'Israel rules' more than 'Israel lobby' the problem

Saying “Hamas is not the problem; it is a symptom,” Gary Kamiya has an excellent takedown of all the different ways Israel’s attempt to crush Hamas is doomed to failure, or worse.

On the lines of the Stephen Walt piece I blogged about earlier, Kamiya starts with some counterfactual history to illustrate Israel’s wrongness, except he postulates 60 years of angry resistance by ghettoized American Indians. He then tackles how the “Israel rules,” even more than any “Israel lobby,’ make this so hard to discuss in the U.S., even harder than in Israel!

From there, Kamiya notes that, per Napoleon’s murder of the Duc d’Enghein, Israel’s actions toward Hamas are more than a crime, but rather, a blunder.

Finally, he says this is Obama’s first big chacce to prove he does stand for something new in American politics.

For more on what provoked this, read this excellent piece by Helena Cobbam, telling how, among other things, Egypt tried putting the screws to Hamas too hard, as another provocation for the current troubles.

Meanwhile, the loudest drum-beater for Israel rules in the MSM, Richard Cohen, cries a river about all the people allegedly picking on Israel. He adds a claim that Israel apparently needs to continue to occupy the West Bank to keep Qassam rockets from being launched there.

Uhh, lemme see, Rich. That argument worked really well in Lebanon a couple of years ago. Yes, you say Hezbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah says it was a mistake to bait Israel. Doesn't change the fact that the Israeli offensive didn't work quite so well.