U.S. accepted it.
"Arab political leaders reject Netanyahu apology for election-day remarks" by Daniel Estrin, Associated Press March 25, 2015
What remarks?
JERUSALEM — Arab political leaders in Israel on Tuesday rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s apology for comments he made in last week’s national elections that offended members of the Arab community and said his words made him unsuitable to return for a third consecutive term.
The spat has touched on longstanding claims of discrimination by Israel’s Arab minority, which makes up 20 percent of the Jewish state, and signaled that the rift will not be healed anytime soon. An Arab advocacy center in Israel said the country’s national elections brought an ‘‘unprecedented level of racist incitement’’ against the minority community.
In the heat of a close race last week, Netanyahu posted a video on his Facebook page where he implored his hard-line supporters to head to the polls, saying that ‘‘left-wing organizations’’ were busing Arabs to the polls ‘‘in droves.’’ The comments drew accusations of racism from Arab voters and a White House rebuke.
The footage of the apology, filmed by Likud, shows Netanyahu saying to a gathering of Arab officials on Monday: ‘‘I know that what I said a few days ago offended some of Israel’s citizens, offended Israeli Arabs. I had no intention of doing so. I am sorry for this.’’
But Arab politicians from the Joint List — a new coalition of mostly Arab parties — said they were not invited to the gathering at the prime minister’s residence.
‘‘Why didn’t he call us? Why didn’t he invite us?’’ said Ayman Odeh, head of the Joint List.
There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s Likud Party.
Arab politicians said his election victory was illegitimate, claiming Netanyahu won the vote by pandering to anti-Arab fears.
‘‘We call on Netanyahu to return the mandate he received on the basis of incitement and fear-mongering,’’ the Joint List said in a statement. Netanyahu has secured a majority of backers in the new parliament and is expected to be formally tapped on Wednesday to form the next government.
Opinion polls conducted on the eve of elections showed Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party trailing behind his main challenger, the center-left Zionist Union. His sudden turnaround victory came as Netanyahu made his remark about Arab voters in the final hours of voting.
His comments on Arabs, along with a declaration that he would not allow the establishment of a Palestinian state on his watch, have infuriated the White House. And his attempts to backtrack on both positions have been greeted with skepticism.
‘‘We just don’t know what to believe at this point,’’ State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Monday.
Yeah, neither do I:
"White House to Netanyahu: Your move" Tweet (Ali Gharib): "Jewish Dems tell Obama to lay off Netanyahu. http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/white-house-to-bibi-israel-your-move-116491.html … This quote is stunning:" Despite the typical Weiss spin,
American Jews clearly support their real leader, Bibi, over the leader
of the country they are temporarily forced to live in, Barry." -- http://xymphora.blogspot.com/2015/03/bandghazi.html
I believe them.
The controversy comes amid the backdrop of the Arab-Israeli community’s newfound political might.
The Joint List made unprecedented gains in the March 17 election, earning enough votes to make it the third-largest party in Israel’s 120-seat parliament. The Joint List said election results showed that more than 90 percent of Arab-Israeli voters supported the coalition in the elections.
Arab-Israeli politician Ahmed Tibi told Israel Radio Tuesday that Netanyahu’s attempt to defuse the dispute was ‘‘not an honest apology.’’
Yunis Meri, chair of the municipal council in the Arab-Israeli village of Fureidis, and a Likud supporter, said he hugged the prime minister at the gathering.
‘‘What he said before the elections, he put it behind him,’’ Meri said.
He said his support for Likud has paid off for his village in the form of easier access to government channels to advance local building projects. ‘‘If you know them, you open the door and you get an answer. That is my advantage,’’ he said.
‘‘Regardless of the debates that will unfold in the follow-up to this election, it is clear that racism was the most victorious ballot,’’ the center said.
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I'm sure his is sorry now that he won and Globe seems to have forgotten all about it, too.
This will really piss him off:
"Palestinians formally join International Criminal Court; Open new front in diplomatic war against Israelis" by William Booth, Washington Post April 02, 2015
Sigh.
