Report: White House Says US Will Stand With Israel Over Pro-Terrorist PR Stunt

Goodish news.

Regardless of the details of the flotilla incident, sources say President Obama is focused on what he sees as the longer term issue here: a successful Mideast peace process.

“The president has always said that it will be much easier for Israel to make peace if it feels secure,” a senior administration official tells ABC News.

The suggestion is that US condemnation of Israel would further isolate that country, and make further peace negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians even more difficult.

It's good and a little surprising that Obama didn't jump on the anti-Israeli bandwagon. Getting the UN to water down its reaction to a neutral statement by the President of the Security Council and not a resolution of condemnation is what passes for victory in Turtle Bay.

The downside is the underlying assumption that the problem with the 'peace process' is Israel. That some how if only Israel feels secure then everything will be rainbows and skittles in the Mideast.

That sort of worldview ignores all available evidence. The Palestinians in genera,l and Hamas, in particular has no interest in peace with Israel. Israel however has made repeated efforts to make peace (Wye River and Taba) while the Palestinians continue to hold out for maximilist policies coupled with terror attacks.

All that said, you have to hand it to the organizers of this stunt. They put Israel in a no-win situation. Giving up the blockade would have opened up additional smuggling opportunities for Hamas and handed them a victory. Enforcing the blockade means letting the pro-terrorist 'activists' get their PR victory.

The use of Turks as the shock troops was also inspired. While that country has become more and more Islamist over the years, it still had at least relatively cordial relations with Israel.

Not any more.

With anger and sarcasm, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu lashed out Tuesday at Israel's attack on a Gaza aid flotilla and by extension the Obama administration's reluctance to immediately condemn the assault that left at least nine civilians dead.

"Psychologically, this attack is like 9/11 for Turkey," Davutoglu told reporters over breakfast in Washington before going to the State Department to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I would hope Clinton would disabuse him of that particular notion but she won't.

This stunt also produced another positive result for the pro-terrorist camp, Egypt opened its border with Gaza. Funny how no one ever gets around to pointing out this supposedly vile Israeli blockade was also enforced by Arab Muslims. Now that's become untenable for Egypt and weapons will soon be flowing in greater numbers than the smugglers already were able to manage.

This isn't an issue one can calmly talk about. Very few minds will be changed by facts or any investigation. You either side with the terrorists and their supporters or you side with the most liberal democracy in the region. Where one comes down on this incident says more about the person talking about it than anything else. Sadly, but not surprisingly, the usual suspects are behaving their usual morally suspect ways.

posted by DrewM. at 12:32 PM

| Access Comments