Photo of Hillary Clinton’s inner monologue by cobblucas

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL: Hillary Clinton made her first visit to Israel in her new role as Secretary of State. The trip lasted 36 hours, during which she met with President Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu.

“We spoke about the Iranian issue and the Palestinian issue and we promised to meet again after the establishment of a government [in Israel]. We will work together closely in order to bring peace and prosperity to the region,” Netanyahu said after the meeting.

Netanyahu has been working to form a new coalition government, and is expected to be sworn in as PM within weeks. His original dream team coalition included Livni, Netanyahu’s centerist rival, but Livni refused to agree with Netanyahu’s hard-line stance against a Palestinian state. Haaretz described the situation this way:

At present, it appears his most likely government is a narrow alliance of hard-line and Orthodox parties opposed to significant concessions for peace.

The odds don’t looks so good for a meaningful Israeli-Palestinian accord any time soon, but the Israeli people voted for Netanyahu knowing full well what he stood for. I am curious what “common ground” Netanyahu and Clinton found that was more than, “Hey, let’s not fight about stuff.”

Haaretz article: Netanyahu: Clinton and I found common ground

I always hate hearing this kind of thing. On one hand, I understand why people are upset; but on the other, the museums in London have nothing to do with the military science of Israel. It’s not lke the museums are displaying bombs or guns or anything.

Should the Israeli Science Exhibit be Closed?

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ASHDAD, ISRAEL: Avigdor Lieberman, candidate for the Israel Beiteinu party, makes one final trip around his stronghold cities today, a last ditch get out the vote effort. Polls are already showing at least a 3% increase in turnout over the last election cycle. There is an air of excitement in the Lieberman camp today. For the first time, Israel Beiteinu is likely to beat Labor in votes and become the third largest party. IB is very right-wing and has a very hard line stance on Hamas, and with a projected 16 seats, they will be able to coalition with Likud, the major right-wing party, and completely avoid a unity government. This doesn’t bode well for a Hamas-Israel ceasefire any time in the near future.

What’s so surprising is how the Israeli people, who used to refer to IB as the fringe of right-wing politics, have embraced the party. Kadima, the moderate current power, was hoping the Gaza War would prove their strength, but the conflict actually drove voters to more hawkish parties.

Article from Jerusalem Post: ‘Lieberman isn’t racist, Hamas is’

I’ll have more on this story as it unfolds. My big fear is that the Gaza conflict empowered the ultra-conservative parties in Israel and if they get enough votes there won’t be a need to form a unity government at all. The irony is that Kadima (the current power) was hoping to use the war to prove they weren’t “soft on terror”. It worked so well that people went over to more hawkish parties that might be willing to do it every time.

Here’s a fun international compare/contrast

TURKEY: After Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stormed out of a panel discussion on Gaza held in Davos, Switzerland last week, a flurry of articles and speculation over the future of Turkey’s relations with the West have peppered our news. The most famous was Soner Çağaptay’s “Turkey’s Turn from the West” in the Washington Post. The op-ed garnered a lot of attention since Mr. Çağaptay is one of the most prolific Western scholars on US-Turkey relations. However, the people in Turkey see it a bit differently.

In a piece for Today’s Zaman, Mehmet Kalyoncu responded with a more local perspective, saying many of the opinions expressed in the Post op-ed were claims against the current Justice and Development party, a more conservative party. Kalyoncu, also points out what he sees as a pro-Israel agenda behind the discussion of Turkey.

Better yet, one should pay even more attention to what he says, if, as the rumor goes, it appears in The Washington Post, except for that it is the newspaper of columnist David Ignatius, the very man who allegedly caused the infamous scandal at the Davos panel on Gaza.

Soner Çağaptay’s op-ed piece in The Washington Post seems more like a hastily-written diatribe against the AK Party government produced in retaliation for Israeli President Peres’ humiliation at the Davos panel
.

Article from Washington Post: Turkey’s Turn from the West

Response from Today’s Zaman: Turkey’s turn from the West or yet another smear campaign?

Photo by Radio Nederland Wereldomroep

CARACAS, VENEZUELA: There has been a quiet struggle between South America and Israel ever since the Gaza attacks. On the first day of the invasion, Chavez kicked the Israeli envoy out of Venezuela, and Evo Morales quickly followed suit. Despite having claimed that diplomatic ties were cut, Venezuelan diplomats were still in Israel until today. Doing what, I don’t know. Could be the Hugo Chavez Roadmap for Peace, but now we’ll never know. Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, had this to say:

The response of the state of Israel is weak, late and, in any case for us, it’s an honour… We’re proud that the state of Israel that exists today, led by these criminals, made this decision… All of the Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities know religious discrimination is not a problem that has, or will have, a place in our society.

Article from Al Jazeera English: Israel expels Venezuelan envoys

Video from Russia Today

GAZA: This video covers the prettiest side of the Gaza tunnel smuggling. There have also been reports of gun and drug smuggling through the network, enough to give the Israeli Defense Force reason to worry. But, to be fair, there wouldn’t be smuggling if there wasn’t a blockade to smuggle around.