David Corn has published the sequel to yesterday’s blockbuster video in which Mitt Romney acknowledges that pretty much everyone except his family and a bunch of vulture capitalists are shifty, layabouts looking for a big fat welfare check.
In the latest installment, Romney tells his Florida (and likely largely Jewish) audience that he doesn’t believe in a two-state solution, that Palestinians are shiftless, layabout terrorists waiting for the moment they can throw Israel into the sea.
While I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at the abysmal ignorance Romney displays regarding basic facts of geography and history, it’s still remarkable to think how close a dunderhead like this could get to the White House. He not only swallows the most ludicrous tropes of the pro-Israel neocons (i.e. Hezbollah will release a dirty bomb in Chicago), he doesn’t even know where Iran’s eastern border is and places it somewhere in the vicinity of the West Bank:
…The Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace…The pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish [sic]. Now why do I say that? Some might say, well, let’s let the Palestinians have the West Bank, and have security, and set up a separate nation for the Palestinians.
And then come a couple of thorny questions. And I don’t have a map here to look at the geography, but the border between Israel and the West Bank is obviously right there, right next to Tel Aviv, which is the financial capital, the industrial capital of Israel, the center of Israel. It’s…maybe seven miles from Tel Aviv to what would be the West Bank…The other side of the West Bank, the other side of what would be this new Palestinian state would either be Syria at one point, or Jordan. And of course the Iranians would want to do through the West Bank exactly what they did through Lebanon, what they did near Gaza. Which is that the Iranians would want to bring missiles and armament into the West Bank and potentially threaten Israel
So Israel of course would have to say, “That can’t happen. We’ve got to keep the Iranians from bringing weaponry into the West Bank.” Well, that means—who? The Israelis are going to patrol the border between Jordan, Syria, and this new Palestinian nation? Well, the Palestinians would say, “Uh, no way! We’re an independent country. You can’t, you know, guard our border with other Arab nations.”
And now how about the airport? How about flying into this Palestinian nation? Are we gonna allow military aircraft to come in and weaponry to come in? And if not, who’s going to keep it from coming in? Well, the Israelis. Well, the Palestinians are gonna say, “We’re not an independent nation if Israel is able to come in and tell us what can land in our airport.”
These are problems—these are very hard to solve, all right? And I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say, “There’s just no way.” And so what you do is you say, “You move things along the best way you can.” You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that this is going to remain an unsolved problem.
We live with that in China and Taiwan. All right, we have a potentially volatile situation but we sort of live with it, and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it. We don’t go to war to try and resolve it imminently. On the other hand, I got a call from a former secretary of state. I won’t mention which one it was, but this individual said to me, you know, I think there’s a prospect for a settlement between the Palestinians and the Israelis after the Palestinian elections. I said, “Really?” And, you know, his answer was, “Yes, I think there’s some prospect.” And I didn’t delve into it.
After saying all that, Romney emphasized that he was against applying any pressure on Israel: “The idea of pushing on the Israelis to give something up to get the Palestinians to act is the worst idea in the world.”
It should come as no surprise that a presidential candidate should be so cynical as to give up on the peace process. In essence, the erstwhile liberal candidate has done the same. They’re both kickin’ the can down the road. The only difference is that Romney was caught out saying it, while Obama’s too smart to be caught publicly doing so.
Since the majority of American Jews believe in a two state solution, the Republican has announced a policy that puts him squarely at odds with them. It leaves Romney in the company of the right-wing fat cat Jewish donors like Adelson and others who are delighted with this approach.
Romney made some additional embarrassing statements about Iran. Again, it’s simply frightening that someone this dumb can be a heartbeat and a few votes away from the presidency:
If I were Iran, if I were Iran—a crazed fanatic, I’d say let’s get a little fissile material to Hezbollah, have them carry it to Chicago or some other place, and then if anything goes wrong, or America starts acting up, we’ll just say, “Guess what? Unless you stand down, why, we’re going to let off a dirty bomb.” I mean this is where we have—where America could be held up and blackmailed by Iran, by the mullahs, by crazy people. So we really don’t have any option but to keep Iran from having a nuclear weapon.
