Helen Thomas To The Jews In Israel: Go Back To Poland And Wherever Else You Came From

Ugly on so many levels.

Swiped from Jim Treacher's Daily Trawler blog.

As Allah points out, Helen is essentially taking the Ahmadinejad line on Jews in the Mideast.

Speaking of Israel, David Ignatius writing in the Washington Post sums up Obama's approach to the Mideast.

Beyond crisis management, administration officials have begun to urge Israel to use this incident to untangle the Gaza mess. U.S. officials hope Israel will take action on its own, before international condemnation grows any louder or another relief convoy tests the blockade. "The humanitarian aperture is not wide enough," argues the U.S. official. "We need to convince the Israelis that not everything can be made into a weapon."

The Obama team recognizes that Israel will act in its interests, but it wants Jerusalem to consider U.S. interests, as well. The administration has communicated at a senior level its fear that the Israelis sometimes "care about their equities, but not about ours."

This cautionary message -- that Israel must act as a more reliable and responsible partner -- may be the most important one conveyed this week.

...The trickiest problem in the first hours of the crisis was dealing with Turkey, whose leaders treated the commando raid as a pirate attack on Turkish citizens. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Gen. Jim Jones, the national security adviser, met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Then came a lengthy phone call between President Obama and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Obama told Erdogan that "we need to find a solution" for the Gaza humanitarian problem, according to a U.S. official. Erdogan is said to have agreed with the president that a good relationship between Israel and Turkey was crucial for regional stability -- and that Turkey didn't want to see any further degradation.

This is so typical of the wishful thinking/blame Israel worldview. Israel is the only party to have to modify its behavior and then everything will be alright.

Well, what about Turkey? Why are they suddenly so interested in Gaza that they let this convoy head into what they knew would be a confrontation? Why not lean on them to stay the hell out of this?

We can't do that you see, Turkey is a friend and vital link between the west and the Islamic world. Mustn't upset their delicate sensibilities for fear of pushing them further towards the Islamists.

Let's be honest, it's getting to be a little late for that.

Turkey wants to be a player in the region and they are stepping up their efforts to shape events there (see their efforts to broker a uranium deal with Iran before this). That's fine, that's what nations do but let's not give them a pass while only insisting that Israel is to blame for every flare up in tension. If Turkey wants to be in the game, that means taking shots as well.

Strangely missing from the post raid reaction (well, not really) is much mention of Hamas and Iran. You want things to improve in Gaza? Go talk to Tehran in addition to Jerusalem.

Of course western observers never expect anything from Iran because they either agree with their support for Hamas or they realize there's no point in going there. Iran is immune to criticism and public opinion, Israel isn't. If you are going to grandstand and demand action, you're going to aim it where it might get some results.

The Gazans made their choices and now they have to live with the consequences. I don't see why it's up to Israel to make their bad choices pay off for them.

I understand why both sides over there pretend to not acknowledge certain realities about the conflict. For example, the Arabs don't really give a damn about the Palestinians, they just want a focal point of rage to keep their people distracted. I just wish administrations of both parties in the US didn't buy into them as well.

posted by DrewM. at 02:52 PM

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