Rand Paul: Israel building in Jerusalem is none of America’s business
It is “none of our business” whether Israel builds new neighborhoods in east Jerusalem or withdraws from the Golan Heights, and the US should not tell Israel how to defend itself, US Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) said Saturday night at the end of a week-long visit to the country…
Paul said he was not talking about anything different than what Netanyahu said in a 1996 speech to Congress, in which he advocated Israel gradually weaning itself of American aid dollars. Paul said this would benefit Israel and its defense industry, because it would not have to buy all its weaponry from the US, and that a curtailment of US foreign aid would also mean less money for arms for Israel’s neighbors…
Paul stressed that he was worried about giving weapons to Egypt at the present time, especially since he said Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is listening to a spiritual leader calling for “the death of Israel and all its friends.” He said he was “very disappointed” that after giving Egypt some $60 billion in aid over the last 30 years, rioters there climbed the roof of the embassy last year, took down the US flag and burned it. “That should never have happened and is inexcusable,” he asserted.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2
Again, PDS.
aryeung on January 13, 2013 at 12:04 PM
In the 80s when the Israelis bombed the Iraqi nuclear site, without our help, Reagan denounced the actions and even halted shipment if F16s, although only for a short period. Of course back then saddam was the “good guy”.
MoreLiberty on January 13, 2013 at 12:05 PM
1+ billion muslims aren’t our enemy.
It’s actually terrorists who are muslims that our enemy.
And the political ideology that doubles as a religion that is islam is a cancer to Liberty.
If they want it they can have it.
But I personally believe when you help a friend defend against their extermination from these TERRORISTS, who are not freedom fighters, BTW,& that enemy turns upon you bcs you supported a friend, you fight them.
I do think we need to pull out of the AfPak & Iran & such.
These people do not want freedom.
But since you need clarification on what a muslim enemy is, I’ll do this for you as well.
MUSLIMS WHO ARE TERRORISTS ARE THE ENEMY.
MUSLIMS WHO ARE NOT TERRORISTS ARE NOT THE ENEMY.
I hav come into contact with many muslims during my lifetime & am certainly happy to mix with them like any other person.
I do not look at them any differently at all.
Bcs I know what it’s like to be dissed on bcs of your religion, being LDS I’ve had many people here at HA insult me for it.
So whilst we may disagree about the Federal Govt’s implementation of its Constitutional duties to protect the states, the insinuation that I somehow think every muslim is an enemy is ridiculous.
I can think the religion of islam is a cancer without hating muslims.
Badger40 on January 13, 2013 at 12:09 PM
Israel our neighbor now, are they? Because my map puts a lot of space between us and them.
And you are not asking to go help your “neighbor”. You are requiring that the entire neighborhood tax themselves to help that “neighbor”.
Wonderfully progressive, really…
JohnGalt23 on January 13, 2013 at 12:09 PM
And it was WRONG.
OK. Whatever. I am to understand Ron Paul is ant-Israel.
I am clearly not.
So I’m not quite sure how you can brand me as such.
I also vote for Mitt twice.
I’m sure in your book that makes me a Mittbot as well, even though I’m on record here for being critical of him.
Your opinion doesn’t have any water.
I find Ron Paul’s isolationist views insane.
Badger40 on January 13, 2013 at 12:11 PM
I didn’t insinuate anything. I said it as plainly and clearly as I could.
You make a claim that a group of one billion people are, by their nature, out enemy, based on the actions of a very few out of that group, it is bigotry. Now, I may be willing to give you the benefit of the doubt that you were simply being a little slothful on a Sunday morning, and not expressing your thoughts clearly.
But the idea that all Muslims are the enemy of the US (a claim that, on its face, includes the Muslims serving in our armed forces), is bigoted. And I will call it as such, if only for the benefit of not allowing this place to be tainted with such bigotry left unchallenged…
JohnGalt23 on January 13, 2013 at 12:15 PM
that’s where the voting part comes in you tool.
