Officials from both Hamas and Israel today rebuffed the United Nations call for a cease-fire in Gaza, both claiming the proposed plan is not in the best interest of their countries or their people. Hamas further blasted the United States claiming that their Abstain vote on the UN resolution (rather than a veto or a yes vote) is designed to give Israel more time in Gaza. This is likely true, and unbalanced or not, this kind of UN action is really lacking any bite without US backing. Either that, or Secretary Rice sees the enticing possibility of not having to deal with Gaza and passing the task to Hillary Clinton in 11 days. Meanwhile, the Red Cross is accusing Israel of blocking humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza, which may or may not be true, but they are certainly not wholly cooperating.
The Vatican is also sounding off about the humanitarian conditions of the Gaza Strip, causing an explosive back-and-forth between Cardinal Renato Martino, the president of the Council for Justice and Peace and Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Martino compared the Gaza Strip to a "big concentration camp," which admittedly is inflammatory language. Palmor quickly fired back, that it was “shocking to hear the vocabulary of Hamas propaganda coming from a member of the church." The Vatican officially downplayed the spat, calling Cardinal Martino's words, "inopportune."
Iran is also pulling back its rhetoric, with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei refusing to let known extremists out of the country to carry out suicide bombings in Israel. In a show of division inside Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, although supportive of the Ayatollah's wishes, continues to talk big about supporting Hamas in "other ways." Anti-Israel and anti-US protests in Iraq continued today as well. Moqtada al-Sadr called for revenge attacks on the Jewish state's strongest ally the United States. This is going to get worse before it gets better.
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