January 13, 2010
When Israel was destroying Gaza in December 2008, Obama was preparing to take office as president. Progressives around the world turned to him to use his surging diplomatic power to pressure Israel to end the massacre. He stayed silent, for days and weeks, the negative space created by his newfound lack of words filled with the explosions of Israeli bombs and the death cries of women and children.
So-called progressives lined up behind him to generate one excuse after another as to Obama’s inexplicable conduct. Most apologia centered on the idea that their "can be only one president at a time", whatever that means in the context of needed moral courage, not military might.
The next Gaza onslaught, however, will happen with the tacit if not explicit approval of the Obama administration. And none of the excuses made last time, even if you bought them the first time around, will hold.
In fact, Israeli PM Netanyahu believes Obama has already provided this approval. While Obama was meeting with Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers last week, he brusquely brushed off their requests and informed them that "everyone" shares the same "concern" about Hamas and its control over the Gaza strip.
Netanyahu was so surprised by this "uncouth" US response that he considered it "implicit permission to wage war."
Netanyahu immediately ordered the Israeli army to ’standby’ level of readiness.
Death draws nearer.
