if you said to be israelis, here are the israeli terms approval? it be said to the palestinians and you want peace, people would say of course. the public is they're just like the public is here. they're able to hold and convey contradictory views at the same time. they say that we want peace. we wanted on our terms. the challenge and the task of leadership is to reconcile those two conflicting demands. we can do it in a way that can make it possible for the other side to accept it. can i tell one more story c. debate. when i was senate majority leader, the first president bush was in office. the budget. we spent months and even went to the air force base and isolated ourselves in the hope that isolation went into is compromise. it did not. i used to go back to maine every weekend. there is a large crowd. i did not give speeches. i just a questions. the first guy got up andhe delivered a scathing denunciation of me, saying how there's they were at my behavior. it was too much fighting. settle it with him? the crowd reacted with a huge thunderous ov

you referred the question i think most israelis generally would be. really happy with their support even the few who support. republican presidential candidates i don't think they really follow the nuances or statements of the different candidates but only you know what he's doing with these republican candidates is that these candidates have realized the recognize the fact that all these talk about. sustainable situation. about the fact that we need to achieve peace now or tomorrow all these talk that the israelis says to believe in because they all think that. right now is not something that is really viable they see within the republican party the kind of candidates the do understand the complications we have here really saying in there again patiently injury is that all i mean for achieving peace i think it will not get us. closer and here's a quote here i mean you can't say he has any idea what he's talking about it all as a matter of fact when he talked later on c.n.n. he wouldn't even use dates because he doesn't even know the dates of the conf

palestinian conflict or is it gross pandering to the israeli lobby in the us is this the kind of support of israel in america's national interest and in the end is it in the national interest of israel and its future. to cross-talk the g.o.p.'s backing of israel i'm joined by small rosner in tel aviv he's a senior political editor of the jewish journal and a fellow at the jewish people policy institute and in washington we cross to sarah wildman she's a journalist and a foreign policy correspondent for politics daily dot com all right folks this is crosstalk that means you can jump in anytime you want but first let's listen to what some republican contenders for the presidency have said about israel. for decades station of israel has ranked high on the u.s. foreign policy agenda and has continuously come into play during the campaigning of presidential candidates this year the matter has received no less attention from the republican candidates with an overwhelming majority of them proffering endless support for israel i will travel to israel on my first foreign trip. i will reaffirm as

reason it's not it's not just the israelis is the. country is. also the is the only country in this region that stands for. many of the values that americans tend to appreciate like democracy and liberalism and such other values so i do agree with the issue of being a non muslim countries probably contributes to the support israel gets from americans but i don't think you should put all of it on this factor alone. would you agree with that i mean because people criticize israel for a lack of values in the growing lack of values the way to palestinians are treated within israel the the occupation of the of the west bank the recent slaughter of the palestinians in gaza i mean these are not american values or maybe they're george bush values ok neo con values. well i do think that of course this is about a marriage and going back to the idea of it being a domestic political scenario this is a marriage between neo cons evangelicals and you know small but influential group of more conservative jewish voters and of course jewish voters tend to be liber

or to germany and artie's come here live from moscow the first talks between israeli and palestinian negotiators in over a year have ended with no breakthrough jordan's foreign minister who hosted the meeting said negotiations were held in a positive atmosphere at the latest marty is policy joining us now live from tel aviv paula good to see you so some it might seem no surprise that there's no breakthrough being made here in advance of the meeting both sides some feeling of pessimism but as we say no breakthrough or any information from your end on the major stumbling points in the negotiations. well as you say these talks between israelis and palestinians with representatives of the mideast quartet and the jordanian government have ended with no major breakthrough and that was to be expected the stumbling blocks the positions that both israelis and palestinians hold the major position being that of cement construction it's interesting that today tuesday while these talks were happening in the jordanian capital here in israel the israeli administration and nouns that it was issuing

well as you say these talks between the israelis and palestinians with representatives. from the jordanian government have ended with no major breakthrough and that was to be expected the stumbling blocks the positions that both israelis and palestinians hold the major position being that statement construction it's interesting that today tuesday while these talks were happening in the jordanian capital here in israel the israeli administration announced that it was issuing full three hundred new homes to be built across the green line so you hearing again from the palestinians that there is no real commitment from the israeli side to stop with the statement building this is on the table really issues of security issues of borders with palestinians again reiterate to make or the israelis to withdraw to the one nine hundred sixty seven borders to release all palestinian prisoners as an indication that they are serious about direct talks they have been no direct talks for more than a year the issues on the table of course coming from the israeli side is that they want to s

