Must have been a no brainer, can you imagine the outcry if he had insulted the Palestinian President rather than shake hands with an Israeli who wants there to be a Palestinian state? I mean we are not talking Liberman here.

israel always makes everything into a big deal...israel is so totally hated that a handshake makes b ig news...and then they cause a life threatening situation for someone who was willing to shake hands...israel seems to have turned into a hard up leper...why is israels media and politicians so incredibly disgusting?? sickening

Mr Talabani don't worry, Israelis will not ask you to apologize for the attitude of your fellow Iraqi politicians.

Israelis should be the ones to get offended by the handshake until all Iraqi Jewish emigrants are compensated for their suffering under various Arab-Nazi, Royal, and Baath rule.

All of the critisisim came from Iranian proxy's. Thanks to the US the Iranian proxy's now dominate Iraqi politics.

Yes Tayfun, after your murder by your Turkish community of millions of Armenians & Kurds, he must be toppled for a hand shake. So one must never talk, never shake hands, not think of peace, but do it the Turkish way, massacre your "so called" enemies. You a disgusting individual-you need medical help.

Thanks to the US, they are now living free, without any ruthless dictator on their head. What do they do with this freedom? Instead of building a flourishing state, they start killing each others in masses, it's become a norm to have dozens of casualties daily from their endless terrorist attacks. And yet, with all this bloodshed, the Iraqi govenment's biggest concern is not stopping this senseless violence, but rather, expressing their rage that their president shook hands with a minister of a country with close ties to the country that gave them their freedom. Typical Arabs.

Anyone that believes the sacrifice of US blood for these backward supporters of Islamic terrorism was worth it are being proven naively wrong! What was worse:a known enemy like Hussein that could be contained, or a plethora of smaller Husseins whose allegience is knowingly anti-US, anti-democracy, anti-Christian, anti-Bahai, and anti-Jewish. The mini-dictators that US troops are giving their lives for will quickly turn on us as soon as they are offered enough money by the Saudis and Iran. Just proof that our Presidents, starting with Carter up to both Bushes and Clinton were on payrolls of foreign entities of IslamoFascist origin

What was the typical Israeli response to MK Barakeh's supposed meeting with Meshaal? There, precisely there, you have your answer. Please stop employing the worst double standards the world has ever seen!

While I understand how Palestinians may view Zionism negatively, as in their perspecitve, Zionism is supposedly responsible for the loss of their lands - your disdain of Zionism eludes me. What is your problem with Israel? Why do you automatically side with the Palestinians? Have you ever had any land disputes with Israel? Has Israel ever fought you? The only things Israel brought upon Turkey are military cooperations, technological aid (improving your fighter planes), gobs of tourists $'s, and relief efforts when the earthquakes and fires struck your country (oh and of course - Revivo). Your hate of Israel is therefore sensless. And if you'd give me the usual crap about "oppressing" the Palestinians, I can give you the Kurdish Holocaust that your country so avidly tries to cover up.

Let's bring democracy to the Middle-East. What a joke. They should have blown the place up & left it that way, allow it to break up, & support an independant Kurdistan. And to "stabilize" Iraq, the US wants us to sit & watch Iran develop nuclear weapons to use on us.

What issues are there between Iraq and Israel? And don't tell me "the Palestinians". If they really cared about them they wouldn't be kicking them out of Iraq. Seriously, the minds of some people are seriously screwed up. The Kurds, unlike Arab Iraqis, have no problem with Jews and Israelis. And they will be the ones to reap the rewards of closer, if quiet, relations.

Is Barak sworn to destroy Iraq? Does Barak regularly order the murder of Iraqi civilians and take joy and pride in it? I think not. Barakeh meetings with those sworn to the destruction of the state he claims to represent; it is unacceptable.

Just so we're clear on this - I'm one of the biggest critics of the Israeli government and media. But your post is absolutely senseless. Are you implying that "Israel is so totally hated", and "turned into a leper" - merely because the Israeli media mentioned that handshake? Aren't you just bit exaggerating? Israel is a democracy, with freedom of the press, meaning - there is no political intervention with what the media prints. And there is nothing wrong in reporting a handshake. We are not ashamed to exist here. We are not ashamed to make ties with the Arab world. It is the problem of the Iraqis and other Israel-hating Arabs of the region, to digest that we're here to stay. And Israel is hated by the Arabs, for several reasons, none of them related to this silly handshake: 1. Israel's existence is a spit in the face of the Arabs' perception of their dominance. 2. Israel's relative cleanliness and human rights (in comparison to the Arab regimes) acts like a very unflattering mirror to the backward Arab countries 3. Israel is an easy scapegoat to blame, an easy target to divert the poor citizens' anger to, in order to keep their minds away from the local corruptions of the Arab leaders. And yet, despite all this - if you'd secretly and quietly ask the Arab leaders - they would still want Israel here. They are too afraid of what would happen with Iran as an unstoppable superpower in the Middle East. By the way, does "JL" stand for "Jalal" or something like that? I wouldn't be surprised....

The difference between the two cases, is that Haled Mash'al supports the destruction of Israel, and has been responsible for many terror attacks on Israel. Mash'al, is therefore, by any logical standard - a bona-fide enemy of Israel - even by his own admission. And it is outrageous that an Israeli MK comes to visit and respect such enemy of Israel! On the other hand - Barak is by no means an enemy of Iraq, or the Iraqi people. Barak, like all Israelis, wants peace with Iraq. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with the Iraqi president's handshake to Barak. Kapish?

A good example of Arab stupidity and intolerance.

As someone who supported the war because Saddam Hussein was a dangerous thug who couldn't be allowed to continue to run roughshod over millions of people, it makes me sick that after America sacrificed more than 4,000 young soldiers, these shitheads in the Iraqi government are no further along than when Saddam was savaging their country. Now I'm almost sorry we didn't allow him to remain in power and let the Iraqis, who prefer to think of Israel as their enemy, try to free themselves from the murderous grip of Saddam and his monstrous sons.

How naive of you to go along with this counterfeit peace, Israel ! The Arabs could not defeat you in war but they succeed by peace. Sanp out of your slumber and defeat them before they wipe you out That is the unchanged goal of Islam.

The Kurds know that to maintain friendship with the USA they should be friendly toward Israel. This incident is an example of Kurds preparing the way for independence, which will come as soon as they secure their grip on oil resources in the north of the country.

How deep must be the religious muslim hatred, that a nation like Iraq, almost at the posint of extinction, finds energy to condem the handshake between Talabani and Barak. They have not learn anything even after all the sacrifices the West has made on their behalf.

These iraqis are the kind of people our soldiers are dying for? SHAME on you America. GET OUT NOW!

My comments on Islam mostly comment on 6th century ignorance and barbarism and this article perhaps confirms it. Regarding posts as to whether Americans are sacrificing blood for nothing in Iraq. Four companies were given oil rights in Iraq last week and all 4 companies were American. No other country was allowed to bid. A coincidence? Mike

last week and no other country was allowed to bid! This war had and has nothing to do with 'ruthless dictators'. It is about oil! No candidate wants to raise taxes on gas in the US to bring them into line with all other first world countries, so the answer is Iraq. If somebody doesn't like the above then please explain the 4 US oil companies. Mike

army in the Middle East. Thank you hajj bush and your mental midgets.