Gutman was rewarded with his appointment as ambassador to Belgium for having been a major fund raiser for Obama’s election campaign. His statement shows that he is one of many liberal American Israel-hating Jews.
Gutman is completely wrong. The Middle Eastern and North Afreican Muslims strong hatred of Jews goes back to way before there ever was a State of Israel. And the European Jew-hating Muslims immigrated to Europe from Middle Eastern and North African countries.
JEWISH GROUPS DEMAND OBAMA ACTION OVER BELGIUM ENVOY’S ANTI-SEMITISM REMARKS
U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman said Muslim anti-Semitism stems from Israeli-Palestinian conflict; White House issues statement condemning all forms of anti-Semitism
By Danna Harman
Haaretz.com
December 4, 2011
Some Jewish groups and others were demanding Sunday that United States President Barak Obama take action against his ambassador to Belgium, following comments the envoy made to the effect that Israel’s political positions serve as some sort of explanation for anti-Semitism amongst Muslims.
Ambassador Howard Gutman, who is Jewish, made the controversial remarks at a conference on anti-Semitism organized by the European Jewish Union in Brussels last week.
“A distinction should be made between traditional anti-Semitism, which should be condemned, and Muslim hatred for Jews, which stems from the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians,” Gutman reportedly told those gathered, going on to argue that “…an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty will significantly diminish Muslim anti-Semitism.”
In reaction to the comments, and the subsequent uproar they caused, the White House released a statement distancing itself from Gutman's words: "We condemn anti-Semitism in all its forms, and that there is never any justification for prejudice against the Jewish people or Israel," read the statement, which was sent out over the weekend to Jewish leaders.
But Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich joined those arguing that a verbal rebuke was not enough. "Pres Obama should fire his ambassador to Brussels for being so wrong about anti-Semitism," Gingrich tweeted on his account.
Republican Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matthew Brooks echoed these sentiments, adding that: "The linkage in the ambassador's remarks, blaming Israel for anti-Semitism, is a short step from the linkage that President Obama has expressed several times himself, that Israel is to blame for the unrest and instability in the Middle East. Both forms of linkage are fundamentally wrong.”
Gutman, a lawyer by profession, was appointed ambassador to Belgium after raising major funds for Obama’s 2008 elections campaign.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Gutman is not the only Obama administration official on the Blame Israel rant. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta deliberately ignores the oft and continuing declarations by President Abbas and other ‘moderate’ Palestinian leaders to wipe the Jewish state off the map: “There will be only one [Palestinian] state from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea.”
PANETTA: IT’S ISRAEL’S FAULT
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
December 4, 2011
American Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at the weekend suggested that all of Israel's problems in the region can be traced back to its own behavior.
"Just get to the damn [negotiating] table," Panetta told Israel during a briefing at the Brookings Institute. Panetta insisted that Israel needs to be more flexible in order to "reach out and mend fences" with the Arabs, or risk facing even greater isolation.
Panetta's outburst was typical of American foreign policy when it comes to Israel in that it completely ignored the dealings of the past several years.
Panetta failed to recognize that it was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who had been waiting at the negotiating table all along, and publicly urging Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to join him. For the past two years, Abbas has been explicitly refusing to negotiate with Israel until the Jewish state met preconditions that were never part of currently signed peace deals.
Panetta's claim that Israel should make risky political gestures even if the Arabs are not sincere in order to unmask its enemies similarly displayed a very short-term memory.
"If the gestures are rebuked, the world will see those rebukes for what they are, and Israel's moral standing will grow even higher," Panetta said, presumably in all seriousness.
Of course, that is precisely what Israel was told before it uprooted 10,000 Jews from the Gaza Strip, before it handed over the ancient Jewish capital of Hebron and before it signed a peace agreement with terrorist mass-murderer Yasser Arafat. Ongoing anti-Israel terrorism and incitement following all of those gestures failed to win Israel any moral standing in the eyes of the international community.
Continuing the emulation of his predecessors, Panetta finished by warning that Israel would increasingly find itself all alone if it did not heed his advice. "We have seen Israel's isolation from its traditional security partners in the region grow," said Panetta.
It's almost as though each successive American administration does a foreign policy reset, and totally wipes its memory of anything that happened before it was elected. Otherwise, how could Panetta claim with a straight face that Israel has any "traditional" security partners in the region?
Sure, Egypt and Jordan have for years been at peace with Israel, and even cooperated to some small degree in security matters. But neither is a "traditional" security partner. In fact, until just a few decades ago, Egypt was the country that most often went to war against Israel, with Jordan not far behind. While regrettable, a return to that situation would not be something new, and certainly would not be the result of any adjustment in Israel's behavior.
Unfortunately, Panetta's failed attempt at reading the Israeli-Arab situation received far less coverage than it should after being overshadowed by another Obama Administration appointee blaming the Jews for Muslim anti-Semitism.
Speaking at a conference of European Jewish leaders in Brussels on Wednesday, US Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman said there should be a distinction between traditional anti-Semitism and Muslim hatred for the Jews, as the latter is the direct (apparently legitimate) result of the ongoing Israeli conflict with the Palestinians.
Gutman was taken to task by several of the speakers who followed him, and many American Jewish leaders called for his removal.
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