and there is an interesting problem, also, with the israelis -- the pakistanis and israelis. there's an interesting problem with israeli nuclear weapons. the israelis have them, presumably, to defend themselveses, right, incling against the iranians, right? >> rose: right. >> now, it seems that the israelis feel their nuclear deterrent doesn't deterrent iranians, right? maybe they should offer to give it up if the iranians give theirs up. if it's useless,hy have it? i'm proposing this essentially as an argument because i know it won't be taken seriously, but the point is that we're dealing here with a volatile problem which volves a series of cotryes, butf there is an eruption, we will be the ones who will be making the sacrifices and pay all the costs and suffer the consequences. >> rose: is it likely the israelis would strike, in your judgment, even-- if it was not imminent-- >> it's a long way off. >> rose: a long way off. and if they made that decision, would they inform the united states? what would they do? >> my guess is if they were going to strike, they would strike

it must come from israelis.as always conscious of the fact i spent five years and on could northern ireland and to in the middle east. i was always conscious of the fact that when it was over i am going home and they are staying here. they have to make those decisions. what we have to do is to help create the context in which to make those decisions. i believe that no other entity than the united states. it will help them accomplish at that task. >> as president obama like israel? >> i think he does. i think he is very determined, absolutely determined to protect israel and to make certain that the american commitment is maintained. it implies more than the words themselves. let me respond intelligence cooperation is the best it has ever been. they announced the largest ever exercise is focused on missile defense. that is the root problem. president obama authorized over $200 million to assist in a more rapid development and deployment of the anti-missile system. i have a very good relationship with israeli lead

israeli activists say tel aviv has diminished chances of. peace in the middle east after breaking a settlement of building records on palestinian soil in two thousand and eleven the israeli government's created thousands of new homes on occupied land despite widespread international condemnation and in israel itself people who speak out against the construction are being bulldozed and saudis paula slip reports from tel aviv. gershon baskin is a wanted man in israel for his outspoken views against the government's policy of settlement expansion it's ironic because if it wasn't for those left wing israeli activist it's doubtful israel would have secured a recent prisoner swap that so israeli soldier gilad shalit exchanged for palestinian prisoners after five years in captivity gershon says it was his contacts within him us that allowed the two sides to reach an agreement but now a controversial so-called boycott law threatens to find the post while hero if he steps out of line the appeal to the public is an arab appeal. and there is a competit

does it have the fingerprints of an israeli industry? >> it has to be the israelis. political leaders. you look at the target and you look at the capabilities. it's not american. there is no lethal finding against iran. the israelis, as far as i can see, are trying to provoke the iranians into doing something. >> what would that -- that's always my question. consequences explained and consequences dealt with when they come. what could -- you know, we are vulnerable over there. we have an american over there just condemned to death for espionage. is that one of the assets brutally stated against us that they can execute him? would they go that far as payback for something like this assuming we had some role in knowing about this? >> they have done a couple things. they have hit the british embassy. overran it. they kidnapped this american ex-fbi agent. they can do a number of things. but what we're seeing is an escalation, chris. it's almost as if the intention is to get the iranians to fire a missile at an oil tanker in the strait of hormuz which would cause a wider

ourselves a favor by ignoring most of it all of this sadly i think is connected to israel and the israeli fear of iran for rhetorical reasons more than military ones it may be a war of words but actions are already showing thousands of u.s. troops are being deployed to israel an american citizen has been sentenced to death in the rand convicted of espionage iran might feel cornered and therefore make drastic moves right now it's in a war of words but one bullet shot and the powder keg can blow up the question is what's going to provide that deadly spark i'm going to check our reporting from washington r.t. . and in the latest developments the u.s. is sending another escorted aircraft carrier into the persian gulf saying it is a routine mission well to talk more on this i'm now joined by lindsey german from the war coalition in london so u.s. and u.k. warships are massing in and around the persian gulf at the moment thousands of u.s. troops in israel well that some of these are officially described as routine moves but clearly there is a lot of pressure on iran at the moment is it justifie

if you said to any israeli, "here is peace" enlisted the israeli terms, you would get close to 100% approvalhe said the same to palestinians, do they want peace on palestinian terms, they would say the same. the public their dislike the public here are able to convey victories used at the same time. what they say to their leaders is they want peace but what it on their terms. the challenge and task of leadership is to reconcile those conflicting demands in a way that can make it possible for the other side to accept it. can i tell one more story? >> you have the floor. >> thank you. >> it is relevant to the current debate. when i was set a majority leader, the first president bush was in office, and we had a terrific fight over the budget in 1990. we spent months. we even went to the andrews air force base and isolated ourselves in the vain hope the isolation would induce compromise, which it did not. i used to go back to maine every weekend and hold town meetings. after a couple of months, i went back, there was a large crowd, disproportionately elderly, as they tend to be on these congress

