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U.S. on Israel: 'We're the only ones who believe them'
Politico ^

Posted on 06/01/2010 4:09:53 AM PDT by Sub-Driver

U.S. on Israel: 'We're the only ones who believe them' By: Ben Smith June 1, 2010 04:44 AM EDT

A delicate diplomatic maneuver by President Barack Obama to smooth frayed relations with Israel without alienating America’s Arab allies may have been blown out of the water Monday morning by Israel’s botched attempt to enforce the Gaza blockade – and by the lack of condemnation from Washington that followed it.

For while much about the incident remains unclear, a day of carefully parsed statements from the White House and State Department left at least one irrefutable aftershock: With much of the world expressing fury over the raid, the contrast with Washington’s muted response could not have been more striking.

“The situation is that they’re so isolated right now that it’s not only that we’re the only ones who will stick up for them,” said an American official. “We’re the only ones who believe them – and what they’re saying is true.”

(Excerpt) Read more at dyn.politico.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: dncintifada; israel; obamahatesisrael; obamahatesjews; obamaintifada

1 posted on 06/01/2010 4:09:53 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
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To: Sub-Driver

Next week...back to the usual Obama mode of stabbing Israel in the back


2 posted on 06/01/2010 4:11:37 AM PDT by dennisw (History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid - Gen Eisenhower)
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To: Sub-Driver

it seems to me that this is more of a “botched flotilla” than a “botched attempt”. send ships to violate a u.n. approved blockade involving a country under attack? sounds pretty botched to me.


3 posted on 06/01/2010 4:13:36 AM PDT by lonster
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To: Sub-Driver
"...without alienating America’s Arab allies.


America does not have "Arab allies". We are an ATM to them. A source of money. They could shut down terrorism in a minute if they wanted to, but they are playing both sides of the street.

They use oil to drain us of money, and they use terrorism to drain our spirit.

When they feel we are weak enough, they will turn on us in a second.

This President, or actually any President, that thinks we are going to win the hearts and mind of those in the middle east is delusional. It is not going to happen. Pretending otherwise will just get us all killed.

4 posted on 06/01/2010 4:17:34 AM PDT by CIB-173RDABN
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To: lonster
Botched, yes.

Israel will lose the PR war.

If Israel saw the 'flotilla' as a imminent threat, they wouldn't have conducted the raid with their primary weapon being a paintball gun.

No mater how this turns out, it won't be in Israel's favor, even as they were avoiding force from the beginning.

5 posted on 06/01/2010 4:18:32 AM PDT by Palter (Kilroy was here.)
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To: Palter

I think the video is pretty clear. But, of course, facts don’t matter in this. No matter what the video shows or what the facts are, Israel is the PR loser. The world was absolutely silent when Hamas was sending rockets into Israel. Case closed.


6 posted on 06/01/2010 4:23:27 AM PDT by rbg81 (DRAIN THE SWAMP!!)
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To: Sub-Driver
“...Israel’s botched attempt ....” s/h/b “..Jihad's botched attempt... to run the blockade..”
Apparently Ben Smith does not have access to the Internet to see the attack by the “pacifists”. The Anti-Israeli blockade-running Jihads sympathizers is kinda like drug runners attacking the US Coast Guard when they board the vessels for inspection.
7 posted on 06/01/2010 4:24:45 AM PDT by BilLies
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To: Sub-Driver

It doesn’t matter if anyone else “believes” them. Israel is always and forever the enemy of most of the world. In the eyes of the anti-Semitic world there can never be justified force used by Israel. Ever.


8 posted on 06/01/2010 4:27:24 AM PDT by Wyatt's Torch (I can explain it to you. I can't understand it for you.)
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To: CIB-173RDABN
When they feel we are weak enough, they will turn on us in a second.

Great post, all of it. "Arab allies" is an oxymoron just like "jumbo shirmp" and "rap music".

9 posted on 06/01/2010 4:27:59 AM PDT by Mich Patriot (Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but democrats believe every day is April 15th.)
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To: Palter

” Israel will lose the PR war. “

This phrase has appeared on just about every thread on FR concerning this situation - more often than not, posted by someone who signed up to FR in 2010.. (Draw your own conclusions..)

1. Why should Israel engage in, or worry about, something it can’t win?? It’s easy to get the impression that the only way Israel could possibly satisfy the screeching voices would be to line its population up and meekly march them to the gas chambers and ovens..

2. In the last two dust-ups in the ongoing war (Lebanon and the Gaza Incursion), Israel did make the mistake of deferring to “world opinion” (”Inappropriate Force”, indeed...) and pulling its punches - setting the table for this next, more dangerous, go-around..

3. “PR War” is, itself, a false concept - it’s a poisonous smokescreen that the enemies of Israel hide behind to sap the will and strength necessary to win, once-and-for-all, its battle for peaceful survival....


10 posted on 06/01/2010 4:46:52 AM PDT by Uncle Ike (Rope is cheap, and there are lots of trees...)
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To: Sub-Driver
“..while much about the incident remains unclear..”

