re: #632 Joo-LiZ

“Problem is, Israel hasn’t yet resigned itself to the Islamist lurch of the Turkish government. The Israeli government is doing its best to maintain relations, even in a hostile environment, and because of that they can’t go on the offensive as Noah Pollak suggests.”

Joo-LiZ, the more serious problem is that this administration continues to turn a blind eye to what Turkey has become. As Barry Rubin noted in

Turkish Regime Changes Sides, West Averts Eyes

…Unnoticed in the hoopla and hysteria surrounding this incident was the Turkish government’s insulting treatment of the United States, as an errant schoolboy to be bullied and punished. President Barack Obama seems to have swallowed this meekly.Davutoglu said, “We expect the United States to show solidarity with us….I am not very happy with the statements from the United States yesterday.”

Quickly, U.S statements came into line. One might ask why the United States should show solidarity with a regime that organized a massive and aggressive operation on behalf of Hamas and had just stabbed it in the back by cooking up a deal with Iran to sabotage sanctions against Israel, an ally which had supported U.S. policies and made several tough concessions at Obama’s request.

Yet such is what has become normal in these times and under this U.S. government. The message has thus been sent: The Turkish government can do anything it wants and its American counterpart won’t even squeak in protest. Indeed, in his interview with Larry King, Obama went out of his way—in a situation where it was totally unnecessary—to praise Turkey and urge that it play a central role!

He said: “I think Turkey can have a positive voice in this whole process once we’ve worked through this tragedy. And bring everybody together to figure out how can we get a two-state solution where the Palestinians and Israelis can live side by side in peace and security.” Presumably, the second sentence was meant to say that the United States would “bring everybody together” but it could be read as if he were referring to Turkey.

rubinreports.blogspot.com