French ambassador calls Israel 'paranoid' and Sharon 'a lout'

[QuietStorm]

2 hours ago

France's new ambassador to Israel caused a diplomatic row with his hosts yesterday after he was reported to have described the Jewish state as "paranoid" and called its prime minister, Ariel Sharon, "a lout".

Limor Livnat, Israel's education minister, said the remarks attributed to Gerard Araud were "very grave". If true, she said, Israel should refuse to accept his letter of accreditation.

The row is reminiscent of comments by Daniel Bernard, the former French ambassador to London. He caused a storm in December 2001 after being heard at a dinner party speaking of "that shitty little country, Israel".

M Araud's comments appear to have been made in a similarly unguarded moment. Boaz Bissmuth, a correspondent for the mass circulation Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot, reported hearing M Araud talk disparagingly about Israel in conversation with two other French diplomats during a recent cocktail party in Paris.

more...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/09/01/wrow01.xml&sSheet=/portal/2003/09/01/ixportal.html

[bahrbearian]

1. I'd like to hear what he has to say about Chimpy..

[legin]

2. Oh no !

This means that some organisation is going to do a 'The Growth of Anti-Semitism in Europe' report for about the umpteenth time, which I will have to read, and then make snarky remarks about, when I next go down the basement.

Life Sucks.

:evilgrin:

[sujan]

3. bravo

what is Israel going to do? kill more arabs?

[kodi]

4. no, they will kill iranians, who, BTW are not arabs

if iran builds an A bomb, the israelis will do to iran what they did to iraq over 20 years ago, blow it up.

once that happens, all bets are off vis a vis stopping muslim terrorism.

[sujan]

30. they can try

[IndianaGreen]

5. So, what's the problem?

Sounds better than referring to Israel as "that shitty little country in the Middle East"!

If you were living under constant threat of terrorism, you would be paranoid too!

[karlschneider]

10. But, according to Chimpy and Tommy Ridge, I AM living under a constant

threat of terism. And I'm not paranoid, shit, just because there are
a few black helicop

[QuietStorm]

14. well yes I suppose

but that is placing Israeli aggression off to the side as well as it's "sacred" terrorism as well. Those around Israel have what to be paranoid about as well. Israel has not been the best neighbor in the region either. The Eastern European foundlings not really that interested in pandering to the good nature of the arabs in the region and why should they be. They came in behind the gun of the Brits who had no intension of negotiating with the Arabs at eye level and neither were the founding Eastern Europeans of Israel.

[nolabels]

19. yea, but would you be throwing more gasoline on in an attempt to.......

put out the fire. How can you practice peace, when your practicing war?

Btw isn't this thread supposed to be in another forum? I can feel a flame fest already

[0007]

22. I can relate to that!

Perhaps not on the scale of Israel's paranoid. (Ashcroft is terror)

junior could be doing more to squelch the hostilities in the Middle East. Clinton did.

Going back to the 1967 boundaries and putting Sharon to pasture would help %110.

[rook1]

31. Thank you.....

Have a car bomb or homicide bomber blow up a school or bus station or subway station in this country everyday and you would have a different opinion of current affairs. Murder is murder.

[The Magistrate]

6. A Diplomat Is Not Supposed To Have Un-Guarded Moments

That is what they are paid for. Whatever else this fellow may be, he is not good at work.

[bahrbearian]

8. He's probably feed up and wants to resign..

[rooboy]

12. That was in the old days...

before the United States re-defined the way international relations were handled. This is "New Europe" diplomacy.

[Zhade]

20. Bring it on!

I say, diplomacy with some teeth and truth to it is far better than make-nice-with-the-bad-guys (I'm thinking about our own government in that sense).

It's way past time people started taking stands for honesty. Now, this guy may not be the most tactful, but he did say two very true things.

1. "Israel is paranoid." Duh. Justified or not, it is a paranoid country.

2. "Sharon is a lout." Actually, this is being kind. Sharon is a war criminal. But he has to be at least a lout to be one, eh?

(btw, I'm not anti-Semitic - I like Arabs and Jews. It's the Israeli government on the one side, and the militants Arabs who attack civilians on the other, that I cannot stand.)

[karlschneider]

7. Yeah, well I'm no ambassador (for obvious reasons) but I'd say Dubya

is a paranoid lout. Which qualities are his better ones.

[legin]

9. What's this bit doing at the bottom of the article ?

• About 13,000 police officers, security personnel and volunteers fanned out across Israel yesterday to protect 1.5 million pupils returning to school after the summer holidays.

