Sarkozy overheard telling Obama that Netanyahu is a 'liar'

Infra, your hatred of Israel (and, I guess, the Jews) is boundless. You hate so much that no libel of Israel, no matter how false and sickening, is beyond you. You remind me of the Republicans who operate the same way that you do. They, like you, put out a massive amount of lies and distortion in the hope that some will take hold with the general public. You have no shame.

Exposing Durban III as an Anti-Semitic Charade
By Anne Bayefsky, Jerusalem Post, November 20, 2011

In yet another effort to demonize Israel on the political battlefield, the U.N. General Assembly—which can bear a striking resemblance to the game of Whac-A-Mole—will adopt a new resolution this week to promote the Durban "anti-racism" declaration.

Back in September the U.N. sponsored "Durban III," an event intended by Islamic states and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay to breathe new life into the ten-year-old anti-Israel vendetta which began in South Africa in 2001. Despite the unprecedented boycott by all Western veto-holding members of the Security Council – the U.S., Britain and France – Durban and its insidious message have popped up a mere two months later.

The regenerative nature of U.N. armaments, in the form of cyclical resolutions and "follow-up" mechanisms, makes them not merely annoying but dangerous. Due to this circuitous nature, battles that are won must be fought again and again. This is particularly true of the libelous 1975 U.N. resolution equating Zionism with racism, which was revitalized in the 2001 Durban Declaration and Program of Action (DDPA), accusing only one state among all U.N. members of racism – Israel – and casting Palestinians as the victims of Israeli bigotry.

By all accounts – except the one emanating from the U.N. press office – Durban III failed to deliver the credibility boost that its fans were craving. In a strong rejection of the Durban III political program, 14 nations, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom, the United States and, of course, Israel all boycotted. A simultaneous counter-conference held directly across the street from the U.N., involving Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel and a bipartisan group of Jewish and non-Jewish luminaries, mounted a resounding historic challenge to the U.N. campaign.

The U.N. response, however, has been to rewrite history. On September 22, 2011, at the opening ceremonies of Durban III, South African President Jacob Zuma fictionalized the original conference, saying "in Durban the world spoke with one voice" – notwithstanding the very public departure of the United States and Israel. A few hours later, the General Assembly adopted a "political declaration," "reaffirming" the DDPA and calling the declaration "united against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance." Today, the U.N. website says of Durban III that "world leaders adopted by consensus a political declaration," paying no notice to the fact that the world's leading democracies had already voted with their feet.

The U.N. has even issued a document titled "frequently asked questions" which purports to answer charges of U.N. discrimination against Israel. Ironically, it confirms the worst.

Question: "Why is Israel the only member state mentioned in the DDPA?" Answer: it is "a reflection of the international concern about the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian situation." In other words, spotlighting Israel, and what the DDPA labels Palestinian "victims," is properly part of an "anti-racism" manifesto.

With the transcripts of Durban III now available and the U.N. spin-masters hard at work for the vote this week in a "follow-up" to the event, the details of what actually took place on September 22 warrant exposure.

The day was comprised of three parts: an opener in the General Assembly Hall, two roundtables and a closing session summarizing the day's output. Only six state representatives were selected to speak during the opening session. The 55 states in the African group chose Sudan – a country whose president has been indicted by the U.N.'s own International Criminal Court for genocide.

Here is a sampling of what Durban's enthusiastic supporters contributed over the course of the day:

The foreign minister of Tunisia, co-chair of one of the roundtables, said that the Durban anniversary provided an opportunity "to highlight…first and foremost, the Palestinian people" so as to avoid "exacerbating intercultural tensions."
The foreign minister of Iran ranted about "the racist Zionist regime" while proclaiming the DDPA to be "one of the richest record of achievement of humanity in today's world against racism."
The Lebanese minister of foreign affairs denied the meaning of anti-Semitism: "Anti-Semitism is not known in the Arab world because Arab nations are Semitic." He then manifested his own anti-Semitism by objecting to the "Jewish character of Israel" as "contrary to any vision of a future based on peace and tolerance."
The Syrian U.N. ambassador complained about "unpleasant practices in our region" – by which he didn't mean his own government's habit of butchering its people – but "the racist concept of a 'Jewish state of Israel," "the Facist racism of Israel" and "the mass racist violations by Israel."
Durban III was also a golden opportunity for countries to attack the West, undermine democratic freedoms and play dress-up as a human rights advocate.

The deputy foreign minister of Cuba railed against "subjugated" Palestinians and against institutionalized racism "in Europe and North America."
The Islamic Republic of Mauritania hailed Durban's "significant achievements, in particular, condemning slavery," and Mauritania's stellar record of following Durban's directions – despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of people are enslaved in Mauritania and that its government jails anti-slavery activists.
The Saudi Arabian "undersecretary for multi-relations affairs" never showed up, but, in an extraordinary breach of protocol, the U.N. uploaded his "speech" to the Durban III site anyway.

