Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumObama Is A 'Wretched Coward' And Israel Is A 'Lunatic State,' But Norman Finkelstein Is Still...
Obama Is A 'Wretched Coward' And Israel Is A 'Lunatic State,' But Norman Finkelstein Is Still Optimistic"When President Obama sits in the White House ordering drone attacks in Yemen, what could be more wretched and cowardly than that?" asked Norman Finkelstein last night (7th Feb 2013).
Finkelstein was at the town hall in Leuven, Belgium. He was giving a talk about his latest book on what Mahatma Gandhi has to teach us about non-violent resistance and civil disobedience.
The comment was merely an aside in a longer response to a question from the audience about cowardice, but Finkelstein was passionate in his condemnation of the US president's drone policy: "He's running for president for the second term and he wants to show he's being tough, so his sends out his campaign manager to tell the New York Times that he [Obama] sits around with his baseball cards deciding who he's going to kill this week and next week.....I've no doubt in my mind that the perpetrator of violence - especially remote controlled violence - is the most wretched of all cowards on earth."
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In the case of the Palestinians, said Finkelstein, their goal "has to be what the public is prepared to accept as being legitimate." He pointed to the opinions of both the United Nations and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as being representative of what the majority regard as a fair solution to the conflict: "a two state settlement along the June 1967 border and a just resolution on the [Palestinian] refugee issue. That is the limit."
MORE...
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/cathal-sheerin/obama-is-a-wretched-cowar_b_2644004.html
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oberliner
(58,724 posts)Wow - people still care what he thinks?
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)(President) Obama + Coward = Note-worthiness on DU these days. 
MADem
(135,425 posts)I say this:
Consider The Source.
Purveyor
(29,876 posts)shira (16,556 posts)
1. Norm Finkelstein exposes hate-filled, dishonest BDS-holes for Israel's destruction
http://www.democraticunderground.com/113430567#post1
{{{chuckle}}}
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)
Purveyor
(29,876 posts)
oberliner
(58,724 posts)How many of us are there do you think? 20?
Purveyor
(29,876 posts)readership is pretty decent.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)I wonder how many of the 105+ even know who Norman is.
In any case, thanks for all the posts today - good to be able to exchange comments during this blizzard.
Hope you are safe wherever you are.
And same to any of the 105 who may be reading this.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)No more or less of a friend than you or anyone else on this board.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)It's good to be noted and even better when it's duly.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)"According to the ICJ," he said, "Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem are all occupied Palestinian territory." He pointed to the West Bank separation barrier (constructed by Israel but condemned as illegally built on occupied Palestinian territory by the UN, the EU and numerous human rights organizations) as an example of where the "whole world is on one side and Israel, the US and the South Sea islands are on the other."
It was now widely recognised by the public, Finkelstein said, that "Israel refuses to obey international law."
* Nothing controversial about that, just the way it is.
K&R
riqster
(13,986 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)Chicago, IL - In a recent and highly controversial interview, Norman Finkelstein, long a scourge of Israel, turned his guns on Palestinians and their supporters. He accused the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement of being a "cult", and claimed that its achievements were mostly exaggerated.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/02/2012227111759385177.html
Ali and Norman need to have a YouTube debate or something.
