Israel attacks aid ship, kills at least 10 civilians

[Elvis]

Gotta wait to see the list first but it's a good start. The blockade wasn't simply meant to prevent materials for weapons of course, since Israel was preventing a lot of food/medicine/etc.

They want to pressure the Palestinians (terrorism; inflicting pain/suffering on civilians to achieve a political aim) into giving up their support for Hamas by bringing them to the brink of starvation/etc.

Will be interesting to see how this plays out because like in Dec. 08' - Israel had the opportunity to renew the truce by extending it to the West Bank/etc. but decided not to. Doing so would legitimize Hamas and make them closer to an 'equal' negotiating partner.

The easing of the siege w/o the capitulation the Israelis wanted begs the question - who benefits now? Politically, of course.

[Plow]

That, and the fact that previously it was simply a list of what they *could* bring in (rather than what they can't) making for some really retarded arguments where people thought they were being super witty, when the reality was you just can't feasibly make a list of what is allowed.

[Elvis]

Looks like the Zios might be changing one of their collective talking-points soon:

Even Israel Project Concedes Gaza a Disaster for Israeli Hasbara

Holy cow! The messiah must be on his way. The Israel Project sent out an e mail blast to its activists which is so nakedly honest (and damaging) that it must be seen to be believed:

Subject: In the “messages that fail” department, please see this…
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:36:40 -0400
From: Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi
To: Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi

As to research on saying that there isn’t a “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza and that no one is starving, we will have that on what Luntz and Greenberg are testing next week. But you don’t need that data to know it is a complete dead-end of a message. Reporters and leaders all over Washington are complaining about this and some say they see Israel and cold and heard hearted. Given that 6 more flotillas are headed to Israel (including one of Jews from Germany and one of Jews from the UK) we need to make sure we understand this well.

Watch this from Jon Stewart. Watch to the end and listen to how they react to when Krauthammer uses the message…ouch!

http://vimeo.com/12350665

Clearly we need to be saying that “While no one is starving in Gaza because Israel delivers so much aid, there IS suffering in Gaza. We want the suffering to stop. That is why Iran-backed Hamas must stop using supplies for rockets and Hamas must release Gilad Shalit. Hamas must be accountable for their actions and for the suffering they are causing their OWN people.”

On a good note, the topic in the US tonight will shift to energy. Alternative energy is obviously a great topic for Israel as Israel has much to say that could help on this.

Thanks!

Jennifer

Gee, thanks Jennifer for putting Israel’s hasbara effort out there for all the world to see. You concede Israel cannot win on the Gaza siege and don’t even need your trusty pollster flack Frank Luntz to tell you that. Though maybe you’ll share the poll results with us so we can see for ourselves how badly the message polls?

Despite your honesty, I’m afraid it doesn’t extend to how Israel should end the suffering in Gaza. Instead of the obvious lifting of the blockade, you as usual blame the Gazans for their own suffering by falsely claiming that Hamas is responsible for it when you and the rest of the world know that Israel is fully responsible for Gaza’s suffering.

Do keep that hasbara coming about Israel as the beacon of alternative energy. Why don’t you also recommend that Israel cap that BP well in the Gulf of Mexico. Perhaps it can spare one of its nuclear weapons to collapse the well in on itself as some experts have suggested? Don’t you think that would actually be a beneficial use of Israel’s nuclear weapons instead of threatening its enemies with mass destruction as Israel’s leaders, generals, and policy analysts regularly do (viz. Lebanon 2006, Gaza 2008, Iran, etc.)?

[Zoolander]

Thought this was worth sharing for those knowledgeable of this subject, just not really worth its own thread:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article..._team?page=0,0

While it is anathema to broach the subject of engaging militant groups like Hizballah* and Hamas in official Washington circles (to say nothing of Israel), that is exactly what a team of senior intelligence officers at U.S. Central Command -- CENTCOM -- has been doing. In a "Red Team" report issued on May 7 and entitled "Managing Hizballah and Hamas," senior CENTCOM intelligence officers question the current U.S. policy of isolating and marginalizing the two movements. Instead, the Red Team recommends a mix of strategies that would integrate the two organizations into their respective political mainstreams. While a Red Team exercise is deliberately designed to provide senior commanders with briefings and assumptions that challenge accepted strategies, the report is at once provocative, controversial -- and at odds with current U.S. policy.

Would be really nice if this shit start filtering more and more towards the top. Obama had said when he was campaigning he would be open to talking with these same organizations, yet his foreign policy up to this point has done none of that.

At least its nice to know that not all the people running our massive empire aren't idiots that can't get israeli cocks out of their mouths long enough to realize the damage being done. Read the whole article.