A spokesman for President Bush gave an unequivocal endorsement for the broad Israeli operation against Arab terrorists in Gaza, even as the spokesman for the President's replacement gave a lukewarm response to the question of whether or not Israel is in the right.
Gordon Johndroe, the Bush administration spokesman, said Israel must try to avoid civilian casualties, but laid the blame for deaths on the Palestinian groups for provoking the Israeli air raids that have killed and injured hundreds of people in the Gaza Strip.
"These people [Hamas] are nothing but thugs, and so Israel is going to defend its people against terrorists like Hamas," he said on Saturday afternoon. "If Hamas stops firing rockets into Israel, then Israel would not have a need for strikes in Gaza. What we've got to see is Hamas stop firing rockets into Israel."
In contrast, on Sunday mornings "Meet The Press", Obama's senior advisor David Axelrod was asked about Gaza by the show's David Gregory. Reminding Axelrod that the President-Elect had visited Sderot earlier this year and said that Israel had the right to defend its people against the mortars, Gregory asked Axelrod for a response now that Israel has launched such an operation.
Axelrod responded somewhat evasively that the U.S. only has one President at a time. He added that Obama understood the "urge" to respond militarily.
Some political analysts commented that Axelrod's choice of the word "urge" carries implications that Obama would have advocated Israeli restraint. They point out that saying Obama understood the "need" or the "right" to respond militarily would have indicated support for the Israeli operation; saying that he understood the "urge" implies that the President-Elect sympathizes with the desire - but not the implementation - of the Israeli assault on Gaza.
(Source: AP / TPM Cafe / Reuters)
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=27780
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