Friday, May 22, 2009

Sometimes, Interviews Go Just Great

Over at Emmanual Navon's blog, "For the Sake of Zion":, I found this post:

I was interviewed today on RFI, France's international radio. The topic was Avigdor Lieberman's upcoming visit to Paris. It went, in substance, like this.

Question: How come Lieberman is not officially endorsing the two-state solution?

Answer: Why should Israel support a "solution" that keeps working in theory and failing in practice, and that is systematically rejected by the Palestinians? They rejected partition in 1937 and in 1947, showed no interest in establishing a state between 1949 and 1967, and rejected both the Camp David proposals and the Clinton parameters. They are now partially ruled by Hamas, which denies Israel's right to exist, and by Fatah, which denies Israel's right to be Jewish. Creating a Palestinian state while Hamas has the upper hand and Iran is about to become nuclear would pave the way to Israel's destruction, not to peace. The Palestinians have to choose between the "right of return" and the "two-state solution." And they will not be inclined to choose realism and compromise while backed, incited and manipulated by a nuclear Iran.

Silence.

Question: Hmm. Well, Lieberman's refusal to unequivocally endorse Palestinian statehood is probably why he's going to get a cold shoulder in Paris. Bernard Kouchner is not going to hold a join press conference with him. Isn't that understandable?

Answer: I don't remember your country giving a cold shoulder to a Turkish official for not accepting the creation of a Kurdish state or for not ending the occupation of Cyprus.

Silence # 2 (slightly longer this time).

Question: President Sarkozy will probably not receive Lieberman, obviously because of his views. How do you feel about this?

Answer: Sarkozy had no problem receiving Muammar Gaddafi at the Élysée Palace. How do you feel about that?

Silence # 3 (swiftly replaced by a "thank you very much," meaning "I think we'll stop here").

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