That is, if you are comparing them with remarks made by Asaf Shariv, Israeli Consul General to the United States on PRI's "The Takeaway" with John Hockenberry and Celeste Headlee on June 2nd.
In case you missed it, there was a diary on the rec list for a while yesterday entitled Jon Stewart on Israel/flotilla: Krauthammer, go f*ck yourself, celebrating a typically well-crafted takedown of Charles Krauthammer.
Below is the money shot from the diary:
You know, I don't think we can get these two sides to come to any agreement. Well... except perhaps this next statement by Charles Krauthammer may be the stupidest fucking thing anyone's ever said about the Middle East ever.
Krauthammer (Fox News, May 31 broadcast): "What exactly is the humanitarian crisis that the flotilla was actually addressing? There is none. There's no one starving in Gaza...."
You know, whatever you may think of the respective leaderships, the Israelis or Hamas, whatever Gods you pray to or whatever direction you may pray to them in, if you can't even look at Gaza, and agree that there is suffering there that needs to be alleviated, no matter who's to blame for it, then your heart is so dead, tourists flock there to float on their backs in it.
Sadly, Jon was wrong.
Following is my transcript of a segment of an interview which you can listen to here (the transcribed portion begins around the 3:30 mark):
Celeste Headlee: ... why have a blockade that blocks chocolate and other amenities from getting to the people in Gaza?
Asaf Shariv: There is no blockade blocking chocolate. It's just a lie. You know you can look at the menus... you can go to websites of the restaurants in Gaza and see what they're serving and tell me if this is a place who suffer from hunger when you eat... when you can get... when they serve foie gras. It's ridiculous. It's a lie to say that you cannot get in chocolate. Now since you all know the region very good, why are you asking us? Why don't you ask the Egyptian? Egyptian is a muslim country. Egypt is a Muslim country. And they are blockading Gaza too. Why we supposed to bring in chocolate and the Egyptian are not supposed to do it?
This guy is a diplomat? He makes John Bolton look like a model of temperance. And Krauthammer's remarks seem downright sweet and reasonable by comparison.
I recommend that you listen to the entire interview. The mindset on display is absolutely poisonous and, I fear, it may not be all that atypical for members of the current Israeli government.
These sorts of statements by representatives of the Israeli government need to be agressively announced by Americans. Unfortunately too many of our liberal icons are hands off or actively complicit. Both Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow seem to be more or less avoiding the topic.
And the most unequivocal statement I've seen from a liberal in elected office is the following statement issued by Anthony Weiner on June 1st:
While the demand for answers seems to echo in capitals around the world, the facts here are largely known.
We know this tragedy was instigated by Turkey. We know that Israel had not only warned that this boat was in violation of an entirely lawful blockade, but had offered safe harbor to the boat in Ashdod. We also know that a known terrorist group – Hamas – has put its hateful agenda over the well being of its people.
Any loss of life is tragic. This loss was the result of Turkish instigation and Hamas terror policies. Even if we are the only country on earth that sees the facts here, the United States should stand up for Israel.
The Israeli/Palestinian situation is more poisonous now that it has ever been. Somehow the U.S. media and the U.S. government is going to have to discover the courage and wisdom to intervene more decisively. But I don't see a lot of appetite for that right now. Maybe it could start with respectable liberal blogs, publications and television shows taking a stand.