June 30, 2011- Cottage Cheese Boycott Succeeds, UN to Indict Hezbollah Members

A Daily Analysis

July 6, 2011- Flotilla a Bust Now a Fly In

Israel seems to have scored a major tactical, diplomatic victory, with its success in convincing Greece and other nations not to allow this year's flotilla to sail to Gaza. The organizers have now turned to a fly-in mission, arriving in Israel by plane and then trying to demonstrate in various ways in favor of the Palestinians. The Israeli government has decided to respond by trying to block the entry of the demonstrators into Israel and deporting them. To date, no serious thought has been given to just letting them in, instead of creating a series of confrontations.

Of course, that is par for the course for the current government. Israel and Turkey have been engaged in intensive negotiations to resolve the mutual differences that came to a head last year with the interception of the Turkish led flotilla. The major stumbling block remains the Turkish request for an apology. Who opposes the apology? Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman, who spoke out publicly today against any apology. As this been the case for the last two years. Israel has a foreign minister who would rather make statements showing how strong he is to his voters, instead of working to improve Israels relations with the world. The Defense Ministry wants to resume the close defense ties with the Turkish military, who is blocking any resumed cooperation, as an action against Lieberman.

The Iranians have increased their quota of "being up to no good. The US has charged that the Iranians are behind the string of new bombings in Iraq. Despite making that charge, the US has stated its the Iraqi government's responsibility to crack down on the Iranian actions. The Iranians continue to help the Syrians crack down on Syrian civilian demonstrators. And of course, the Iranians continue to develop their missiles and continue their work on the bomb..