Israel is the most stalwart and most dependable US ally in the Gulf. Over the last 16 months Barack Obama has made it clear that the US no longer holds Israel in the same light as it has for so long. Today Michael Goodwin voiced something that has been in my mind as well.
Anti-Israel sharks sniff O’s weakness
In the aftermath of the Gaza flotilla fiasco, the air is thick with nonsense. Chief among the instant myths is that Israel has created a dilemma for President Obama.
Actually, it’s the other way around.
The president’s appeasement policies helped to create the incident. Israel took the bait, but the trap was set in Washington.
Weakness always begets aggression, and, like clockwork, Obama’s repeated signals that he is weakening America’s commitment to Israel are emboldening the Jewish state’s enemies. From Syria to Iran to Lebanon, from Hezbollah to Hamas and the PLO, the wolves smell blood and are trying to gauge whether they can get close enough for the kill.
America has been diminished by Obama, whether he is bowing to Arab Kings or Chinese Communist leaders or endlessly scratching new lines in the sand for Ahmedinejad to step over. He has signaled to the world that we have lost it. He doesn’t want the US to be the beacon for the world any longer. He wants to be liked, not respected. Now that frivolity is getting really dangerous, as Obama once again votes “present” on the flotilla incident:
Obama says he wants the facts of the incident, but let’s hope he also wants the truth, even if it is inconvenient to his worldview.
As predictable as the sunrise, Obama’s first reaction to events is wrong. The facts are right there and have always been right there. Israel has allowed humanitarian aid to enter Gaza for some time.
Israel Allows Humanitarian Aid Into Gaza
Israel allows humanitarian aid into battered Gaza
But let’s go back a second.
In 2005 Israel departed Gaza.
Gaza celebrated the Israeli withdrawal by firing off rockets- into Israel. The celebration continues to this day.
Note the increase in missile attacks upon Israel’s departure from Gaza.
The blockade was instituted in response to the continued rocket assault on Israel by Hamas, yet the flow of aid into Hamas has not been halted. On the other hand, Hamas has refused the aid carried in those ships.
Hamas said it wouldn’t take the aid because Israel confiscated some of the supplies and was still holding some of the more than 700 passengers involved in the May 31 attempt to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza.
So Hamas is holding its own people hostage in rataliation for Israel detaining some of the foreigners who tried to run the blockade. Oy vey.
A search for “Israel attacks flotilla” yields 7,000,000 hits.
5 of the 6 ships in the flotilla were searched without incident. The IDF, armed only with paintball guns, was attacked on the 6th ship, yet the media almost universally portrays it as “Israel attacks.” It’s not only the US media who is smarmy and biased. This flotilla has nothing to do with humantarian aid. It’s all about putting Israel into a bad PR situation, knowing Obama has become an empty Presidential suit.
There should be no backing down from this blockade- not as long as Hamas rains missiles down on Israel. Obama should stand up for Israel, not squirm as he is doing right now.
Curiously ignored is the fact that Egypt sealed its border with Gaza. When did this happen? When Hamas took control of Gaza. Egypt has indicated it might re-open its borders to allow aid into the area.
But only “for several days.”
The flotilla was organized by the “Free Gaza” movement. And who helped encourage “Free Gaza”?
Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn and Code Pink’s Jodie Evans.
“Free Gaza”
To do what? Gaza is ruled by Hamas. Hamas’ 1988 charter called for the end of Israel.
The movement had said it could live peacefully alongside Israel if a two-state solution was reached in which all occupied Palestinian land was returned, even though its 1988 founding charter calls for the destruction of Israel and the establishment of a Palestinian state in all of pre-1948 British-mandate Palestine.
If they really want to get humanitarian supplies into Gaza, perhaps the aid should be disguised as missiles. There seems to be no problem getting missiles into Gaza.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 40 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 45 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter who is in the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
And there’s this:
Carter: Gaza residents ‘starving to death’
Here’s how bad it is in Gaza:
WaPo:
Israel didn’t exercise “restraint”?
So what would a “restrained” response look like, if not what the Israeli soldiers exercised?
The account mentions they “started shooting at the rioters’ legs”. Furkan Dogan, the 19-year-old student of Turkish-American origin killed, is reported to have “four bullet wounds to the head and one to the chest”.
i felt safe with goerge bush as president. now, i think that we are on a collision course. obama is out to destroy america and israel. however, GOD, has a surprise for obama and his muslim brothers. israel will never be destroyed. don’t believe me? read the book of REVELATION, use a commentary if necessary.
