Now for something completely different–Turkey!
Americans don’t pay much attention to certain countries, and Turkey may be one of them. But as this story in the Asia Times makes clear, the words and actions of its prime minister are having a big impact in the Islamic world.
”In particular, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s public snub of Israeli President Shimon Peres last Thursday in a television chat show on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meet in the Swiss resort of Davos has caught the imagination of the Islamic world and cuts across the Shi’ite-Sunni divide. All of a sudden, Erdogan takes the form of a latter-day Ottoman sultan with an empire that spreads all across the fertile Mesopotamian planes, the Arabian desserts, the Nile Valley, the Levant and the Maghreb, all the way into the heart of Africa.”
Read the story and what Erdogan said:
In the same article.
“But Israel took the Turkish criticism in its stride. Israel said Erdogan was being “emotional”. Erdogan shot back: “I am not emotional. I am speaking as a grandson of the Ottoman Empire, which welcomed your forefathers when they were exiled … History will accuse them [Olmert and Livni] of putting a stain on humanity … It is unforgivable that a people who in their history suffered so profoundly could do such a thing.”
Erdogan in his first words accused Israel of killing children on the beach. Pretty powerful and accurate indictment of Israeli leadership. How long will we let militant Israeli leaders dictate American foreign policy?
No. How long will we let Hamas thugs lob missiles indiscriminately into Israel, and how long will the citizens of Gaza tolerate it?
Has any one seen any polls or any independent indicators of how Gazans see these issues?
Of course, at the moment they likely would say they support Hamas. Yet in the aftermath of the Israelis withdrawal, there were stories of Hamas militants coming round and shooting people they believed to be collaborators. There are likely some/many?? Gazans who might like to be rid of both Hamas and the Israelis. We are unlikely to hear from them.
And not to argue the point, but there have been news reports that the missile lobbing has come in some/many instances from non-Hamas militants. Why doesn’t Hamas control them. Why don’t the Israeli Defense Forces control W.Bank settler who destroy Palestinian homes and fields. Too many people on both sides have a vested interest in resolving matters by violence, “official” and otherwise.
How long will the citizens of Gaza tolerate it? How long will the citizens of Israel tolerate it? How long will the citizens of the United States tolerate it? And so on…..