Israelis insulted by obama picture

Let's see!! The countrys falling apart and the President has his feet propped up on the desk in the Oval Office. How do we know he wasn't ordering take out for his wife and kids. Come on folks lets focus on whats important.

reply to post by weedwhacker


You not seeing that it warrants an apology doesn't mean that one should not be given.

Our culture says its no big deal, a little sloppy, but over all accepted. In their culture it is a big insult, akin to somebody flipping you the bird.

I don't think it was done on purpose. I actually think he was trying to look cool for the American public. Still he was on the phone with a nation that see things differantly then we do and he supposedly insulted them.

If he did then as I said before, throw them an apology and move on or blame it on the Queen.

c mon please??!!They diggin too deep now...

Originally posted by joe82
June 10) - Israeli TV newscasters Tuesday night interpreted a photo taken Monday in the Oval Office of President Obama talking on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an "insult" to Israel.
They saw the incident as somewhat akin to an incident last year, when the Iraqi reporter threw a shoe at President Bush in Baghdad.
It is considered an insult in the Arab world to show the sole of your shoe to someone. It is not a Jewish custom necessarily, but Israel feels enough a part of the Middle East after 60 years to be insulted too.
Was there a subliminal message intended from the White House to Netanyahu in Jerusalem, who is publicly resisting attempts by Mr. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to force Israel to stop any kind of settlement activity in occupied territories once and forever?
Whether or not it is true, it shows the mood in Israel. They feel cornered. The reactions out of Israel reflect that feeling.
Netanyahu is making a speech Sunday, in part as a response to Mr. Obama's address to the Arab world last week in Cairo.
Israel's Channel One TV reported that Netanyahu was told Tuesday by an "American official" in Jerusalem that, "We are going to change the world. Please, don't interfere." The report said Netanyahu's aides interpreted this as a "threat."
Netanyahu met with George Mitchell today for four hours in Jerusalem. The State Department announced this afternoon that Mitchell will be stopping in Beirut and Damascus when he finishes his visits to Israel and the Palestinian Authority


I truly beleive that obama will turn against israel, his agenda for the world is not in our best interest.
whats your take on this story. it can be found at at aol news.

The better thing to ask is, What aren't they insulted by?

And Who gives a flying Fak.


They wine like little 4 year olds not getting their way.....

Must we appease their every need and belief .... enough is enough

Quit whining and get over the fact that this world does not revolve around israel..

Well, i am not insulted. And it is first time i heard about the issue actually. It is not official white house PR photo. So what is there to be insulted about? Bill Clinton is supposed to be Israeli friend, but who knows what he did while speaking to Israeli leaders? THEN i would understand the insult.
The funny thing is that in Israeli parliament even in formal meetings with foreign leaders Knesset members were wearing jeans and sandals. And nobody was insulted by this. Shoes? Photo? There are bigger problems. I hope that after Netanyahu speech on sunday Obama would not start throwing those shoes at us! This would be a problem.

You know, I want to say if Obama putting his feet on the desk is the worst thing he does in the Oval Office then he is leaps and bounds ahead Slick Willie.

But unfortunately he is doing much worse things in there with concerns to America's future.

reply to post by ZeroKnowledge



Obama might watch the speech from the Oval office only wearing his briefs.







[edit on 11-6-2009 by SLAYER69]

I noticed my pharmacy just hired someone who wears a berka. I need to call there later. Guess I should cover my hair first. Don't want to offend anybody.

Israel should relax...

By insulting Israel, throwing some give to Islam, creating a Palestinian state... all these things will make Israel more vulnerable

but
whomever or from where ever chooses to attack Israel after doing such things...

The us then can intervene on Israels behalf having given them the opportunity to both do the right thing or screw it up in the region and we could do so without the entire worlds wrath...

On a very traditional level, Israel would be giving in, putting itself at risk

but lets face it... a tiny strip of land, if they come for the jews, without having capitulated to them at all... we just don't have a leg to stand on in defending Israel right now, we'd face the whole world taking sides...

on many levels, the Israelis SHOULD allow Obama to do whatever it is he has planned, it's not like... they still wont have nukes if they are betrayed OR that if the middle east rises against them these in the end minor concessions affect anything in that kind of war...

Make a real peace... Give the nations in the region the rope... leave it up to them to choose to hang themselves with it or not

If Israel continues on this path it will loose a far more important high ground than any hill... the moral high ground and in doing so, genuinely cease to exist

It is not a Jewish custom necessarily, but Israel feels enough a part of the Middle East after 60 years to be insulted too.

Israel is not part of the Middle East. It is a colonial outpost and the most detested entity in the region. It is to the Middle East as apartheid South Africa was to Africa.

If your comment is a commonly held view amongst zionists just because Obama has issued ultimatums to the Netanyahu government, then I think it is an attempt to undermine him. It is about obscuring matters and to distract from any attempts of controlling this feral entity.

The idea is to make a series of anti Obama allegations then eventually identify him as an anti-Semite. When this is done, zionists forces will be mobilised in the US and the Obama administration disembowelled.

This is a profound issue for American citizens regardless of the matter Palestinian freedom. The question is, is the destruction of a US government worth the irrational interests of a right wing fascistic Israeli government?

[edit on 043030p://pm3043 by masonwatcher]

reply to post by joe82


I don't care what part of the world you come from, if your culture is the type that gets offended by seeing the sole of a shoe, you need to get a life. It really is nauseating to keep track of what is considered offensive to what type of people throughout the world. It's not like it was a picture of the pres talking on the phone while taking a dump, that may be seen as offensive no matter what part of the world you come from.

