Soccer Dad

Europe Dusts Off It's Israel Playbook To Use On Ethiopia

Unfortunately, in today's world, apparently nothing breeds condemnation and hatred more than military victories against jihadists.
Caroline Glick

From Caroline Glick's article one can see how Ethiopia's victory over the Islamist ICU in Somalia has evoked responses that Israel is all too familiar with:

The Arab/Moslem call for a return to status quo if not more

The Organization of the Islamic Conference has called daily for an Ethiopian pullout from Somalia. So too, the Arab League demands that Ethiopia retreat. With their people on the ground retreating with the ICU, as has been their consistent policy towards Israel, so in Somalia the Arabs and Muslims wish to win at the negotiating table what they cannot achieve on the battlefield.

Europe's backing of Arab/Muslim designs

In this pursuit, they enjoy support from a familiar quarter. Five days before Ethiopia invaded Somalia, the EU attempted to mediate the conflict in a manner that would prolong and legitimize the ICU's control of Somalia.

Let's talk...

On December 20, EU mediator Louis Michel shuttled between Baidoa and Mogadishu. Later that day he triumphantly announced, "There is a strong, good will by both parties to resolve this conflict with political dialogue."

Condemnation, not of the one who starts the threat, but the one who responds to it

When word of the Ethiopian invasion got out, Michel - like his associates in the EU Secretariat - moved immediately to condemn Ethiopia. Sunday he said, "I condemn in the strongest terms the escalation of the conflict in Somalia into an all-out war and appeal for all Somali sides to cease immediately all hostilities. I express my deepest concern on the reported involvement of foreign forces in Somalia and urge all external players to refrain immediately from intervening militarily in Somali affairs and provoke further violence."

Last week, as he engaged in his shuttle diplomacy, Michel pointedly did not take a public stand regarding the ICU's declaration of jihad against Ethiopia or its announcement that it would target any UN-peacekeepers that entered the country.

It's as if they took out the playbook they keep for Israel and dusted it off to use on Ethiopia.

According to Glick, this is more than just a knee jerk response by Europe, and much worse:

Brussels' hostility towards the Jewish state is part of a much further-reaching policy. Europe's pro-jihad position toward the war in Somalia indicates that its support for jihad is over-arching rather than limited to specific battlegrounds...In their jihad against Israel, the Palestinians will receive automatic support not only from Iran, but from the Arab world and Europe as well. So too, the war in Somalia and the conference in Qatar show that supporting the Palestinians is but one aspect of Arab and European global support for jihad.

And the only country that Israel can turn to for support is the US.

by Daled Amos

Technorati Tag: Israel and Ethiopia and Somalia and Caroline Glick.

Posted by daledamos at January 4, 2007 1:01 AM