Why not? Relations between Israel and Turkey are doomed as long as Erdogan and his merry band of Islamists are in charge, so there’s really nothing to lose with a provocation in reverse. Assuming this comes off, the next time that cretin points his finger, the whole world will know just how much blood is on it. (more)

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Sunday he is planning to introduce a resolution next week defending Israel against criticism it has received over its handling of the Gaza flotilla incident. King, the ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee, told the conservative blog contentions of his plan and criticized the Obama administration's stance on the matter. Jennifer Rubin writes: (more)

You can quibble with his take on how much aid Israel lets in but for the most part, Joey B seems to get this one right. "I think Israel has an absolute right to deal with its security interest. I put all this back on two things: one, Hamas, and, two, Israel's need to be more generous relative to the Palestinian people who are in trouble in Gaza," Biden said, according to a transcript of the interview, in which he went on to discuss Hamas's control of Gaza (more)

With a barrage of unrelenting condemnation and hate cascading on Israel, the battle outside of the country is one of black and white, right and wrong. Israel’s diplomats and spokesmen were still busy on Tuesday defending the Jewish state’s actions in the international arena — pointing out that when confronted with bats, metal pipes, and violent mobs, the soldiers that landed on the roof of the Mavi Marmara intending to divert it from Gaza to Israel had no choice but to open fire to defend their lives. ... (more)

Israel has successfully tested a system to intercept short-distance rockets and plans to deploy it later this year, defence ministry officials have said. The system is designed to stop incoming projectiles, such as the rockets fired at Israel by Palestinian militants in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. (more)

As the Obama administration presses Israel to cease settlement expansion as part of a renewed push for a Middle East peace deal—a course of action that many Israelis have interpreted as evidence of the president’s favoritism towards Palestinians—Israelis have increasingly focused their disappointment not on Obama, but rather on his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. (more)

This week President Obama got tougher with the mullahs — but not by much. He spoke of being “appalled and outraged” by their brutality, but also of “respect[ing] the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran and … not interfering with Iran’s affairs.” (more)

One weekend has seen the Middle Eastern landscape transformed – and the US president's critics are already circling... (more)

"For the first time in America's decades of jousting with Israel over West Bank settlements, an American president seems to have succeeded in isolating the settlements issue and disconnecting it from other elements of support for Israel," reports Haaretz. (more)

On the day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to meet with President Obama, a new poll showed that just 31 percent of Israelis consider the Obama administration to be pro-Israel. This contrasts sharply with the 88 percent of respondents who called former President George W. Bush pro-Israel. (more)