White House apology after Obama adviser makes 'Jewish merchant' joke to room full of Jews... LOL

[MikeWB]

gb1i20cy]

White House apology after Obama adviser makes 'Jewish merchant' joke to room full of Jews
By MAIL FOREIGN SERVICE
Last updated at 11:40 AM on 27th April 2010

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The White House has been forced to issue an apology after an adviser to Barack Obama caused a furore with a Jewish merchants joke.

National Security adviser Jim Jones was speaking to the pro-Israeli think tank Washington Insitute for Near East Policy when he made the joke about a Jewish merchant and a Taliban fighter.

The joke was met with laughter as General Jones, a former Nato Supreme Allied Commander, delivered it at the gala celebrating the 25th anniversary of the think tank yesterday.

Scroll down to see video of Mr Jones telling the joke


To be funny, or not to be funny: National Security Adviser James Jones, shown here in 2004 in his role as Nato Supreme Allied Commander

But not everyone in the audience found it funny - in particular one anonymous audience member who happened to be a member of the Anti-Defamation League, an international non-governmental organisation that protects against anti-Semitism.

The League complained and the White House did not include the joke in its official transcript of the event.

Anti-Defamation League head Abraham Foxman said the joke was 'insensitive', 'inappropriate' and 'stereotypic'.

'I wish that I had not made this off-the-cuff joke at the top of my remarks, and I apologize to anyone who was offended by it,' General Jones said.

WHAT WAS THE JOKE?
The lost Taliban fighter had been wandering the desert searching for water when he came across the Jewish merchant's shop, Mr Jones explained.

When he asked for water, the merchant said he had none - but offered to sell the Taliban a tie.

The Taliban launched into a stream of curses, at the end of which the Jewish merchant told him that over the hill was a restaurant where he could find water.

Still muttering, the Taliban headed off towards the hill. An hour later, he was back at the shop.

He said: 'Your brother says I need a tie to get into the restaurant.'

'It also distracted from the larger message I carried that day: that the United States commitment to Israel's security is sacrosanct.'

When ABC News asked a Jewish member of Congress for a response to the situation, he replied: 'Lighten up'.

The furore came as U.S. President Barack Obama assured Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak yesterday of Washington's 'unshakeable' commitment to the Jewish state's security, despite tensions over Israeli settlement building.

Mr Obama also told Mr Barak, who was at the White House for a meeting with General Jones, that he remained determined to achieve comprehensive peace in the Middle East, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Israel's main opposition party said on Monday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government had quietly frozen approval of Jewish housing projects in East Jerusalem in a bid to heal the rift with Washington and coax Palestinians into peace talks.

This followed the conclusion on Sunday of a three-day peace mission by Mr Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who said he would return to the region next week.

The Obama administration's peace moves have been stymied by a dispute with Israel's right-leaning government over settlement construction in and around Jerusalem and by divisions among the Palestinians.

 
More...
Israel 'quietly halts construction of controversial settlements in East Jerusalem after pressure from US'
'The president reaffirmed our unshakeable commitment to Israel's security and our determination to achieve comprehensive peace in the Middle East, including a two-state solution,' Mr Gibbs told reporters, saying Mr Obama had 'dropped by' the meeting between Mr Barak and General Jones.

Though Mr Netanyahu has insisted publicly he would not curb Jewish housing projects anywhere in Jerusalem, including the Israeli-annexed predominantly Arab eastern section, Israeli legislator Roni Bar-On of the centrist Kadima party said there had been a de facto freeze.

An Israeli government spokesman said there had been no fundamental change in government policy.

[Ognir]

I uploaded that last night on ConCen and 1 of the retards deleted it, must not have liked that i called the torrent "A Jewish Joke" :lol:

[VoltaXebec]

'...the United States commitment to Israel's security is sacrosanct.'

Now that's the real insult.

[VoltaXebec]

Gilad Atzmon puts my thoughts into words.

Seemingly,  Foxman and other Jewish leaders demanded General Jones apologize for something that they see in themselves, rather than something the General himself suggested or said.

However, a deeper reading of Jones' joke reveals the embarrassing fact that it is not the 'swindling' attempt that reflects so badly on the Jewish tie vendor. It is actually the lack of human compassion. In the joke the tie vendor would not give water to a thirsty man who lost his way in the desert. In the joke, greed eclipses humanity. As much as this idea depicts a pretty harsh stereotypical reading of Jewish identity, such an interpretation is reasonable and even legitimate considering the crimes against humanity performed by the Jewish state in the name of the Jewish people. The starvation of 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza is one example of such a lack of humanist consciousness. Again. I wouldn't think that this is what General Jones had in his mind when telling the joke. However, it is more than likely that once the Zionist crowd stopped chuckling, they grasped the similarity between themselves and the Jewish vendor.

A further critical reading of Jones' joke would also bring to light a sharp criticism of Jewish tribal brotherhood in the context of Western politics. In the joke two Jewish brothers look after each other regardless of any human or universal concern. In the joke, two Jewish merchants collaborate in the torture and exploitation of a thirsty man in the middle of the desert. It is a blatant tale of tribal nepotism. Again, considering the extensive and relentless work done by Jewish lobbies to support their brothers in Israel and bearing in mind the endless Neocon attempt to drag us all into wars, Jones' joke should be taken as more than a whiff of witty criticism.

http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/welcome ... tzmon.html

[maz]

The joke was actually pretty funny, but what was even more funny was that Atzmon says that Jones wasn't allowed in the Jewish comedy club. I can't help but thinking that this was done on purpose to insult the lobby.

[brandon dean]

gotta watch out for those secretive ADL members in the zionist audience.  lesson learned, gen. jones?  

methinks general jones' gentile ass got a little too comfortable with the tribe.  don't make the mistake that you're one of them, and can joke like you're at home buddy.

I just don't understand these people whose careers stand or fall on one faux pa.  remember that german female journalist who had the audacity to compare something to the holocaust?  she got fired, and APOLOGIZED ANYWAY!  how does one live their entire life worried about what people will think or do about what they say? I couldn't do it.  I would literally throw it all away for one chance to stick it to the ziojew...  guess that's why I could never be "one of them."

this is just hilarious though.  who didn't see the mandatory apology coming?