Quick Takes: <i>News You May Have Missed</i>

Quick Takes: News You May Have Missed

By: Aaron Klein

Published: November 4th, 2009

tell a friend

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered the Palestinians backing for a halt to Jewish construction in the strategic West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem this past weekend, but the Palestinian Authority refused her proposal, this column has learned.

Palestinian diplomatic sources said Clinton passed an offer to the Palestinians from Israel that would quietly see a halt to Jewish construction activity in the areas in question without any public declarations on the subject from the Israeli government.

The Palestinian sources said PA President Mahmoud Abbas rejected Clinton’s proposal, instead demanding a public declaration for a complete halt to settlement activity.

Still, Clinton gave Abbas a guarantee that the U.S. would continue to press Israel in meetings to end Jewish construction in the West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem, said the sources.

While it privately rejected Israel’s proposal, the PA today publicly blamed the U.S. and Israel for stalling the resumption of talks with the Jewish state.

At a press conference this past Sunday, Clinton publicly endorsed Israel’s view that Jewish construction in the West Bank should not impede resuming negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The PA had demanded a complete halt to settlement activity in line with previous demands from the Obama administration.

Israeli Medical Officer Cries Foul

A UN investigator who accused Israel of war crimes was misled by false witnesses and Palestinian misinformation, charged the chief medical officer of an Israeli army brigade that was falsely accused of committing a massacre.

“You have let yourself be misled by fabrications made by either terrorists or even doctors. … Did you by any chance try to validate any of these invented and inciting details? Well you didn’t!” wrote David Zangen, an Israeli reservist officer and physician.

Zangen was addressing South African Judge Richard Goldstone, who penned a UN report that claimed both Hamas and Israel were guilty of war crimes during the Jewish state’s defensive war in Gaza last December and January. Zangen’s letter questioned specific details of Goldstone’s report that, Zangen alleged, relied heavily on faulty witnesses without corroborating their testimony.

Zangen is no stranger to false Palestinian accusations. He served as the chief medical officer of an IDF brigade that fought in a famous anti-terror operation in 2002 in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.

Immediately following the operation, the Palestinian leadership cried “massacre,” alleging that more than 500 civilians were killed and thousands more were wounded – accusations which made their way onto U.S. and international news channels. It was later determined that only 56 Palestinians, mostly gunmen, were killed.

Obama Campaign Staff Were

Blissfully Unaware

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe claims President Obama’s campaign staff had done “zero research” on its candidate and was not aware of the inflammatory statements and views of Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Plouffe, whose firm was hired to run Obama’s presidential campaign, makes the statement in a forthcoming book. While Plouffe and his staff may not have done their homework on Obama’s radical associates, it may be hard for political insiders to believe some of Obama’s other key advisers during the campaign were not aware of Wright’s controversial views.

This reporter previously exposed that Obama’s top adviser, David Axelrod, sat on the finance committee of a Chicago church that acts like a sister worship house to Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ. Axelrod helped raise funds for Chicago’s St. Sabina Catholic Church, which was led by controversial pastor Michael Pfleger. Separately, Valerie Jarrett, another one of President Obama’s closest advisers, traveled in some of the same radical political circles that Obama did.

Obama attended Wright’s church for nearly 20 years. It would have been highly unusual for Obama not to have known about Wright’s controversial views or the openly radical politics of Trinity church.

Obama was interviewed multiple times for Trumpet, a magazine run by Wright and his daughter. The magazine evidenced close links between the church and the Nation of Islam, even featuring Obama on the cover alongside Lois Farrakhan.

Did New Black Panther Party Chairman

Visit The White House?

Malik Zulu Shabazz, national chairman of the radical New Black Panther Party, or NBPP, refused to confirm (or deny) that he has visited the White House since President Obama took office, despite his name appearing on a recent administration disclosure.

Shabazz’s namesake was among the 110 names and 481 visits released by the White House on Fridayas part of the Obama administration’s so-called volunteer disclosure policy. The names were just a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of visitors who have gone through the White House’s doors since January.

Among the famous names that stood out on the brief list were Shabazz, Jeremiah Wright and Weatherman terrorist William Ayers.

The White House blog claimed all three names were “false positives – names that make you think of a well-known person, but are actually someone else.”

Shabazz’s New Black Panther Party endorsed Obama on its own page of the presidential candidate’s official site, which allowed registered users to post their own blogs. The NBPP is a controversial black extremist party whose leaders are notorious for their racist statements and for leading anti-white activism. Shabazz has given scores of speeches condemning “white men” and Jews.

Aaron Klein is Jerusalem bureau chief for WorldNetDaily.com. He appears throughout the week on leading U.S. radio programs and is the author of the book “The Late Great State of Israel.” Follow Klein on Twitter under the name “AaronKleinWND.”

tell a friend

About the Author: Aaron Klein is Jerusalem bureau chief and senior reporter for WorldNetDaily.com. He is also host of an investigative radio program on New York's 770-WABC Radio, the largest talk radio station in the U.S., every Sunday between 2-4 p.m (CHANGE TO 7-9 p.m.). His website is KleinOnline.com

Quick Takes: News You May Have Missed

Israeli Medical Officer Cries Foul

You might also be interested in:

Related posts: