Fox news analyst David Asman asked a provocative question in a recent blog post: Is President Obama funding terrorism by offering to provide $400 million of humanitarian aid to Hamas-controlled Gaza? The President made the offer in a meeting last week with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who lost authority in Gaza after a bloody Hamas coup in 2007. The aid package is aimed at improving living conditions in Gaza and strengthening the Palestinian Authority, which is open to negotiations with Israel, relative to Hamas, which refuses to recognize the …
Turkey may no longer be the friend the United States once knew. The Washington Post reports that thousands gathered in Istanbul on Saturday, shouting “Damn Israel!” in protest of the clash between Israeli forces and “peace activists” on a Turkish-flagged ship. The protest, together with dangerous shifts in Turkey’s foreign policy and inflammatory rhetoric from its prime minister, lead to questions about the country’s posture toward the West. The Washington Post reports: The incident occurred as Turkey has been strengthening ties with Muslim governments in the region — becoming more …
The storyline of the Gaza embargo has been written by now, defined by the Turkish so-called “peace activists,” clearly a misnomer if ever there was one. But misnomers and public relations is in large part what the convoy and the attempt to break the Israeli embargo was all about. In terms of information warfare, the activists have won so far, hands-down. Israel needs to do all it can to capture the information offensive. This can be done in several ways if only the media would be responsible enough to listen: …
The international hullabaloo over the tragic deaths provoked by violent “peace activists” seeking to undermine the Israeli arms blockade on Gaza has set back efforts to contain and neutralize the threats posed by the Palestinian Islamist terrorist group Hamas and its chief foreign bankroller, Iran. The United Nations Security Council, which was focused on intense negotiations over imposing another round of sanctions on Iran due to its nuclear defiance, now has been diverted to focus on Israel’s alleged transgressions against anti-Israel activists who clearly were spoiling for a fight. Politico’s …
Heritage Middle East analyst Jim Phillips makes a pretty good case that the Israeli confrontation with a convoy at sea bound for Gaza was a set-up by Hamas to provoke an incident that would draw intense criticism on Israel. The Taliban has every reason to try the same tactic by launching a successful attack on US soil. Senior US military officials told The Washington Post that the US has plans for a retaliatory strike on Pakistan if the Taliban hit the US. Furthermore, US officials revealed that the National Security …
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has called for meetings between the Israeli leaders and “Palestinian factions” as well as a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict. According to the CNN article, the Egyptian President “said the discussions would focus on avoiding an escalation of the violence, securing borders between Israel and Gaza”. The U.S. has supported Israel’s right to defend itself and respond to the terrorist threat of Hamas. It is important to remember that a cease-fire without being lasting and stable is catering to Hamas’ pledge to destroy Israel. Heritage Foundation’s …
Heritage Senior Research Fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs James Phillips on what principles should guide U.S. policy regarding the Gaza crisis: A cease-fire agreement must include and immediate and permanent end of rocket attacks by Hamas and other extremist Palestinian groups. A return to the status quo ante, in which Hamas felt free to launch rockets at Israeli civilians while hiding among Palestinian civilians, is unacceptable. Legitimizing the false moral equivalence between terrorist attacks aimed at murdering civilians and counter-terrorist actions taken by a democratic government to protect its citizens …
Hamas once again has provoked a crisis with Israel to advance its revolutionary agenda by exploiting the misery that its own policies have forced upon the Palestinian people and blaming Israel for everything that has happened. Hamas ended the six-month ceasefire (that it never fully enforced anyway) and resumed its indiscriminate bombardment of Israeli civilians, while its terrorists hid among Palestinian civilians. The sad truth is that Hamas and other Palestinian extremist organizations are more interested in killing Israelis than in protecting the interests of their own people. As long …
