"I’m told there won’t be any daylight between the US and Israel in the aftermath of the incident on the flotilla yesterday, which resulted in the deaths of 10 activists.
Regardless of the details of the flotilla incident, sources say President Obama is focused on what he sees as the longer term issue here: a successful Mideast peace process.
“The president has always said that it will be much easier for Israel to make peace if it feels secure,” a senior administration official tells ABC News.
The suggestion is that US condemnation of Israel would further isolate that country, and make further peace negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians even more difficult."
And so is Canada.
The Toronto Star - Travers: Middle East dangerous place to play Canadian politics:
"Stephen Harper has long played domestic politics with the Israeli fire. Now foreign policy flames are licking around a Prime Minister caught too close to the leader of a country being condemned this week in other capitals.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s hasty return to Tel Aviv came hours too late for Harper’s comfort. Instead of making a show of rolling out Ottawa’s red carpet, the Prime Minster was plunged into damage control by global outrage over Israel’s boarding of an aid ship attempting to break the Gaza blockade.
Harper’s bad luck was Netanyahu’s good fortune. Apart from home, there’s no place the Israeli Prime Minister would rather have been when news broke that Israeli troops boarded a Turkish ship in international waters, killing at least 10 activists.
Since coming to power, Conservatives have recalibrated Canada’s Middle East policy to make Canada Israel’s new best friend. Balance has skewed to acceptance of Israel’s 2006 devastation of Lebanon and a three-week siege of Gaza last year that led to fresh war crime allegations."
