News Roundup - Hour 2
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-06-04/news-roundup-hour-2
Several dozens of Israelis demonstrating at the port of Ashdod earlier this week, to which the aid ships were taken after Israeli commandos seized them Monday.
Flickr user photos from zion
Continued fallout from Israel's action against a Gaza aid flotilla. The Taliban targets a national peace conference in Afghanistan. And Japan's prime minister resigns. A panel of journalists joins Diane for analysis of the week's top international news stories.
Guests
David Wood
national security correspondent, PoliticsDaily.com.
Nadia Bilbassy
senior U.S. correspondent, MBC TV -- Middle East Broadcast Centre.
Howard LaFranchi
foreign affairs correspondent, "The Christian Science Monitor."
Comments
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With 4,000 oil wells in the Gulf, what are the contingency plans for an earthquake?
You asked your guest Nadia 'where do your allegiances lie?'. It is strange that this question is not asked when it comes to Charles Krauthammer and Derschowitz. Read their comments in today's Jerusalem Post on-line, they should not be given a free ride, Arab-Americans' allegiances is always questioned.
Paul Lankau
Correct me if I am wrong. What follows is my understanding of the underlying issues concerning the Gaza Fiasco:
1. Gaza is currently receiving 100 truckloads per day in humanitarian aid. A Ferry with 600 passengers is not there to deliver aid, it is there to foment an angry reaction by the Israelis. They were eminently successful.
2. Several years ago Israel turned the Gaza strip over to the Palestinians, in the process, forcibly relocating Israeli citizens to do so.
3. Under the resulting control of the Palestinians, Gaza was turned into a launching pad for rockets, with the ultimate aim the destruction/elimination of the Jewish state.
4. To the contrary, the Western Bank, also under Palestinian control, has focused its efforts on economic development. They have been dramatically successful as the Western Bank is now a thriving, prosperous community.
What would your panelists suggest that Israel do to foster economic activity in Gaza, a la the Western Bank, as opposed to its use as a base for those whose goal is the annihilation of the Israeli population?
Jerry - Ann Arbor, MI
Regarding Israel and the "peace activists"--no side in this dispute has clean hands. While Israel could have handled this more effectively, I have to wonder if the flotilla organizers were really hoping for just this outcome. In all of this discussion, let's not forget that it's not the election of Hamas in Gaza, per se, that is the problem from Israel's (and the "west's") perspective. It is that Hamas continues to seek the destruction of the state of Israel and will not recognize any agreements entered into by the prior Fatah government.
I found it offensive that you would broadcast a question regarding the "journalist integrity” of Nadia simply because she has a Arabic last name. You didn’t even continue the question to your other guests. Full disclosure, I’m a US citizen of Irish, English, and German ethnicity who lives in Texas.
Have any of the international peace activists in these flotillas tried to influence Hamas to stop the rockets attacks on Israel? Does Hamas, as the acting government in Gaza, not bear responsibility for the plight of their own people, for in fact facilitating their suffering, using that suffering as a weapon, and through their actions necessitating the blockade?This appears to be a dangerous example of enabling. Will the real peace activists please stand up.
I would not question the allegiances of Ms. Bilbassy. I would, however, question both her accuracy and biases. Her claim that Israel does not want to enter into direct negotiations with Abbas is false. Quite the opposite, it is Abbas who refuses, and wants to negotiate through intermediaries. Israel has long stated that the negotiations should be face-to-face and without preconditions.
As for bias, referring to the boat-bound activists as "peace activists" or the blithe acceptance that just because Turkey SAID there weren't any arms on the ships, Israel was obligated to accept that, is evidence enough. Turkey's behavior before and since the incident shows how little it can be relied on to have Israel's interest in mind. Finally, her assertion that the fact that Israel quickly released the activists proves that they didn't have Al-Qaeda ties is either disingenuous or absurd.
I do wish the DRS would have invited Krauthammer or Dershowitz to balance out this one-sided advocate.
As I was on the road during this morning's show, I can only now comment, and agree with others, regarding asking Nadia Bilbassy about her background. If such questions are asked, they should perhaps be referred to a biographical compilation of ALL guests on the DRShow web page. It is inappropriate to delegitimize a guest by asking such a question. Thank you.
Howard Lafranchi attempts to explain the presence of Irish activists in the Gaza flotilla by making reference to the Great Famine.
In support of this thesis he attempts to draw parallels between the blockade of Gaza and the Great Famine by declaring that 'products were kept out of Ireland because the British needed them elsewhere' and 'Irish in some cases were prohibited from leaving'. This is completely ahistorical; more than one million Irish left Ireland during and in the few years following the Famine; many of them landing in the United States.
Products were never kept out of Ireland. The British government imported enormous quantities of Indian corn meal; indeed the USS Jamestown's relief mission of 1847 was one of the largest relief missions to Ireland.
The presence of Irish activists on the Gaza flotilla has much more to do with Irish republicans' attempt to draw a parallel between Irish republicanism and the creation of a Palestinian state; again demonstrating the Irish obsession with the past but ignorance of history. This abuse of history, intentional or otherwise, undermines peace efforts in conflicts like Ireland and Palestine.
I am Irish and hold a doctorate in Irish history.