Florida Republican Congressman Allen West blasted the speech given by President Barack Obama on the Middle East and North Africa, calling it “the beginning of the end of the state of Israel.”
West’s statement, just released by his office, claimed the president declared a new state of Palestine should be built on the “pre-1967″ borders with Israel (in fact, the president mentioned the 1967 borders recognized by the U.N.) West then went further, quoting what he called ancient history that proves there is no such thing as the “Palestinian people.”
From the in-box:
Congressman Allen West Response to President Barack Obama’s Call
for a Two State Solution in Israel(WASHINGTON) — Congressman Allen West (FL-22) released this statement today:
“Today’s endorsement by President Barack Obama of the creation of a Hamas-led Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders, signals the most egregious foreign policy decision his administration has made to date, and could be the beginning of the end as we know it for the Jewish state.
From the moment the modern day state of Israel declared statehood in 1948, to the end of the 1967 Six Day War, Jews were forbidden access to their holiest site, the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City, controlled by Jordan’s Arab army.
The pre-1967 borders endorsed by President Obama would deny millions of the world’s Jews access to their holiest site and force Israel to return the strategically important Golan Heights to Syria, a known state-sponsor of terrorism.
Resorting to the pre-1967 borders would mean a full withdrawal by the Israelis from the West Bank and the Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. Make no mistake, there has always been a Nation of Israel and Jerusalem has been and must always be recognized as its rightful capital.
In short, the Hamas-run Palestinian state envisioned by President Obama would be devastating to Israel and the world’s 13.3 million Jews. It would be a Pavlovian style reward to a declared Islamic terrorist organization, and an unacceptable policy initiative.
America should never negotiate with the Palestinian Authority- which has aligned itself with Hamas. Palestine is a region, not a people or a modern state. Based upon Roman Emperor Hadrian’s declaration in 73 AD, the original Palestinian people are the Jewish people.
It’s time for the American people to stand by our strongest ally, the Jewish State of Israel, and reject this foreign policy blunder of epic proportions.
While the winds of democracy may blow strong in the Middle East, history has demonstrated that gaps in leadership can lead to despotic regimes. I have questions for President Obama: ‘Who will now lead in Egypt?’ and ‘Why should American taxpayers provide foreign aid to a nation where the next chapter in their history may be the emergence of another radical Islamic state?’
President Obama has not stood for Israel or the Jewish people and has made it clear where the United States will stand when Palestine attempts to gain recognition of statehood by the United Nations. The President should focus on the real obstacle to security- the Palestinian leadership and its ultimate goal to eliminate Israel and the Jewish people.”
West’s hawkish statements echo those of his friend, and would-be chief of staff Joyce Kaufman, who has often declared on her conservative talk show that “there are no Palestinian people.”
The Palestinians, 200,000 of whom were expelled from homes in what is now Israel, consider themselves to be a people, and hope to declare a state of their own in September before the U.N. General Assembly. Obama criticized that approach during his speech Thursday, saying it would not lead to a lasting peace with Israel.
West is considered one of the most vulnerable Republican freshmen in the House. He has long held a hawkish view of Middle East policy that some have called anti-Muslim. West was forced out of the Army when he performed a mock execution of an Iraqi policemen he suspected of turning on the U.S. and helping insurgents.
UPDATE: Turns out West is only the leading edge of a full-on right wing freak out.
WTF Has Barack Obama Done So Far?
Sure. And the West is a region not a people or a congressman.
west is historically accurate on this point
will the brain dead left ever learn? better to sit quietly and be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt….there’s nothing dumber than a liberal
The so called Palestinians celebrated our pain on 9/11 and celebrated when a baby was recently stabbed to death in Israel by giving candy to their children. Many have strapped bombs to children to their own children. What is Obama thinking, such an evil man. Why would you invite your enemies whom launch rockets into school yards and kill families in their sleep into your holy city. Islam has Mecca, Jerusalem is not even in their holy books. They simply want to kill the only Democracy that works in the Middle East. He is not pro Democracy or he would be pro Israel, He is just a ideological hater of any working government that is not socialist.
“Based upon Roman Emperor Hadrian’s declaration in 73 AD, the original Palestinian people are the Jewish people. ” ~ A. West.
“Hadrian (Latin: Publius Aelius Trajanus Hadrianus Augustus[1][2][3] 24 January 76 – 10 July 138), commonly known as Hadrian and after his apotheosis Divus Hadrianus, was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138….Late in his reign he suppressed the Bar Kokhba revolt in Judaea, renaming the province Syria Palaestina.” ~ the Wikipedia entry.
I wonder which one is more accurate.
Oh stop the idiocy; every President since ’67 has referenced the ’67 borders. Nothing radical or “evil” here, trolls. When really has West been historically accurate about anything in his long political career?
The last paragraph of West’s statement is, of course, basically a lie. Yes, Obama has “made it clear where the United States will stand when Palestine attempts to gain recognition of statehood by the United Nations”, but in the exact opposite way of what West is implying- Obama has made it clear that he will oppose that event.
So, Jeff, what’s your position on the future of the people usually referred to as Palestinians (independent of whether you’re willing to call them that or not)? Are you saying that several millions of people who are currently (in some places directly, in other places indirectly) being ruled over by a state that is not accountable to them, and who currently have no citizenship of any state, should continue in that position forever, because they’re evil? If that’s your position, please openly and directly say so.
Oh, and for the record, re “He is just a ideological hater of any working government that is not socialist.”: By the standards of US right wingers, Israel’s domestic policies on matters not related to the conflict are more “socialist” than Obama’s. Even the Likud and YB, not to mention Shas, are to the left of Obama on economic and welfare issues.
Joy, could you educate the readership as to the difference you imply between “1967 borders” as referred to by Obama, and “pre-1967 borders”? Very much looking forward to your reply.