As for Iran being “a crazed fanatic,” I’d say we’re awfully close to putting one in the White House. An ignorant crazed fanatic.
“Iranians would want to do through the West Bank exactly what they did through Lebanon, what they did near Gaza”
Does not imply
“he doesn’t even know where Iran’s eastern border is and places it somewhere in the vicinity of the West Bank”
Since:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers
How would Iran ship missiles to the West Bank when the former is separated from the latter by not just Jordan, but Iraq as well? Not to mention that no missiles have ever been fired at Israel from the West Bank.
I would think the reason why you dont see rockets from Jordan is due to the rift valley system… Its not like rafah where you can get a tunnel system to smuggle the stuff in…
So you are saying that when there is an independant Palestine that Israel should still be aloud to secure the jordan rift valley?
Here’s how:
http://www.haaretz.co.il/news/world/middle-east/1.1826926
As is mentioned here, Iraq didn’t prevend this airplanes from passing. Jordan is not the most stable country either.
And hey, if Iran can ship weponds to Gaza through Sudan…
Unfortunatly, Richard, this scenario seems very realistic for many Israelis.
As for “no missiles have ever been fired”. True. Look again at the “Palestine archipelago” map and see why.
You’re claiming that |Iran will succeed in smuggling missiles through Iraq & then through Jordan to the West Bank. Simply preposterous. Jordan is at least as stable as Israel. If Israel is stable, Jordan is. If you disagree, then you’re a racist. Jordan also has never allowed any weapons smuggled through it’s territory to attack Israel. Never. Not to mention that the PA has never allowed any missiles fired from the West Bank to Israel.
The scenario doesn’t seem realistic to “many” Israelis. It seems realistic to you & you substitute your own views for those of “many” Israelis. Which is quite a logical fallacy.
You’re done with this discussion. I don’t permit discussions based on fairy tales & delusion. Move on to another topic.
Is there anything that Mitt says that is not verbatim rehashed Netanyahu?
Mitt the Parrot needs to grow a pair
Mitt strikes me as someone who cheated his way thru every educational challenge which passed his way
It has probably been years since Mitt Romney has actually sat down and spoken to someone who can’t afford to pay $50,000 for the privilege., and so the only people he ever talks to are as shallow and narrow-minded as he is.
He therefore sees no need to question his world-view, precisely because everyone in his world agrees with him.
After all, the only non-rich people he has around him are his political advisors, and that are invariably neocons and/or zionists like Dan Senor.
Mitt Romney lives in a bubble.
He has done so for decades and decades.
Therefore this is true: Romney will NEVER grow a pair, precisely because he sees no need to do so.
He actually AGREES with Netanyahu, and there is nobody within his earshot who has any intention of ever telling him that maybe, juuuuust maybe, he’s a f**king idiot if he believes anything that Bibi tells him.
I don’t see anything wrong with Romney’s comments… Look at it this way when there was the Pali Leaks last year there was so much outrage at Abbases proposal to Olmert that Abbas had to reject the fact he ever made such a proposal… How can we get peace when it would be rejected the second it was signed into paper? And as for Iran? They would try get in the west bank and if there were elections then they would win… as they did with Gaza… I don’t think that Israel wants its new neighbor to be a hostile state… That’s why its a catch 22… The pals need to be ready for peace with Israel but they cant get there under “occupation” and Israel is not ready to accept a pal state until they are ready for a “warm” peace… But the occupation is just as bad as their subjugation under the UNRWA. If it were up to me i would get rid of the UNRWA put these poor people under the UNHCR and get these people settled in their host countries… Though I am not sure we will ever see peace… I know the majority Of Israel would vote against a peace treaty because it would call for dividing Jerusalem and accepting 100 000 persons who would be hostile to the state… and the Pals will never accept peace because it would mean giving up on what they claim is their historic rights (legit or not it is who they are and what they fundamentally believe)… So kicking the can down the road might be the sane solution…
We don’t call Palestinians ”Pals” here. That’s a clear right-wing trope & not acceptable. Jews are Jews. Israelis are Israeli, And Palestinians are Palestinian.
