Thursday, June 03, 2010

Oh how stupid they think we are..

The New York Times is running 2 opinion pieces about the Israel attack that are almost hilarious in their assumption of our stupidity.
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They are by Israel's Ambassador to the United States - Michael B. Oren (An Assault Cloaked in Peace) and by Damiel Gordis, A Vice President of the Shalem Center (A Botched Raid, A Vital Embargo).
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There are some misstatements and misinformation - starting with a graphic that shows a ship bursting with missiles - of which there were none.
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Then look at this compound sentence from the Ambassador. There is little doubt as to the real purpose of the Mavi Marmara’s voyage — not to deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, but to create a provocation that would put international pressure on Israel to drop the Gaza embargo, and thus allow the flow of seaborne military supplies to Hamas. I say part 1 is true, but part 2 (and thus allow the flow of seaborne military supplies to Hamas) is not. A lot people believe that starving an innocent population is wrong. In the article itself, they blame Hamas for the takeover put are starving the entire population of 1.4 million for this.
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I do love the explanation that they are letting in 100 truckloads of food and medicine a day. That is 1 truck for every 14,000 people - plenty of food and medicine. And some of the items they embargo'ed, wheelchairs (which can be turned into metal clubs).
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Then Mr. Gordis' comment that "Israel’s attempt to enforce a blockade becomes an international crisis, while most of the world shrugs when North Korea sinks a South Korean ship." This is a common and incorrect refrain. The "shrug" included new military ties between Japan, South Korea and the US, discussions in the UN Security Council and the fall of the Japanese government. Bitching at Israel is not an "international crisis".
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He also says, "Our problem is that though most Israelis want peace with two states — one Jewish and one Palestinian, living side by side — we cannot find anyone to make a deal with us. A decade ago, President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Ehud Barak, tried, but Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader, walked away. Now the supposedly moderate Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, refuses to negotiate, as of course does Hamas. " True - Yasir walked away. But since then the PLO has had elections in Palestine (as called for in the treaty - we just didn't like the results), stopped the intifada (credit to Israel primarily - but Palestine too) and Israel built a walk across territory it had agreed to give back and continued to build settlements on disputed land after agreeing not too. Blame is a too way street here. Israel's promises are no more followed than Palestine's.
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I am not saying that we should turn our back on Israel - but let's have an honest discussion - not pretend that Israel is the saint of the Mideast.