Military and Political aspects here.
World reactions have been very mixed, and need to be looked at separately, depending on where they originate – the Western and Arab worlds. This post deals primarily with reactions from the West.
With regards to the Western World, Dover Tzahal seems to think Israel is faring much better in the media war than in the past. Overall, it appears the media is being less ridiculous than usual. With regards to Europe and the US, America has been fairly quiet, with an unpopular lame duck President and a President-elect whose foreign policy views are not his forte.
Europe, on the other hand, has been equivocal, as usual. Sarkozy used standard language, calling “on both sides to show restraint.” Gordon Brown called it a “spiral of violence,” and mischaracterized the situation in Gaza as a “humanitarian crisis.” Germany’s Angela Merkel’s spokesperson, on the other hand, said the chancellor believes the “clear, sole responsibility for the situation lies with Hamas.” And Ban Ki-Moon responded in typical, wrongheaded, UN fashion. Other European reactions can be found here.
The massive worldwide protests are relatively meaningless. The hypocrisy of these demonstrations need not be overstated, and in general, such demonstrations are basically just massive gatherings of people who do not matter.
NEXT: Etymology of “Cast Lead”, and Arab and Jewish Worlds’ opinions.
And the title gave me the false impression that you’d have something interesting to say, rather than repeating the official line of the IDF spokesperson.
חבל.
[...] that there are serious flaws in Hamas’ tactics, Israelis aren’t so quick to have the wool pulled over their own eyes, and – like it or not – they are the ones who need convincing if the swords are [...]
[...] conversation is so absurdly one-sided that the chair has to try his hand at hasbara. One blogger writes as follows: “The massive worldwide protests are relatively meaningless. The hypocrisy of [...]
[...] One blogger writes as follows: “The massive worldwide protests are relatively meaningless. The hypocrisy of [...]
[...] blogger writes as follows: “The massive worldwide protests are relatively meaningless. The hypocrisy of these [...]