Posted on 06/03/2010 4:58:51 AM PDT by SJackson
White House hints that time for new Gaza policy is near.
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Wednesday that it had warned Israel's government repeatedly to use "caution and restraint" with half a dozen aid boats bound for the Gaza Strip before Israeli commandos raided the flotilla this week in an operation that killed nine people.
In an interview with Charlie Rose broadcast Wednesday night, Vice President Joe Biden agreed that Israel had a right to inspect the cargo. "You can argue whether Israel should have dropped people onto that ship or not ... but the truth of the matter is, Israel has a right to know — they're at war with Hamas — has a right to know whether or not arms are being smuggled in," he said.
At the same time, Biden acknowledged that the administration is trying to sway the Israeli government on the issue of Gaza, which has been under some form of an Israeli blockade for five years.
"We have put as much pressure and as much cajoling on Israel as we can to allow them to get building materials" and other designated humanitarian aid into Gaza, he said.
Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to Washington, said that although lifting the blockade is out of the question, Israel shares the administration's goal of improving civilian life in the Gaza Strip. "We are open to the discussion of how best to reconcile the civilian needs of the people of Gaza with Israel's very real security needs," he said in an interview.
The administration's acknowledgment that it warned Israel against using excessive force comes as White House officials have been meeting with Israeli diplomats and security officials to discuss how the blockade might be altered to allow more aid to enter Gaza without risking Israeli security.
A White House official briefed on those meetings said there is "a general sense in the administration that it's time to change our Gaza policy," although he would not elaborate on how the administration might change the way it engages an area controlled by a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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he would not elaborate on how the administration might change the way it engages an area controlled by a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
Simple, send them guns and money.
” new Gaza policy “
I vote for “Scorched Earth”....
I wonder how many people saw that?
What tender concern for the people of Gaza! If they were all Jews, there’d be no concern at all.
But no, you had to remove them. Pluck out the roses, cultivate the weeds. Such a plan!
“The Obama administration said Wednesday that it had warned Israel’s government repeatedly to use “caution and restraint”...”
What the Obama Administration did was to display repeatedly their utter ineptitude.
I second that vote!
So, if they're right to inspect the ships, but not to board them... how exactly are they supposed to enforce the blockade? Harsh words? That doesn't even work for the U.N.
I know that hindsight is 20/20, but, imo, if Israel made any mistake, it was in not sending in enough commandos to stop the attacks without having to use deadly force, but that would have also gotten them criticised for a disproportionate response.
As it turns out, I would not be surprised if the “international community” starts making comparisons to Kent State.
If I were Bibi, I would be telling Europe to “Shut your mouth, you murdered 6 million of my people, and that was just in the 20th century,” and Britain, “You stood by during your mandate, and permitted Arab rioters to murder thousands of Jews, may of whom were not Zionist settlers, but people whose ancestors lived there since ancient times, surviving all attempts of Europeans (Romans, Crusaders, etc.) to wipe them out. So, shut your mouth.”
Disproportionate response is what communists and Islamists try to provoke. They fart in everybody’s general direction, stink up the place, wave their private parts at everybody’s auntie, threaten (or lob) a few bombs, and then cry crocodile tears when there’s a reaction.
That was the Weather Underground tactic back when they were trying to overthrow America and now the same WU people who brought us dead cops are trying to overthrow Israel. Not surprising in the least.
What’s disheartening is the reaction of the world. Yeah, the commie rags (like the entire state-run media) are doing what they’ve always done, but the governments of Israel’s allies are apparently now being run by the WU types, or by those who are sympathetic to the WU types - or advised by them. The Worst Generation.
What an utter idiot..Like Charles K. said, it is a lot like “I tried it but I didn’t inhale.”
How many are enough and exactly how would you have them board the ship? The question wasn't numbers, but the response by the attackers who had the advantage of waiting for the commandos to come to them, a few at a time. And they would still have their weapons regardless.
Just as news is coming out that there was a Hamas leader on the ship.
“How many are enough and exactly how would you have them board the ship? “
I don’t know. I’m not a military expert, and, as I said, hindsight is 20/20.
What a hoot those press conferences will be! Who can guess what Biden will say about anything? He'll be a nice bit of comedy relief until we can get some responsible adults running things.
The response was not disproportionate regardless. Any cop in the US would have done the same thing if someone came at them with a knife or club.
I agree with biden, Israel should NOT have dropped people onto that ship, they should have dropped napalm.
“The response was not disproportionate regardless”
I never said it was. It’s the “international community” that’s saying that, but they would say that no matter what happened.
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