Charlie Rose

lunette  03/27/2010 03:12 AM Report

"A little too diplomatic" and a "sterling performance." News today puts a whole other spin to this interview, doesn't it? I've learned one thing from this past week- there's an inverse relationship between Israel's public/ media face and military action. They're increasingly conciliatory to the U.S. while planning the terrorizing Palestinian babies. They're scared of losing our money, rightly so.

Mr. Freedman, you do not hold a monopoly on facts or history. The fact is that there are not two equal states in Israel, you know that.

Mr. REMant, my perspective is that we don't need to provide any military there, we only need to stop funding Israel's.

spellettieri  03/24/2010 12:50 PM Report

Well done Ambassador Oren. It's unfortunate that the Palestinians don't have someone as rational to start a dialog for peace. When the Palestinians protest over the opening of a synagogue (that they destroyed in the past) it's a sign that they just want to take everything and aren't open for peace.

AdamKhan  03/22/2010 06:06 PM Report

Sterling performance by Oren, makes you wonder who the grown-ups are. If anything though, his mission was a little too diplomatic. Isn't Israel allowed to demonstrate a little pique once in a while?

doodahdaze  03/22/2010 05:34 PM Report

Iran has BEAUTIFUL Mosques. The artwork on them is exquisite; and there are NO images or statues of humans on, or around the mosques. I like that aspect of the Islamic religion, it makes sense to me. ... Now I know, it's all over; Dick Cheney is going to strangle me in my sleep.

ShalomFreedman  03/22/2010 03:03 PM Report

Mr. 'Remant' hides behind his 'Remant' alias. Speak out courageously sir in your own name, if you wish to slander a whole people, and totally distort its history.

Here are a few facts for you to ponder. The Synagogue that was rededicated in Jerusalem, called the Hurva, was founded in 1730 and was destroyed by the Jordanians when they took the Jewish Quarter of the Old City in 1947.

The Jews historical claim to the land of Israel is documented throughly and is a central theme of a book called 'The Old Testament' i.e. the Hebrew Bible.

The Jews retained a historical presence in the Holy Land for over thirty- five hundred years. The story of their entrance into that land is also given in the Bible.

There are not many nations which have so strong historical evidence of connection with an ancient homeland, as the Jews do with the land of Israel.

The Jews in their War of Independence were attacked by six Arab armies, after they accepted the U.N. resolution which called for two states, a Jewish and an Arab one in Mandatory Palestine.

Finally being ignorant is a sin, but cursing and blaming others on the basis of erroneous information and prejudice is a bigger one.

ShalomFreedman  03/22/2010 02:52 PM Report

Ambassador Oren presented a realistic assessment of U.S.- Israel relations. He was perhaps a bit over- diplomatic in refusing to even hint at criticism of the Obama Administration. Most Israelis believe that this Administration is the most hostile one it has ever had to deal with. They point out that Israel was singled out for one- sided pressure at the very beginning of the Administration's effort at creating a peace- process. They point to the total lack of concessions given by the Arab side, and the lack of American public criticism of not only the Palestinians but the Saudis.

Again as to the interview as a whole, Ambassador Oren who as a historian wrote a seminal work on U.S. historical involvement in the Middle East underlined once again the long- term, deep and multi- faceted character of this relationship.

REMant  03/22/2010 11:03 AM Report

I think the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made a mistake, they should have given the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor to this guy. All of this discussion about peace neglects the fact that those who wanted to found a Jewish state were the aggressors from the beginning and that they pursued their aggression in the face of continual British and then American protests. I have to say I think the slap delivered to Joe Biden's face illustrated this very well and was very much in Jewish character, as was the follow-on re-opening of a synagogue in East Jerusalem. They are an apocalyptic ppl, enjoying brinksmanship much as Hitler has been accused by postwar historians. Palestinians may be the sort of ppl the Jews paint them as, but in my experience ppl see themselves in others, no one else. As with the Gaza attack a year ago I suppose a free hand with the Palestinians is considered by them as a quid pro quo for cooperation against Iran - they try to change the subject to Iran at every opportunity - tho why we let them get away with that I'll never know. I really don't think it is domestic politics, but I do think it is outrageous to have a former Israeli soldier as chief-of-staff to the president. David Ignatius says the announcement was the act of one of the more extreme parties in Netanyahu's coalition and as much a rebuke to him as to the US, one of whose members is the Interior minister, but, nevertheless, I think it is clear that his admin is going to try to get away with as much as they can and I think we should stop appeasing them. A battalion of US troops dropped into the aforementioned development would call their bluff.