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Obama, Romney: US won't abide nuclear Iran; will stand by Israel
Yitzhak Benhorin
Published: 23.10.12, 05:03
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22 Talkbacks for this article
1. Get ready for a new President.
Steven Wilson ,   Anchorage, Alaska   (10.23.12)
Obama was too angry and condescending in this last debate. Bibi will be able to have a chat with a friend.... rather than someone who calls him someone that he has to..... DEAL WITH.....all the time. All that bluster and bluff about Obama sticking by Israel was just that.....horse manure. He's pitching for Jews with no common sense to jump over the cliff with him like sheep. Obama has never covered anyones back. Look at Egypt.....Mubarack. He'll stab you in the back when the opportunity arrives. That opportunity will occur if American Jews vote him back into office The very next day he will forget there ever was a country of Israel. Obama sure sucked up to the American Jewish vote though. Covering Israels back....what a laugh.
2. obama will wait till iran attacks Israel with
jerome ,   basalt, colorado   (10.23.12)
a nuke. iran attacks Israel all the time through it's proxies and have also drawn Americans blood.
3. Clear from the debate: Israel in line with America.
Michael ,   California, USA   (10.23.12)
Both sides made it clear that Iran will not have nuclear weapons, that the sanctions are working and Iran is weakening. There is very little for Israel to worry about. Simply said: go about your business without fear in Israel and let America stand by you.
4. pharaoh vs. mr. weak
YoredX   (10.23.12)
a Hobson's choice
5. Nuclear Iran
ltrail ,   United States   (10.23.12)
Let the world read and hear: The USofA will not tolerate a nuclear Iran. Either Iran abandons their project or more drastic actions will occur. If Iran ignores this message, selah.
6. for America and for the world!
Romeny is better   (10.23.12)
7. Obama will be back ...
Lisa ,   LA, Ca   (10.23.12)
bibi maybe not be back .. for the peace
8. I am Democrat voter
(10.23.12)
I can't bring myself to vote for Obama who is equivocates on Israel, but then again I can't vote for the party of the 1% either. Romney made his billions destroying American jobs, and destroying the Middle Class, and I believe he would continue to do so. So Obama you wanted your daylight with Israel, I hope it doesn't come down to my vote from Ohio, because I'm just not voting for you or anyone else. Thanks for being soft on Islam, and extending an open hand to Arab regimes which hate America, no matter how much oil they sell us, and thanks for being tough on the only pro America democracy in the ME.
9. I wonder if Israel attacks first...........
Brett Levitas ,   JHB South Africa   (10.23.12)
If good old obama will stand by it. I liked Romney but to be honest they are both as imasculated given that neither of them run politics in Washington. Lets just hope the interest in keeping the alliance is still strong enough after the elections!!
10. Horses & Bayonets
Mark of Lewiston ,   USA   (10.23.12)
Me-Too Mitt showed up for the debate and disagreed mostly on Syria and a little bit only on Iran. He wants to provide heavy weapons to Syrian rebels after he vets them. Otherwise he agreed that Obama is doing a superb job as Commander in Chief. wouldn't change a thing except the pace. But eh best exchange was about the US Navy and our lack of Dreadnoughts. Romney wants more. but Obama countered: "Well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets. ... We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines. And so the question is not a game of Battleship, where we’re counting ships."
11. Equal conditions for both candidates !
Istvan ,   BUDAPEST HUNGARY   (10.23.12)
Romney is in advance as he can speak his english mother language. Also for Hussein Obama must ensure using the massai language.
