Palestine

-By Warner Todd Huston

Barack Obama once again shows his fecklessness and weakness in foreign policy with a decision by the State Department to allow the Palestinian Mission in Washington D.C. to fly the flag of its non-existent country.

Recently the flag of the Palestinian Authority was authorized for display by the State Dept. even though there is no such country as Palestine and the U.S. government does not officially recognize it as such. The State Dept. also agreed to upgrade its designation of the Palestinian mission to that of a "General Delegation."

The State Dept. claimed that this was "an improvement in relations" with the Palestinians.

The Obama administration has been meekly asking that the Palestinian Authority engage in direct face-to-face negotiations with Israel, but PA President Mahmoud Abbas has rebuffed all requests.

And now, in a weak-kneed effort to plead with the PLA, Obama has made moves to reward the Palestinians with even more favorable treatment even as they have yet to accede to any of the west's entreaties. Why is Obama continuing to treat what is essentially a terrorist agency with ever increasing levels of legitimacy while we refuse to even move our U.S. embassy in Israel, our only true ally in the Middle East, to her chosen capitol?

Once again Barack Obama proves the Islamist's claim that the U.S. is a "weak horse" in the Middle East.

Israeli retaliation is under way on Iran's proxy in Gaza. It's another case of a dystopia of Paradise, for reasons we'll explain shortly.

Qassam Count tweets: "16 rockets have been fired at Israel since the attack on Gaza has begun. 1 woman dead, 4 injured" - and "More than 5,000 rockets have been fired at Israel in the past 3 years; 200 in the past 20 days."

The propaganda twitter from behind the border speaks of 'massacres' and 'holocausts' and hospitals filled with women and children. #Gaza and #Hamas are virtual Hamas propaganda echo chambers. Someone posed the question why there aren't any tweets from an Israeli perspective on the Gaza war? Guess Israel has only soldiers on the ground; they've got another ax of grind.

The IDF attacks are pinpointed at Hamas police stations and other military installations. These are built within populated areas, effectively using the people as a human shield. This tactic of course is hardly new. It is entirely consistent with the morals of collectivism: a translation might read, individuals doing their ultimate duty towards the whole: they are the Middle Eastern equivalent of canon fodder.

The IDF has code-named the Gaza War "Oferet Yetzuka," referring to Hanukkah Dreidels.

A curiosity keep-sake in my possession is a supermarket cherry basket dating back when Israel vacated and handed over the Gaza settlements to the PA: they inherited a profitable orchard (paid for by the EU), but for PR considerations, turned it into a hell hole!

The debilitating reversed morality for mentally five year olds that "violence breeds only more violence" and the demonstrably false bromide that "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" should be directed at Hamas et al. These dilettant petty philosophers have become pawns in a propaganda war, that aids and abetts a terrible evil of which ordinary Israelis and Palestinians are the real victims.

Does anyone remember the common knowledge of twenty years ago? If the Palestinians left the miserable refugee camps and started picking up their lives, resettling elsewhere in the Dar-al-Islam, the 'Palestinian issue' would be effectively over - something Arab regimes would never condone! So for political reasons they leave the Palestinians whom they historically dislike, to rot in the pits of hell. That, is Middle East cynicism for you ...

Here's the latest tweet from Breaking News On: "The death toll from the Israeli attacks on Gaza has risen to at least 200, officials tell Press TV; 300 to 800 reported injured. Hamas officials say the Israeli attacks are continuing after dark, new airstrike reported in southern Gaza."

- Caption: map of the UNWRA operated refugee camps in Gaza. The "1948 Arab-Israeli conflict" of which the UN site speaks was when Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq attacked Israel and lost, the beginning of the myth surrounding the 'occupied territories'. -