Here are the words of the world's leading practitioner of gender apartheid and the country which criminalizes public displays of religion other than those of Islam: "Islam calls upon us to refrain from offending other religions and faiths;" "the Kingdom established…agencies that call for the spread of human-rights culture;" "freedom of speech should never be used as a tool for injustice;" and "the highest degree of racism and discrimination…the clearest illustration of such comprehensive racial discrimination lies…against the Palestinian people."

Durban III also had its carefully-orchestrated non-governmental message. NGO participants had to be vetted and only those NGOs not vetoed by a U.N. member were permitted to attend. Organizations dedicated to eradicating discrimination against Dalits,sometimes called untouchables, were barred from this anti-intolerance charade. The one individual chosen to represent all of civil society in the main opening session could be counted upon to condemn the United States. Sarah White of the Mississippi Workers' Center for Human Rights denounced racism in America where, she said "black workers are still…forced to work under conditions that look a lot like slavery."

The U.N. meticulously chose ten of the 88 registered organizations to speak at the roundtables. Here's why:

The American Civil Liberties Union opened with "We thank you for the opportunity to call attention to racial discrimination in the United States."
The "December 12 Movement International Secretariat (US)" claimed the United States was guilty of "undermining the development of over 40 million black people in its borders" and "the forced under-development of African people within the US."
The director of the "Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination" appealed to the U.N. for help in implementing the DDPA "on behalf of all US counter-intelligence-program-era political prisoners and persons currently held on US racist death rows across the country."
In fact, the only specific state directly criticized by the U.N.'s hand-picked NGOs in a global anti-racism conference was the United States.

At day's end, with grand aplomb back in the General Assembly Hall, Prime Minister of Swaziland Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini summarized the contributions of Durban III. In two contiguous sentences, he managed to lay bare the twisted dishonest U.N. game. "Several speakers referred to…the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories. The importance of not singling out a specific region or country was also emphasized."

In short, Durban is not a "united" front against racism, but a divisive anti-Semitic and anti-Western bonanza. Nevertheless, the Durban license for intolerance continues.

Only a month later, the U.N.'s "Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the DDPA" met in Geneva to produce recommendations "on the role of education in combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance." They began with a draft set of recommendations which mentioned the Holocaust. They ended on October 28, 2011 with the Holocaust having been excised.

Their initial draft said the U.N. should: "encourage Governments to ensure that textbooks and educational materials reflect accurately historical facts, in particular with regard to…" among other things, the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the Holocaust. What happened?

As soon as negotiations began, the EU demanded that all specifics be deleted – anything after the words "historical facts" – because the list "looked like a Christmas tree" and "will introduce a hierarchy of victims." The EU was unhappy about being the target of the trans-Atlantic slave trade reference and was unperturbed about ditching the Holocaust along with it.

The rest of the negotiations consisted of various parties demanding additions and subtractions to the list that would be unpalatable to others so that, in the end, the no-list argument prevailed. In the final minutes, Belgium and Turkey made a deal to incorporate a reference back "in particular" to the "list in paragraph 99 of the DDPA," which names only "slavery, the slave trade, the transatlantic slave trade, apartheid, colonialism and genocide."

There was plenty of indication that reference to the Holocaust was an uncomfortable subject at a Durban "effective implementation" meeting. Russia said that they wanted to add "other crimes committed by the Nazis" because "the Holocaust was just one of these crimes that had its own name," while Senegal, on behalf of the African Group, complained "why do we have the word Holocaust when it doesn't exist in paragraph 99 of the DDPA?"

Evidently, Durban "follow-up" is the fruit of a very poisonous tree.

All of this brings us to the present and the latest resolution now before the General Assembly, which promotes the DDPA along with Durban III. Last year, when the Assembly decided to hold Durban III, not a single Western member of the U.N. voted in favor. With Durban III over, however, the push is on to win back the fickle Europeans and move them at least into the abstention column. France and Britain boycotted when the prospect of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Iran and Syria at an "anti-intolerance" affair would have been publicly embarrassing, but pushing forward the already-existing handiwork of Iran and company might be easier for anemic diplomats and could possibly be overlooked. After all, the vote will take place in the recesses of the organization and will not be webcast.

The U.N. formula for propagating moral confusion and delegitimizing the Jewish State? Just wear down the opposition.

A picture paints a thousand words, here's a palestinian boy being terrorised by an Israel;i soldier. The Palestinians are suffering a brutal occupation. If Israel wants to be treated like a civilised country it needs to act like a civilised country.

How am I libeling Israel?

It certainly is sad that a kid should have to be questioned by armed soldiers ("terrorized" is a bit hyperbolic) and an Israeli soldier needs to be concerned that a kid could blow him up.

Using kids as suicide bombers is hardly civilized.

It appears the Palestinians have stopped the practice but if I was that soldier, I would not have counted on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_suicide_bombers_in_the_Israeli%E2%80%93Palestinian_conflict

If you go on youtube and type in Israeli settlers there is a whole catalogue of abuse and intimidation of the Palestinians. It can't all be put down to fear of suicide bombers.

