Friday, January 30, 2009

A Political Price for Gaza

I have made no secret about what I felt about the recent conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. I felt that the attack by the Israelis was timed more for political considerations than any real security threat. I can see no other reason why the attack stopped a day before Barack Obama became the U.S President and 2 weeks before national elections in Israel.

So it’s with some satisfaction that I see Israel paying a political price for their actions. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Israel's President Shimon Peres got into a fiery debate regarding Israel's assault and blockade of Gaza. The Turkish Prime Minister also stormed out of the debate because of a failure by the moderator of the debate, Mr. David Ignatius, to do his job properly. After a 25min monologue by the Israel's President, the moderator cut off Mr. Erdogan’s response. What kind of moderator give 25mins to 1 guy and then just give 12mins for the response? Who is this David Ignatius?

However that’s another question for another day. The problem for Israel now is that they are fast running out of allies in the region. When Turkey, who is widely considered one of the more moderate Arab countries around, start blaming Israel for the suffering in Gaza, Israel has truly lost the propaganda war. What’s more is that Turkey will play a key role in any settlement between Israel and Syria.

The list of friends Israel has in the Middle East has never been long, and it seems to be getting shorter by the day. Exactly what they deserve for starting a war due to politics!

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