There's plenty of outrage to go around as Romney

Let’s give credit where credit is due.  Mr Nowhere was finally able to pull off his chance to capitalize on his Olympics connection when he commemorated the Israeli athletes killed in Munich 40 years ago.  The only problem is that shining moment took place on Israeli soil, instead of the long anticipated realtime spotlight he sought to bask in during his stop-over in London. 

The press-impoverished Tisha B’Av fundraising break-fast (LOL) was scheduled for the solemn fast holy day that marks the destruction of the Jerusalem temples and commemorates Holocaust victims.  Mitt decided not to heed advice given to him before the trip against the timing of the event, instead believing he could sneak in a low-key quasi-violation of the fast by not serving refreshments until a few brief moments after the 24-hour observance expired on Sunday.  He failed to realize he was expecting the host hotel and its employees to BREAK THE LAW against opening eating facilities on Tisha B’Av.  His cultural misstep appalled Israel's “little people,” who found his arrogant disregard for the centuries-old tradition immensely gauche, to put it mildly.  Laws and little people don’t count is the takeaway, especially when it involves 40 super-ubers and a million bucks. 

In a related development, comments he made at the fundraiser select few reporters picked up on renewed "racist" charges previously explored in London.  This time the statement did not come from an anonymous source, but rather fell straight out of the horse's mouth.  His utterly oblivious lack of awareness of political and economic factors arising from 60 years of occupation (a subject for another thread) were also reflected when he said, "As you come here and you see the GDP per capita, for instance, in Israel which is about $21,000 dollars, and compare that with the GDP per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality. 

Then the arrogance of ethnocentric bigotry reared it ugly head when he lifted a quote out of context from another author, who was applying the concept to something entirely unrelated to the occupied terrotories:  "...if you can learn anything from the economic history of the world, it's this: Culture makes all the difference. Culture makes all the difference".  The repetitious emphasis reminds me of the "special x2" we found in his aide's one-sentence Anglo-Saxon boo-boo. 

This drew a swift response from Palestine's chief executive committee (peace) negotiator Sa'eb Ekekat:  "This man, before he came here, he should have got some education about Israelis, Palestinians, and the region," Erekat said. "The Romney statements on Jerusalem and the racist statements about the Israeli culture being superior to the Palestinian culture reflect someone who needs to be educated, who needs knowledge. His statements are serving those extremist in the region now, and will serve extremists unfortunately."

In addition to Netanyahu’s mandated party opposition snub Romney dutifully obeyed, there was another meeting that actually took place that didn’t go over so well.   The fact that Mittwit failed to mention the peace process, the #1 cornerstone of US-Israel foreign policy for decades, was not lost on Israel’s occupied Palestinian population (also not mentioned), who were enraged at his plan to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem and his proclamation that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.  Mr. Erekat, quite naturally, found Romney's hubris “absolutely unacceptable” as well. 

This red-meat pander also put Salam Fayyad, Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority (who graciously decided NOT to cancel the scheduled meeting) in an extremely awkward position.  His meeting with Mr Bean has incensed Fayyad's previous supporters and, more than likely, will ultimately cost the Prime Minister his career in politics.  Oh, by the way, peaceful resolution of the occupation would not only diffuse Iran’s alleged motivation to attack Israel, it would also take the wind out of the sails of Al-Quaeda’s main recruitment tool.      

Though this may not phase partisan conservative US voters much, the rest of the world, like Karl Rove after London, is left shaking their heads.   

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/07/30/romney-israel-jerusalem.html

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/romney-calling-jerusalem-israel-s-capital-is-unacceptable-says-erekat-1.454662

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=279421