It is not unusual for the State Department not to issue a public schedule on weekends unless the Secretary of State is on foreign travel. Then they sometimes send out a schedule of events on a Saturday or Sunday. So it is not a surprise that her events of yesterday were not posted by DOS. Yesterday was not the first time that she arrived in DC after a whirlwind trip to spend the evening hosting the Kennedy Center Gala Dinner, but, it appears, there was more to her day than that. According to this article from Arutz Sheva, she delivered an address at the Saban Forum yesterday, and not everyone liked it! (This would explain why her page at Daylife has Bibi all over it! – I will not put him here, though.)
MKs Tell Clinton to ‘Mind your Own Business’
By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
First Publish: 12/4/2011, 12:12 PM
Clinton speaking at Saban ForumIsrael news photo: US State DepartmentU.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton switched from foreign to domestic issues to put down Israel Saturday, expressing worries over “anti-democratic” proposals. Knesset Member Uri Ariel suggests that Secretary of State mind her own business, and two Cabinet ministers said the same, in more patronizing language.
Speaking at the Saban Forum in Washington, Clinton alleged that Israel is showing signs of becoming anti-democratic because of a recent bill proposing limits on foreign funding of local NGOs and for allegedly trying to exclude women from public life in Israel.
One of the issues she addressed was the practice by some bus lines, used by many hareidi passengers, of segregating men and women on buses which she likened to the Jim Crow practice in the South of relegating black people to the back of the bus, a practice famously challenged, as she noted, by the great Rosa Parks.
Another issue that drew her concern was the military practice of excusing hareidi men from events where a woman is singing. Hareidi claim the issue is one of modesty, the same issue that prompted orthodox publications in the U.S. to exclude key female players from this photo.
No one should be surprised that any state where women are being shunted to the margins would draw the attention of HRC. She will speak up against it. The (male) Knesset members who objected to her remarks seem unaware that HRC meets with women in every country she visits and always comments on the necessity and wisdom of including women in all aspects and functions of civil society without restrictions or prejudice. It is not considered domestic interference that she makes these remarks. Social, economic, and educational parity for women and girls is her signature issue. She will speak to it whenever and wherever it is denied.
It is somewhat odd that the DOS published no public schedule, since clearly she had one, and has not published the Secretary’s remarks since she was not speaking as a private individual, but as Secretary of State. The photo used in the article was issued by the State Department according to the credit. Should the transcript become available, I will post it separately.
EDITED TO ADD:
Ha! I was going to mention Tzipi Livni in the original post. In the Jerusalem Post, she comes down solidly on Hillary’s side.
Livni defends Clinton criticism of Israel democracy
By HERB KEINON
12/04/2011 19:43Steinitz says concerns are ‘exaggerated,’ calls Israel a ‘Living, breathing, kicking liberal democracy’
Kadima leader Tzipi Livni defended US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s criticism of the current state of Israeli democracy, saying Sunday that Clinton’s concern needs to “awaken those still blind to the ugly wave washing over Israel from inside.”
Livni’s comments came after several government ministers, on their way to Sunday’s cabinet meeting, took Clinton to task for comments attributed to her at a closed session of the Saban Forum in Washington on Saturday attended by, among others, Livni and Intelligence Agencies Minister Dan Meridor.
Still4Hill 
I have just one question, when will she start speaking out against the 3,000 Honor killings in the UK, and the continued stoning of women in the muslim world? there was a young woman who was just stoned to death for having entered a beauty pageant. I don’t know, i would think that stonings would be much more abusive to a woman than whether or not a guy can be in the same room when a woman is singing. Help me out here on this will ya.
This admin has been SILENT on these such issues as far as i can tell.
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I believe the silence stems from the fact that these acts are not being accepted by the British government. They are criminal acts which, I assume, are being invrstigated and prosecuted accordingly. The creeping marginalizing of women in Israel is an issue that is becoming more accepted and even has some level of institutional support (in reference to the army events). That’s why I believe the Secretary spoke out on this. I have no way of knowing if I’m correct, but that’s my feeling.
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Excellent points. Thank you.
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Your welcome. :)000
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You bring up a good point,and ask an important question that I, alas, cannot answer since I in no way have access to the SOS, her agenda, or the briefings she receives. Certainly this falls within the realm of her concerns.
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Any time any US political or diplomatic figure dares to do anything but fall all over themselves to praise Israel for something or other, a fit is pitched. A real friend is able to point out their friend’s mistakes without getting all huffy. Tzipi Livni in right on the money with her comments.
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The fact that these men tried to minimize the importance of her remarks simply proves her point. I wish DOS would publish the transcript.
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I doubt they will. It might anger Israel further. If they can complain about some unknown comments, they seem marginally more credible than if they were trying to defend specific types of discrimination which would sound, in this country, completely ridiculous at best.
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Hmmmm… making the whole affair very unusual! They publish every speech at every organization and even every TV interview. Completely outside normal operations if they don’t publish this.
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Nobody wants another “this administration is anti-Israel” discussion. That said, and given my limited understanding of the Freedom of Information Act, if someone askes for it, they’d have to release it barring something like the disscusion of topics vital to national security and I really don’t that would be the case here.
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Actually I take it back. If this is going to get a decent amount of coverage tommorrow, the transcript will probably be released. News agencies will want to know what she said so they can parce it out and pontificate as pundits do.
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Then par for the course might be releasing a Saturday public schedule – late – and the transcript – late. That would not be unusual.
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