{"id":40265,"date":"2016-04-29T17:05:14","date_gmt":"2016-04-29T15:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=40265"},"modified":"2016-04-26T06:55:12","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T04:55:12","slug":"26-05-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=40265","title":{"rendered":"Obama owes Israel an apology"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Obama owes Israel an apology<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Jennifer Rubin<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Israeli helicopter lands to evacuate soldiers, wounded during an offensive in Gaza, near the border with the Gaza Strip in 2014. (Baz Ratner\/Reuters)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

USA Today reported this week: \u201cThe Pentagon has approved airstrikes that risk more civilian casualties in order to destroy Islamic State targets as part of its increasingly aggressive fight against the militant group in Iraq and Syria, according to interviews with military officials and data.\u201d Considering the enemy we face, the level of control and restraint that will continue is remarkable and admirable:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Six Defense Department officials, all speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to describe how Islamic State targets are selected and attacked, described a sliding scale of probable civilian casualties based on the value of the target and the location. For example, a strike with the potential to wound or kill several civilians would be permitted if it prevented ISIL fighters from causing greater harm.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Before the change, there were some limited cases in which civilian casualties were allowed, the officials said. Now, however, there are several targeting areas in which the probability of 10 civilian casualties are permitted. Those areas shift depending on the time, location of the targets and the value of destroying them, the officials said.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The riskiest missions require White House approval, said one official, who is closely involved with current targeting plans.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This is entirely appropriate and embodies the concept of \u201cproportional force,\u201d a mainstay of international law too often conveniently ignored or misinterpreted when it comes to Israel. And that brings us back to the Gaza war.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Israelis faced a much more imminent threat against an enemy deliberately using civilian shields. A U.S. review after the war confirmed the extraordinary lengths to which Israel went to avoid civilian causalities. That, however, was not how the Obama administration and, in particular Ben Rhodes, certainly the least expert and most partisan person to hold a senior foreign policy position in recent memory, saw things. (Recall that before the bodies from Libya were shipped home, Rhodes was the one drafting talking points to spin the incident so as to avoid the impression that the administration\u2019s anti-terrorism policy was unraveling.) Rhodes, with no factual basis, insisted that Israel \u201ccan always do more\u201d to avoid civilian deaths. (He offered no suggestions.) The administration announced itself \u201cappalled\u201d by Israel\u2019s self-defense, which regrettably killed innocents (precisely as Hamas intended, by hiding weapons and terrorists in civilian areas).<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t expect the administration to \u201cself-reflect\u201d on its criticisms of Israel now that it is in the same boat \u2014 balancing innocent life against the threat from aggressors. As for Israel, you will not hear any public \u201cI told you so\u2019s.\u201d The Israeli government, unlike the current administration, understands that the United States and Israel share many things, among which is the dedication to the rule of law, the preservation of innocent life and a transparent democracy that is willing to examine its own conduct, debate and correct course when appropriate. Until the Obama administration came along, U.S. presidents generally understood this as well, defending Israel from efforts to delegitimize it and constrain its right to self-defense under the phony, distorted banner of \u201cinternational law.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The next president should avoid mimicking the administration\u2019s unwarranted criticism, as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has done. We\u2019ve repeatedly credited Hillary Clinton for rebutting Sanders\u2019s libel, and thereby by implication, the administration\u2019s Gaza war rhetoric.<\/span><\/p>\n

recommended by: <\/span><\/em>
\nLeon Rozenbaum<\/span><\/em>
\n\"\"But neither should Obama\u2019s successor follow the monstrous suggestion from Donald Trump that we should target noncombatant women and children and should engage not merely in enhanced interrogation but out-and-out torture. America is not \u201cgreat\u201d because it can outdo its enemies in mendacity; it is great \u2014 as Israel and other Western democracies are \u2014 because it is a force for good in the world and abides by Judeo-Christian values that do not revere power above all else.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sanders would make us weak by undermining our \u2014 and Israel\u2019s \u2014 right to self-defense and allowing evil actors to flourish, thereby imperiling thousands of innocents. Trump would make us weak by undermining our values and our image as a defender of free peoples, thereby impeding our fight against evil actors. Surely the United States can do better than that.<\/span><\/p>\n

And by the way, don\u2019t hold your breath waiting for an apology from the morally myopic, thin-skinned administration. This president\u2019s animus toward Israel would not permit that.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Jennifer Rubin<\/strong> writes the Right Turn blog for The Post, offering reported opinion from a conservative perspective. \uf099 Follow @JRubinBlogger<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

twoje uwagi, linki, wlasne artykuly, lub wiadomosci przeslij do: webmaster@reunion68.com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Obama owes Israel an apology Jennifer Rubin Israeli helicopter lands to evacuate soldiers, wounded during an offensive in Gaza, near the border with the Gaza Strip in 2014. (Baz Ratner\/Reuters) USA Today reported this week: \u201cThe Pentagon has approved airstrikes that risk more civilian casualties in order to destroy Islamic State targets as part of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40265"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40265"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40285,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40265\/revisions\/40285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}