[Ifroham4]

Apparently Muslim antisemitism is Israel's fault, or all Jews' or something like that. The US ambassador to Belgium made these comments recently to other Jews at a closed door meeting in Europe:

http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/201...-semitism.html

A distinction should be made between traditional anti-Semitism, which should be condemned and Muslim hatred for Jews, which stems from the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, Gutman said. He also argued that an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty will significantly diminish Muslim anti-Semitism.


ECI has called for his firing:
http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/201...istration.html

"For example: as reported in the Israeli press, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, Howard Gutman -- a top Obama fundraiser in 2008 -- told a conference in Brussels this week that Muslim anti-Semitism 'stems from the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.' Pardon us for retaining our belief that Muslim anti-Semitism in the Middle East predates 1967, and even 1948 -- and in any case is the fault of the anti-Semites, not of the Jews.


SWC has called for his firing:
http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/201...-calls-on.html

"The Simon Wieaenthal Center calls on Secy of State Clinton to immediately rebuke Gutman for excusing Muslim hatred of Jews"' said Rabbis Marvin Hier, Dean and Founder and Abraham Cooper, associate Dean in a statement on behalf of its 400,000 constituent families of the leading Jewish Human Rights NGO.

Other voices in protest:
http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/201...d-to-fire.html
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/201...mitism-is.html

This follows on the heels of Panetta essentially saying the same thing:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...st_610962.html
http://www.yourish.com/2011/12/03/15401
When last we saw Panetta he was paying a ransom for a kidnapped American in Egypt with a new tranche of F-16's and a billion dollars in M1A1 tank upgrades.

[Lt_Apple]

More on Gutman, Panetta and Obama:

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/20...emitism-obama/
In a subsequent statement, Gutman failed to apologize and merely claimed his remarks were “taken the wrong way.” He then said his status as the son of a Holocaust survivor gives him impunity on the subject. But there was no misunderstanding here. He directly blamed Israel for anti-Semitism in Europe and said Arab hate of Jews was different from that of previous generations of haters. Gutman also explicitly said “every new settlement announced in Israel” and “every retaliatory military strike” undertaken by the Israelis “provides a setback for those fighting hatred and bigotry in here in Europe.” That he coupled his condemnation of Israel along with swipes at Palestinians doesn’t get him off the hook. By doing so, he treated Israeli home building with murder and its right of self-defense with terrorism.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/20...emitism-obama/
Panetta’s speech on Friday at the Brooking Institution in Washington and Gutman’s comments to a conference held by the European Jewish Union were obviously not coordinated, but they combine to give us a clear view of the distorted mindset of administration officials. This is an administration that sees Israel as a source of trouble, not an ally. Combined with the sorry history of three years of Obama’s picking fights with Jerusalem, the positions of both Panetta and Gutman give the lie to the notion this is an administration friends of Israel can trust.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/20...ael-democracy/
In the Obama administration’s latest salvo against Israel (see here and here for previous rounds), Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reportedly accused Israel of behaving like undemocratic regimes, even comparing it directly to Iran.
This is so outrageous it shouldn’t need refuting. But since the secretary of state is clearly confused about what distinguishes democracies from non-democracies, allow me to help: Democracies, like non-democracies, consist of human beings, and human beings everywhere sometimes produce bad ideas. But unlike non-democracies, democracies have numerous self-correcting mechanisms to keep such bad ideas in check. And nothing better proves this than the very examples she cited.


Take, for instance, the segregated buses. Some years ago, a few extremist ultra-Orthodox communities decided that buses should be segregated, with men sitting in front and women in back. Shockingly, the public bus company serving these communities complied. Like Clinton, I find this outrageous, as did most Israelis when they learned of it. But here’s the part of the story Clinton didn’t tell:


Israel’s vibrant free press reported on the issue, creating a public outcry. The issue was taken up by Israel’s democratically elected government. Ordinary individuals joined with some of Israel’s numerous civil-society organizations to petition Israel’s independent High Court of Justice, which unsurprisingly ruled the segregation illegal. Now, civil-society activists are monitoring the ruling’s enforcement. The verdict so far, as per one activist’s account in Haaretz last month: Some ultra-Orthodox passengers are palpably hostile, but women can sit in the front of the bus without suffering harassment.


http://daledamos.blogspot.com/2011/1...a-and.html?m=1
Last week I responded to the ludicrous statement of Obama, that "this administration has done more in terms of the security of the state of Israel than any previous administration..."



But I missed the last line: "And that’s not just our opinion, that’s the opinion of the Israeli government."



