| Stumbles? She agreed with every word. The French at best despise the Israelis, and the French socialists would be pleased as punch to see Israel extirpated. |
Ségolène Royal, the French presidential candidate, was embroiled in a damaging row on a visit to the Middle East yesterday after appearing to condone a Hezbollah MP who denounced US “insanity” and compared Israel to the Nazis.
Ms Royal, the first woman with a realistic chance of winning the French presidency, was struggling to extricate herself from the controversy sparked by a meeting in Beirut with MPs, including Ali Ammar of Hezbollah.
| There's your first mistake, Ms. Royal: you're meeting with a known terrorist organization. |
In a 20-minute tirade Mr Ammar attacked “unlimited American insanity” for sending troops into Afghanistan and Iraq. He then said that Israeli “Nazism” was no better than Hitler’s Third Reich.
Ms Royal, who is on her first overseas trip since winning the Socialist Party primary, replied: “Thank you for being so frank. I agree with a lot of the things you have said, notably your analysis of the US.”
| She agreed with all the important parts. |
Her remark provoked a furore in France, where Philippe Douste-Blazy, the Foreign Minister, said that she had a simplistic vision of the Middle East. François Goulard, the Research Minister, said: “Ségolène Royal obviously doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
| To the contrary. She agreed with what was said. Take a poll in France, and a majority of Frenchmen would have agreed with what Ammar said. |
Ms Royal was trying to limit the damage last night. She said that her interpreter had failed to translate Mr AmmarÂ’s comparison between Israel and the Nazis. If he had, she would have walked out, she said.
Ms Royal went on to claim that she had not meant to attack Americans in general for insanity but only the Bush Administration over the war in Iraq.
| Euros rather miss the point that we in America don't separate our government from our people. Even in the Clinton years the man was my president. Insult our government and you insult us. |
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