What’s outrageous is how the president is taking criticism for being insufficiently pro-flotilla massacre.
After Obama made statements of measured support for Israel following a raid on a Turkish flotilla carrying aid to Gaza last month, Marco Rubio, a Republican nominee in Florida’s Senate race, delivered a speech sharply criticizing Obama’s Israel policy. “There is the emerging sense that this long-standing relationship isn’t what it used to be,” Rubio said.
Robert Dold, a Republican running for an open seat in the 10th Congressional District of Illinois, has accused the administration of an “alarming pattern” in the Middle East. In Ohio’s 15th District, Republican Steve Stivers questioned incumbent Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D) for her criticism of Israel’s Gaza blockade, with his campaign saying, “the contrast is very sharp on this issue.” And Allen West, a Republican running against Democratic Rep. Ron Klein in Florida’s 22nd District, accused Obama of “browbeating” Israel.
I was actually revolted by Obama’s expression of support. He was the only world leader I am aware of (who said anything) who failed to condemn Israel’s decision to murder people in international waters. But you can see why took the position he did. He worked quietly to get more material through the blockade, which is partly what the flotilla people wanted. They actually wanted to create a confrontation so that the world would focus on the suffering in Gaza, but their larger goal was to get the blockade lifted, not merely relaxed.
For critics, even bucking world opinion to support Israel is insufficient. It should go without saying, but if we are ever going to have peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, the U.S. is going to have to convince both sides [note to morons: that includes Israel] to do some things that they do no want to do. You can call that ‘browbeating,’ a ‘disturbing pattern,’ or a policy that is ‘not what it used to be.’ But any sincere effort to create peace is, by necessity, going to be different than what has come before. And less obsequious to Israel’s interests, too.
