WarSclerotic

PM refuses to sign Nordic letter condemning Israel

Denmark aligns itself with the EU in the Gaza conflict

Helle Thorning-Schmidt takes a step away from her Nordic colleagues (Photo: Scanpix)

Arab Leaders View Hamas as Worse than Israel – David D. Kirkpatrick
Egypt has led a new coalition of Arab states – including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan – that has effectively lined up with Israel in its fight against Hamas. The government in Cairo this time surprised Hamas by publicly proposing a cease-fire agreement that met most of Israel’s demands and none by the Palestinian group. Hamas was tarred as intransigent when it immediately rejected it.
“The Arab states’ loathing and fear of political Islam is so strong that it outweighs their allergy to Benjamin Netanyahu,” said Aaron David Miller, a scholar at the Wilson Center in Washington and a former Middle East negotiator. (New York Times)

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In Most Muslim Countries There Is Little Support for Hamas – Amir Taheri
On Tuesday, leading Arab columnist Shamsan al-Na’ai wrote: “Hamas would have done better to tackle the task of improving the lives of the people. Instead it has spent resources on rockets and missiles that are like children’s toys in the face of Israel, which is the region’s major military power.” He castigates Hamas’ leaders for exposing “the ordinary people of Gaza” to the violence of war while they themselves are “hiding in the security in their secret bunkers.”
Abdul-Rahman al-Rashed, CEO of the Al-Arabiya satellite TV network, also hits Hamas for “deliberate provocations without regard to the human cost of its policies.” He argues that if Palestinians want Israel to get out of their land, they can’t, at the same time, dig tunnels to sneak into Israeli itself.
Interestingly, the most violent anti-Israeli demonstrations have taken place in the West. Amazing though it might sound, hatred for Jews, thinly disguised as opposition to Israel, appeared to be more intense in Western capitals than anywhere in the Muslim world. (New York Post)

Canada Blames Hamas for Gaza Dead
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Wednesday blamed Hamas for the heavy loss of civilian life in Gaza. “Obviously, no one likes to see the suffering and loss of life that has occurred,” Harper said. “That said, we hold the terrorist organization Hamas responsible for this. They have initiated and continue this conflict, and continue to seek the destruction of the State of Israel.”  (AFP)