http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/obama-netanyahu-meet-iran-deadline-looms-25881769

In a striking public rebuke, the Obama administration warned Israel on Wednesday that plans for a controversial new housing project in east Jerusalem would distance Israel from "even its closest allies" and raise questions about its commitment to seeking peace with Palestinians.

The harsh criticism came just hours after President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at the White House. Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said the president privately raised his concerns with Netanyahu though the two leaders made no mention of the matter in their public comments to reporters.

"This development will only draw condemnation from the international community," Earnest said. "It also would call into question Israel's ultimate commitment to a peaceful negotiated settlement with the Palestinians."

Netanyahu pushed back against the criticism, according to reporters traveling with him Wednesday, saying that people should have all of the information before making such statements. He also said that while Obama did raise the issue of settlements in their meeting, the discussion did not focus on specific cases.

An Israeli official confirmed the accuracy of Netanyahu's comments to his traveling press corps. The official would discuss the matter only on condition of anonymity.

The new 2,500 unit project that stoked U.S. anger is contentious because it would complete a band of Jewish areas that separate Jerusalem from nearby Bethlehem. The U.S. has repeatedly criticized Israeli construction in east Jerusalem, casting it as damaging to efforts to secure an elusive peace accord with the Palestinians.

The White House also condemned what it called the recent occupation of residential buildings in Silwan, an Arab neighborhood in east Jerusalem where several hundred hard-line Israeli settlers have moved in recent years. Earnest called the move was "provocative" and said it would "escalate tensions at a moment when those tensions have already been high."

Appearing before reporters earlier, Obama and Netanyahu betrayed little of the U.S. displeasure projected by the White House spokesman, as well as officials at the State Department. While the two leaders have long had a tense relationship, each took a polite and cordial tone in their brief public remarks.

Still, areas of discord were evident, most notably Obama's frustration with Palestinian civilian deaths in during the summer war in Gaza and Israel's wariness of U.S.-led nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Sitting alongside Netanyahu, Obama said leaders must "find ways to change the status quo so that both Israel citizens are safe in their own homes, and schoolchildren in their schools, from the possibility of rocket fire but also that we don't have the tragedy of Palestinian children being killed as well."

More than 2,100 Palestinians — the vast majority of them civilians, according to the United Nations — and more than 70 Israelis were killed during the 50-day war in Gaza.

Officials said much of Obama and Netanyahu's private discussions centered on Iran. The U.S. and its negotiating partners — Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — have until Nov. 24 to reach a deal with Iran on its nuclear program, and all sides say significant gaps remain.

Hopefully this is the beginning and people learn how much of a monster Israel really is

Because Hamas isn't worse, right? RIGHT?

Don't be dumb.

How about we drop both

And create a new secular state that doesn't engage in genocide

Quote from: Meta Cognition on October 07, 2014, 12:03:03 PM

Because Hamas isn't worse, right? RIGHT?

Don't be dumb.

How about we drop both

And create a new secular state that doesn't engage in genocide

>Israel
>Genocidal

Pick one.

I'd sooner see the whole region engulfed by Israel before I saw Hamas get an inch of land.

Two state solution is the way to go, however.

Good, however very little will come of this unfortunately.

ITT

And that statement they're using human shields can't possibly be because it was fabricated or twisted by Israeli media

No, it isn't. I don't know how you find it incredulous that a group like Hamas would do something like that.

Gaza Strip wouldn't be densely populated if Israel wouldn't fracking still land from them. Palestine is a sovereign nation and Israel's actions directly violates the U.N Charter

I know you're not trying to imply that the Gaza Strip is densely populated as a proximate result of Israel, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, there. Now then, as for the U.N. Charter, I'd like to a see source that Palestine is a sovereign nation first.

Secondly, I don't disagree that the Palestinian situation is a travesty. However, to pretend that this justifies - or otherwise makes desirable - the actions of Hamas is to not reason correctly. I think preventing a genocidal government from making any gains momentarily trumps the sovereignty of the Palestinian people.

It's not like this is the first time for that...

People are generally blind to the fact that Israel is held to higher standards in the media than most other countries. I don't know where this delusion that they are still untouched by criticism comes from.

Oh, I wouldn't argue that. But Israel don't give a frack, which is the problem. Sure, held to higher standard far more than Hamas, but it hasn't exactly stopped them killing civilians in friendly fire (I'm leaving out "accidents" as there's plenty of debate around that...). Hell, I haven't heard from any source saying Israel has apologised for any such cases, they only get angry and justify their actions some more like a broken record.

I'd be pissed too if I were expected to apologise in the course of fighting genocidal theocrats.

Palestine is a recognised state now.

Fantastic.

Now as soon as Hamas gets the hell out of Dodge we can work on that.

When Israel happily bulldozes their houses to build settlements and they have no political power to stop it, is it really surprising they turn to violence?

I think it's more accurate to say Israel is willing to bulldoze houses in the face of Islamic Nazism.

Nothing excuses genocidal ideations - ever.

And nothing excuses bulldozing houses like that in order to claim lebensraum and no doubt to continue stirring up the conflict.

Come on, man, you aren't seriously equating the two?

Hamas are literally Nazis with a Qur'an.

What I'm saying, is that Israel's actions are making the conflict worse by pissing off and stirring up ill sentiment among people who would otherwise just get on with their lives

Hamas airs anti-semitic cartoons in Gaza to indoctrinate Muslim children.

They fire rockets from beside schools and hospitals to force the Israelis to shoot at such places, if they shoot at all.

They use their own people as human shields, to deter the Israeli soldiers from shooting while they freely kill them.

They are explicitly genocidal in their ideology, while Israel is a Jewish state reacting against centuries of national suppression.

They make reference to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

They've built tunnels for the sake of kidnapping Israelis and supplying other terrorist organisations.

And, on top of this, they're democratically elected.

Is Israel all sunshine and rainbows? No, of course not. But to even equate the two is to fail to compare them properly. You don't fight shit like that with just words, you needs bombs and bayonets too. Hamas would massacre the Israelis and the rest of the Jews given the opportunity. We saw what happened in the 30s and 40s when a worshipful, dogmatic, totalitarian and racist government got a semblance of authority.

You can focus on Israel all you like, that's your prerogative and Israel certainly harbour some skeletons in its closet. But I will not surrender to these theocratic narcissists seeking to establish their beloved caliphate.