12. This Israeli-American is voting Obama
Eldar ,   Haifa   (10.23.12)
For the uninformed voter, don't be hoodwinked by the perennial anti-Obama Jewish fringe group (who never have anything substantive to say about Obama's supposed anti-Israel positions. Consider the following FACTS of the Obama presidency vis-a-vis Israel:: 1) Iron Dome - fully funded with $275 million. 2) $3 billion in military aid - requested on schedule and INCREASED (Ehud Barak "I don't think anyone can raise a question mark about the commitment of this president to the security of Israel..."). Additional $650 million for missile defense. 3) Full cooperation in intelligence and cyber warfare against Iranian weapons program. Those with Romnesia forget these successes. 4) Initiating and supporting the most comprehensive sanctions ever placed on one of Israel's enemies - recently cited as an excellent and effective policy by Israel's former Mossad Chief Efraim Halevy and others former leaders of the Israeli secret security establishment. 5) Turned the Iran issue into a global threat, rather than a threat against Israel, thereby protecting Israel from further international isolation. 6) Continued the tradition of defending Israel in the United Nations (even despite those terrible settlements in the West Bank). US voting record on Israel issues in the UN during the Obama administration: pro-Israel 100%. 7) US-Israel Enhanced Security Act; selling the most modern weaponry (F-35 jets). The most comprehensive and extensive US-Israel joint military exercises ever. 8) Personally intervened to secure Israeli diplomats in Cairo during the Arab Spring demonstrations. 9) Puts up with Bibi's crap and shameless intervention in American politics. Let's face it - whatever Obama does - and he has been phenomenal for Israel - won't be good enough for the vocal but marginal Jewish extreme. OBAMA in 2012!
13. To 9 - Romney Bulldozed.
Mark of Lewiston ,   USA   (10.23.12)
Romney bulldozed that question and changed the subject. Romney started by saying that Israel would NEVER surprise the US that way. Then he changed the subject to unemployment.
14. #12 eldar you have drank the kool-aid
jerome ,   basalt, colorado   (10.23.12)
1.The billions of dollars in military assistance, including the Iron Dome Defense system, is the fulfillment of a pledge from George W. Bush 2.The sanctions against Iran have not slowed down its nuclear program one bit and Obama opposed stronger sanctions that Congress wanted 3.Obama’s Administration has repeatedly leaked vital covert Israeli information, including four times when it revealed which countries Israel had effected a deal with to fly over for an attack on Iran 4.Obama backed an extraordinary session at the UN Security Council where the United Nation's High Commissioner for Human Rights, the notoriously anti-Israel Navi Pillay, briefed the Council on the subject of Israel--and Israel alone, as if Israel were the worst offender of human rights in the world. How about the repeated efforts by Obama to publicly humiliate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? And the time Obama stated that Israel should return to the suicidal pre-1967 borders? Or the elision from the 2012 Democratic platform of some key elements from the 2008 platform, namely that Israel was the strongest US ally in the Middle East, that Hamas should be isolated from being a partner in the peace process, that the bogus Palestinian right to return should be opposed. Or the refusal to name Jerusalem the capital of Israel, and the absolute unwillingness to condemn Arab terrorism. Contrast that with the 2012 Republican platform, which stated: The Palestinian people must support leaders who reject terror, embrace the institutions and ethos of democracy, and respect the rule of law… Israel should not be expected to negotiate with entities pledged to her destruction ……radical elements like Hamas and Hezbollah must be isolated because they do not meet the standards of peace and diplomacy of the international community. Let’s take a further look at Obama’s animus toward Israel: 1.Hillary Clinton's 43-minute telephone pillorying of Netanyahu for announcing construction in a Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem. 2.David Axelrod asserting that President Obama considered the housing approval "an affront, an insult...and very, very destructive.” 3.Joe Biden ripping Israel for endangering American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. 4.Clinton's demand that Israel unilaterally concede negotiating positions and release hundreds of Palestinian terrorists even before "indirect" peace talks could begin. 5.Defense Secretary Robert Gates calling Israel "an ungrateful ally." 6.Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's chastising Israel to "get back to the damn [negotiating] table. 7.Obama shoving PM Netanyahu out the White House back door, no dinner, no joint statement. 8.Pushing Israel to apologize for the terrorist Gaza flotilla 9.On an open mike, Obama agreeing with French President Sarkozy's statement that "I cannot bear Netanyahu, he's a liar," adding, "You're fed up, but I have to deal with him every day.” 10.Obama's speech, sandbagging Netanyahu just before he arrived in Washington, calling on Israel to retreat to the 1949 Armistice line as a starting point for negotiations? 11.No condemnation whatsoever for the anti-Israel incitement by the Palestinian leadership, including celebrating the grisly murder of the Fogel family and their sleeping little boys and baby girl? No condemnation of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem -- whose salary comes from American taxpayers -- urging Arabs to "fight and kill the Jews"? The thought of Jews in America voting for this man, (Jews who are largely secular and have long ago eschewed their tradition), this man who has an animus toward Israel greater than any other president, is enough to make you wonder if those same Jews value Israel at all. They certainly don’t have the allegiance to Israel that a Jewish identity demands. If they see themselves as part of Jewish history at all (and many don’t) they should know that their reelection of Barack Obama will have terrible and final consequences for the Jewish people.
