Mike Huckabee was in East Jerusalem this week justifying the theft of Palestinian land for the illegal Jewish settlements.
Over on Tikun Olam, Richard Silverstein reports on the conversation between Huckabee and settler MK Nissim Zeev who had the temerity to claim "We're connected to this land no less than your Indians." Silverstein writes,
In this photo, he’s pictured addressing a settler yeshiva established with the lucre of Miami-based bingo magnate Irving Moskowitz. Moskowitz is the very one who stole the Palestinian Shepherd Hotel and partially demolished it last week so he can move in some settler families. I guess no one told Huckabee that this project flies directly in the face of current U.S. policy as does supporting settler thugs guilty of promoting violence and hooliganism against Palestinians and Jews alike.
But I reserve the biggest laugh for Zeev’s recounting of his discussions with his pal, Mike, who the reporter erroneously credits with being a U.S. senator:According to YNet News, Huckabee told reporters the US should be more concerned about Arabs building bombs than Jews building bedrooms. Standing on the former site of the Shepherds Hotel, demolished to make way for more illegal Jewish settlers, Huckabee must be wilfully blind or culpably naive when he insists,"I don’t see why bedrooms for their children built by Jews on a hilltop in Samaria pose a threat to world peace," "It's the lack of construction that is irrational, not the opposite... Those who aim their rifles at Jewish babies are irrational; the danger is not the weapons, but the hatred behind the weapons."
I got together with him to pursue two issues: [international] recognition of Jewish refugees from Arab lands and recognition by the UN of Israel with the status of “indigenous.” It’s unacceptable that after 2,000 years of exile, we are still characterized as “occupiers.” Since 2007, there are peoples recognized by the UN as indigenous. The U.S. also recognizes Indians as indigenous and if it won’t return to them their ancestral lands it will offer reparations. We too require similar recognition. Our connection to the land appears in the Bible and we are connected to this land no less than the Indians.In fact, I’d suggest as a terrific photo-op that Mike bring together a settler chief and an Indian chief and they can both compare war stories. Maybe the settlers can set up shop on a few reservations and teach tribal leaders who to expand their “settlements” by annexing land belonging to white folk, and force the U.S. government to recognize their land thefts. I’m sure that’ll go over big in Washington.
I couldn't agree with you more Mike - its just the hatred and the weapons are in the hands of your friends the settlers.
