Netanyahu will skip talks if German minister meets left-wing group - Israeli official

[webfact]

Netanyahu will skip talks if German minister meets left-wing group - Israeli official

REUTERS

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

 

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday threatened to cancel a meeting with Germany's foreign minister if he sits down with a left-wing rights group, an Israeli official said.

 

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel was due to meet with "civil society" groups on Tuesday, said a spokeswoman in Berlin who declined to identify the groups.

 

Israeli media said Gabriel would meet with "Breaking the Silence," a group that collects testimonies from Israeli veterans about the military's treatment of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the influence it says Israeli settlers have on the army's actions.

 

The German spokeswoman had no comment on Netanyahu's threat to cancel his meeting with Gabriel. Officials travelling with Gabriel were not immediately available for comment.

 

Germany in March cancelled an annual meeting of German and Israeli leaders that was to take place in May amid rising frustration in Berlin with settlement activity in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

 

Gabriel is visiting the Middle East to press for a two-state solution to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian government.

 

Gabriel appealed to the Israeli government to continue to work for a pluralistic society and defy nationalism in a column to be published Tuesday, said the German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau.

 

"Democracy is the most difficult and at the same time best form of government because it continues to seek common ground in a never-ending dialogue, even despite very different viewpoints and positions that run contrary to peaceful coexistence," he wrote.

 

In February, Netanyahu ordered the reprimand of the Belgian ambassador after Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel with representatives Breaking the Silence and B'tselem, another rights group, during his visit to the region.

 

Both organisations have become popular targets for right-wing politicians who accuse them of damaging Israel's reputation abroad and putting Israeli soldiers and officials at risk of prosecution.

 

In 2016 Israel passed a law requiring non-government organizations that receive more than half their funding from foreign governments or bodies to provide details of their donations. The legislation was largely seen as targeting left-wing organisations such as B'tselem and Breaking the Silence and drew international criticism.

 

(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal in Berlin, Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-04-25

[Emster23]

But.... but..... Israel is supposed to be such a bastion of democracy in Middle East. Surely this can't be true!

"Both organisations have become popular targets for right-wing politicians who accuse them of damaging Israel's reputation abroad and putting Israeli soldiers and officials at risk of prosecution."

 If the army commits crimes, they should be prosecuted, don't cha think?

Seems Bennie & company already doing a fine job of damaging Israel's reputation. Don't need outside help

 

[pegman]

How about the world boycotts this apartheid state until such time as it changes PM's to one that will negotiate a peace deal in good faith.

[ezzra]

2 hours ago, pegman said:

How about the world boycotts this apartheid state until such time as it changes PM's to one that will negotiate a peace deal in good faith.

 

How about TVF boycotts idiots an philistines  who doesn't know what they are talking about and are being fed BDS propaganda BS??? .....

[sanemax]

A German /Palestinian alliance .

Both either have or currently do want to annihilate Jews./Israelis

I do believe that Germans and Palestinians also colluded during WW2

 

[DM07]

7 minutes ago, sanemax said:

A German /Palestinian alliance .

Both either have or currently do want to annihilate Jews./Israelis

I do believe that Germans and Palestinians also colluded during WW2

 

I have some tin-foil to sell you...

[sanemax]

1 minute ago, DM07 said:

I have some tin-foil to sell you...

Place it in the TV classifieds , this is not the forum for selling things

[Jingthing]

1 minute ago, DM07 said:

I have some tin-foil to sell you...

It's a fact that the Palestinian leadership was directly allied with Hitler in WW2 and had secured a promise to exterminate Jews there but then Germany started to lose the war. As far as now, there are elements of the Palestinian political movement that is genocidal in intention but to characterize modern Germany that way is indeed tin foil hattery.

[Jingthing]

In the context of this thread, I suppose Bibi's threat plays well domestically, but he would be braver and wiser to let the meeting take place and then be a mensch and have an open discussion about what was discussed. 

 

This thread isn't about the false charges that Israel is supposedly an apartheid state.

[klauskunkel]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Netanyahu will skip talks if German minister meets left-wing group - Israeli official

OK then, skip the talks, whatever floats your boat - German official

[ilostmypassword]

11 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

It's a fact that the Palestinian leadership was directly allied with Hitler in WW2 and had secured a promise to exterminate Jews there but then Germany started to lose the war. As far as now, there are elements of the Palestinian political movement that is genocidal in intention but to characterize modern Germany that way is indeed tin foil hattery.

