Obama news conference: 'Israel Has The Right To Defend Itself'

[Baclava]

"I reaffirm my strong support for the right of Israel to defend itself"

"No nation should accept rockets being fired into it's borders or terrorists tunneling into it's territoriy"

6:20 mark

very interesting

[Archae]

1. For being in the Muslim Brotherhood, hating Israel and supporting jihad...

He sure sounds like what right-wingers keep whining about, doesn't he?

[Baclava]

3. He doesn't really call Hamas terrorists - but that's what he's saying I guess

I wonder who that message was for?

[geek tragedy]

2. official US policy is to support Israel unconditionally and has been so

since 2000.

This is about as surprising as an informercial showing that a product really does work as promised.

[WatermelonRat]

6. Only since 2000?

[geek tragedy]

7. Clinton threw some sharp elbows at Bibi, to the point

where Bibi got voted out of office when it appeared he was endangering the US-Israel relationship.

Now, of course, the shoe is on the other foot, and Israelis do not worry about harming the relationship with the US, which they take for granted, with good reasons. Instead, the only political risk is if a politician fails to give Israel his/her unconditional support and admiration.

[Baclava]

8. This was on the world stage - everyone was listening to his comments about the shoot-down in Ukraine

Interesting he chose that moment to bolster our support for Israel's attack on Gaza, no?

[DustyJoe]

4. bravo

Good not to see any of the 'huddle in place' defence
that the US citizen is subjected to for any hostile event. People
do get tired of being told to run and hide and the bad
people will eventually go away. This gesture of support
should be welcome news for tired huddlers. Good for Obama.

[NightWatcher]

5. There's a difference between self defense and picking a fight

And it's one thing to defend your friend and another to follow them into a fight they started.

(notice I speak in nonspecific generalities)

[Baclava]

9. so, in general, over 1000 rockets raining down on Israel is reason enough to attack the terrorists

Hamas knew this was coming, you poke a junkyard dog with stick long enough and it will come at ya

This is gonna be a mean fight

[Hugabear]

11. "you poke a junkyard dog with stick long enough and it will come at ya"

You mean pretty much what Israel has been doing to Palestinians for decades?

[Baclava]

12. Reminiscing about the past has no use in the middle of a battle

...when the tanks are rolling

[Hugabear]

13. It has everything to do with why Palestinians continue to attack Israel

Israel continues to treat Palestinians like second-class citizens. Israeli settlers continue to bulldoze Palestinian homes, and establish their own settlements on Palestinian land. It's not enough that Palestinians have been confined to very small scraps of land. Israelis want MORE.

You really expect the Palestinians to keep taking punches without ever hitting back?

[Baclava]

16. It's tribal blood lust or something...that's been going on for over 2000 years....

WE shouldn't get involved. It seems both sides seem to have a need to blow off steam every couple years. Nothing will change.

[n2doc]

10. Strange how self defense results in shelling children on a beach

Not a rocket in sight, according to eye witnesses. But somehow this is a justified response.


Anyway, I guess nations do have to accept drones blowing up wedding parties, because, terror!

[gratuitous]

17. Eggs and omelettes, so I'm told

But yeah, how does indiscriminate slaughter of non-combatants enhance a nation's defense?

[conservaphobe]

14. No surprise. Even Egypt agrees that Hamas crossed the line. nt

[Baclava]

18. Egypt knows that they are getting stronger with our arms deals - they won't mess that up

...by siding with Hamas or letting them de-stabilize THEIR border.....they don't get along anyway.

Anyway, it's a power-hungry region of the world...and we are feeding them


Egypt isn’t entirely dependent on the USA for weapons. The EAF’s fleet of 18 or so Mirage 2000s adds an important alternative to their 200+ F-16s, but it’s a drop in the bucket. Instead, their main alternative is an old standby: over 100 Russian MiG-21s, or their license-built Chinese J-7 counterparts.

On land, Egypt has almost 3,000 American M1 and M60 tanks, and M113-derivatives dominate their APCs and IFVs. On the other hand, Egypt also has over 1,200 Soviet tanks that have undergone upgrades to Ramses II (T-55) or RO-120 Mk.III (T-62) status, and a similarly-proportioned range of older OTR-60 family, BTR, and locally-designed Fahd APCs.

One finds this kind of pattern throughout their forces: higher-end American equipment, with a smaller set of older East-Bloc designs that remain in the force.


http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/all-over-again-egypt-looks-beyond-the-usa-for-new-arms-019091/

[AgingAmerican]

15. Israels apartheid system

Is a gross violation of international law. Israel is a racist state.

[wyldwolf]

19. do you disagree?

[Baclava]

22. who me? - no, but I don't think the wars over these "Holy lands" will ever end though

well, unless one side is completely annihilated

[cali]

23. why would anyone support what Israel is engaged in? Do you support

collective punishment? Because that is inevitable when you bomb a place as small and densely inhabited as Gaza. Do you support the decades long theft of land that Israel is engaged in? Do you think that perhaps occupation, endless humiliation and theft of land engenders anger?

[Rex]

20. But but but...Obama is the Marxist leader of the Muslim Brotherhood!

You mean the GOP was lying to me!? SHOCK!

[Baclava]

21. wait till the teabaggers find out he's really securing the Jewish vote in the mid-terms

then the Nazi flags will come flying