“These people” are Palestinian and there are no “host countries.”. They are refugees because Israel made them that way. They need to be settled in their former homes or places of their own choosing, not yours, Israel’s or the UN’s.
Your comment is pure bilge.
Sure thing Palestinians… is that better?… i usually use the term Pal as its short form and makes them sound friendly. So that means you will drop all hasbara slurs too right? Well TBH there about 60,000 who are refugees because of the creation of the state of Israel (that is the rough number of who are still alive and were actual refugees at the time of Israel’s creation)… 5 million of them are refugees because of the UNRWA…
Yes lets give them a choice but under the restrictive UNRWA we rob them of choice… we simply put them in a cage and say make babies and wait until Israel is no more so you can take their place… How is that choice? Give them the choice to settle in Syria or Lebanon like they can do in America or Canada… I personally think the refugee problem would be moot if they were given the choice to own land and get proper jobs and education…
I think they should be given Compensation in the form of Money to help them settle but not in Israel… (Let them move to Palestine when it’s a formal country and has a peace treaty with Israel) Much like my family is getting compensation for our land and factories that were stolen by the Germans in Poland… We can’t get the land back because its now the downtown center of Lodz! But we can get compensation for lost land.
How can they go home when their homes don’t exist any more? Are we going to uproot the airport to make room for a shack? What are we to do with 1 million people from Tel- Aviv when 500 Arabs want their villages back? There is hardly enough rental space for those Israelis that are there how can you make room for 5 million of them? Why should they be aloud to return? Did the Polish people of L’viv get to return home? Did the Germans of East Prussia get to return home? Tell me why the entire region has to be held hostage by the descendants of 500 000 people? How can you or I who sit in comfort in America and Canada have the right to tell Israel who they are aloud to let into their country?
and to me your response is smug and delusional and it seams you are stuck in time warp… its almost like you have your fingers in your ears and are yelling I am not listening when someone who you don’t agree with provides a reasonable argument against your views… I think that is disrespectful. Now I feel bad because I am a hypocrite for attacking you and forth hence will refrain from personal attacks on your sanity.
Though i do have to say i enjoy your writing… which is why i post here… I could spend my time posting on Times of Israel or J-post or y-net but that is pointless because everyone there already agrees with me… I much prefer to post on your site or al jazeera or haaretz where i can have a good argument with people who i know have opposite opinions as me…
Bullcrap. There were nearly 1 million 1948 refugees. Direct descendants (children) of these Nakba refugees are also entitled to resettlement. The current number is a few million of whom around 400,000 would likely wish to return directly to Israel. Those who wish to return are going to return to as close to their former homes as possible. THey may even revive destroyed Palestinian villages & give a boost to the Israeli economy. Some may go to Palestine if it exists. But they are under no obligation to settle there since they never lived in Palestine, they lived in ISRAEL.
As for you, if you wished to return to live in Poland you certainly could do so & be paid by Poland to do so, though I’m not sure why you would. Palestinians, however, cannot. That’s the difference between you & them.
They’re not waiting till “Israel is no more.” They’re waiting till Israel is prepared to rectify the injustice it did to those nearly one million Palestinians. Oh & Israel is also going to pay for resettling those of don’t wish to return to Israel. Other nations would contribute too. But Israel, as the nation responsible for the crime will pay too.
As for my pet words for hasbarists, I’m afraid you’re not a nation–yet. But Palestinians are, & are entitled to use of their full, proper name.
What a nonsense question. They’l rebuild their homes & villages or they’ll settle inside Israel. Like immigrants everywhere, they’ll enrich their new/old country despite your paranoia about this.
As for what is a “reasonable argument” against my views…we’ll disagree on that. If I thought your views were reasonable I wouldn’t find it so easy to poke holes in them. Improve & strengthen & test your views & I might find them reasonable.
