i'm sure afterwards he scrubbed it well, just to be safe.

As a Jew and a Zionist I am proud to say that Israel has been shaking the hands of a lot of Israelis

Your knee-jerk sarcasm is inappropriate here. I've observed Mr. Talibani's public behavior on prior occasions. When he first appeared before the US Congress years ago, he went out of his way to meet and greet Senator Lieberman. Also, when he earlier was in a position of leadership under post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, he endorsed the new, albeit short-lived Iraqi flag that shared colors and other similarities with the flag of Israel; so similar was it that it was replaced because other Iraqis felt it was tantamount to Iraqi recognition of Israel.

We are totally obsessive about handshaking as a symbol of the other side's willingness to make peace with us...are they serious or not serious about peace ? only a handshake will tell

Sell their birthrights for a handshake or photo opp.... and the Arabs go home laughing their heads off... How pathetic....

sure he did this, but he'll have to perforn the customary ablution of dismissing the event as entirely meaningless by demonstrating his islamic bona fides against the hated zionist entity to try to appease the outrage that is brewing. if he stands by what he did, i'll gladly admit i was wrong. until then (or hell freezing over, whichever happens first) sarcasm is quite appropriate.

and Israel has a long strategic partnership with the Kurds. There is nothing surprising or meaningful about this handshake. It does speak volumes, however, the Barak is at the world socialism conference. Socialism is part of Israel's problems.

You will never fed up with Newsturbation- I coined this term to define Israeli newsmaking from nothing to boost Zionism- The person shake hands with Israeli minister is a puppet of US &ISraeli coalition occupied Iraq and Talabani's prestige and esteem is next to used toilet papers.

As for the Iraqi government, there has been no shift in the non-recognition and hatred of Israel. Indeed, Iraq has yet to even sign an armistice to the war of 1948, '67, or '73, in which it actively fought against Israel. The Iraqi parliament went so far as to ban Iraqi victims of terrorist violence from being treated by Israeli medics or hospitals. Furthermore, the "short-lived flag" you speak of was never the flag of Iraq, but merely a proposal that was roundly rejected. Time to take off those rose-tinted specs.

How do you spell NAIVETY? "JERRY SUSSMAN" of course!!

The modern day version of the "kiss of esav"

in the picture. There they are Talabani, Barak and Abbas and I guess by having Abbas in the picture. That brings in the cause of the palestinians. Thank you ynet, for your political objectivity. Lets see if you post this.

he shook hands with a presedent appointed by the iraqis enemies , which also makes him an enemy of the iraqis....

I cannot believe the replies to my earlier comment regarding the sincerity of Mr. Talibani's handshake. I did not for one minute suggest that most, or indeed many Iraqis cared one whit for Israel. And I generally are quite pragmatic in my approach to life. But the issue discussed in my post made no grandiose pronoucements of Iraqi's love for Israel. In fact, I specifically noted that Iraq had rejected an Israeli-like flag. Splitting hairs about whether it was "formally" adopted or "merely proposed" is not productive. The fact is that the flag briefly was flown as representative of the new Iraqi government; in the post-Saddam chaos, it matters little whether it had, at that time, been adopted by a vote of the Iraqi legislature. And on the point that "Of course Mr. Talibani supported Israel, he is a Kurd not an Iraqi." That is as offensive as it is incorrect. Reminds me of saying that an American Jew would of course support Israel because "Of course, a Jew would do so." Last time I checked, the Kurdish region of Iraq was part of Iraq. Its citizens were Iraqi. And on the larger suggestion that the Kurds just love the Jews and Israelis, so Mr. Talibani's views are not unusual, do some reading of facts and not fiction. Despite underground Israeli assistance of "some" Kurds in what is now Turkey and elsewhere, the average "Kurd-on-the-Street," is no more in love with Jews or Israeli's than are any Sunni or Shii Muslims.