a number of these missiles like an israeli towns and villages but it seems to me that the israelis are exaggerating the number of these. missiles and the range of these missiles and it seems to me that the israeli army is trying to fund more just of occasions to launch. more offensive or more attacks against. the palestinians to a poor boy a diplomat in jerusalem moves more settlements being built it suggests preventing european firms from doing business connected with them how likely is the to impose such a ban do you think. could you said the question one more time please yeah i'm a reporter but you diplomats in jerusalem is warning that more settlements are going to be built it suggests preventing european firms from doing business is connected with anyone involved in the settlement building how likely is the to impose that bond and go along with it do you think. well you know i was as you just mentioned duct of the israeli government has been accelerating the number of settlement expansion in the palestinian territories in the west bank and and is jerusalem and this israeli settlem

jordan is set to host the first bilateral meeting between israeli and palestinian negotiators in more than a year it's considered a last ditch attempt to revive direct peace talks aimed at creating an independent palestinian state let's now get the latest details from artie's paula slayer in tel aviv what can we actually expect from this initial meeting. well both sides have played down any kind of expectation that there will be a breakthrough in these talks saying that these will not lead to direct negotiations and should not be confused to be done in direct negotiations themselves jordanian diplomat said that these talks will not solve anything although they do bring a new energy to the table the israeli defense minister who put it this way he said that these are negotiations about negotiations now the last time that israelis and palestinians sat down around the negotiating table was more than a year ago this time around they will be representatives from both israelis and palestinians they will be representatives from the quartet as well as the jordanian foreign minister they will b

what i do not find -- or what i lack more and more not only among israeli leadership, but the israelis the feeling that something can be changed, that still, we can take our destiny in our hands. there's growing apathy which is used and abused by elements who have interests to fill this gap. there's a feeling that no matter what we do, even if we do nothing, nothing can change the fact we have no partner, and that our future is in existential danger, as if we're totally passive and have no way to influence the situation of change in any way. this is something that is really hard for me to accept. i think, you know, israel was created so that we shall never be victims again, never victims of the bad will or good will of others. we came to a place that we should be able to generate its reality, and look at us today. having israel with all the achievements, which are amazing, no less than dead, there is something great about what we have achieved in israel starting with the democracy, yessing you -- yes, you know, most of the people polled in israel, the first years of israel, they came f

and israeli intelligence for the killing of a nuclear scientist in teheraran. mostafa ahmadi-roshan died when a motorcyclist place a bomb on his car. this is the fourth attack on an iranian nuclear scientists in the course of the last couple of years. for more on this now we speak with mohsen asgari. >> 8:030 in the morning a bomb was placed on the car of this lecturer at the university, and a 32-year-old engineer working at the nuclear site. iran has blamed the attacks on americans and israelis in the same way they have done so far in the last year's. one man [unintelligible] he was trained by the israeli intelligence service. [unintelligible] iran has achieved considerable progress in the nuclear program. they buare trying to say tha is why america is trying to kill the iranian scientists. >> that was not a good line. in spite of these assassinations of scientists, progress on the nuclear program will not stop, which is the word from the vice- president. >> no surprise. when we have had these attacks before, iran has said this will not stop us at all. we have

as it has in history carry out regime change in iran was the main issue discussed by american and israeli military officials when they met friday with washington opposing any unilateral israeli action against nuclear sites but as polar sleeper reports it's not only around that fear is a military strike people in israel are also on a much. from this rather spartan recording studio in jerusalem one israeli jew has been reaching out to people in iran for fifty two years ties between tel aviv in tehran off a bit in but it's never stopped menasha amir from reading the news in farsi every night and hosting a weekly show for listeners in the persian world to share the views he thinks around a million rain ians tune in and the topic they most want to talk about the possibility of a foreign attack on iran and they are very much afraid that the iranian nuclear installations will be bombed by foreign powers where they're israel or the united states or any other country but it's not only be rainy and her suspicious of israel or america taking action people here in israel since something's in the air

the israelis got their nukes partly from the united states. so i think this, i think the united states should engage the iranians to try to prevent them from going nuclear. i'm not sure they want to go nuclear. i don't think the american intelligence agencies have no firm data that they're going nuclear, so i would engage them. i would take a look at that turkish brazil proposal, you know? and also, look, they're not a threat to the united states of america. for heaven sakes. we've got thousands of nuclear weapons -- >> host: they haven't invaded anybody in 250 years. >> guest: exactly. >> host: but they have been invaded by saddam with our backing. >> guest: with our support. [laughter] >> host: i mean, put the shoe on the other foot. they're scared, though, they're scared of us. >>ing well, i think they are, and they were very apprehensive when this story broke. it was -- i bet they thought there was a pretest for the americans to come after them. >> host: yeah. >> guest: but, you know, look, let's take the israelis, they got hundreds of ato