My isn’t that racist. Palestinians live in shacks, eh? Many Palestinians living in the Diaspora are richer than many Israelis. They could build quite nice “shacks” thank you. There are many destroyed villages in Israel where there are no present settlements. Those could be rebuilt and new communities could be built for Palestinians just as settlements are being built on stolen Palestinian land for settlers. Or does Israel only know how to build homes for Jews?
As for how this new building could be financed. Are you so impoverished that you can’t imagine a billion dollar resettlement fund being invested in new infrastructure for these returnees? The EU, U.S. & many nations would contribute in order to resolve this festering mess of a problem.
I’m glad you’re posting here & welcome you even if we disagree. But that doesn’t mean I’ll let up on you as long as I disagree with your views.
@ Ben
“And as for Iran ? They would try get in the west bank and if there were elections then they would win…as they did with Gaza”
Oh, I’ve missed an episode here. Did Iran win the elections in Gaza ?
If Hamas were Iranian proxies, I wonder why they don’t follow the Iranians on the Syrian conflict.
It`s true but it is a very recent development. They were an integral part of the Iran-Assad-Nassaralah axis for many years and if not the political changes in Egypt and the envisaged fall of Assad they would have still been there (in fact, Nassaralah also seemed considering at some point to jump off the sinking ship but in his case it is a far trickier exercise – he is too deep “in the shit”)
its hard to tell if Hamas is still a proxy or not… they used to be… but with the rise of Egypt they could be swayed away from the Iranian influence… I mean Hamas is a brotherhood offshoot so its only logical that they would fall into Egypt’s sphere of influence.
I guess the real test will be if and when Iran, Syria and Hezbollah start a conflict with Israel if Hamas will join in…
It’s clear that you don’t know anything about Hamas to reduce it to Iranian proxies. Hamas is a Palestinian nationalist political movement fighting for Palestinian issues and Palestinian interests (I’m not saying that I agree with their ideology). If Hamas joined Iran in a conflict with Israel it’s still not a proof of them being a proxy, but of sharing the same interests as Iran.
I’m sorry to say so but you seem to be a brainwashed person just dumping the usual hasbara talking points.
PS. By the way, is Bibi an American proxy or is it the other way around ?
Yes, Iran won elections in Gaza, they plan to win elections in the West Bank. From there it’s but a hop, skip & a jump to taking over the entire Mideast. The Iranian Juggernaut marches on!
RS – are you still as comfortable with Pres. Obama’s defeat as you were several months ago?
I don’t think Obama will lose. I don’t know if I’ll vote for him though.
In today`s political culture, where you need to say the “right” thing not what your real beliefs are, this is certainly a big gaffe. Claiming that the chances for a formal agreement on the West-Bank are dim and that Iran is fanatic? It`s a horrible thing to do except that almost everybody think so (at least in the US). Shakespeare: “Much ado about nothing”
If “most” Americans shared Mitt’s views of Iran & the ME peace process he’d be elected president. They don’t & he won’t. Most people in the U.S. do NOT believe Iranians are fanatic They may believe their leaders are, but that’s not the same thing. If they do, it’s because of the propaganda spewed by neocons & the Israel lobby among others.
I meant Iran`s leaders of course – not the people, so there is no argument there (and I am pretty sure that is what Romneant meant too)
Trashy article.
It was Silverstein and all his wimpy liberal friends who let Obama drop the ball big time. Obama has utterly failed at bringing about any peace agreement.
Since Silverstien and Obama abandoned all pressure on little sweet Israel, they created a vacuum the size of a black hole. It was SILVERSTEIN HIMSELF together with useless Obama who invited Romney to crush the Pals.
Even the so-called J Street turned over and played dead when the Pals wanted some rights.
If I were Romney I would think, great, the left is a bunch of wimps. Take whatever I want they don’t really care.
What a trashy stupid article, covering up the writer’s and Obama’s total failings like they did not exist get a life.
This guy is off his meds and needs a psych consult.
I know I’m breaking one of my own comment rules, but this guy has imbibed a mind altering substance or is living in a parallel universe.