Comments on: Politician attacked for not being appropriately anti-Israel

By: Meryl Yourish

Meryl Yourish — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:04:15 +0000

In reply to Joshua. They were both former ambassadors to Israel, that's why.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 05:19:27 +0000

I’m not sure why this story is surprising. If one were looking among former U.S. diplomats for people who thought the U.S. government was too sympathetic to Israel, it wouldn’t be that hard to find such people. Chas Freeman, the former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia who was nominated for chair of the National Intelligence Council last year, would be an example. Another would be Edward Peck, the former U.S. ambassador to Mauritania, was a participant in the flotilla to Gaza last month. Freeman and Peck might not use this particular kind of language, but they certainly are not friends of Israel.

While the United States government does tend to support Israel, the State Department is not considered one of the more pro-Israel parts of the U.S. government. So I’m not surprised to find an anti-Israel ex-diplomat from any country’s foreign service, even a country like Australia which is friendlier to Israel than 90% of the countries in the world.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 05:15:02 +0000

I’m not sure why this story is surprising. If one were looking among former U.S. diplomats for people who thought the U.S. government was too sympathetic to Israel, it wouldn’t be that hard to find such people. Chas Freeman, the former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia who was nominated for chair of the National Intelligence Council last year, would be an example. Edward Peck, the former U.S. ambassador to Mauritania, was a participant in the flotilla to Gaza last month.