Cole Really Really Doesn't Get It

Juan Cole warns Israel not to spoil the party:

There are rumors that the Israeli government may declare a unilateral cease fire Saturday. They had better. Because if they ruin the Obama inauguration by splashing the bloody bodies of dead Palestinian children all over the press during the next few days, no Americans, even the most pro-Israeli, are going to forgive them. The war has left 1,140 Palestinians dead, over 300 children, and over 5,000 wounded including many women and children, as well as 13 Israelis (4 of them civilians killed by rocket fire). We pay for these wars, we provide the fighter jets, bombs, and tanks. And we don't want our money used for this sanguinary purpose in the first place; we have enough to be guilty about all on our own. And we especially don't want to hear a peep from over there while we swear in our first African-American president.

Newsflash for Cole: after 2,000 years, the Jews have reacquired sovereignty. This doesn't mean they can do whatever they wish, even the USA can't do that; indeed Israel generally tries to stay on the good side of the Americans, their best friends; but "generally" isn't "automatically and always". If we had our druthers, we wouldn't be on the agenda of the American president at all, and we'd be mentioned in the media only rarely, as the place top technology companies open R&D units in, an occasional Nobel Prize winner hails from, and a fine place to visit if you're into history and archeology. We'd be fine with that. However, if we need to spoil your party in order to defend ourselves, that's just what we'll have to do. Sorry, but we've got our priorities.