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Posts Tagged ‘Gaza’
May 19th, 2011 at 9:27 pm
How Not to Welcome a Guest
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President Obama welcomes (if that’s the word) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House on Friday. Oh, to be a fly on that wall.

The president chose to spend the day before his meeting with the head of the Jewish state’s government calling on Israel to return to its 1967 borders, meaning that it would give up all claims to the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the Golan Heights — all of which are essential to Israeli security as long as the nation is surrounded by enemies.

Don’t expect Netanyahu to roll over. As the New York Times reports:

Mr. Netanyahu said in a pointed statement just before boarding a plane to Washington that while he appreciated Mr. Obama’s commitment to peace, he “expects to hear a reaffirmation from President Obama of American commitments made to Israel in 2004 which were overwhelmingly supported by both Houses of Congress.”

Those commitments came in a letter from President George W. Bush which stated, among other things that “it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949,” another way of describing the 1967 boundaries.

The next time Obama chooses to be so imperious with his prescriptions for Middle East peace, he’d do well to remember one of the salient differences between himself and the Israeli Prime Minister: only the latter’s consent is essential for a deal.

June 2nd, 2010 at 10:33 am
Ramirez Cartoon: Why Do They Blockade Us?
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Below is one of the latest cartoons from Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

June 1st, 2010 at 10:47 am
When You Attack Israeli Commandos, You Should Expect Them to Defend Themselves
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Few events could better illustrate the moral and intellectual decadence of the “international community.”  To wit, a collective global yawn greets North Korea after sinking a South Korean naval ship and killing 46, while feigned outrage greets Israeli commandos’ self-defense against an attacking militant mob.

Let’s recap:  A flotilla of 800 militants, which The Wall Street Journal aptly notes “falsely billed itself as a ‘humanitarian’ mission – organized by a radical Turkish group with close ties to Hamas, the terrorist group that illegally seized pwer in Gaza in 2007,” belligerently steams toward Gaza.  Gaza, of course, stands subject to a mutual blockade by both Egypt and Israel to prevent importation of weapons.  That blockade already allows passage of food, medical supplies and other legitimately “humanitarian” materials, meaning that there would be no need for any truly humanitarian shipment to challenge it.  The Israeli Navy repeatedly warns the flotilla that it must either turn back or submit to inspection for weapons.  After repeated advisories, the Israelis announce that they will have no choice but to board the vessels, just as any nation would do with a convoy approaching its shores.  Israeli commandos then repel from helicopters to the ships, at which point a violent mob attacks them with clubs, knives and the commandos’ own weapons.  One Israeli is even beaten and hurled overboard.

And all of this is caught on video.

Threatened with potentially deadly force against their soldiers, the Israeli Defense Forces then respond in self-defense, ultimately killing nine attackers.

Predictably, the “international community” – composed predominantly by dictators, kleptocrats, anti-American and anti-Semitic thugs – expresses its outrage, and the United Nations Security Council convenes an “emergency meeting” to consider condemning Israel.

It’s all something to remember the next time one hears appeals to the United Nations or international consensus by Barack Obama or other fatuous leaders.