Wrong!
All of the pertinent details are known and knowable!
Those who hate Israel placed weapons on ships full of civilians and then dared Israel to stop them from entering Gaza.
When Israel attempted to board the ships, they were violently attacked and responded only with the force necessary to stop the attack.
For 60 years Israeli attempts at self defense have been characterized in the MSM as “aggression”.

11 posted on 06/01/2010 4:48:32 AM PDT by G Larry
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To: G Larry

Well put and to the point.


12 posted on 06/01/2010 4:51:21 AM PDT by shanover (These are the times that try men's souls....tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered-T. Paine)
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To: Uncle Ike
‘once-and-for-all, its battle for peaceful survival....’

Then you've read the Book, Israel will be fine in the end. America is the one we have know idea of their outcome.

PR is part of war, and the fact that you fail to grasp that is on you. It's more than the raid. This will hurt Israel's economy and such, all the sake for not doing the raid in that manner, instead of a different use of force and time.

Not only that, but they put IDF troops in harms way by going in that matter of execution.

13 posted on 06/01/2010 4:53:46 AM PDT by Palter (Kilroy was here.)
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To: Palter

” PR is part of war, and the fact that you fail to grasp that is on you. “

I completely grasp that ‘PR’ is part of the war - it’s a weapon in the hands of the Enemy...

The difference is that, unlike bullets and bombs, this weapon can - and should - be negated by ignoring it.. (”Sticks and Stones”, and all that...)

If we - the forces of Conservatism and Good - are to have any chance of prevailing in our struggle to restore order, we are going to have to get over this ‘fear of the Media’...


14 posted on 06/01/2010 5:03:55 AM PDT by Uncle Ike (Rope is cheap, and there are lots of trees...)
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To: Uncle Ike

Unfortunately the PR (aka Propganda) War and Lawfare has been amazingly effective against us and the Israelis. Why do you think our troops have such insanely restrictive ROEs and have even been sent on patrol with no rounds in their weapons? (Hell, why do we have Obama for Presisdent?) Or that the pirate towns in Somalia haven’t been burned to the ground?

In a sane world, the attack on the Israeli troops trying to inspecting the “relief convoy” would have been grounds to sink the d@mn convoy. But instead, we have every news outlet screaming against the Israels.

You ignore the “PR War” at your our peril.


15 posted on 06/01/2010 5:33:46 AM PDT by Little Ray (The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!)
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To: Little Ray

” Unfortunately the PR (aka Propganda) War and Lawfare has been amazingly effective against us and the Israelis. Why do you think our troops have such insanely restrictive ROEs and have even been sent on patrol with no rounds in their weapons? (Hell, why do we have Obama for Presisdent?) Or that the pirate towns in Somalia haven’t been burned to the ground? “

And why, do you suppose, that the ‘PR’ weapon has been so effectively used against us as to lead to every one of the shameful examples (and more) that you cite??

Somehow, our leadership (and, unfortunately, all to many of our ‘followership’..) has lost sight of the real-world (often bombs and bullets) Missions.. When ‘winning the hearts & minds’ of implacable enemies becomes The Mission, we’ve already lost....


16 posted on 06/01/2010 5:42:34 AM PDT by Uncle Ike (Rope is cheap, and there are lots of trees...)
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To: Uncle Ike

The PR War (and lawfare) win because our “leaders” are politicians and will do d@nm near anything to ensure their re-election. The real problem is the voters - they have such weak stomachs and flimsy morals that they can’t allow our leaders and our troops to the necessary, but unpleasant things necessary to protect us and our nation.
Of course, it doesn’t help that there are folks who stand to make fortunes promoting the PR War...
For example, we need to burn every port on the coast of Somalia harboring pirates to the ground and sink everything in them that floats. But if we do that, pictures of dead kids will be on YouTube before the shells stop falling, and on the news minutes after that. The politicians will be responding to their constituents crying about this within hours and holding “hearing” within days.

This is a whole new dimension of war, that we need to learn to manipulate. We need to remember that the media is the enemy every bit as much as the terrorists are.


17 posted on 06/01/2010 6:04:24 AM PDT by Little Ray (The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!)
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To: Little Ray

Is it really new? Seems to me it went on during WWI and WWII to name just two recent wars. Recent, in the sense we had modern technology (radio and telegraph) and near instant access to propaganda on both sides.


18 posted on 06/01/2010 7:48:07 AM PDT by PghBaldy (Like the Ft Hood Killer, James Earl Ray was just stressed when he killed MLK Jr.)
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To: PghBaldy

Yes, it is new.

Images could not move instantly into public view, and images are what do the damage. TV (and now the Internet) is the game changer in the Propaganda Wars.

Also, it helped that the media was marginally on our side in those wars. They could be censored, or would even self-censor. And there was time to censor them...


19 posted on 06/01/2010 8:07:12 AM PDT by Little Ray (The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!)
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A delicate diplomatic maneuver by President Barack Obama to smooth frayed relations with Israel without alienating America's Arab allies may have been blown out of the water Monday morning by Israel's botched attempt to enforce the Gaza blockade
See, it is all Israel's fault that US relations with Israel have been so poor.
20 posted on 06/01/2010 7:46:48 PM PDT by SunkenCiv ("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
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