Photo op with a CIA-installed so-called president is an insignificant event by itself. What’s significant and very alarming is a reiteration of Barack ‘willingness to make painful concessions for peace’. This doesn’t look and smell any kosher. And on an aesthetic side of that picture: Barack grew fat wears fake glasses and became almost indistinguishable from other arab tyrants presented on that shameful event.

"Despite underground Israeli assistance of "some" Kurds in what is now Turkey and elsewhere, the average "Kurd-on-the-Street," is no more in love with Jews or Israeli's than are any Sunni or Shii Muslims" Perhaps you did not know this, but at a time when it was a capital crime for Jews to attempt to emigrate to Israel from Iraq and Iran, only Kurds assisted them by helping to transport them through dangerous clandestine mountain routes to freedom. Those Kurds defied their Arab government at risk to their own lives. It is a matter of fact of history that among Moslems, Jews had far far better relations with Turks and Kurds than any other Islamic ethnic groups. For a time, the Ottoman Empire served as a safe haven for persecuted Jews. Also, when Maimonides fled from one persecuting Islamic state to another, he finally found a safe haven in the service of the Kurdish Sultan Salah a-din.

the one where Barak is standing underneath a picture of a clenched fist? I think it looks very aesthetic.

Let me see if I understand your principal premises: (1) Kurds helped Jews to emigrate from Iraq to Israel; and (2) the Ottoman Empire, under Kurdish leadership, was a safe haven for Jews. Therefore, you state that I am wrong when I say that the average Kurd feels the same way about Jews and Israelis as Sunni and Shii Muslims. Your logic is seductive, but faulty. How about these premises: (1) The Jews lived happily in Poland for hundreds of years under the benefiscent leadership of the Polish monarchy; and (2) Many Poles provided save haven to Jews during WWII. Therefore, the Poles are the greatest Jew-lovers the world has ever known. Not! In a non-democratic system, such as the Ottoman Empire during the latter 19th Century and the Kingdom of Poland in the centuries prior to WWII, Jews sometimes flourished under the auspicies of the ruling class notwithstanding the visceral hatred against Jews elsewhere in these states. For a time, I naively said to myself, "Perhaps the Kurds are different." They are not. I have witnessed more than several interviews with Kurds. To a person, when asked about Jews and Israel, their replies were qualitatively identical as any other Middle Eastern Muslim.

Look up articles by Michael J. Totten - you'll find that the "average Kurd" has a quite different view than what you assume. Furthermore, Israeli Jews of Iraqi origin, as well as Israeli news reporters (even an ultra-Orthodox one for the weekly Mishpacha) could visit the Kurdish Autonomous Region safely, without being molested. They didn't have trouble during interviews, visiting the ruins of the old synagogues Saddam tore down... quite the contrary. On the national level, the average Kurd respects Israelis for getting for what they too hope to achieve. And on the general level, of the average Joe who doesn't care about politics much, they didn't really get the hate education the rest of Iraq got - they were always outsiders, though less than the Jews. By and large, the clearest difference is that any Jew walking through other parts of Iraq would be dead in days, if not hours, even in today's improving security over there.

Kurds come in all socio-economic and national adherences. This idea that the "average Kurd respects Israelis for..." is just a figment of your Zionist imagination. No respectable Kurd will condone the occupation, and terrorizing or fellow Sunni Muslims by a bunch of Zionist extremist hellbent on occupation, Apartheid and illegal land grab! There are a few Kurds whose "views" in support of Israeli aggression are solicited and magnified. That's all. Many Jews travel to several parts of the ME "unmolested". Many Jews travel to Muslim Countries like Turkey, Iran, UAE, etc. I am sure Jews travel in other parts of Iraq as long as they are not Israelis.

This is great, Iraq and Israel have no reason to be at war, the two countries should declare full diplomatic relations and an end to the 'state of war.' We Iraqis have nothing against Jews or Israel, and hopefully one day Iraqi Jews or Jews who had to leave Iraq will be able to return.