Posted by
Patrick Henry on Thursday, June 03, 2010 11:14:02 AM
The international pro-Palestinian left, aided and abetted by the United Nations and
the Muslim-loving president of the United States of America pulled off a world class
set-up on Israel, and the beleaguered Israelis walked right into it. The question is,
now what?
Gaza supporters on Turkish vessels attempted to run the Israeli blockade of Gaza's
Hamas government. The blockade has been effective in reducing rocket attacks on
Israel since, in combination with the closure of the border between Egypt and Gaza
it has put a stranglehold on smuggled weaponry used by the Hamas terrorists. When
the Israelis could see that the ships were attempting to run the blockade, they sent
airborne commando teams to board and search the vessels for contraband. From
there, the stories about what happened diverge sharply.
The activists claim that the Israelis fired while rappeling down to the deck, something
that sounds a bit fishy unless they were being fired on. What the available video shows
is a mob armed with iron pipes beating the tar out of Israeli soldiers, and the explosion
of at least one stun grenade thrown AT the soldiers as they boarded. Pardon me if I have
credibility problems with a supposedly "peaceful" group of activists armed with stun
grenades and prepared to attack before the Israelis ever hit the deck. The Israelis, on
the contrary, claim that they were attacked, that two of their soldiers were thrown over
the side and that demonstrators fired at them with sidearms taken from the beaten
commandos BEFORE they opened fire.
To make things even more fishy, within a few short hours after the conflagration,
well-organized demonstrations calling for Israeli heads materialized outside Israeli
embassies in several countries, while relatives of activists who were supposedly on
the ships were standing in line at media outlets to give interviews berating Israel's
barbarism. One of these, appearing on FOX News, claimed that his wife, not on the
ship where the violent conflict broke out, actually saw Israelis firing upon descent
and knew that the Israelis had "given no warning" that the flotilla could not proceed.
Now, the lady admits she was not on the ship where the trouble broke out, but claims
to know who fired first. Hmmm. Also, the only way she could have known for sure
whether Israelis warned the ships to alter course would be for her to have been in
the radio room, or to be able to read the Morse flashes from the Israeli navy. Common
sense suggests that like most of these activists, this woman is a liar who manufactured
a version of events of which she had no firsthand knowledge to suit the perceived
justice of her cause.
Next, it emerges that some "activists" in the flotilla were members of the IHH, a
terrorist group associated with Hamas and, in some cases trained by al Qaeda. Some
peace mission. These were, in fact, practiced provocateurs intent on armed resistance
in the hope of inciting Israeli overreaction.
The activist appearing on FOX gave as a justification that fact that had the ships
diverted to Ashdod, the port where Israelis inspect Gaza-bound cargo for contraband,
they only allow seventy-five items "out of all the items in the world." Clearly, the
cargo of the "humanitarian aid" flotilla contained cargo outside the pale of the
allowable checklist. Among such items was concrete that Hamas could have used
to rebuild bunkers smashed by the Israelis when they boxed the terrorists ears during
the last Gaza dust-up.
Then followed the absolutely shameful rabid attack by the United Nations, that
rushed up an "urgent" Security Council debate just minutes before Lebanon, a
nation with grievances against Israel who doesn't like the fact that it harbors
Hezbollah terrorists, turned over the rotating presidency to Mexico. Even more
shameful was the idling of the U.S., whose actual ambassador didn't even show
up, in acquiescing to a "presidential statement" blasting Israel. assigning full
blame to the Israelis and demanding an international investigation. The U.N.'s
Human Rights Commission in Geneva went into emergency session, tabled
its ususally strict agenda of items in favor of two days of serial Israel-bashing,
declared the blockade illegal and demanded punishment of Tel Aviv. All this
on top of the recently issued U.N. mandate against a nuclear Middle East that
specifcally singled out Israel but did not mention Iran. While the U.S. "deplored"
the latter resolution, it still signed off on it.
While U.N. anti-semitism is nothing new, Obama's anti-Israel foreign policy is
now quite clear. Never mind that 65% of Americans support Israel. As in his
crazed quest to pass a healthcare reform Americans didn't want, Obama doesn't
care. His sentimental attraction to the religion of his childhood is something of
which he cannot let go, and he is making good on his promise in The Audacity
of Hope that if things got politically ugly "I will stand with the Muslims."
What about a president who will stand with Americans instead of denigrating
them at every opportunity? What about a leader who will keep America's
commitments to its allies? What about a statesman of character who doesn't talk
out of both sides of his mouth? As long as Obama is in office America is out of
luck!
Israel is the porcupine to Obama's chameleon. If you tread on them, you're
going to pay the price. Unlike the invertebrate Obama, they haven't forgotten the
lesson learned by Britain's Neville Chamberlain who thought appeasement the
best way to handle Hitler. But then again, none of Obama's people were marched
into gas chambers and cremated in crude ovens. Israel has every right to do whatever
is necessary to stop the flow of weapons into Gaza, and Obama and his U.N. cronies
won't keep them from doing so. But Obama may destroy the one solid alliance
America has in the Middle East. What an idiot!