Israel right now is in a defacto alliance with the world's leading anti-Semitic power, Saudi Arabia. Therefore, Israel hates Jews? Try memorizing this simple phrase which can explain so many alliances: The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

[Scott]

A baiting post has been removed.  

[Jonmarleesco]

I trust the Germans will tell Netanyahu that he can take it, or he can leave it, but that they will hold meetings they themselves deem appropriate, without brooking interference from an Israeli politician.  

[Jonmarleesco]

2 hours ago, ezzra said:

 

How about TVF boycotts idiots an philistines  who doesn't know what they are talking about and are being fed BDS propaganda BS??? .....

Seems to me that you're the one swallowing propaganda, hook, line, sinker. 

[Jonmarleesco]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

In the context of this thread, I suppose Bibi's threat plays well domestically, but he would be braver and wiser to let the meeting take place and then be a mensch and have an open discussion about what was discussed. 

 

This thread isn't about the false charges that Israel is supposedly an apartheid state.

An interesting contrast: false vs supposedly.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, pegman said:

How about the world boycotts this apartheid state until such time as it changes PM's to one that will negotiate a peace deal in good faith.

There is one number to remember while shopping. Israel's bar code starts with 729.

[Jingthing]

31 minutes ago, Jonmarleesco said:

I trust the Germans will tell Netanyahu that he can take it, or he can leave it, but that they will hold meetings they themselves deem appropriate, without brooking interference from an Israeli politician.  

We'll see about that, eh?

[joecoolfrog]

5 hours ago, ezzra said:

 

How about TVF boycotts idiots an philistines  who doesn't know what they are talking about and are being fed BDS propaganda BS??? .....

Oh dont worry , I think plenty are boycotting you already. When the powers to be attack Human rights groups , it is a sure sign they are hiding the truth.

[Baerboxer]

5 hours ago, Jingthing said:

It's a fact that the Palestinian leadership was directly allied with Hitler in WW2 and had secured a promise to exterminate Jews there but then Germany started to lose the war. As far as now, there are elements of the Palestinian political movement that is genocidal in intention but to characterize modern Germany that way is indeed tin foil hattery.

 

Indeed. Also Balkan Muslim's supported the Nazis and many joined fighting / policing / extermination units under Nazi command.

 

Islamic countries also got on well with the Soviets and Warsaw Pact communist dictatorships. They seem to get on well with totalitarian regimes where free speech, democracy and human rights are suppressed.

 

Modern Germany isn't the Germany of the Nazis and goes to great lengths to avoid right wing and left wing extremism in politics. 

 

However, NCO that are funded by other countries do tend to stir things and as lobby pressure groups should not form part of the diplomatic interchange between nations. 

 

The EU committees are bad enough for encouraging NGO's whose views they like but Foreign Ministers should know better.

[ilostmypassword]

6 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

 

Islamic countries also got on well with the Soviets and Warsaw Pact communist dictatorships. They seem to get on well with totalitarian regimes where free speech, democracy and human rights are suppressed.

 

 

Here's how well Saudi Arabia got on with the USSR:

"However, relations cooled later on, with Saudi Arabia closing their legation in Moscow in 1938 and refusing to reestablish relations. Diplomatic relations were only reestablished after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the establishment of the Russian Federation.^[4] Despite a lack of relations, about 20 Soviet Muslims were allowed to annually make the Hajj from 1946 until 1990 when liberalization allowed thousands of Soviet Muslims to attend"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia–Saudi_Arabia_relations

[khunken]

There's a strong hypocritical strain in this. It's ok for Netanyahu to go to the US and speak to the Israel propaganda group AIPAC and opponents of then president Obama, but when a politician goes to Israel to speak to an Israeli human rights group, Netanyahu doesn't like it.

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-31685220

 

 

[yardrunner]

6 hours ago, Jingthing said:

In the context of this thread, I suppose Bibi's threat plays well domestically, but he would be braver and wiser to let the meeting take place and then be a mensch and have an open discussion about what was discussed. 