I didn’t vote for the continuation of property taxes in my state & my faction lost.
So I must continue to pay into things I do not agree with bcs I lost that horse in the race.
If your faction wins on this venue, then there ya go.
Sometimes you get caught on a side you don’t agree with.
So go vote these people out who support this stuff.
See what happens.
That’s what this Republic is all about.
My state is my neighborhood & they tax me to help people receive welfare benefits that I don’t agree with.
You know what I do?
I try & vote for people who would reduce government.
I don’t always win.
And in this race, neither have you.
Badger40 on January 13, 2013 at 12:15 PM
In this case, the Federal Govt has a Constitutional duty to protect the states & it is doing it in a way you don’t agree with.
But the Federal govt does have to have some tax revenue in order to perform its Constitutional functions.
I’m not one for needless spending.
But I personally don’t consider spending $$ to help keep this region stable wasted $$.
Obviously you consider $$ spent to help an ally wasted $$.
Then you call me a progressive for understanding the reality of the Constitutional duties of the Fed & believing that tax $$ needs to be used for that purpose.
Being progressive, in at least modern day understandings, is the state & Federal govt using our tax $$ to engage in unConstitutional things, like the EPA & OSHA & the Dept of Ed. etc.
I don’t begrudge the Fed’s usage of our tax dollars to engage in Constitutional duties. I may not agree with how they do it, but that’s what voting is for.
Thanks for the debate.
I am now going to wipe my a$$ of this conversation bcs I need to feed cows.
Have a good day.
And I do mean that.
No sarcasm.
Badger40 on January 13, 2013 at 12:22 PM
It was wrong to take a stance period. It is none of our business. We should be protectin our own borders, not South Korea or in Turkey with Patriot batteries protecting Europe. We should not be the world police or head of nation building. I have no problem with Israel buying weapons from American companies, but we should not take money from private citizens and giving it to foreign governments.
MoreLiberty on January 13, 2013 at 12:23 PM
It’s not my problem you can’t read btwn the lines of a person who you should know if you spent enough time here.
The fact that you think I need to state everything obviously all the time is sad, IMO.
If you ever paid attention to any damned word I ever said on the subject of muslims you would know they only bother me when they start using their religion to kill our people, curtail our freedoms & bother me personally in any way.
Otherwise I could care less about them.
I treat their religion like I do atheists, scientologists, etc.:
as long as they are decent human beings, I can disagree & outright despise their belifs, but give them the respect they deserve as human beings.
But keep on painting me as a bigot.
It is ridiculous to have to explain oneself every damned conversation here on HA when you’ve been posting for years about this crap.
Badger40 on January 13, 2013 at 12:27 PM
You did not give me any such benefit of the doubt.
The first damned words out of your mouth were that I was a bigot.
You contradict yourself, Sir.
Giving me the benefit of the doubt in this situation would have been oyu asking me to clarify that point, not outright accusing me of bigotry without 1st asking me if that was what I really meant.
You are just as unthinking as any Liberal when it comes to these things.
I am usually even willing to give Obama the benefit of the doubt when he misspeaks, at least what I might assume could be misspoken words.
You clearly are not.
Good day.
This has been instructive speaking with you.
Clearly here at HA, there are people willing to assume the worst of a person without asking for any clarification.
I think you will see if you were to consider my past commenting history, that for the most part, I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt with even trolls.
Badger40 on January 13, 2013 at 12:31 PM
Paul in Israel is damage control, so that people don’t think he wants to slash Israeli aid due to anti-Israeli sentiments.
I believe him. His whole reasoning is to contain American debt.
In principle I agree with what he’s saying. But here are the problems with it:
1) This aid is mostly in loan guarantees which go towards buying American weapons systems (tanks, jets, technology, etc.) so it is effectively an American subsidy to American companies, with Israel being the intermediary.