But it ain't so. Not by a long shot. While Obama is talking about joint military exercises, sale of weaponry, and the like, he's willfully neglecting the larger context of the ways in which the US position has weakened Israel -- a context that the Israeli government is keenly aware of.

http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2011...say-it-in.html
So said President Obama's man in Brussels, Washington DC lawyer Howard Gutman, on a Belgian late-night talk show some time after his appointment as American ambassador to Belgium as a reward for raising big big bucks for Obama's presidential campaign in 2009.

http://pjmedia.com/barryrubin/2011/1...ng-out-israel/
In a major address on U.S. Middle East policy to the Brookings Institution U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave us a clear picture of the Obama administration’s view of the region. When taken along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent speech on the same subject, we now know the following regarding Obama’s policy:


It is dangerously and absurdly wrong. This administration totally and completely, dangerously and disastrously for U.S. interests misunderstands the Middle East. They are 180 degrees off course, that is heading in the opposite direction of safety.


Despite the satisfactory state of relations on a purely military level, the Obama administration is not a friend of Israel, even to the extent that it was arguably so in the first two years of this presidency.


AND:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/20...mitism-israel/
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/201...-reported.html

[TorryJens]

More on Gutman, Panetta and Obama:

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/20...emitism-obama/
In a subsequent statement, Gutman failed to apologize and merely claimed his remarks were “taken the wrong way.” He then said his status as the son of a Holocaust survivor gives him impunity on the subject. But there was no misunderstanding here. He directly blamed Israel for anti-Semitism in Europe and said Arab hate of Jews was different from that of previous generations of haters. Gutman also explicitly said “every new settlement announced in Israel” and “every retaliatory military strike” undertaken by the Israelis “provides a setback for those fighting hatred and bigotry in here in Europe.” That he coupled his condemnation of Israel along with swipes at Palestinians doesn’t get him off the hook. By doing so, he treated Israeli home building with murder and its right of self-defense with terrorism.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/20...emitism-obama/
Panetta’s speech on Friday at the Brooking Institution in Washington and Gutman’s comments to a conference held by the European Jewish Union were obviously not coordinated, but they combine to give us a clear view of the distorted mindset of administration officials. This is an administration that sees Israel as a source of trouble, not an ally. Combined with the sorry history of three years of Obama’s picking fights with Jerusalem, the positions of both Panetta and Gutman give the lie to the notion this is an administration friends of Israel can trust.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/20...ael-democracy/
In the Obama administration’s latest salvo against Israel (see here and here for previous rounds), Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reportedly accused Israel of behaving like undemocratic regimes, even comparing it directly to Iran.
This is so outrageous it shouldn’t need refuting. But since the secretary of state is clearly confused about what distinguishes democracies from non-democracies, allow me to help: Democracies, like non-democracies, consist of human beings, and human beings everywhere sometimes produce bad ideas. But unlike non-democracies, democracies have numerous self-correcting mechanisms to keep such bad ideas in check. And nothing better proves this than the very examples she cited.


Take, for instance, the segregated buses. Some years ago, a few extremist ultra-Orthodox communities decided that buses should be segregated, with men sitting in front and women in back. Shockingly, the public bus company serving these communities complied. Like Clinton, I find this outrageous, as did most Israelis when they learned of it. But here’s the part of the story Clinton didn’t tell:


Israel’s vibrant free press reported on the issue, creating a public outcry. The issue was taken up by Israel’s democratically elected government. Ordinary individuals joined with some of Israel’s numerous civil-society organizations to petition Israel’s independent High Court of Justice, which unsurprisingly ruled the segregation illegal. Now, civil-society activists are monitoring the ruling’s enforcement. The verdict so far, as per one activist’s account in Haaretz last month: Some ultra-Orthodox passengers are palpably hostile, but women can sit in the front of the bus without suffering harassment.


http://daledamos.blogspot.com/2011/1...a-and.html?m=1
Last week I responded to the ludicrous statement of Obama, that "this administration has done more in terms of the security of the state of Israel than any previous administration..."



But I missed the last line: "And that’s not just our opinion, that’s the opinion of the Israeli government."



But it ain't so. Not by a long shot. While Obama is talking about joint military exercises, sale of weaponry, and the like, he's willfully neglecting the larger context of the ways in which the US position has weakened Israel -- a context that the Israeli government is keenly aware of.

http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2011...say-it-in.html
So said President Obama's man in Brussels, Washington DC lawyer Howard Gutman, on a Belgian late-night talk show some time after his appointment as American ambassador to Belgium as a reward for raising big big bucks for Obama's presidential campaign in 2009.

http://pjmedia.com/barryrubin/2011/1...ng-out-israel/
In a major address on U.S. Middle East policy to the Brookings Institution U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave us a clear picture of the Obama administration’s view of the region. When taken along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent speech on the same subject, we now know the following regarding Obama’s policy:


It is dangerously and absurdly wrong. This administration totally and completely, dangerously and disastrously for U.S. interests misunderstands the Middle East. They are 180 degrees off course, that is heading in the opposite direction of safety.


Despite the satisfactory state of relations on a purely military level, the Obama administration is not a friend of Israel, even to the extent that it was arguably so in the first two years of this presidency.


AND:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/20...mitism-israel/
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/201...-reported.html

[brraverishhh]

More on Gutman: It's Israel's fault the Palestinians do nothing except try to kill them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=y2uVPK1PnP4

Video 7:14