Two weeks have passed since the Gaza flotilla was assaulted. The reflexive, near instant reaction of the Obama White House was to give strong, blanket support to the Israeli government. Some hoped that reflection would produce a more thoughtful response that conforms to American interests and principles. It has not been forthcoming. Instead, the country's political establishment has rallied behind the administration. The story itself has faded into the background, eclipsed by the Gulf oil spill and other headline events of the moment.
That is unfortunate. For the White House's behavior has grave repercussions while exposing how politics as usual dictates momentous decisions. So let's speak straight from the shoulder. The stakes permit nothing less. The entire American position in the Greater Middle East, already shaky, risks lapsing into farce and failure. No amount of special pleading and spin can gainsay that harsh truth. Beyond that, our integrity as a nation and our ability to exercise the immense responsibilities that we carry abroad are endangered.
Obama's behavior on the Gaza flotilla hardly deserves the label policy, much less strategy. It signals an utter lack of coherence - intellectual, diplomatic or ethical. Its fecklessness raises the question of whether our leaders have the seriousness to be stewards of the nation's foreign relations. That sad state of affairs is suggested by the absence of a modicum of honesty about what was done and why. Indeed, it suggests that our leaders are not being honest with themselves. Are we to take seriously the declaration of Hillary Clinton that an Israeli inquiry (with or without international observers) meets the criterion of 'impartiality' laid down at the UNSC -- a claim repeated Sunday by the White House? Are we to take seriously Robert Gibb's repeated glib assertion that the White House sees no damage to its standing and influence in the Middle East stemming from this affair? Are we to take seriously the remarks of self-avowed Christian Zionist Joe Biden in London (unreported in the U.S. press -- out of embarrassment, one hopes?): "So what's the big deal here?" Guardian, June 1.
Only within the cloistered precincts of Washington are these absurdities treated at face value. It is bad enough that the White House expresses contempt for decent opinion; it also seems to think that the people of the Middle East are fools. This after Musharraf, Maliki, and Karzai have run rings around us. Finally, if we are serious about contributing to a stable peace in the region, the man with whom we should be working is Erdogan -- not our aged retainer, Hosni Mubarak.
♪♫ Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver but the other is gold. ♫ ♪
JERUSALEM, June 11 (Reuters) - Israeli policemen shot dead a Palestinian driver in Arab East Jerusalem on Friday after his car ran into them, Israeli rescue workers and Palestinian hospital officials said.
It remains unclear if the incident was an accident or a deliberate attack on the policemen, two of whom were lightly wounded.
+++
Death penalty for leaving the scene if you are Muslim, apparently
And the Israelis police where not defending themselves when they shot the driver who was running away.
Terrorists kill Israeli policeman in Judea
Palestinian terrorist gunmen ambushed an Israeli police car south of the Judean town of Hebron on Monday, killing one officer and leaving two others wounded.
Jewish residents in the area noted that the attackers were able to ambush the police vehicle thanks to the recent removal of a military checkpoint.
On Sunday night, another attack occurred in Samaria when a local Jewish resident noticed what appeared to be police lights signaling him to pull over. When he did so, the man was ripped from his vehicle by a group of Arab men, beaten and then left on the roadside while his car was stolen.
Again, the ambush was made possible by the recent removal of an Israeli military checkpoint separating Jewish and Arab areas in Samaria.
Did you see the video of the IDF shooting a man at point blank range and denying it happened until the video made the news?
Brutality on both sides. Israel has most the guns.
Palestinians want to work in Jewish settlements
"A Palestinian public opinion poll conducted over the past week reveals that a majority of Palestinian Arabs oppose their government's decision to ban employment in Jewish settlements.
Conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, the survey asked respondents if they supported or opposed Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's decision to forbid Palestinian laborers from seeking employment in Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria. Fayyad has given Palestinians until the end of the year to find alternative work.
A firm 60 percent majority said they oppose Fayyad's decision. Even in the Gaza Strip, where there no longer are any Jewish communities, a 55 percent majority opposed the decision."
2. People generally don't like to not have work. Telling people to quit work at occupied territory locales is difficult for those who must put bread on the table (so to speak).
3. Even those who were subject to the War$aw 'blockade' in the 1930s would have worked for the Reich when starving
Take the money from Israel and start feeding the people of Gaza. American dollars should not go into cluster bombs so Israelis can bomb civilians.
"Sderot is a western Negev city in the Southern District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), at the end of 2006 the city had a total population of 19,300.[1] The city has been an ongoing target of Qassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip. In March 2008, the mayor said the population had declined by 10%-15% as families left the city in desperation (aid organizations say the figure is closer to 25%). Many of the families that remain cannot afford to move out or are unable to sell their homes.[2]
Sderot, less than a mile from Gaza, has been the target of Palestinian rocket attacks that have killed 13 residents, wounded hundreds, caused millions of dollars in damage, disrupted daily life and wreaked havoc on the local economy.[3] According to MSNBC, "nearly everyone [has been] traumatized by the frequent sound of air-raid sirens and explosions of incoming projectiles". All local schools have been fortified.[4] From mid-June 2007 to mid-February 2008, 771 rockets and 857 mortar bombs were fired at Sderot and the western Negev, an average of three or four each a day.[5]"
Almost as many as the one thousand four hundred civilians the Israelis killed when they went into Gaza.