Hamas has vowed to avenge the recent killings of four activists in Israeli air strikes. The last incident was on Saturday night when rockets from an Israeli helicopter struck a car carrying two militants.

-------------------
I smell a journalistic trick here.

[QuietStorm]

15. I am not sure what you are alluding to but

we know it is all the arabs doing. the whole mess the result of the Arabs not willing to recognize the state. I often wonder why they should have the Israel state certainly did not hold much recognition of the indigenious Arab Palestinians in the area, did they.

The more this farce is allowed airing the more embedded the myths become and the harder coming to peace will be. As it is seems the only real solution is a "final solution". Like Israel EVER recognized the grievance of the indigenous Arabs. That there is any debate at all can be somewhat infuriating. Israel is in VIOLATION end of story. It just so happens however THE SAXONS have quite the investment to protect and Israel has nukes to use as blackmail.

On edit: Actually I digress the point of the post was to remind that France was boycotted by Sharon as a while back Chirac met with Arafat and at that time any leader that met with Arafat (including wang from China) was boycotted by Sharon. How idiotic it all is really, considering sidelining him has only made his presences that much stronger. It is what happens when important issues are ignored, Just like Palestinians Right to Return. Again, the whole affair is almost not worth the time to express opinion. This all could have been rectified decades ago, if one peace sham after another was called for what it was: Institutionalized Occupation and therefore vetoed upon submission as inadequate as a proposal at all.

[Flying_Pig]

11. If the ambassador really did say this, ......

he has committed a serious diplomatic blunder, ....notwithstanding that his observations are essentially correct, especially about Sharon. Yet another reason to purchase more Vin du Rhone....... Viva la France!

[aquart]

13. Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean nobody's after you.

Some of the French have an ugly little problem. While some saved lives wherever they could, others let French Jews be rounded up and deported to death camps.

Hard to know which kind of Frenchman you'll encounter.

[Tinoire]

21. It's about time world politicians andleaders start calling Sharon

what he is! And then maybe we can all get on to the business of peace. Sharon is the biggest obstacle to peace and to the peace of mind of the world. Between him and Bush, the world is on the edge of a catastrophe.

The real world the French ambassador used was "voyou" which basically means "thug"; lout is simply too elegant of a translation and too British-polite; the word was thug.

The last 2 US Ambassadors we sent to Israel were insulted as Jew-boys to their face by members of the Knesset. 1 almost came to physical blows with his Israeli insulter. But not a peep about that. Not a peep about the utter disrespect to a US Ambassador!

But let the French call Sharon what he is, and people get in a tizzy. The guy is an international right-wing thug. No one in this forum should be rushing to his defense or heaping one word of scorn on the French for saying this.

I applaud him. And when they print what the French say of Bush I shall applaud just as loud. Because both of them are right-wing thugs who stand for everything Democrats and Progressives and Liberals hate.

Everyone should be cheering loudly. As loudly as we will cheer when people start calling Bush what he is.

[lindashaw]

25. I'm cheering! :)

[Flying_Pig]

28. "Two Thugs In A Hug"

<>

[Classical_Liberal]

24. Bullshit!

Hitler invaded France ruled the northern part of the country outrtight and set up a dictator in the South, and the French fought the best they could.

[Kemet]

29. Well the ones you are refering to

Are either very old or dead. It should make it easier for you.
And NO there is no perticular antisemitism problem in france. There was, like there was in the whole europe 60 years ago.

[goforit]

16. Way to go France!!!!............Tell it like it is!!!

What will happen after they choose to bomb the nuclear
plant Busherh in Iran?

Paranoid is just an understatement!

[Buns_of_Fire]

17. gt a gd jb wth mo pa

If you can read the above sentence, you, too can learn to tick off entire continents at the
George W. Bush School of International Diplomacy!
Congratulations to our most recent graduate, Gerard Araud!

[legin]

18. .

:evilgrin:

[JNelson6563]

23. that's almost as rich as when

Canada called Bush an asshole.

I've always had a thing for Canada.

Julie

[Jacobin]

26. One out of two ain't bad.

Sharon is clearly a lout.

I don't think the paranoid thing fits, since the Palestinians are out to get Israel. Of course, Israel is "out to get" the Palestinians, too.

[NashVegas]

27. Well That's One Way to Establish a Diplomatic Foot

LMAO.