Adelson Confidant: Christie Has No Understanding of Israel

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christie-chrisA confidant of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson has said that he cannot support New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in 2016 because he used the term “occupied territories” in discussing the West Bank in a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition.

“Gov. Christie either has no understanding of the truth of the issues effecting Israel, or he is hostile to Israel,” Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, told The Algemeiner an interview. “Either way, I am very uncomfortable.”

Klein, who has led the Zionist organization for 20 years, was referring to the embattled Republican governor’s March 29 speech at Adelson’s Venetian Resort and Hotel in Las Vegas. Christie was among several 2016 presidential hopefuls speaking at the coalition’s spring meeting.

A conservative Zionist who believes in a strong national defense, Adelson, 80, poured $98 million into the 2012 elections – and associates say he is seeking a 2016 presidential candidate with broad electoral appeal.

Adelson, with a net worth of $38 billion, recently placed eighth on the annual Forbes billionaires list.

In his speech, Christie described a trip he and his family took to Israel in 2012. The governor said that they “took a helicopter ride from the occupied territories across and just felt personally how extraordinary that was to understand, the military risk that Israel faces every day.”

The use of the term “occupied territories” immediately set off murmurs in the crowd, Politico reported.

The term refers to lands in which Palestinians live but where Israel maintains a military presence. The phrase is used in international diplomacy, but it is rejected by many conservative Zionists, who see it as validating Palestinian challenges over Israel’s presence.

In his interview, Klein told The Algemeiner that he approached Christie after the speech to inform him that the term was inaccurate and misleading.

“The term ‘occupied territories’ is a false term used by the enemies of Israel to make it sound like Israel has stolen Arab land,” Klein said he explained to the governor. “To be occupied, you have to have taken over someone’s legal sovereign area … the only two countries that the world recognizes in this area are Jordan and Israel.”

Klein told The Algemeiner that he had asked Christie whether he would instead use “disputed territory” in the future, but that the governor had only responded, “I saw you shaking your head when I used that term.”

He added: “When I gave him the opportunity to respond to me after I explained to him the truth about Judea and Samaria, the fact the he was dismissive and even caustic toward me tells me that he has no interest in understanding the truth of what is beneficial for Israel.”

Read more at Newsmax.

{Matzav.com}


1 COMMENT

  1. “The term ‘occupied territories’ is a false term used by the enemies of Israel to make it sound like Israel has stolen Arab land,”

    The term was first used by America by the administration of Lyndon Johnson, on April 8, 1968, when it warned Israel against settlements there.

    Lyndon Johnson saved Jews from the Shoah. He objected in writing to the Eisenhower Administration’s pressuring of Israel to withdraw from the Sinai and Gaza after the Suez War in return for nothing. And he leaked to Israel that US intelligence had found out that Egypt was going to attack in 1967, allowing Israel to stage its pre-emptive strike and win the Six Day War.

    The term is used by enemies AND friends of Israel because it is accurate.

    (And how can someone like Klein be called a supporter of Israel when he is constantly objecting to Israel’s foreign and defense policies?)

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