Right wingnut Pats don't always agree

Pat Buchanan: Stand up to Sharon

Israel is a “thunderously failed reality” that “rests on a scaffolding of corruption, and on foundations of oppression and injustice.” Were these words spoken by an American leader, he would be denounced as an anti-Semite. But these are the words of a former speaker of the Israeli Knesset [Avraham Burg] who cries for his country.

Army Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon has told Israel’s press it was Sharon who undermined Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Twenty-seven Israeli Air Force pilots have refused to obey “immoral orders” for air strikes on “populated civilian centers.”

Five hundred Israeli soldiers have refused to take part in the repression. Four ex-chiefs of Shin Beit—Ami Ayalon, Carmi Gillon, Yaakov Peri, Avraham Shalom—have charged Sharon with leading Israel to ruin.

Why, when a Knesset member is unintimidated, are we so silent? Why, when Ariel Sharon is dragging America’s good name through the mud and blood of Ramallah and Jenin, are we so tongue-tied?

Ayalon and Palestinian academic Sari Nusseibeh have issued a declaration of principles calling for Israel’s withdrawal to her 1967 borders. Ex-Justice minister Yossi Beilin has negotiated a detailed accord with a former Palestinian minister. Colin Powell wrote a letter of support. Where is George W. Bush?

When Howard Dean suggested that U.S. Mideast policy needed to be more “even-handed,” he was warned by Democratic bosses never to use that term again. Why are our politicians so craven, so terrified of an Israeli lobby that does not speak for Israel, let alone for America?

If we are to preach democracy to the Arabs, let us also preach it to the regime that claims to be the only democracy in the region as it holds three million persecuted Palestinians in human bondage.

If Mr. Burg can stand up to Sharon, why cannot Mr. Bush?



Pat Robertson: Eliminate Arafat

US Christian leader Pat Robertson called Monday for the "elimination" of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat as a follow-up to the US capture of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

"I have been in favor of eliminating Yasser Arafat for some time, " Robertson told The Jerusalem Post.

"Although he has not been as overt of a tyrant as Hussein, he is responsible for many killings," said Robertson, who is in Israel for the Herzliya Conference. He said it did not matter how Arafat is ousted from the Palestinian Authority. "The time has come for such leaders to be removed," he said.

A former Republican presidential candidate who serves as chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Robertson held talks in the Knesset Monday with Likud MK Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

It doesn't matter how he is eliminated, just so long as he's ousted.

Why, that's right Christian of you, Mr. Robertson.