Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Allies: The US and Israel; The UN and Hamas

Despite their friction over the issue of the creation of a second Palestinian state, it's good to see that the US is still an ally of Israel:
American Arms Stockpile Available to Israelis in Case of Emergency

The U.S. military has decided to double the amount of arms and military materiel stockpiled in Israel. According to a report in Defense News, the $800 million worth of armament will be available to the Israeli military in the event of an emergency situation. The program is not exclusive to Israel, but is part of an American policy to stockpile arms in areas where U.S. troops might need them and to allow the allies on whose land the weapons are stored to have access to them under specific circumstances
It's all an issue of trust--which is no less than that special bond of trust the UN had with Hamas last year:

Hamas stole tons of explosives, weapons and unexploded bombs that it was guarding for the United Nations, which gathered the ordnance during Operation Cast Lead. The Hamas guard has disappeared along with the bombs and explosives.

The discovery of missing weapons, first revealed by British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC), is the latest in a number of embarrassing episodes for the U.N. and United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner charged Hamas with "commandeering" the bombs, explosives and artillery shells.
Oops.
Go figure--you leave weapons under the guard of a terrorist group that fires rockets at the civilian population of a country that which it has sworn to destroy, and poof: the weapons vanish.

Of course, it may be that Hamas just wanted the weapons to use against their fellow Palestinians in Fatah whom they have been known to kill from time to time.

Technorati Tag: and .

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

On the other hand:

1.) 'In an interview with PBS, an American news broadcaster, Mr Mitchell (U.S. special envoy to the Middle East) answered a question on what type of pressure the US could apply by saying that “under American law, the United States can withhold support on loan guarantees to Israel”. He added that he preferred dialogue to sanctions.' ... (from: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6982983.ece)

2.) Israel urges US to stop giving weapons to Lebanon (http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=20356)