Romney Israel "gaffe": He's not the first
Romney has received criticism for stating both in a speech and in television interviews that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. While Israel has long maintained that Jerusalem is its capital city, the United States and other nations keep their embassies in Tel Aviv as East Jerusalem is still contested territory.
"It is a deeply moving experience to be in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel," Romney said during a speech in Jerusalem over the weekend.
Romney's statement received a strong rebuke from the Palestinians, with senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat calling it "absolutely unacceptable."
An editorial in the Chinese Xinhua News Agency said Romney's "radical words" are "likely to worsen the already tense Mideast situation, and even reignite a war between Palestinians and Israelis."
The Obama campaign also challenged Romney's statement. In a briefing with reporters, spokesperson Josh Earnest said "the capital is something that should be determined in final status negotiations between the parties. I'd remind you that that's the position that's been held by previous administrations, both Democratic and Republican."
Despite the criticism, Romney's statement appears to be in line with positions held by previous presidential candidates.
(Watch a clip of Romney's speech in Israel in video on the left.)
In 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama himself said "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided." Mr. Obama went further than Romney, in fact, in saying the city must be undivided.
David Makovsky, Middle East expert at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said nearly every candidate dating back to the 1980s has said during the campaign that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. And a Washington Post fact check released Tuesday concurred.
"How many times have people tried to sell the same things?" Makovsky asked. "There's the universe of government and then there's the campaigning in which both Democrats and Republicans make the same pledge."
"No one is questioning that Jerusalem is Israel's capital, but we just haven't recognized it by moving our embassy," Makovsky said in an interview with CBSNews.com Tuesday.
(White House assesses Romney's overseas trip in press briefing.)
The reason no president has moved the embassy - despite their campaign promises - is the potential impact of doing so on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Presidents, including Mr. Obama, have instead said they will wait for the outcome of the Israeli-Palestinian talks.
Asked about Mr. Obama's 2008 comments, the Obama campaign pointed CBSNews.com to a 2008 interview in which the then-candidate somewhat softened his initial rhetoric when asked if he would oppose any division of Jerusalem.
"My belief is that, as a practical matter, it would be very difficult to execute," Mr. Obama said. "And I think that it is smart for us to - to work through a system in which everybody has access to the extraordinary religious sites in old Jerusalem but that Israel has a legitimate claim on that city."
Popular in Politics
- Romney condemns "breach of trust" in Washington 214 Comments
- Adviser on White House scandals: "Partisan fishing expeditions" won't distract Obama 47 Comments
- Officials on Benghazi: "We made mistakes, but without malice"
- Where is the Benghazi cover-up Republicans promised?
- IRS targeting overlooked biggest soft money groups 71 Comments
- For GOP, scandals could be an electoral plus - or minus 342 Comments
- Republicans use IRS scandal to tar Obamacare 48 Comments
- Immigration deal reached in House
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl-GHERR9hM&feature=youtube_gdata_player
One major reason the West in general quickly came to supported/supports Israel is that some Arab flurries supported Hitler and provided material support. There was much distrust of some Arab nations after WWII.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_relations_with_the_Arab_world
Islam is fundamentally opposed to Christianity. Judism is not. Islam is also fundamentally opposed to buddism and taoism and the Asian religions, and China will eventually understand this and pull their head out.
The West can never really trust the Arab states because of this. Islam dictates that religion comes first, even over treaties.
-Bush bowing to the Saudi King:
http://www.reformation.org/en-bush-king-abdullah.jpg
-Bush bowing to Chinese leader Jiang Zemin:
http://www.malcolmr.com/wp-content/images/china_apec_bush.jpg
-Bush bowing to the Pope:
http://www.godammit.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/bush-bow.jpg
-Eisenhower bowing to the Queen of England:
http://www.malcolmr.com/wp-content/images/eisenhower_bow_queen.jpg
-Eisenhower bowing to Pope:
http://www.malcolmr.com/wp-content/images/eisenhower_bow_Pope.jpg
Hmmmm, scraping....scraping...do you mean ducking and diving? Like you would if someone threw shoes at your head? Like that kind of scraping?
How can you run that as the title for this story?
It wasn't a gaffe. It wasn't a mistake. He was fully, 100% expected to show up there, with Sheldon Adelson and state that the first thing he'd do is build new embassy in Jerusalem.
Building a new embassy there is the price tag hanging off Sheldon Adelson's campaign contributions. It was the deal with Newt Gingrich and it's the deal with Romney.
How can you write an article on this issue and go into such great detail on why everyone else hasn't done it, but yet totally glossed over WHY Romney said he'd do it.
Where was Sheldon Adelson, by the way, during his Jerusalem wall speach?
Front row, giving Mitt a thumbs up.
Not a word on it. Unbelievable. Why?
Present day Israel did not even exist until they were given a partition of land in 1948 and that was mainly in reparation for the slaughter (holocaust) by the Nazi's during WW2.
If Israel has the right to all that land because of ancient history, then Native Americans have the same rights, here, today.
As horrific as the holocaust was, I have never read articles, books; seen or heard any news broadcasts, inquiring as to why the Nazi's hated the Jewish people so much in the first place. The reason is; just asking a simply question in that regard ALWAYS brings the charge of "antisemitism".
The term antisemitism is not new. The fact is that many if not most countries/civilizations have, historically, hated Jews.
The most likely cause for that hatred is/was the Jewish fetish about money (gold). There have been jokes about Jews and money for as long as I can remember.
Even in the bible. While Moses was talking with god and receiving the Ten Commandments the Israeli's created a "golden calf" to worship. They were severely punished when Moses returned.
Some things never change.
If the mainstained media does not prob up up RobMe, they will not make as much money for the Top 1%.