2) When you tally up the balance sheet, the US actually owes Israel money. I’m talking about the loans that Israel has made to the US via treasury bond purchases. [link]
3) To tackle American debt there should be cuts in spending and borrowing. Instead the US raised its own “credit card limit”, and cut less than 1% of spending.
AlexB on January 13, 2013 at 12:31 PM
America’s support for Israel has puzzled me too, but then I read a few books and it became clearer. Here are a few reason:
1) during the cold war Israel provided a lot of help in spying on Soviet activities, and stole a lot of soviet technological secrets, and promptly shared it with the US. An example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Diamond
2) religious reasons. I don’t fully understand the Christian Evangelical theology but I know that that’s one reason.
3) Moral reasons: as the strongest country on earth, the US is uniquely capable to defend Jews (with words of support, with friendship, with military support, with influence, etc…) and prevent further pogroms and violence stemming from anti-Semitism, the worst manifestation of which is still pretty recent.
4) It’s just the right thing to do. Ayn Rand (I’m gonna make a guess you’re a big fan of hers) has always supported Israel, and not because she was born into a Jewish family. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uHSv1asFvU
5) Israeli technological innovations have improved countless American (and Muslim) lives. I’m not just talking about new weapons systems or voicemail or cellphones or Intel chips or Microsoft R&D and medical advancements and all that. The model for decades has been this: it’s invented in Israel, bought by a US company, and sold far and wide in the US, creating jobs and wealth. What the hell has Arab/Muslim thought created? Caligraphy and poetry. And honour killings and beheadings and suicide bombings.
I can go on and on with different reasonings, but this is just something for you to chew on for now.
AlexB on January 13, 2013 at 12:49 PM
Sure are a lot of dumbass posters on this thread and it isn’t Badger40.
Mirimichi on January 13, 2013 at 1:25 PM
Lol. Only politicians can curtail our freedoms. They curtail them by passing laws such as NDAA of 2012, patriot acts 1 & 2, forcing us to submit to TSA jolts of energy or molestations in order to travel, collect every single email, txt, website and phone call you make, they can take your ability to travel away – no fly list – without due process. They take our money and waste them rebuilding countries, propping up regimes and doing jobs other governments should be doing. Our own politicians have caused significantly more harm to our right compared to rare occurrences of terrorism.
MoreLiberty on January 13, 2013 at 2:10 PM
5) Israeli technological innovations have improved countless American (and Muslim) lives.
MoreLiberty on January 13, 2013 at 2:25 PM
You mean the US granted asylum in the US to Nazi war criminals in return for Nazi military technologies from before the war ended, that were used to kill American and other Allied soldiers, yes?
Same thing!
AlexB on January 13, 2013 at 2:45 PM
True. My point is since we get some innovation from the Israelis, and many other countries, it doesn’t mean we owe them.
MoreLiberty on January 13, 2013 at 2:53 PM
True enough.
I was just pointing out the difference in benefits the US got from Israel and from the Arab/Muslim world, if that is the criteria by which the “should we support Israel or the Arab/Muslim world” question should be decided.
The Arab/Muslim world’s only export other than terrorism, violence, misery and political asylum seekers / refugees / queue-jumping illegal immigrants with their f8cking burqas is oil.
The west taught the Muslim world what to do with the oil, how to extract it, gave it the know how and the tools, and now the Muslim world’s tin pot tyrants have the nerve to nationalize and expropriate foreign investments in said oil industries, and blackmail the west with that oil, after TRILLIONS of dollars in wealth transfer to the Muslim world for that oil for which they had no use or ability to extract?
It’s just disgusting. And now this this blackmail got to such an intolerable point that the US is throwing of throwing Israel, a democracy, an ally, a likeminded people, not “under the bus”, but “to the butchers”.
AlexB on January 13, 2013 at 3:03 PM
“Thinking” of throwing, not “throwing” of throwing… typo…
AlexB on January 13, 2013 at 3:10 PM
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2