WATCH: Clinton sends Israel Independence Day greeting

Last update - 19:48 19/04/2010
By Natasha Mozgovaya,
Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service


The United States will continue to stand by Israel through its many challenges, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday, on the occasion of Israel's 62nd Independence Day, adding that Washington was determined to reach a comprehensive Middle East peace agreement.

In a video message posted on the State Department website, Clinton said, in a possible reference to remaining tensions over Iran's contentious nuclear program, that while "Israel today is confronting some of the greatest challenges in its history," its "promise and potential have never been greater."

"The United States will continue to stand with you, sharing your risks and helping shoulder your burdens, as we face the future together," the U.S. secretary of State added.

Clinton also stressed what she called her "deep personal commitment to Israel," one she claimed to have shared with U.S. President Barack Obama, adding that Washington would "not waver in protecting Israel's security and promoting Israel's future."

"That is why pursuing peace and recognized borders for Israel is one of our top priorities," Clinton said, adding that she believed it was "possible - indeed necessary - to achieve a comprehensive peace in the Middle East that provides Israelis, Palestinians, and all the people of the region security, prosperity, and the opportunity to live up to their full God-given potential."

Meanwhile, Washington celebrated Israel's Independence Day early, at a ceremony that was too to be held at the embassy itself and was moved to a distant location near the Capitol. The event, held last Thursday, was replete with kebabs and hummus.

Among the guests were Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's national security adviser Uzi Arad and envoy Michael Oren, along with other Israeli diplomats and academics, and American officials including Obama adviser David Axelrod and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, National Security Council member Dan Shapiro and AIPAC President Lee Rosenberg.

When did Americans vote to include Israel as "best friend" and virtual 51st state? I don't recall ever voting for this very strange relationship we have with Israel, one of the most U.N. resolution violating, militarily aggressive and oppressive governments on earth. What has Israel ever done for us except be a cause of worldwide Islamic hatred for America's blind support of Israeli acts of land stealing, occupation and oppression of the native Palestinian peoples? This kow towing to Israeli leaders no matter how illegally and immorally they act by US leaders like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama disgusts me as an American citizen despite being of Jewish descent. I've just returned from a second trip to Israel and Palestine and didn't see anything that countered my own and very many other people's impressions of a militarily aggressive state bent on ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Palestine so Jewish immigrants mainly from Europe and America can grab their land for themselves. Protest this accommodation with a rogue state that refuses to comply with nuclear weapons inspections, refuses to comply with UN resolutions, refuses to recognize their guilt as foreign invaders taking away the land and life of native peoples.