Originally posted by jitombe
reply to post by joe82

 

I don't care what part of the world you come from, if your culture is the type that gets offended by seeing the sole of a shoe, you need to get a life. It really is nauseating to keep track of what is considered offensive to what type of people throughout the world. It's not like it was a picture of the pres talking on the phone while taking a dump, that may be seen as offensive no matter what part of the world you come from.

Our culture finds it offensive to raise a certain finger at someone.

Who are we to dictate what should or should not be offensive to another culture?

Israel just like to moan, and moan... and moan some more. Inbetween bombing innocent people and stealing land, they moan a little more.

They really should get a hobby, maybe start a football league or something. Something constructive, not destructive.

Originally posted by jd140

Originally posted by jitombe
reply to post by joe82

 

I don't care what part of the world you come from, if your culture is the type that gets offended by seeing the sole of a shoe, you need to get a life. It really is nauseating to keep track of what is considered offensive to what type of people throughout the world. It's not like it was a picture of the pres talking on the phone while taking a dump, that may be seen as offensive no matter what part of the world you come from.

Our culture finds it offensive to raise a certain finger at someone.

Who are we to dictate what should or should not be offensive to another culture?

Isn't it offensive enough that our country is currently occupying two countries in the middle east and working on starting a war with a third?
Seeing a pic of a sole of a shoe should be irrelevant at this point.

This photo is an official photo of Obama on the phone in the Oval Office speaking to the Israeli Prime Minister. Does anyone doubt that it was specifically choosen to be sent to the Israeli media? This guy knows exactily what he is doing, this isn't just a lapse in protocol.

As an American, I am more offended by the act of putting his feet up on the Resolute Desk. This desk does not belong to him to treat like some Ikea furniture. This desk is a National Landmark and Treasure in and of itself.

Many presidents have used the Resolute desk in the Oval Office or the their study in the Residence. It was made from the timbers of HMS Resolute, an abandoned British ship discovered by an American vessel and returned to the Queen of England as a token of friendship and goodwill. When the ship was retired, Queen Victoria commissioned the desk from William Evenden, Royal Naval Dockyard at Chatham, England, and presented to President Rutherford Hayes in 1880.

The desk has twice been modified. Franklin Roosevelt requested that the kneehole be fitted with a modesty panel carved with the presidential seal (he preferred people not see his leg braces and often placed a waste basket in front of his desks), but he did not live to see it installed. However, President Truman liked the eagle motif and had it installed when he came into office in 1945. Since this was prior to Truman's decision to turn the head of the eagle in the presidential seal to face the olive branch of peace, the eagle in the Resolute's modesty panel faces the arrows of war.

Every president since Hayes—except Presidents Johnson, Nixon, and Ford—has used the Resolute desk, although some chose to use it in their private study in the Residence. The desk was made famous in part by a photograph of John Kennedy at work while his son, John Jr., peeked out the front through the kneehole panel.

www.whitehousemuseum.org...

This conduct goes to show how he sees this country and it's symbols. This man does not respect anything about this Country and he will be the end of it. I really hope the damage he does is reversable and he doesn't get re-elected in 2012.

I don't know what other cultures consider insulting but what I do know is that this picture shows one cool, casual, laid back dude. Not a problem in the world. Slick comes to mind. Not presidential, not authoritative, not concerned, not diligent. Slick.

Originally posted by jd140

Originally posted by jitombe
reply to post by joe82

 

I don't care what part of the world you come from, if your culture is the type that gets offended by seeing the sole of a shoe, you need to get a life. It really is nauseating to keep track of what is considered offensive to what type of people throughout the world. It's not like it was a picture of the pres talking on the phone while taking a dump, that may be seen as offensive no matter what part of the world you come from.

Our culture finds it offensive to raise a certain finger at someone.

Who are we to dictate what should or should not be offensive to another culture?

And who is anyone else to dictate what we should say or not say in our own country? No other country cares if they are offending us, so why should we care about not offending them? It's all childish stupidity on all sides in my opinion.

reply to post by finemanm


Can you elaborate on how you know the photo was 'sent' to the israeli media ?
It's an official photo. Why would the US government "send" photos ?
Someone has just picked it out amongst the other official photos and built around it.

I think there are many photos where Obama appears relaxed and laid back with his feet put up on a table (hole in the shoe ?). Of course, it is staged, it is supposed to show how cool is Mr President in any circumstances. The photo is staged but not sending any international message. It is rather a photo op for domestic intent.
Considering the shaky grounds of the article, I would like to find where this photo comes from and the initial legend but I cannot find it anywhere.
If you click on the photo in the article, this particular one is not amongst the 500 latest photos.

By chance, my research was not totally fruitless. This desk being a treasure, people should wake up because the situation is tense right now. Desks could well one day fire back if you don't stop the bullying !

Shame !

reply to post by finemanm


I don't think it's an insult to the desk, as mentioned it was twice modified and I'm sure every single president that used that desk had his feet on it. I'm sure Bill did more than put his feet on it...but of course because it's Obama, then it's not cool.

reply to post by Darth Lumina


Who said anything about someone saying something offensive?

Yes your who cares who we offend because they don't care if they offend us arguement is childish. Nice call.

Growing up my brother and I would fight alot. Most of the time he would start it, but I would always be the one forced to apologize. I asked why one day and my mom told me that one of us would have to take the higher road and apologize and my brother being who he is(he had to go to counseling for anger issuses) was not going to be that person. Sometimes you have to swallow your pride and apologize even if you have nothing to apologize for.

Its called being the bigger person.