This is so galling:
Obama didn’t read the Arizona law, and he apparently has an aversion to video as well. I can just hear it now:
“Israel acted stupidly.”
So what would a “restrained” response look like, if not what the Israeli soldiers exercised?
Great question.
OT but everyone needs to see this and respond
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/world/Mexico-opens-California-office-to-provide-ID-for-illegals-95434969.html
OT, with apologies:
An earlier FA entry, ironically posted on April *Fools* Day, was entitled: Global Cooling Confirmed? Arctic Ice Returns to Normal
That entry made much of the arctic sea-ice surface area coverage for March 2010 approaching “normalcy”, i.e. 1979-2000 averages. However, it made very little of the context: that winter weather events had left an unusually large but thin layer of ice on the Bering Sea (an area of the arctic guaranteed to melt in the summer months) and that average temperatures in the Arctic remained well above average. In fact, these points, when brought up in the comments, were considered evidence of the “arrival of the moonbats”.
As a blog dedicated to getting the truth of the matter out to its readership (my initial addiction to FA was based on how it played its role in the Jamall Hussein saga), I imagine the FA authors will be quick to post an update that shows the arctic sea-ice coverage two months later. If the moonbats were right, we’d expect the higher temperatures and seasonal changes to obliterate the Bering Sea anomoly and rapidly bring the sea-ice extent back below average. If the more sensible-minded AGW-skeptics were right, and the March sea-ice extents truly showed Mother Nature taking the Arctic back from the AGW-nutters, we’d expect to see sea-ice extents remain at or near average.
http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/N_stddev_timeseries.png
I’ll be interested to see the FA analysis.
-Kevin
FWIW
Over the last three years, Arctic Ice has gained significantly in thickness. The graph above was generated by image processing and analysis of PIPS maps, and shows the thickness histogram for June 1 of each year since 2007.
The blue line represents 2008, and the most abundant ice that year was less than 1.5 metres thick. That thin ice was famously described by NSIDC as “rotten ice.” In 2009 (red) the most common ice had increased to more than 2.0 metres, and by 2010 (orange) the most common ice had increased to in excess of 2.75 metres thick.
We have seen a steady year over year thickening of the ice since the 2007 melt season. Thinner ice is more likely to melt during the summer, so the prognosis for a big melt looks much less likely than either of the previous two summers. More than 70% of the ice this year is thicker than 2.25 metres thick. By contrast, more than half of the ice was thinner than 2.0 metres in 2008.
This kind of stupidity you couldn’t find if you gathered the idiots of a thousand villages. This has some kind of freaking evil agenda behind it all. This guy has the anti-christ accusing him of identity theft.
Nice job, Doc. I was gonna recommend the same data
DO WE KNOW how the woundeds ISRAELIES ARE recovering?; thoses men where very braves to board that ship full of hatefulls and armed ; they should get a medal of honor, they followed an order of maintaining the ROE, even as they where attack by a mob armed with all kinds of agression: if it was du to protect the WORLD MEDIA,the next time ISRAEL should not put his commandos into danger, they are worth more than what any MEDIA of ANY COUNTRYS can write in their news. the people can discerne by themself ,and we know for a long time of the tolerance from ISRAEL toward their ennemies.
THE WOUNDEDS ISRAELIES,should get all a medal of honor for boarding that boat,knowing they where to obey their ROE, ISRAEL should protect his braves in a similar situation: the world MEDIA will say anyway what they want to say, but they cannot fool the people on that kind of agression. FA bring it on, now 3rd time i try.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIp8PcZxXYQ&feature=player_embedded
@Greg
Didn’t the Hebrew (people who are now called ‘Jewish’) David kill the Philistine (people who are now called ‘Palestinian’) Goliath with a slingshot? Yes, a slingshot can be quite deadly (especially when used close range,) and are often included in humanitarian aid packages to allow people to hunt for food.
http://shilohtv.com/?p=2974
http://www.execulink.com/~environm/Hunting/slingshots.html
http://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess111_1995-1996/bills/90.htm
All the things those fanatics were armed with could indeed be used to kill. Heck Greg, it is frankly impossible to list every single object which would not normally be considered a deadly weapon, which yes, CAN be used to kill. Some experts don’t even need a weapon. A person could be killed with bottled water very easily and quickly. You can strangle someone with yarn, a towel, a bra, or their own bling. Anything long, stiff and slender enough may be driven into the orbital socket and into the brain.