Tom DeLay is an "Isreali at heart"

[Homebrew]

From the NY Times. If you’re not registered, it’s free and painless.

Palestinians Must Bear Burden of Peace, DeLay Tells Israelis
By JAMES BENNET
JERUSALEM, July 30 — Calling himself “an Israeli at heart,” Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, told Israeli legislators today that the burden for achieving peace here rested with the Palestinians, who he said must eradicate terrorism.

Speaking a day after President Bush met at the White House with the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, Mr. DeLay said Mr. Bush had “made clear that the prospects of peace are the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority,” which must “fight terror and dismantle terrorist capabilities.”

Mr. Bush also urged Mr. Sharon to ease restrictions on Palestinians and to restrain Israel’s own actions. Yet Mr. DeLay, while declaring that Palestinians “have been oppressed and abused,” said the culprit — and “their enemy” — was Yasir Arafat, not Israel.

“Israel is not the problem,” he said. “Israel is the solution.”

How is it helpful to the peace effort for the House Majority Leader to contradict the President and declare himself “an Isreali at heart”? Is this not deliberate sabotage? With all the difficulties we have in MENA, how is it a wise thing for one of the more powerful leaders in Congress to declare himself firmly on one side in the struggle?

[Mtgman]

Link to full speech text. I found this bit more disturbing, quite frankly.

If we do not do this difficult work, the status quo will remain.

Innocent people will die, and The Lie will live on.

But if we do…

If we do, the citizens of Israel will have what they’ve never had before.

And so will the Palestinian people.

If they rise up from terror and embrace the universal hopes of freedom and democracy, the United States and the rest of the world will be there to help them.

We will help them develop the infrastructure necessary to accommodate a free society.

We will help them establish the civic institutions necessary to foster a vibrant democracy.

Roads, hospitals, bridges, schools, accountable government, the rule of law, economic opportunity.

These are things their terrorist leaders have long promised, but never delivered.

On the other hand, the United States has — for a century — helped newly liberated peoples grow into great and prosperous democracies.

We did it in Western Europe and Japan after World War II, and Eastern Europe after the Cold War.

We are doing it now in Afghanistan and Iraq.

And I want to assure the Palestinian people: there is nothing we would like more than to do it again.

If you provide the hope, we will provide the help.

But if the Palestinian people continue to allow violent men — the murderous minions of The Lie — to speak for them, they will remain terrorized under the boot-heel of evil.

So I say again, to all Israelis and Palestinians who seek peace: “Be not afraid.”

Your liberation from The Lie is at hand.

Enjoy,
Steven

[rjung]

Somewhere out there in cyberspace, december is preparing a rousing defense and adulation of Mr. DeLay as we speak…

[GoldenGael]

Well, as his typical ravings go, this one seems muted and reasonable.

I’m really sorry to have to say this.

[Captain_Amazing]

Not that I really like Tom DeLay, but what did he say that was so objectionable? The PLA does need to fight against Palestinian terrorism, and the Palestinians do need to democratize.

[Squink]

Never thought I’d see Tom DeLay emulate Jesse Jackson; and with his own team’s man in the White House no less. WHAT is the world coming to ???

[Fang]

*Originally posted by rjung *
**Somewhere out there in cyberspace, december is preparing a rousing defense and adulation of Mr. DeLay as we speak… **

Elsewhere in cyberspace, people don’t know how to post to the right forum.

[Mtgman]

It seems to be a reversal of the idea that both sides bear some responsibility for the forward movement of the peace process. Now the onus is entirely on the Palestinians. This is the same hard-line approach which has stalled the peace process for the past couple of decades. The road map was supposed to be different. Cessation of hostilities was an important part of it, but it is too important to let a handful of radicals derail it. Now there is news of Israel actually expanding some of the settlements in Gaza Strip.

I agree, and I have always said, that the PLO/PLA should do their utmost to stop terrorists. What I disagree with is the hard-line “a single act of aggression on the part of any Palestinian derails the talks” bullshit. As we in the US are beginning to learn, cracking down on terrorists isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Personally I got really bad vibes from reading the speech. Lots of references to “God” and “The Lie”(which, IIRC is a euphamism for the devil when that kind of capitalization is used). This seems to bring religion into the issue far more boldly than I’m at all comfortable with. All this talk of being on God’s side and opposing the minions of “The Lie” sounds way too much like rhetoric from Islamic extremists when they start in with the “Jihad” angle.

Enjoy,
Steven

[sleeping]

While I can understand those who object to Tom DeLay characterizing himself as an Israeli (in that this may seem one-sided to some Palestinians), I don’t understand why you consider the rest of the speech to be objectionable. When he says “The Lie” he means that the PLO has been promising Palestinians a better future which it has not delivered, and that meanwhile Arafat is aiding and directing Hamas.

[adaher]

We have differences of opinion here. If Delay wants to highlight them, that’s his right.

[jjimm]

If they rise up from terror and embrace the universal hopes of freedom and democracy, the United States and the rest of the world will be there to help them.

This strikes me as the words of someone who’s never studied anywhere else that has successfully dealt with a terrorism problem.

The Palestinian people are up against[ol][]the terrorists[]a largely intransigent leadership[]daily inconvenience/oppression by the IDF (depending on your viewpoint), which leads to[]grass-roots support for the only people who seem to be doing anything about it, however immoral (see point 1)people who are scared of the terrorists[/ol]Sort out number 2, and you’ve still got all the other dreadful things going on. This isn’t the sort of thing where the entire (fractured) community can get together and say “yeah, dammit, let’s stop the terrorists”. It’s as simplistic as the arguments of people who blame the whole problem on the Israeli government.

