Free Republic

Some people may think that the latest escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is complicated and nuanced, but for Rep. Peter King, Republican from Long Island, knows better: it's all Obama's fault. "I believe that the Obama administration's foreign policy is responsible for what happened with the flotilla," King tells CBS, referring to the civilian deaths aboard a ship carrying humanitarian supplies to Gaza. So now King is introducing a resolution to force the president to militarily support Israel's naval blockade of Gaza. King’s resolution would authorize the U.S. to provide Israel with necessary weapons and supplies to enforce the Gaza...

Under President Barack Obama, the United States no longer provides Israel with automatic support at the United Nations where the Jewish state faces a constant barrage of criticism and condemnation. The subtle but noticeable shift in the U.S. approach to its Middle East ally comes amid what some analysts describe as one of the most serious crises in U.S.-Israeli relations in years. Under Obama, the United States seeks to reclaim its role as an impartial Middle East peace broker which critics say it lost during the previous administration of George W. Bush. "Israel became used to unconditional support of the...

The UN Secretary General has insisted other nations should oversee an investigation into Israel's deadly boarding of a Turkish ship. Ban Ki-Moon restated the demands days after Israel rejected a similar suggestion that the probe be carried out by an international tribunal. Israel is insisting it should carry out the investigation itself. Nine people died when Israel prevented a flotilla of ships docking in the Gaza Strip on 31 May. Israel has outlined the focus of the probes it will conduct. They will look exclusively into the legality of Israel's naval blockade of Gaza and the raid on the aid...

>"Never again." It's what the world said after the Holocaust. Fast forward sixty five years and the only thing standing between seven million Jews in Israel and a 2nd Holocaust is their ability to fight for their own survival and the increasingly inconsistent support of the United States. It doesn't matter that Israel is a beacon of Western civilization surrounded by terrorist-supporting nations, dictators, and rogue states. It doesn't matter that Israel could obliterate the Palestinians and take their land in a few weeks’ time if they so desired. It doesn't even matter that the Israelis are engaged in a...

Israel 'Foils Scuba Dive Attack' 7 June 2010 Israel's navy has shot and killed four Palestinians wearing diving gear off the Gaza coast, officials say. The Israeli military says it believes those on board were planning a "terrorist attack". Hamas officials in Gaza say four bodies have been recovered and two people are missing. Israel controls and occupies the sea off the coast of Gaza despite having withdrawn its forces from the territory in 2005. The country's Haaretz newspaper quoted an Israeli army source as saying the incident took place at about 0430 local time (0130 GMT) and that the...

The Israeli Navy opened fire on an armed Palestinians wearing diving suits and apparently on their way to attack Israel targets, the IDF said on Monday morning. An army source told Haaretz that at about 4:30 A.M., naval commandos identified and fired on a boat carrying five armed Palestinians heading north from waters off the Nuseirath refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Gaza sources reported that four Palestinians were killed in what appears to have been a rare attempt at a seaborne attack on Israel. Hamas later confirmed the deaths and said a fifth Palestinian was missing. Four bodies...

Remember how there was supposedly going to be “no daylight” between them in dealing with the flotilla aftermath? Turns out daylight has broken after just four days. Question: If you’re intent on pushing a policy as reckless as ending the blockade — and it is reckless, as we all know from Lebanon that neutral “peacekeepers” aren’t going to keep Iranian weapons out of Gaza — why on earth would you wait to do it in response to a provocation? You’re sending a crystal clear signal here to the Muslim Brotherhood scumbags responsible for the flotilla and their Turkish sponsors that,...

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The Obama administration appears to be rebuffing calls from some Jewish groups for the United States to be more assertive and public in defending Israel regarding the flotilla incident. The bluntest appeal for a more pronounced pro-Israel posture came from Abraham Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League's national director, who is in Israel meeting with the Israeli leadership. "The U.S. should reiterate its support and understanding for Israel, that as a sovereign and democratic nation it has the right to act on behalf of its national security and express its confidence that Israel can conduct its own investigation into...

UN calls for full inquiry after Israel Navy commandos storm international aid boat; European Union condemns incident.The White House on Monday said it "deeply regretted" the loss of life and injuries sustained in the clashes after Israel Navy troops stormed a convoy of international activists bringing aid to the Gaza Strip, leaving at least 10 people dead."The United States deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries sustained, and is currently working to understand the circumstances surrounding this tragedy," said White House spokesman William Burton. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a full investigation and expressed shock at Israel's...

The colossal Syrian-Hizballah missile deployment funded by Iran  points in only one direction: Israel. It is controlled from a joint Iran-Syria-Hizballah-Hamas command center established in March at Syrian GHQ in Damascus  for attacking Israeli military and civilian sites organized in four sectors. Syria's production lines have been humming for five months converting its missiles from liquid-fuel to the more accurate solid-fuel ballistic missiles with the help of North Korean experts.