because the palestinians believe anti-israeli, anti-zionists believe the israelis race that claim on king david, and so on. this is why it's such a broad subject, and so viciously debated in israel among israeli archaeologists for a start. but what do we actually know essentially? well, we know that david did exist because of the inscription found in 1993 by an israeli. refers to israel as the house, the kingdom of israel, the house of david. this is dated early, about 101 and 50 years ago. after david's death. so we know that david was a historical character, but that's pretty much all we know. now, in the archaeology, trouble is with david. inmost archaeology which you don't find isn't held against you. you simply use which define. you understand that archaeology is really like shining a flashlight, or striking a match thousands of years ago, and in that moment he can sometimes find that for some reason with that. so in the city of david, original city of jerusalem, there is very little, maybe one or two buildings that are exactly the david perry. but we also know from new fines in

the israelis have a hundred bombs. they're the ones running the planes out to gibraltar on test runs and running them into greece. if i were the iranians, i would be looking very closely at that, quite frankly. and what, i mean, i don't know that the iranians are going to do that, suppose they did build a nuclear bomb. the turks would build one, the saudis would get one. what advantage do you get from doing that? >> host: yeah. >> guest: if i were an iranian, i'd say i don't know what we get from this, fella. maybe a year or two we've got a bomb longer than the turks, but that's it. >> host: and as you said, they would be annihilated. >> guest: the israelis would put that nuclear force on a hair trigger. >> host: yep. you've come out for a palestinian state long ago. >> guest: right. [laughter] >> host: it's what -- when you first said the israeli lobby's powerful in congress like who's going to deny that -- >> guest: right, right. >> host: behind the resolution. do you know what's interesting? in 60 some years since i

ourselves a favor by ignoring most of it all of this sadly i think is connected to israel and the israeli fear of iran for rhetorical reasons more than military ones it may be a war of words but actions are already showing thousands of u.s. troops are being deployed to israel an american citizen has been sentenced to death in the rand convicted of espionage iran might feel cornered and therefore make drastic moves right now it's in a war of words but one bullet shot and the powder keg can blow up the question is what's going to provide that deadly spark i'm going to check our reporting from washington our team. meantime iran is blaming america and israel for the assassination of a nuclear scientist and terror on on wednesday further destabilizing the delicate situation columnist and a veteran of war correspondent eric margolis believe tehran is willing to retaliate but it's being cautious as it doesn't want to spark a worldwide conflict. it's either israel did the killing murder and the united states certainly didn't condemn israel for doing it and gave its assets through a major financia

military official currently in tel aviv doing his israeli counterparts and the israeli government likes to portray or make an appearance of you know close relations and no problems between the two governments particularly when somebody of that stature from the american government is in their country the truth of the matter there are serious and deep divisions over the iran issue between the israeli government and the iranian government and that's why general dempsey is there right now to try to figure out what those differences are and how to bridge the gap there's a lot of talk also right now i think it's fair to say from both sides of the aisle politically speaking that president obama should not negotiate meet with talk with . or anyone else you know at the high levels of the iranian government however there is talk i'm sure you've heard of this this letter that the obama administration apparently sent to iran to ayatollah khomeini that says first of all that closing down the strait of hormuz is a red line that it shouldn't happen but also that you know offer to talk so you know the

it must come from israelis.as always conscious of the fact i spent four -- five years and on could northern ireland and to in the middle east. i was always conscious of the fact that when it was over i am going home and they are staying here. they have to make those decisions. what we have to do is to help create the context in which to make those decisions. i believe that no other entity than the united states. it will help them accomplish at that task. >> as president obama like israel? >> i think he does. it implies more than the words themselves. let me respond intelligence cooperation is the best it has ever been. they announced the largest ever exercise is focused on missile defense. that is the root problem. it can and a more rapid development of deployment. i have a very good relationship with israeli leaders. quite scary quickly if you can, if you have gotten to know the lead -- >> very quickly if you can, you've got to know the leaders. describe the most likable characteristic of netanyahu. >> prime mi

and the israelis gave me ask are you seriously suggesting that iran was not working on nuclear weapons development it's pretty clear that they were you asked me what does iran have to do they have to use questions and then they'll have to point is marrone can we know you're going to get to the new line nuclear facilities and you are asked me what there is because i still can i just hear what they have to do in accordance with the i.a.e.a. rules no. mark thing i honestly thought i thought all these things when i'm president i'll start on the time they go to. head to head banking. thank you the united states just from we know it's on the table receives twenty five percent of its funding from the united states the i.a.e.a. basically kowtows to american foreign policy is a political tool even of that it did not say that he ran his weaponized thing so i don't know marc you may have information you would like to share with the i.a.e.a. that's not not from the terrorist cult that mossad and israel are supporting them which i had enough and america is considering of the listing as a foreign te