Today, Baroness Catherine Ashton, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission, compared the Jewish children just murdered in cold blood in France with Gazan children accidentally killed by Israel while defending itself from rocket attacks (after being used as human shields by terrorists).
We are gathered here because we have recognised the potential of the youth of Palestine. Against all the odds, they continue to learn, to work, to dream and aspire to a better future. And the days when we remember young people who have been killed in all sorts of terrible circumstances – the Belgian children having lost their lives in a terrible tragedy and when we think of what happened in Toulouse today, when we remember what happened in Norway a year ago, when we know what is happening in Syria, when we see what is happening in Gaza and in different parts of the world – we remember young people and children who lose their lives. Here are young people who are asking not to be leaders of the future, but to be taken seriously as leaders of today. And it is to them that we should look and to them we should listen and it is to them that I pay tribute.
I am beginning to think the word “Baroness” is really spelled “Barreness” and refers to the subject’s morality.
To paraphrase Han Solo “And I thought she was just ugly on the outside!”
goishe maisse…what can you say. poor people.
Notwithstanding my general disinterest in all things Star Wars, I can still appreciate references to this popular movie franchise to further the appreciation of a socially-significant event or impart a life lesson. I particularly liked an image I ran across a couple of days ago on some website featuring two miniature storm troopers pointing to an eye chart which read: “Rebel Scum. We hate you Luke Skywalker (and the Wookie, too).”
Dave,
I’m not sure I agree with you here. In all cases children were killed because of battles among adults. Sure in Gaza their own elders got them targetted, but it wasn’t their call in either case.
Yes, and Ashton is like Hitler. They both have mustaches.
From the NYTimes:
Yeh. Just like in Gaza. Jackass (with no offense intended to Jawbone).
Look at the bright side. We Jews are now permitted by Ashton’s own demented logic and by her own words, to start hurling missiles into French towns and to start carbombing French cafes. Because if nothing else, that activity is certified by Ashton as am noble, righteous expression of resistance and national identity. To me this an opportunity to ‘dialog’ with the EU and the French on their own terms.
Suggestion for Catherine Ashton —
Looking for comparisons?
Why not compare this murder of French Jewish children with the action taken against Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan last month?
You’ll have to overlook the inconvenient fact, confirmed by his wife, that his “ultimate goal was the annihilation of Israel,” and that he was actively creating the means to achieve that goal.
But other than that, the two events have much in common, no?
Avigdor Lieberman has weighed in on the baroness’ statement and called for a retraction. He, of course, is correct to criticize her inappropriate comments. But where are the condemnations of MK Katz for his offensive comments toward Sarkozy and Obama, saying, in effect, that they don’t really care about the lives of Jews? It is one thing to praise your own country, but to disparage the leaders of friendly countries like France and the U.S. in such an unfair way is wrong-headed and counterproductive.
Ashton now says her remarks were “grossly distorted.” The only thing grossly distorted is her diplomacy, which her remarks betray.
I’m surprised you haven’t picked up on the obvious GI Joe connection. If she’s the Baroness, does that mean that Ismail Haniyeh is Destro? And would that mean that Ahmadinejad is Cobra Commander?
Will the Israeli government show some spine and convey to the EU that their Foreign Policy Fuhrer is no longer welcome in Israel given her rabid hatred for Jews, and further ask the EU not to send her as part of it’s delegations in multilateral negotiations involving Israel?
If history is anything to go by, I would think not.(From my personal experience,Israel sends it’s choicest worst to it’s missions abroad, and I presume the same holds true for the rest of the Foreign Ministry.)But I wish that the Israeli Foreign Ministry would get it right this time around.
From an American perspective, I’m not sure how to judge either the Israeli foreign ministry or it’s foreign service/diplomatic staff assigned abroad. While Foreign Minister Avigdor is an embarrassment and a disaster, Israeli diplomatic staffs in Washington and New York are highly professional and do a great job representing Israel.
um, Avigdor Lieberman, that is. But I think you know who I was talking about.
Notwithstanding the bad press that he has received,I find Lieberman to be much more sensible that all the mandarins in the Israeli diplomatic service combined.
Lieberman is much derided for his origins (he was a night-club bouncer, if I have got it right!) and I came across this wonderful reposte regarding that :-
Q :”Why do you think the Israelis have a night club bouncer for their Foreign Minister?”
A :”With the kind of p1mp$ and ho’s who run things at the UN, wouldn’t you have done the same??
The buck here stops with the PM, but I see no sign that Netanyahu will take that necessary step.