15. Jerome, stop drinking Caroline Glick's koolaid
Eldar ,   Haifa   (10.23.12)
I read through this - and recognized it from elsewhere, but ok - you needed a quick response. Almost everything you wrote, I could have cut and pasted names from the Reagan or Bush Sr. administrations (James Baker, George Schultz, Casper Weinberger...). Many of your "examples" are cherry-picked points of disagreement that have happened with every administrations. I you hadn't noticed, US' embassy is still in Tel Aviv despite 20 years of Republicans in the White House, and all presidents have held the 1967 Green Line as the goal of a negotiated settlement (including George W!). Do you remember who stuck Pollard in prison or who opened dialogue with the PLO? Republicans! So, let's just call it was it is - you don't like liberal democrats in the White House and I do. As last night's debate showed, there is no substantial difference between the candidates on Israel, and your selective "facts" are just campaign sloganeering.
16. Excelent words.
Luiz F Haddad ,   Niteroi, Brazil   (10.23.12)
The both American presidencial candidates have shown a firm compromise with Israel toward Iranian aggression or any other. They also told Ayatullahs that nuclear weapons will never be tolerated. It means that, nowadays, Israel is not isolated, like she was during her first years. And not only because of U.S' friendship. There are many others. Hence, Israeli brothers and sisters, be strong, but moderate. God bless you forever.
17. eldar libtards igore facts
jerome ,   basalt, colorado   (10.23.12)
is nothing true that is copy and pasted? it's a different time than Reagan, Bush Sr. and so forth. The embassy being moved is Israel least problem if obama with his dislike for Israel and emotion attachment to Islam. After all the most beautiful sound he ever heard is the muslim call to pray. you are the one that has selective hearing and seeing with your facts.
18. Debate disaster
Imafreeagent ,   Florida   (10.23.12)
The US may be a friend to Israel, but Israel is not a friend to the US. Worse, she wants to entrap the US into another war. In their eagerness to win the Jewish vote, both Romney and Obama are selling out and putting America's' security in grave danger.
19. #18 your not a realist or thinking at all
jerome ,   basalt, colorado   (10.23.12)
romney tells the truth about being a friend of Israel and oboma lies. like it or not iran is at war with the big satan and the little one as they call it.
20. # 5 talking big! when US will be ready to invade...
inconito   (10.24.12)
and occupy iran, then US will have a real possibilty to stop iranian programme BTW the same was said about North Korea ! fortunatelly for iranian people ! but unfortunatelly for those who want keep iran in inferiority, the one and only way to prevent the emergence of an Iran nuclear is the physical invasion and occupation of the country! everything else does not work, carpet bombing can delay, but make the program more secret and make it free of the NPT constraints. we will wait a very long time before we see a president to order the return to conscription, and launch a bloody invasion and occupation. the issue is not war or bomb Iran, the question is the bomb with or with no war! if obama is stupid enough to make such foolish move, he will get both an military and economic disaster, and a nuclear armed iran. as his own militarys admited !
21. anything exceptional? do you expected really Romeny or Obama
inconito   (10.24.12)
anything exceptional? do you expected really Romeny or Obama say publicly : "we will accept a nuclear Iran?" it is a non event! iran is garantee to have nuclear after bombing. the know-how is there to remain there !
22. #10 Sarcasm backfired on Obama
Ron ,   US   (10.24.12)
US Marines pointed out Obama needs to educate himself on military gear since they do use bayonets.
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