JERUSALEM — The Palestinian Authority officially became a member state of the International Criminal Court at The Hague on Wednesday, opening an unprecedented new front in its self-declared ‘‘diplomatic war’’ against Israel.
Whether Israelis will ever be prosecuted in the court is uncertain, but the move to join the international body has angered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who vowed no Israeli military commander ‘‘will ever be dragged’’ before the tribunal.
Yet the Palestinians have gotten further in their bid than most would have predicted a year ago.
In a move once described by the Palestinians themselves as ‘‘the nuclear option,’’ they have now joined the court, which many Israeli legal analysts said would never happen.
The use of all this coded language deserves an apology.
Also, the tribunal’s top prosecutor has launched a preliminary examination to determine whether grave crimes were committed in the occupied territories and if the court has proper jurisdiction to investigate.
Is it possible? Could we actually see Israeli scum before the bar? Bush and Bliar next!
US diplomats warned the Palestinians not to join the court, arguing that the move would only further undermine already fractious relations with Israel; anger a Republican-controlled Congress that provides $400 million in annual aid; and dim prospects for negotiations to create a sovereign Palestinian nation.
Yeah, we saw that!
Palestinian leaders, however, celebrated Wednesday, saying their accession to the court will serve both to protect Palestinians in the future and expose Israel to possible prosecution for past alleged war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Why not? I'm celebrating this surprising decision. I expect false flag terror attacks, be they scripted and staged fictions or drills gone live, will begin to really ramp up even more than they already are in Europe.
Palestinian officials imagined a day when Israeli generals and senior officials might find themselves summoned to appear before the tribunal or be arrested on ICC warrants as they pass through countries that are members of the court.
The future looks bright indeed!
‘‘For us this is a very, very important step,’’ said Mustafa Barghouti, a top leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. ‘‘Now every Israeli soldier, every general will have consider the court.’’
Barghouti said, ‘‘It changes everything. It changes the balance of power.’’
Sort of. No doubt Israel will ignore the requests for appearance, and the truth of the statement will be revealed if Israel then falls under sanction. If not, nothing's changed.
The Palestinians allege that Israel committed war crimes during the summer offensive in the Gaza Strip, which left more than 2,100 Palestinians dead, many of them civilians.
The whole 70+ years of takeover has been one long war crime.
They also charge that the ongoing construction of Israeli settlements and demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank is a war crime, as it facilitates a transfer of populations into occupied territory.
Is, and what is with the ma$$ media here? Has Netanyahu and Israel soured even them with their actions, for I'm detecting way too much sympathy here for Palestinians.
Israel disputes this and Israeli legal analysts counter that the Palestinian accession to the court means little.
‘‘It is a useless public relations exercise,’’ said Allan Baker, former legal adviser and deputy director general of the Israel Foreign Ministry.
Oh, okay. Now I'm back into my safe and happy place when it comes to the pre$$.
Israel and the State Department have argued that the Palestinians should not be granted membership to the court because ‘‘Palestine’’ is not a true state.
And jwhose fault is that?
The Palestinians tried to join the court in 2009 but were denied admission. However, after the United Nations awarded them ‘‘nonmember observer state’’ status in 2012, the Palestinians’ application to become party to the Rome Statute and accede to the court was accepted this year.
By joining the ICC, the Palestinians are also exposed to scrutiny. Israel has charged that the militant Islamic movement Hamas and its militia are guilty of war crimes for the indiscriminate rocket fire at civilian population centers in Israel.
Their missiles(?) and bombs(?) never kill anyone(!!), and if this thing turns into a Palestinians-only prosecution it will be exposed as nothing more than another racist fraud wrapped around spewed altruism.
Amnesty International concluded the same thing in a report last week.
They are another HRW.
The human rights advocates have argued that both Israel and Hamas committed crimes in the last Gaza war and that international tribunals and threats of war crimes charges may serve to restrain both sides in future conflicts.
Has Israel ever been restrained by anything other than their own selfish interests?
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Looks like that money won't be getting released after all.