Hamas: '67 border deal doesn't include recognition of Israel Published yesterday (updated) 19/05/2010 20:05 www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=285466 Gaza – Ma'an – Hamas' acceptance of 1967 borders, in exchange for a 10-year truce, would not involve the recognition of Israel, senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Haya said Wednesday. The proposal put forward by Hamas would see the acceptance of a Palestinian state "in stages" on the green line, the 1967 armistice line, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and "the return of all refugees without recognizing Israel in exchange for a 10-year truce," Al-Haya said during a Hamas conference to mark Nakba Day in...

'It's those damned Jews." That's the muffled message I hear when, pretending to represent our national interest, voices call for the abandonment of Israel. We've heard it from agenda-driven scholars who write that our alliance with Israel is responsible for our problems in the Middle East. More worrisome still, I've begun to hear it from a minority of military officers, as well as from Washington types. This latest, and sadly lasting, bout of moral cancer can be dated back to 2006 and the publication of an article that had sought a home for years, "The Israeli Lobby And US Foreign...

If Israel and the Palestinians fail to reach an agreement to create a Palestinian state, the Obama administration will look into imposing a solution on the parties, a senior Palestinian Authority negotiator told WND. The negotiator, speaking by telephone from Ramallah, said the PA agreed to resume direct talks with Israel earlier this week only after a U.S. pledge to ensure against any new Jewish construction in eastern Jerusalem and the strategic West Bank. The PA negotiator told WND

Lebanon expects to receive additional U.S. assistance to develop its military and security forces. Lebanese officials said the United States has pledged to lead an international effort to bolster Beirut's military and security forces. They said U.S. weapons began to flow to Lebanon in 2010 and could intensify over the next few months. "The U.S. military is convinced that the Lebanese army is capable of controlling stability in Lebanon," Ghassan Al Shibli, a researcher at the Washington-based Rand Corp., said. Officials said the Obama administration has concluded that U.S. aid should not be blocked by Hizbullah's domination of the government...

OBAMA – NO INTEREST IN ENDING PALESTINIAN INCITEMENT By Morton A. Klein, National President Daniel Mandel, Director Center for Middle East Policy Zionist Organization of America Friday, May 07, 2010 Polls in the last month have shown that Americans, American Jews and Israelis all disapprove of President Barack Obama’s policies towards Israel. One reason for the disapproval that emerges in these polls is that the Obama Administration pressures and criticizes Israel, while giving Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority (PA) a free pass. Such perceptions happen to be well-founded: for example, the Obama Administration has almost entirely ignored Palestinian incitement. On the...

The United States is working with both Egypt and Russia to rid Israel of its nuclear weapons, as part of a comprehensive plan to neutralize Iran’s nuclear power. Reports of this nature are being reported in various news media. The Guardian (London) reports that the US and Russia have drafted an initiative to ban nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, while the Wall Street Journal says the Obama Administration is considering support for a “nuclear-free Middle East.”

A paradigm shift has now taken place in US/Israel relations. They are now enemies. The US is undermining Israel at every turn.This new reality has come to my attention through an email from a highly placed source which follows. we heard it from a consultant to the United States who meets once a month with the President in the White house. This is what actually has happened with the relationship with Israel and the USA and it is not pretty: 1. Israel during the Bush and Clinton Administrations – had landing rights in Turkey , and in the USA bases...

Barack Obama has warned Israel he will pave the way for an independent Palestinian state if the peace process remains deadlocked until the autumn. The US president is proposing to hand control of the Middle East peace process to the international community unless there is a breakthrough in the next few months, Israeli officials have said. Mr Obama has formulated a secret plan with leading European allies to convene an international peace conference by the end of the year, according to Israel's Haaretz newspaper. The move would fulfil one of Israel's deepest fears by effectively stripping the Jewish state of...

Last week Israel celebrated its 62nd year as a nation, but there was major cause for concern amid the festivities as the Israeli people faced the looming menace of a nuclear-armed Iran, as well as the prospect of a rapidly deteriorating relationship with Washington. The Israel-bashing of the Obama administration has become so bad that even leading Democrats are now speaking out against the White House. New York Senator Chuck Schumer blasted Barack Obama’s stance towards Israel in a radio interview last week, stating his “counter-productive” Israel policy “has to stop”.At the same time a poll was released by Quinnipiac...

Demanding a construction freeze in the capital reverses decades of U.S. policy Thanks to a deadlock engineered by the U.S. government, the Middle East peace process is stalled. President Obama began this stalemate last year when he called for a settlement freeze, and he escalates it now with a major change of American policy regarding Jerusalem. The president seeks to prohibit Israel from any construction in its capital, in particular in a Jewish suburb of East Jerusalem called Ramat Shlomo. This, despite the fact that all former administrations have unequivocally understood that the area in question would remain part of...