One from Russia told me, "America needs to see we want peace on this planet. My destiny brought me to Sderot fifteen years ago and I don't feel much different except the quassams make me nervous and anxious, but this is still a great place to live. I couldn't find an apartment to rent anywhere when I arrived except in Sderot. There had been a huge Aliyah and only in Sderot could I find a place with an apartment to rent. The important thing is to have a roof over my head."
I learned about Aliyah from an American who told me:
"Aliyah, which means ‘going up,’ and the deal was hard to pass by. I get about thirty-six hundred dollars a year in increments to help with my expenses. I can apply for unemployment benefits after seven months, as long as I look for a job. I just completed Ulpan, which was five hundred hours of Hebrew language immersion studies that took five months, five hours a day, for five weeks. I get subsidized rent. All the new immigrants get room, utilities, and three meals a day for the first five months in Israel. We also receive free medical care. Until I am 30, I can receive up to three years of education for my master’s degree.”
http://www.wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1309&Itemid=221
Actually, I think illegal immigrants in the US probably are better off than Olim to Israel.
No constructive criticism, just nay-saying. Congratulations, a new low in political advocacy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/14/iran-aid-ships-gaza
Funny you two minutes ago are laughing at the passengers not bringing weapons and now you say they were coming to kill Jews.
Stop being silly.
This would all be over if they'd withdraw from the lands they grabbed in a war they started.
They continue building settlements even though USA gives them billions of dollars and USA asks them not to.
Israelis laugh, put their thumb to their nose, and their other hand reaches out for more USA money.
With Ralph Nader presumably aged beyond the abilty to withstand the rigours, I think we have to get behind Dennis Kucinich and stay there, even if someone prettier comes along. Any other suggestions?
We just got done throwing money at Iron Dome fer christsakes!
you actually think we are DONE giving money to iron dome?
Perhaps the Palestinians need one day a year (such as Remembrance Day) where they remember the tens of thousands of civilians killed by Israelis?
Israel killed 34 Americans on the Liberty. It will not be old news until Israel acknowledges what really happened.
As for the Liberty, the US will never acknowledge that it was spying on Israel in time of war, and that the NSA was passing along intel to the Egyptians near the Suez Canal. You are right about that.
We stayed through the domestic issues, and we hoped he would fix George W. Bush's failures in foreign policy.
Instead, now President Obama, like so many US Presidents before him, have chosen Israel to defend rather than the United States of America.
I do not support terror regimes like Israel. I do not think it is in the United States best interests in the region or the world.
An American civilian bringing humanitarian aid and support to Gaza civilians was shot five times by an unknown number of Israeli commando[s] at less than eighteen inches away from his nineteen year-old body from various directions, including to the head.
The President of the United States has let Israel get away with this.
He's LOST OUR VOTE.
I'm ecstatic and sad that it cost nine lives, including and American, and dozens of wounded but it's done.
Those participating are heroes. Right is right.
Our Declaration of Independence states that all human beings are entitled to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" - all people, not just Americans. "Life" means not being killed by Israeli F-16s, attack helicopters, drones, tank rounds, artillery, or snipers (who have killed hundreds of Palestinian children). "Liberty" means not being occupied for 43 years by a brutal foreign military. "Pursuit of happiness" means not being starved, denied medical care, having your power, waste treatment and transportation infrastructure, economy, institutions, schools, mosques, churches, public buildings and private homes wantonly devastated by bombs, missiles, artillery, tanks and massive, armored Caterpillar bulldozers.
Humanitarian aid delivery was one purpose but their larger purpose was to challenge the illegal Israeli blockade. Justice is left to international civil society when governments refuse or are unable to act. You don't seek "a peaceful solution" with a criminal or criminal state; you enforce the law. Their goal was to rightfully challenge the blockade, not "make peace" with it like Chamberlain at Munich.
Israel is the world's monstrous brat outrageously and far too long indulged. It's long past time to administer some tough love, if the world still has any love for them, and if not, just plain toughness.
I trust that many other Americans have reached a similar conclusion.
Now let's look forward towards elections 2010 and 2012, and start thinking hard and organizing solidarity.
A real bargain!
Ever been to Arlington?
They did no such thing.
I'd like to see any evidence you have that makes you think they did.
Brainstorm Cell is due to begin a clinical trial of its ALS treatment.
Amiram Barkat8 Jun 10 16:41
Terminally ill patients from around the world, including Turkey, Iran, and Lebanon, have applied for life-saving stem cell treatment in a clinical trial of Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics Ltd. (Bulletin Board:BCLI) at Hadassah Medical Organization Ein Kerem in Jerusalem. The applications followed the company's presentation at international conferences on stem cells held in London and New York.
"Turks, Iranians, Arabs apply for Brainstorm trial in Israel
Brainstorm Cell is due to begin a clinical trial of its ALS treatment.
Amiram Barkat8 Jun 10 16:41
Terminally ill patients from around the world, including Turkey, Iran, and Lebanon, have applied for life-saving stem cell treatment in a clinical trial of Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics Ltd. (Bulletin Board:BCLI) at Hadassah Medical Organization Ein Kerem in Jerusalem. The applications followed the company's presentation at international conferences on stem cells held in London and New York. "
Boy, amazing how they don't have a problem wanting to use Jewish medical advances.