On Thursday, as President Obama was getting ready to deliver his vision of peace to Israeli students, the alternative to that vision was typically expressed by a rocket attack from Gaza. On Thursday morning the contrast between the two visions was clearly illustrated; Just a day later the violent alternative received a tremendous boost.
Hamas applauded Turkish PM Erdogan on finally getting his apology, declaring it “A victory” – and so they should: The effort to rescue the Hamas regime in Gaza, taken by the Turkish Islamist organization IHH three years ago, ended Friday with their calamitous moral victory. Since IHH radicals on board of the Mavi Marmara are still too often related to as “carrying humanitarian aid” and as “peace activists”, I’m inclined to remind my readers who they were, via this 3:35 video I made with my friend Guy Ross:
Erdogan did not hesitate to throw his weight behind the IHH and keep it there for three years. The PM and his Justice and Development party, (which last year ” target=”_blank”>rallied an Arab League meeting: “Israel must pay the price for its aggression and crimes.” He ” target=”_blank”>told a press conference in Vienna that Zionism is a crime against humanity. This coming from the PM of Turkey, whose nationalism cost an enormous number of Armenian, Greek and Kurdish lives – is infuriating. This is the man granted an apology…? The game of apologies in the Middle East is a one-way affair: the provocateur demands it, the provocateur is granted it.
Commentator Robin Wright was ” target=”_blank”>cool it down on Saturday using confrontational language the world has grown so deaf to identify.
The moral consequences are devastating. If I were an Islamist anywhere in the world – I’d be launching a new flotilla tomorrow. For the rest of the world, the understanding of good and bad intentions, violent and peaceful ideologies and the very principle of justice, is more blurry today. As I wrote