Susan Rice Launches Staunch Defence Of Israel Despite 'Alarming' Gaza Death Toll

[Purveyor]

Paul Lewis in Washington
theguardian.com, Monday 28 July 2014 19.33 EDT


Susan Rice has claimed Israel's critics are biased and unjustified. Photograph: Rex Features

The senior White House adviser Susan Rice used a crucial speech on Monday to underscore the administration's commitment to Israel and dismiss critics of its military offensive in Gaza, which has claimed hundreds of civilian lives, as biased and unjustified.

In a staunch defence of Israel's response to rockets fired from the Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas, Rice was particularly critical of the United Nations human rights council, which recently voted for an inquiry into the possible war crimes violations committed by Israel.

"When countries single out Israel for unfair treatment at the UN, it isn't just a problem for Israel, it is a problem for all of us," Rice said on Monday. She added: "No country is immune from criticism, nor should it be. But when that criticism takes the form of singling out just one country, unfairly, bitterly and relentlessly, over and over and over, that is just wrong – and we all know it."

Rice, who is national security adviser to Barack Obama, expressed concern about the deaths of civilians, on both sides, and reiterated the US president's call for an immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire.

more...

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/29/susan-rice-gaza-hamas-israel-defends-john-kerry

[HooptieWagon]

1. "expressed concern about the deaths of civilians, on both sides"

Israeli-3
Palestinian-800
Yea, she's really concerned...

[geek tragedy]

2. So much for 'fuming' at Kerry's treatment, more like groveling in its wake.

At some point you'd think Obama would recognize the harm he's doing to our national dignity by continuing to take Israel's abuse and rewarding it with fresh pledges of blind loyalty.

[bigwillq]

3. I can't believe this lady still has a job

in our national government. She's been a disaster for years and years and years.

[appal_jack]

4. Israel IS being singled out.

THIS:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10933851/Isis-crucifies-nine-people-in-Syrian-villages.html

is going-on RIGHT NEXT DOOR to Israel. Goddamned crucifixions! Yes, ISIS is not a state, but the Assad government has been doing some brutal shit of its own for YEARS now. And it looks like ISIS may have a state or two to fold into its caliphate shortly(Thaannks Cheney & Dubya!) Is Israel being singled-out compared to the atrocities and human rights violations that are going on or have recently gone on in nearby countries such as Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Brunei, etc.? Damn-tootin'.

The Palestinian civilians who are suffering because Hamas decided that tunnel-building, arms smuggling, and attack plans are more important than negotiations, peacemaking, and actually governing deserve compassion. But Israel cannot be expected to sit idly by as Hamas routinely violates its borders with rocket fire from above and tunnels underneath.

-app

[Spider Jerusalem]

6. "ISIS is not a state"...there you go.

And action against Syria has been mooted and vetoed by Russia with the same tedious regularity that the USA vetoes resolutions against Israel.

[betterdemsonly]

7. Liberal Interventionists are just neocons

who want a little more international legitimacy. How is it a good thing to give them any legitimacy at all?