What 'new approach'?
Claiming that the situation in Gaza is 'untenable' and that even Prime Minister Netanyahu recognizes it as such, the New York Times quotes 'US officials' saying that a 'new approach' is needed in Gaza (Hat Tip: Memeorandum). “There is no question that we need a new approach to Gaza,” said one official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the policy shift is still in the early stages. He was reflecting a broadly held view in the upper reaches of the administration.But while 'everyone' seems to think a new approach is needed, no one seems to have one. The only one suggested in the Times is one that we in Israel would have been glad to accept five years ago, but which appears most unlikely to happen today.
Israel would insist that any approach take into account three factors: Israel’s security; the need to prevent any benefit to Hamas, the Islamist rulers of Gaza; and the four-year-old captivity of an Israeli soldier held by Hamas, Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit.
Since the botched raid that killed nine activists on Monday, the Israeli government has said that the blockade was necessary to protect Israel against the infiltration into Gaza of weapons and fighters sponsored by Iran.
If there were no blockade in place, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Israeli television on Wednesday evening, it would mean “an Iranian port in Gaza.” He added, “Israel will continue to maintain its right to defend itself.”
But the American officials said they believed that even Mr. Netanyahu understood that a new approach was needed.
Aluf Benn, a senior editor and columnist for the left-wing Israeli newspaper Haaretz wrote on Wednesday that the time had come for a new Gaza policy.And that's without even mentioning the outrage that would consume Israel if the blockade were to be significantly eased while Gilad Shalit remains in captivity.
“The attempt to control Gaza from outside, via its residents’ diet and shopping lists, casts a heavy moral stain on Israel and increases its international isolation,” he wrote. “Every Israeli should be ashamed of the list of goods prepared by the Defense Ministry, which allows cinnamon and plastic buckets into Gaza, but not houseplants and coriander. It’s time to find more important things for our officers and bureaucrats to do than update lists.”
He suggested sealing the Israel-Gaza border and informing the international community that Israel was no longer responsible for Gaza in any way, forcing Gaza to turn to Egypt as its corridor to the outside world.
Egypt has consistently rejected such an idea in the past, asserting that Gaza is Israel’s responsibility because it has occupied it since 1967.
I would argue that half measures are not working and that Israel has to go all the way and not let anything in until Shalit is released and then go back to the current approach. It's outrageous that this kid has been held in Gaza for nearly four years while most Gazans live comfortable lives and Israel is lambasted by the World as if we were making them suffer.
Like 'everyone knows' what's needed for peace, and 'everyone knows' what's needed in Jerusalem, the fact remains that Arab intransigence continues to ensure that Gaza is used as a stick for the world to beat up on Israel. If we're going to be beaten up for it anyway, we may as well make the 'Palestinians' suffer.
The picture above is from Gaza's Rosy Spa. It looks like they're suffering, doesn't it?
By the way, I'm back in Israel now (sorry, I took a few hours to get my act together). The disconnect between what Israelis are discussing about Monday's incident (it's being treated as a botched IDF operation) and the rest of the world's focus on saving 'poor Gaza' is astounding.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:57 PM
4 Comments:
Exactly. Let them starve and be the world's responsibility.
I don't see how it is any of the Stupid Jews' business to look after their welfare while no one cares about Gilad Shalit.
I agree with Benn; the world cares so much about them, let them support them. That should NOT be the job of the Israeli taxpayer to give an easy life to those who hate Israel and wish to see it destroyed. Complete the Disengagement!
Its time the Gaza Arabs took care of themselves.
I just read in a jpost article that Bibi told Blair that he will loosen the blockade. That means that the terror enablers have won, if true. Israel gets nothing by folding to irrational pressure. It just means that the next time the anti-Zionists will expect Israel to give up more. He should have redoubled the blockade, IMO.
Carl - Kae Gregory is right Netanyahu is crumbling in the face of US pressure to lift the blockade. Anne Bayefsky has some rather alarming details to report:
"The Obama administration is attempting to launch an internationalized investigation into Israel over its recent effort to break the naval blockade of Hamas-run Gaza. In an extraordinary interference with the sovereignty of a democratic society and its right of self-defense, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said Wednesday that the United States wants "a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation. ... We are open to different ways of assuring a credible investigation, including international participation ... "
"Assistant Secretary of State Philip J. Crowley elaborated that the administration was demanding Israel produce "an investigation that is broadly viewed as credible by the international community." That would be the same international community which has condemned Israel without the facts, and which has refused to walk back their spontaneous reactions, though the video evidence of armed "civilian" attackers and martyr-seeking "humanitarians" now stares them in the face."
"Late Monday night President Obama agreed to a unanimous U.N. Security Council presidential statement, which demanded "a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation conforming to international standards." At the U.N. everyone knew that such language meant a new U.N.-sponsored investigation mirroring the infamous U.N. Goldstone Report on the 2009 Gaza war. That report was produced by four investigators who had all publicly declared Israel guilty before they began, and who operated under a mandate that incorporated a guilty verdict from the outset."
This from Obumbler - to have Israel be judged by the same international lynch mob that just convicted Israel days before.
And there is this:
"Israel should not believe for a second that such an internationalization would somehow make the second Goldstone-like report go away. Any investigation conducted by Israel that includes international participants who are not chosen by the U.N. lynch mob--or any inquiry which is not controlled in terms of its mandate and outcome by the same hordes--will fail to silence the hatemongers."
It will be a Goldstone II that would explicitly strip away what's left of Israel's sovereignty and right of self defense - this time with Israeli government's concurrence. Here's a bet Netanyahu won't say no to Obumbler's new pressure to allow goods to be freely shipped to Hamas-run Gaza.
The rest here: Read it all
What could go wrong indeed
As I said on one of the other posts, the contraband in this flotilla was not in the crates. It was the 40 undocumented thugs (and who else?) who would have melted into the night if they got anywhere near Gaza. And then my Israeli friends' sons would be dealing with them when they do their service in a couple of years. I hope the processors have the wits to take every biometric datapoint they can think of, figure out who they are, what their training is, what their new job for Hamas would be, etc.
I thank the IDF... botched? not from my view, but every Israeli knows better what they are talking about than I do. Lucky country has everybody trained up to be competent! I did see some idea somewhere of getting a rope or something caught up in the boat's propellor and burning out their motor. Then you wouldn't have to take over the boat to stop them. Sounded like a good idea, especially now that the IDF has demonstrated with their executed plan and video cameras what these people are all about.
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