LOL! I agree with Sarkozy and feel sorry for Obama whose hands are tied by politics. Netanyahu, in my opinion, is a first-rate liar.

Why not? But there were many other incidents of the Pals shooting, stabbing, and otherwise murdering Israelis. Moreover, the land used for settlements were vacant and unowned land, which lands were really prizes of war. BTW, in the wars of '48, '67, and '71, the Pals tried to steal the entire nation of Israel, and murder the Jewish occupants.

And what does that make Obama? Last I checked, Obama was also a politician.

True, President Obama is indeed a politician, how else could he hope to function in the world of politics? Yet, there are politicians and there are politicians? By Obama's works, one can see he is on the side of the people; whereas, Bibi Netanyahu's personal ambitions reveals a con artist who really doesn't care about anything except holding power. I cannot imagine President Obama going to Israel to try and influence Israeli politics, and yet Netanyahu made it his business to come to the US to try and influence the presidential election in Mitt Romney's favor.

Trust me there some politicians who are empathetic....will work hard for the people; Netanyahu by his persistently grabbing more land from the Palestinians is doing his country an injustice. Only when Israel allow the same kind of equality to her neighbors will she find a secure future.

What you say is nonsense. What Net really cares about is Israel, not himself. You just disagree with are his beliefs and actions.

LOL! You can say that again and again and again! But let me add I find him also despicable Israeli PM.

I noticed that your condemnation of Net is bereft of any facts. Moreover, I am sure that you find anyone who defends Israel to be despicable.

You can talk, when faced with facts you ignore them.

All one has to do is observe the crooked Netanyahu. Right after his first term he was under an investigation and it took a long time for him to rid himself of certain charges while he was PM the first time. Bibi is a very transparent Israeli politician and I cannot stand the man.

That is not true that I'm against anyone who defends Israel; if that were the case I would be quite stupid. I am a harsh critic of my country, America, and don't spare any criticism when it comes to Israel. But I have a special dislike for the obvious unethical Israeli PM....coming to my country trying to influence the presidential election..... I am a frequent reader of the openly liberal paper, Haaretz, and the Israeli people have varying opinions with many wanting the Palestinians to have their own state. I have Jews in my family, live with Jews and work with Jews. These Jews are secular and many are married to non-Jews...They are Americans first and view the Israeli government as a liability....not the Israeli people. Look, as an American I was terribly ashamed of GWB who was in many respects just as dumb as Sarah Palin. W, the 43rd president of the US, took our country into a war that should NEVER have been waged. There were more than one reason for this illegal invasion of Iraq; firstly: Profiteering for the VP's former company, Halliburton; secondly: control of Iraqi oil contracts which would benefit US companies and our allies; and thirdly: rearrangement of the middle east for Israel....after Iraq, go into Syria or Iran, as well as getting rid of a perceived Israeli enemy, Iraq.

Advocate is very much in the 'Israel can do no wrong camp.'

Unlike some apologists he cannot countenace any criticism of Israel, everything, regardless of the source, is anti-Israel propaganda. If you support Palestinian self-determination expect to be called anti-semitic.

I am very accustomed to posters like Advocate who're on the defensive; they think we are attacking Israel and the more we try to point out Israel's fault, the more dug in the poster become. The US gives the Zionist nation 3 BILLION annually along with up-to-date military and has assured Israel they will always have the military edge over all countries in the middle east....The US has Israel's back.....so when the US asked to cocky little nation to stop building settlements so the Palestinians can have their state, the Israeli government in effects gives the US president the finger. There was even one Jewish editor (SC I think) who proposed "taking out Obama" because the president refuses to go to war on Iran for Israel.....there was so much flax behind his statement that he was forced to resign.

There comes a time when one gives up trying to enlighten the emotionally extreme because light simply will not be allowed to penetrate...it's like a black hole.

It's not all bad, Obama has forced Netanyahu to apologise to Turkey, and pay compensation to families of the victims murdered by Israel when they stormed ships on a humanitarian mission.

And Israel will start giving the Palestinians back their taxes.

You people are amazing. Israel gets attacked over and over again, but somehow it is always the fault of Israel. Israel would love to reach a reasonable settlement with the Pals, who have always resisted this. The Pals' idea of a good settlement is one that would quickly lead to the destruction of Israel. Clinton said this in so many words when he condemned Arafat for walking away from the peace table.

Gaza shoots about 10,000 rockets and missiles into Israel, and there is not a word of condemnation. Tell me you, CI, and Izzy are not biased. It is clear that you are.

The only thing Obama is trying to "do" for the American people is violate our Second Amendment rights.





Netanyahu has never taken one bit of Palestinian land. The only land he is taking is what is west of the Separation Fence.

He is also not taking "more" land. The path of the Separation Fence has been known for years.





The fact that Israel defends themselves from Arab aggression does not mean any kind of equality is being denied.

And Israel's future is already secure. If anyone chooses to make war on Israel, they'll be slaughtered.