“Gaza Strip” on The Daily Caller

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice has been on the job for 18 months now, but she doesn’t have much to show for it.  Her record of accomplishments and performance on behalf of the American people is embarrassing.  While Rice has been active in the social scene of Washington and The White House, a study released by the uber-serious non-profit group Security Council Report suggests that the past year has been the most inactive Security Council since 1991.  Rice missed crucial negotiations on Iran’s continued enrichment of uranium, she failed to speak out when Iran was elected to the Commission on the Status of Women and three other UN Committees, she failed to call-out Libya when they were elected to the UN’s Human Rights Council, she recently delivered an Iran sanctions resolution with the least support Iran resolutions have ever had and she called her one and only press conference with the UN Secretary General on the issue of texting while driving.  For an administration that promised to utilize the UN and improve our reputation around the world, its dinner party circuit strategy isn’t making America more secure. (more)

In an article in the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram on the economic situation in the Gaza Strip, journalist Ashraf Abu Al-Houl wrote about the burgeoning recreation industry and of the low merchandise prices. (more)

JERUSALEM — Israel’s military failed to prepare adequately for what turned into a deadly raid on a Gaza aid flotilla, according to findings of a military inquiry quoted by the Israeli media on Monday. (more)

The aim of the Libyan backed aid ship the Amalthea remains to sail directly to Gaza, Youssef Sawani, executive director of Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation, which has mounted the operation, said Sunday in an interview with Army Radio. (more)

US President Barack Obama is due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington. (more)

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Masked men trashed a U.N. summer camp Monday, tying up guards and slashing tents and an inflatable pool in the second such attack blamed on suspected extremists in just over a month — a sign of how, in Gaza, youth camp is not just about crafts and volleyball. (more)

Listening to Prime Minister Erdogan’s amped-up rhetoric against the United States and Israel makes me genuinely scared for my country. I believe that people should be able to think for themselves, and to assess a situation based on the facts, not based on someone trying to make them afraid or blame some outside “bogeyman” for what’s going wrong with their lives or their country. It’s time to see those tactics for what they are: popular demagogy is a manipulative act that requires close scrutiny as people are looking toward the future to what they could become. (more)

Israel has given details of its plan to ease the blockade of Gaza, with most civilian goods now expected to be let into the territory. (more)

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President Obama has now transformed the United States into an official “state sponsor of terrorism” a designation, that when applied to other countries, means no aid, no trade, you are now an adversary of the U.S. and her allies. It remains unclear how Obama’s actions will affect our ability to trade with ourselves as a nation. (more)

For anyone who has paid attention to the continued conflict in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the model of this newest conflict – the Israeli Navy’s boarding of the “humanitarian” flotilla – is too familiar. Conservatives praise Israel as a maligned underdog or a misrepresented hero, and liberals (including the United Nations) are quick to decry what they claim to be a recurrence of the country’s history of systematic human rights violations. (more)

While you’re watching Team USA soundly whomp England (hopefully) on day 2 of the World Cup tomorrow, ponder this: could soccer, the obsession of every country in the world other than the slightly backwards and somewhat confused USA, possibly be a bad thing? (more)

Much has been discussed since the May 31 incident on the Mavi Marmara and the situation in Gaza. The world jumped all over the response by Israel Defense Forces (IDF), including President Nicolas Sarkozy saying the following day that the IDF acted in a disproportionate manner. I am still unclear on how so many people can come to a conclusion without seeing all the facts. In the aftermath, I believe that we will continue to see this scenario played out more and more. (more)

Isn’t it a shame about what happened to the humanitarian aid intended for Gaza last week? Damn shame, I’d say. But then again, I say that every week, as I’m an American in Gaza who stubbornly insists we can do something better. (more)

While the dispute between North and South Korea over the torpedoing of a South Korean naval vessel has largely been overshadowed by events unfolding within the waters outside of Gaza, both incidents revealed just how divergent global reactions can be when confronting incidents of similar gravity. They also provide a disturbing glimpse into how the perceived instability of one nation affects the willingness of others to hold them accountable. (more)

WASHINGTON — President Obama promised a $400 million aid package for the West Bank and Gaza on Wednesday, as the United States scrambled to come up with a way out of the stalemate in the Middle East exacerbated by the Gaza flotilla incident last week. (more)

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The blogosphere was in an uproar Monday regarding allegations that the Reuters news service had intentionally cropped-out incriminating details from photos released a day earlier by a Turkish newspaper showing bloodied IDF naval commandos aboard one of last week’s Gaza-bound protest ships. (more)

Vice-President Joe Biden said the US was working with Egypt and other partners on fresh ways “to address the humanitarian, economic, security and political aspects of the situation”. (more)

Citing the BP oil spill, unemployment and Israeli attacks on a Gaza flotilla, Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton’s top strategist and pollster for her 2008 presidential campaign, last week argued that voters are now “wondering if they underestimated the value of experience and crisis management as important attributes for their president.” (more)