Flotilla raid offers Israel a learning opportunity
By David Ignatius
WashPost
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Governments make mistakes. But if they're smart, they learn from them. If the Israeli government is sensible, it will use the uproar provoked by its attack on a flotilla of relief ships to rethink its policies for Gaza and the region.
Israeli commandos stormed the ships early Monday in an effort to enforce their blockade on the Gaza Strip and thereby weaken the grip of the extremist Hamas movement there. But like many of Israel's hard-nosed operations lately, this one backfired, and it's useful to think about why.
Let's start by conceding all the obvious points made in Israel's defense: It is combating a terrorist adversary in Gaza; its friends in Europe and the United States are increasingly unreliable; its key Muslim ally, Turkey, is buddying up with Iran; and the Turkish organizers of the Gaza relief mission have links with the Israel haters in Hamas.
All true and, from an Israeli standpoint, infuriating. But it's a situation where a wise leader should hedge his bets rather than roll the dice with a showy commando operation at sea.
(More here.)
WashPost
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Governments make mistakes. But if they're smart, they learn from them. If the Israeli government is sensible, it will use the uproar provoked by its attack on a flotilla of relief ships to rethink its policies for Gaza and the region.
Israeli commandos stormed the ships early Monday in an effort to enforce their blockade on the Gaza Strip and thereby weaken the grip of the extremist Hamas movement there. But like many of Israel's hard-nosed operations lately, this one backfired, and it's useful to think about why.
Let's start by conceding all the obvious points made in Israel's defense: It is combating a terrorist adversary in Gaza; its friends in Europe and the United States are increasingly unreliable; its key Muslim ally, Turkey, is buddying up with Iran; and the Turkish organizers of the Gaza relief mission have links with the Israel haters in Hamas.
All true and, from an Israeli standpoint, infuriating. But it's a situation where a wise leader should hedge his bets rather than roll the dice with a showy commando operation at sea.
(More here.)
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