that this story is true, as it needs some tough love - though that's far from the ultimatum I'd like. When Israeli media portrays DLC Rahm as a "bad guy" then I think they need to recalibrate their perspective just a smidge.

[who38]

11:29 AM on 06/29/2010

Emotion: information based on feeling and intuition---heavily influenced by factors such as religion.

Calculation: information based on observation and analysis---heavily influenced by factors such as reason

[Wisdo]

08:03 AM on 06/29/2010

funny how Israeli spies get treated differently to Russian ones.

[who38]

11:30 AM on 06/29/2010

Isn't it?

[hollybork]

07:28 AM on 06/29/2010

So Rahm "is a great asset," to ISRAEL. That creeps me out. I will say no more.

[recovering Catholic]

06:54 AM on 06/29/2010

Would that it was true! Are we going to allow their treatment of the Palestinians to go on forever? As long as they have our unwavering support, they have no incentive to bargain.

[Macready]

07:23 AM on 06/29/2010

fanned recoveringCatholic . . . well said

[hollybork]

07:35 AM on 06/29/2010

Excellent and fanned.

I wonder if the Knesset and Likud actually feel confident they can control US foreign policy in the Middle East indefinitely againg the actual self interests of the US itself?

If so, what is the mechanism through which they control us to support their abuses of Palestinian civil rights, their brutal ethnic cleansing of Gaza, their theft of private property from private muslim landowners on the West Bank? Those actions, if attributed to us, clearly are not in our self interest. The hostility of Israel to changing its treatment of Palestinians alienates us from oil producing nations. Saudi Arabia et al are the chief providers of the very lifeblood of our economy in the world.

The oil producing islamic nations hate and resent what Israel has done to Gaza, West Bank and the Palestinian people. Therefore, they hate the nations that support Israel. Why is our foreign policy not aligned with our self interest?

[DanDreifus]

02:46 AM on 06/29/2010

And please dont forget dear Huffpo commenters.
9/11 had nothing to do with Israel. It was all a result of American "appeasement" towards terrorists. Did anyone mention chamberlain?

[Markovich]

04:34 AM on 06/29/2010

why do you say that?

[Markovich]

04:41 AM on 06/29/2010

Israel had something to do with 9-11.

Your belief that somehow the goal is to crush and oppress everyone throughout the world is insanity. Explain what appeasement caused 911. Tell us, wise one, what actions the US could have taken to root out every cell of terror in 23 countries which would have prevented someone from attempting 911.

I want details since you make this claim. Your argument sounds Israeli, meaning its delusional and doesn't work except on people you can trap, blockage and commit war crimes on. What can Israel do about ANYTHING else?

They lost a war to Lebanon for God's sake.

[DanDreifus]

02:43 AM on 06/29/2010

The US just doesnt get it and repeats its errors.
First the rift in relations between the US and Israel will get bigger. And the relations colder. Then Israel will give the US the "cold shoulder" treatment and implement its policies without consulting Obama. Then the US will realize its mistake and try to warm up the bilateral relations again. Israel will "agree" and the US will relent. And life goes on. In these matters Obama is not better or worse then any other US president in the last 40 years.

[Markovich]

04:37 AM on 06/29/2010

You might have things exactly backwards.

Israel will give the US the cold shoulder? What space craft is that from? Israeli media is asking itself everyday if they can "SURVIVE" if the US gives Israel the cold foreign policy shift.

I am absolutely curios where you get your notion that Israel will push the US away. That would be a Godsend

[Macready]

05:12 AM on 06/29/2010

great blog Markovich . . .

[hollybork]

07:53 AM on 06/29/2010

Good points, Markovich. I hope you are right.

[xlntcat]

04:45 AM on 06/29/2010

Fanned. We have become Israel's perpetual enablers for their bullying behavior. It has been that way my entire lifetime. They are truely bi-partisan in their utter disdain for the US

[Macready]

05:14 AM on 06/29/2010

you are so right xintcat . . . israel seems to forget that the rest of the world is sick of America enabling israel . . . collectively we cannot afford to let this heinous crime against the Palestinians continue . . .

[who38]

11:40 AM on 06/29/2010

When a group of countries decide to sanction the US for their behavior re/ Isreal, perhaps there will be a change.

[RubalKhali]

11:53 PM on 06/28/2010

Don't beleive any of this stuff, the only shift is Israel putting the U.S. in their back pocket from the front pocket. You see a shift when AIPAC is declared a foriegn libby.

[CoronaDischarge]

11:47 PM on 06/28/2010

It only seems like a tectonic shift. Israel has been used to Carte Blanche. But their unrestrained behavior is proving difficult for peace, or to even want to be associated with, and the US has other allies and interests too. It's time for Israel to start acting more responsibly.

[xlntcat]

04:47 AM on 06/29/2010

So why does anyone change behavior when what they are doing pays rewards for them. Israel will not act more responsible until we give them reason to do so.

[who38]

11:42 AM on 06/29/2010

Unfortunately, that change in US behavior will not come from within; pressure will need to come from other countries.

[silencedogooder]

11:14 PM on 06/28/2010

darn, and right after obama took medvedev to ray's hell burger. what's the world coming to?!

[CoronaDischarge]

10:56 PM on 06/28/2010

" Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren denied Sunday that he had told Israeli diplomats a "tectonic rift" was emerging between the United States and Israel -- ..."

If he didn't, he should have. The propaganda line is looking mighty threadbare.

[mage]

09:48 PM on 06/28/2010

Israel has to meet us halfway.!! There are certain things they need to do to help us promote the peace. Halfway will be great.

[xlntcat]

04:48 AM on 06/29/2010

Over the past 40 years, Israel has never indicated any interest is living peacefully with its neighbors or much of the world.