Because it didn’t work, that’s why: Mahmoud Abbas says he won’t go for another armed intifada. Not because it would be wrong. But because it failed spectacularly, causing Israel to re-occupy the areas of the West Bank that were under Palestinian control, and sealing off Gaza entirely, as well as building the separation barrier to stop suicide bombings. All of these things worked. So now Abbas wants to defeat Israel another way—with the willing help of the UN. Of course, this is what he says in English. Let’s wait to see what he tells the Arabic press. I suspect “resistance” (code for armed struggled) will be used more than once.
A balanced BBC piece: This isn’t the piece about Jerusalem. This was about the Gaza Flotilla, which I mentioned months ago. It was fair—it showed videos of the terrorists getting ready to attack Israeli soldiers, and was the most balanced report I’ve seen from a non-Israeli media outlet. The BBC investigation of itself (and let us stop and note the utter hypocrisy of the BBC being able to investigate itself, but Israel not being allowed to do the same) says it was fair. I agree.
It’s okay when Palestinians do it: If Israel did this, the world outcry would still be making our ears ring. But it’s okay for Hamas to surround a bunch of terrorists, go in shooting, and kill a few of them. Nope. No outcry. Not even a whimper. And yes, bystanders were wounded. Israeli Double Standard Time in action.
Egypt and Iran, perfect together: Say, remember all those pundits who insisted that Egypt wouldn’t make nice with Israel’s enemies? Yeah, they were wrong.