Obama Administration Favors An End To The Blockade Against Hamas
http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/06/03/obama-administration-favors-an-end-to-the-blockade-against-hamas/
Yesterday I blogged that:
the next step for the Obama administration will be to line up against the continuation of the Gaza blockade.
This morning, I woke up to read on the front page of The New York Times that the White House has wasted no time taking that next step:
The Obama administration considers Israel’s blockade of Gaza to be untenable and plans to press for another approach to ensure Israel’s security while allowing more supplies into the impoverished Palestinian area, senior American officials said Wednesday.
The Free Gaza Movement and its Islamic jihadist allies, including the Turkish-sponsored IHH, have achieved what they set out to do – to push Israel into a corner by provoking a confrontation and then using it to force an end to the blockade against the Hamas terrorist-controlled Gaza Strip .
How exactly does the Obama administration intend to “ensure Israel’s security” if theIsraeli blockade is lifted? Will it dare cross its Islamic allies including Turkey, a member of NATO and one of the more “moderate” Islamic states until taken over by an Islamic ruling party, which is leading the charge against Israel? I’m quite certain that the answer is resounding “no.”
Will Obama, then, press for a UN Security Council resolution prohibiting the transport of arms and of trained jihadist fighters to Gaza? Even if such a resolution could be passed over the objections of the Council’s Islamic members Turkey and Lebanon, it will be no more effective than its ban on arms to Hezbollah that Iran and Syria regularly violate.
All indications are that, instead, the Security Council will follow up its Presidential Statement condemning Israel’s military intervention against the last flotilla with a demand for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to undertake a prompt investigation of the incident that led to nine fatalities aboard one of the flotilla ships. The infamously antisemitic Human Rights Council has already moved to dispatch its own fact-finding mission.
Could some sort of multinational naval and land contingent be put into place to inspect for arms in place of Israel’s blockade? Unlikely, to put it mildly. Does anyone seriously think that the Obama administration, much less any European or non-aligned country, would risk putting its own standing with the “international community” at risk by replacing Israel as an enforcer and confronting another Free Gaza activist ship? Again I think not.
Israel gave peace a chance five years ago when it withdrew its soldiers and settlers from Gaza. Extensive imports into Gaza and exports out of Gaza were allowed until Hamas forcibly took the Strip over and kicked out the Palestinian Authority. Humanitarian supplies, including food and medicines, continue to be allowed in, despite repeated provocations from Hamas.
Nothing has changed on Hamas’ side. It is still dedicated to destroying the Jewish state. It smuggles arms to use in carrying out its threat, how and whenever it can. It continues to hold Israeli soldier Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit in captivity.
It is Hamas, not Israel, that must fundamentally change, before the blockade can be safely lifted. With the Obama administration’s willingness to reward Hamas for its intransigence by continuing to pressure Israel for more and more unilateral concessions, Hamas and other Islamic terrorist groups will only become more emboldened. And that should worry Israelis and freedom loving Westerners alike.
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