[JohnBckWLD]

I watched the speech on C-SPAN and came away with the feeling it was a very statesman-like speech.

You can’t debate the fact DeLay is a very divisive force on Capitol Hill, but unless you’re so filled with venom for the man or what the West stands for, there’s really not all that much to find fault with in what he said before the Knesset.

Similar to PM Blair’s speech to a joint session of Congress on 7/17 (that some from the anti-war movement called “bloviations”), DeLay’s sentiments expressed optimism and hope.

I listened to another woman who told me her story. Just a few years ago, she was, like me, a grandparent, and excited with the news her daughter was expecting again. Her daughter and son-in-law were on their way back from the doctor’s office where they had seen — in the sonogram image — the tiny form of their third baby. On the bus ride back home from the doctor, their joyful path met the profound cruelty of a homicide bomber’s. The terrorist detonated his weapon, and this family and their baby were gone. She told me this story this week in a park, surrounded by the play of children directly affected by Palestinian terror. She called two of them over, and introduced me to her two grandchildren who were orphaned that day. Despite the story I heard, these children played, and laughed, and seemed as hopeful about the future as any child could be. And despite my heartache, I smiled too, because hope was with us in that park.

Even now, I am filled with a gratitude and humility I cannot express, I stand before you today, in solidarity, as an Israeli of the heart. The solidarity between the United States and Israel is deeper than the various interests we share. It goes to the very nature of man, to the endowment of our God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is the universal solidarity of freedom. It transcends geography, culture and generations. It is the solidarity of all people — in all times — who dream of and sacrifice for liberty. It is the solidarity of Moses and Lincoln. Of Tiananmen Square and the Prague Spring. Of Andre Sakharov and Anne Frank. And in its name I come to you — in the midst a great global conflict against evil — with a simple message: ‘‘Be Not Afraid.’’

When all is said and done, it still think it’s better to be labeled an “Israeli at Heart” as opposed to a “Hamas Militant at Heart”

[Mtgman]

I freely admit I think DeLay is an absolute tool. I ran across the text of this speech before Homebrew mentioned anything about it though and my first, and major objection, was the shifting of the policy from a “let’s work together, as two imperfect groups of people, towards peace” to “Alright you slackers, we’ve got our shit together and we won’t deal with you until we feel you’ve got yours together too.”

My first thought was “shit, the extremists have just been handed the reigns of the peace process AGAIN”.

Enjoy,
Steven

[Shodan]

Asking the Palestinians to give up terrorism is handing the reins of the peace process to extremists?

DeLay is telling the PA that they have to fulfill their half of the bargain.

The Lie is defined in the speech as follows:

Terrorism, like its tyrannical forebears, is borne of the idea that with enough guns, enough fear, and enough violence, human power can control the human spirit.

That through brute force, powerful men can erase the imprint of the Almighty etched into the souls of all His children.

That through domination of the weak, in the words of the serpent, “Ye shall be as G-ds.”

Ladies and gentlemen, IT IS A LIE.

No reference to the Devil.

Regards,
Shodan

[Homebrew]

The White House seems to not agree with DeLay.

from the New York Times
The Bush administration has backed away from demands that the Palestinian Authority dismantle militant groups immediately, concerned that the authority’s security forces are too weak at this point to carry out a speedy crackdown, administration officials said today.

The officials said that as a result of the changed thinking about Palestinian abilities, they had come to accept the cease-fire that the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, negotiated last month with Hamas and other Palestinian groups.

In June, when the cease-fire was negotiated, it was belittled by Israeli and American officials as a poor substitute for tough actions against militants. Lately, as attacks on Israelis have declined and support for Mr. Abbas among Palestinians seems to have grown, Americans have changed their tone.

The problem with DeLay shooting off his mouth is that it sends mixed signals and can lead to mistrust of anything any American leaders says.

And, Shodan, if you reference erasing the “imprint of the Almighty”, you are obliquely referencing Satan. In the worldview of the monotheists, it is Satan who opposes God and therefore anything that is working against him is of Satan. We’re versed enough in the mythology to recognize the meaning.

[elucidator]

And the Lord sayeth:“Whomsoever is not with Me is against Me.”

I got two bits says that Ol’ Tom gets the Trent Treatment. Takers?

[Homebrew]

From your lips to Bush’s ears.

[december]

*Originally posted by elucidator *
**And the Lord sayeth:“Whomsoever is not with Me is against Me.”

I got two bits says that Ol’ Tom gets the Trent Treatment. Takers? **

Sure. Easy money.

Most Americans see a difference between urging the Palestinians to give up terrorism and embrace democracy vs. praising racial segregation.

[CarnalK]

Oh come on Shodan. He likens this “Lie” to the words of the serpent. Do you think he meant a garter snake? Or was he in fact referencing the Devil.

JohnBckWLD-

When all is said and done, it still think it’s better to be labeled an “Israeli at Heart” as opposed to a “Hamas Militant at Heart”

This is lame. It tries to define the two sides as Israelis v. Hamas militants and ignores that there are actually Palestinian people. When all is said and done is it better to be labeled an Israeli at Heart or a Palestinian at Heart? Personally I think they are both BS. He’s a Republican at Heart.

[elucidator]

*Originally posted by december *
**Sure. Easy money.

Most Americans see a difference between urging the Palestinians to give up terrorism and embrace democracy vs. praising racial segregation. **

Well, duh. Guess I should have made it clear that this isn’t this issue. But Marse Tom has made a pest of himself more than once, and Karl Rove, he’s got a little list, he’s got a little list.

Of people who won’t be missed, and Tom De Lay won’t be missed.