 

This thread isn't about the false charges that Israel is supposedly an apartheid state.

Israel may not be an apartheid state but some of its actions give many people the impression that it is very close to the borderline and about to tip over to full scale apartheid

[hhinhh]

8 hours ago, sanemax said:

A German /Palestinian alliance .

Both either have or currently do want to annihilate Jews./Israelis

I do believe that Germans and Palestinians also colluded during WW2

 

Some people have no idea what they are talking about. Shut brain of, talk only propaganda.

[Jingthing]

Some people have no idea what they are talking about. Shut brain of, talk only propaganda.

He wasn't entirely wrong especially about WW2.

 

Google Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Hitler.

 

[lungbing]

Because Israel dictates US foreign policy they think they can dictate  the foreign policy of other countries.

[Saradoc1972]

That fat Foreign Minister of ours has come to the end of the road politically speaking, a walking dead. 

 

He used to be leader of the SDP, Social-Democrats, left-centrist, and hence vice-chancellor since 2009 under the Merkel Camarilla II and III, and Minister for Economy. Was not held in the highest regard back then. Under Gabriel SPD fell from about 35% in the polls to as low as 21%, when they used to be a peoples' party that had been elected into government several times with absolute majorities or as the senior partner of coalitions with FDP liberals or the Greens. Brandt, Schmidt x2, Schröder x2.

 

Some 2 months ago he then stepped back from all of that to make way for Saint Martin (Schulz), in the following weeks SPD polls sky-rocketed. Not that Schulz had been saying anything new or remarkable or could boast any superior qualifications, does not even have Abitur, just grins like a Cheshire Cat. It seemed SPD sympathizers that had partially drifted towards AFD, feeling to have been left alone with their everyday worries, were just excessively relieved to see Gabriel gone. Polls have mostly normalised over the last 4 weeks since then.

 

Gabriel was now made foreign minister, despite having not the slightest bit of a background there, the comrades always look after their own. He was quoted saying that with his news post he would now take more time for his family. Foreign office officials, staying anonymous, were cited as doubting that resolution of his would fit the job description.

 

Apart, Gabriel has a little bit of a history with Israel an Netanyahu, having giving Spiegel Magazin an interview back in 2012, where he described Israel an 'unjustifiable apartheid regime', incurring severe criticism in Germany, and being a bit lost for words explaining himself, seeking to make little excuses as to how he had meant that, how he had gone a little over the top there and actually was a friend of Israel, it had been meant to criticize settlement policies, and what not.

 

Link to Spiegel Magazin [in German]

 

Israel is best advised to postpone any of those meetings until October, when a new German federal government has been formed after the general elections. Schulz already let on 2 weeks after Gabriel's installment as foreign minister, that he was not likely to keep that post, should SPD stay in government in whatever role after that. 'nuff said.

[Jingthing]

29 minutes ago, lungbing said:

Because Israel dictates US foreign policy they think they can dictate  the foreign policy of other countries.

Israel does not dictate U.S. foreign policy. 

[Saradoc1972]

Aaaaannnnddd.... BANG!

SPIEGEL Magazin: Netanyahu declines meeting with Gabriel [GERMAN]

 

Job well done. See my prior post.

[Jingthing]

2 minutes ago, Saradoc1972 said:

Aaaaannnnddd.... BANG!

SPIEGEL Magazin: Netanyahu declines meeting with Gabriel [GERMAN]

 

Job well done. See my prior post.

Well, he's only the FM, not the Chancellor.

[Trouble]

Recently had dinner with a very good Jewish friend who had traveled to Israel with her sister.  She came back with a slightly different view of what is going on there than she had before. She had travelled there before as well but this trip she met a number of people that certainly changed her view of how many of the Palestinians are treated in that country.  Just goes to show that all is not what it appears on the outside sometimes. I make no comment either way about the situation in Israel but just goes to show how attitudes can change with differences in experiences. That's why seeing things first hand is a lot better than relying on the media and political propaganda coming from the mouths of politicians.  Kind of odd that a visiting German official would be given an ultimatum: It's either Bennie or the highway!  So much for trying to get ALL the facts in a given situation. Believe it or not it does seem that even the Israelis have differing opinions on things there.