And so it continues.
All eyes have been focused on the increasingly bizarre facts of the exchange of 5 top Taliban Gitmo detainees for Bowe Bergdahl, someone who may very well be a deserter if reports by soldiers who served with him are accurate.
Yet an even bigger event took place just yesterday, as the State Department announced the U.S. was embracing the new Palestinian Authiority coalition government which for the first time includes Hamas, a recognized terrorist group which remains sworn to the destruction of Israel. Reuters reports, U.S. says to work with, fund Palestinian unity government:
The United States said on Monday it plans to work with and fund the new Palestinian unity government formed after an agreement by the Fatah and Hamas factions, and Israel immediately voiced its disappointment with the U.S. decision.he United States views Hamas as a “terrorist” organization and the U.S. Congress has imposed restrictions on U.S. funding for the Palestinian Authority, which typically runs at $500 million a year, in the event of a unity government.Senior U.S. lawmakers said on Monday Washington should suspend aid to the new unity government until it is sure of the Islamist group’s commitment to pursuing peace with Israel.In its first comment since the Palestinian government was sworn in, however, the State Department stressed that it regarded the new Cabinet as made up of technocrats and that it was willing to do business with it.
Following the U.S. lead, the EU and U.N. quickly announced acceptance of the coalition.
We now have open conflict between the U.S. and Israel based on the U.S. backing out of understandings with regard to Israeli refusal to negotiate with the PA if Hamas were part of the coalition.
Via The Times of Israel:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he is “deeply troubled” by the US decision to maintain relations with the new Palestinian unity government, urging Washington to tell the Palestinian president that his alliance with the Hamas militant group is unacceptable.The blunt language used by Netanyahu reflected the Israeli government’s disappointment and frustration over the international community’s embrace of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s new unity government.Netanyahu has urged the world to shun the government because it is backed by Hamas, an Islamic group that has killed hundreds of Israelis in attacks over the past two decades. But late Tuesday, both the US and European Union said they would give Abbas a chance.
Jonathan Tobin points out:
In recognizing the fig leaf of a “technocratic” government that is meant to distract the world from the reality that Hamas is now in full partnership with Abbas, the Obama administration may think it has put Israel’s government—which publicly called for the world not to recognize the Palestinian coalition—into a corner. But by discarding its own principles about recognizing unrepentant terror groups, Obama has done more than betrayed Israel. He has betrayed the cause of peace.
It’s hard even to begin to describe the destructiveness of Obama’s foreign policy.
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