PrintJanuary 24, 2009
The 'charming' prince sends a brutal message to Obama
Maureen Dowd in the New York Times:
Prince Turki al-Faisal, the charming new envoy from the royal family.
She went on to describe him in his Arab robe as cutting a dashing figure, a la Lawrence of Arabia.
Prince Turki al-Faisal in this week’s Financial Times writes in an op-ed warning darkly that Israel must accept the Saudi Peace Plan (promoted by the New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, by the way):
[T]he Israeli armed forces have “murdered more than 1,000 Palestinians” in the course of their “bloody attack on Gaza.” He also refers to Operation Cast Lead as a “calamity,” “butchery,” “the slaughter of innocents,” and a “disaster.” He lays almost all the blame for what happened at Israel’s feet — it was “Israeli actions that led to this conflict, from settlement building in the West Bank to the blockade of Gaza and the targeted killings and arbitrary arrests of Palestinians.”
He then sends a warning to Barack Obama (another one of the “global tests” we were warned about during the campaign by, among others, Vice-President Joe Biden):
If the US wants to continue playing a leadership role in the Middle East and keep its strategic alliances intact – especially its “special relationship” with Saudi Arabia – it will have to drastically revise its policies vis a vis Israel and Palestine.
When Israel deliberately kills Palestinians, appropriates their lands, destroys their homes, uproots their farms and imposes an inhuman blockade on them; and as the world laments once again the suffering of the Palestinians, people of conscience from every corner of the world are clamouring for action. Eventually, the kingdom will not be able to prevent its citizens from joining the worldwide revolt against Israel. Today, every Saudi is a Gazan, and we remember well the words of our late King Faisal: “I hope you will forgive my outpouring of emotions, but when I think that our Holy Mosque in Jerusalem is being invaded and desecrated, I ask God that if I am unable to undertake Holy Jihad, then I should not live a moment more.”
Let us all pray that Mr Obama possesses the foresight, fairness, and resolve to rein in the murderous Israeli regime and open a new chapter in this most intractable of conflicts.
How charming…
Perhaps the call between Saudi King Abdullah and Barack Obama had an effect. Abe Greenwald over at Commentary Contentions is disconcerted by this type of even-handedness and moral relativism on the part of President Obama :
The Boston Herald [1] reports that Barack Obama is trying out some Israeli-Palestinian even-handeness:
“Now, just as the terror of rocket fire aimed at innocent Israelis is intolerable, so, too, is a future without hope for the Palestinians,” Obama said.
So: on one hand there’s Palestinian terrorism and on the other there’s a “future without hope” caused by Palestinian terrorism. Frankly, President Obama’s obligatory “so, too” is PC folly.
