No Pariah Experience Necessary!

I know that somewhere I read a post claiming that Israel's weakness of failing to carry through on its threats to Hamas actually turned into an advantage in Operation Cast Lead: Hamas really didn't take Israel seriously, and that helped to give Israel the element of surprise.

Apparently, there is another weakness that has turned into a strength for Israel. Tunku Varadarajan--an opinions editor at Forbes.com and research fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution--has written Five Reasons Why India Can't 'Do A Gaza' On Pakistan. The last reason is that

Israel has the privilege of an international pariah to ignore international public opinion in its use of force against the Palestinians. A state with which few others have diplomatic relations can turn the tables on those that would anathematize it by saying, Hang diplomacy. India, by contrast, has no such luxury. It is a prisoner of its own global aspirations--and pretensions.

I don't know how immune Israel is to international public opinion--and the pressure that goes along with it. Up to this point, Israel has been pretty easy mark for every concession Condoleezza Rice came up with to strengthen Abbas. From this point forward, international pressure to put Operation Cast Lead is only going to get louder and stronger.

A country shouldn't have to be a pariah to stand up for its right to defend itself.
--And a country that stands up for itself shouldn't be marked as a pariah.

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Technorati Tag: Israel and Gaza and Hamas and Operation Cast Lead.