Israel’s latest admirer: Muammar Gaddafi

[tabatha]

Jonathan Kay March 7, 2011 – 2:08 pm

Never thought I’d live long enough to see this: An Arab despot has justified his military actions by (favorably!) comparing his campaign to Israel’s:

Speaking with France 24 Monday … Gadhafi defended his military’s right to oppress rebel activity, comparing his crackdown to Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in 2009, saying that “even the Israelis in Gaza, when they moved into the Gaza strip, they moved in with tanks to fight such extremists. It’s the same thing here! We have small armed groups who are fighting us. We did not use force from the outset… Armed units of the Libyan army have had to fight small armed al-Qaida bands. That is what’s happened.”

There are, of course, abundant differences between Israel’s brief invasion of Gaza in 2008-09, and Gadhafi’s current campaign against rebels. But that’s not the point of significance here: An Arab leader who once fastened himself to the Palestinian cause so proudly that he released a stamp to honor their 2009 “resistance” in Gaza, now is using that exact precedent — but this time from the Israeli side — as justification of his own actions.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/03/07/israels-latest-admirer-muammar-gaddafi/

[Kurska]

1. 100% pure USDA grade A irony right here people n/t

[tabatha]

2. I thought the best comment was

"A quote from Gadaffi is comparable to Vancouver weather. If you don't like it, hang around 5 minutes; it'll change.
Tomorrow he's likely to assert that he's attacking these "rebels" because they're hurling camels at his orbiting mothership."