Obama challenges Sarkozy about France’s disregarding of the US on the UNESCO issue. One could even argue that Obama was upset about France’s abandonment of Israel on this for which the US was advocating, but that might be going a bit far here. [Supporters will see a strong pro-Israel intent here by Obama]. The conversation leads to Netanyahu. This is interesting because there could well then be linkage between Sarkozy’s decision to vote for statehood in UNESCO, to abandon support for Israel, and to disregard the US. That personal dislike could have that impact on Sarkozy would be a major indictment of his character in and of itself. Sarkozy calls Netanyahu a “liar.” What did he lie about? I am wondering here. Anyway this leads to Obama.

Now with the leader of France being attacked by Obama for not supporting the US and EU stance and launching a tirade about Bibi as a liar, Obama’s response is not “You bet. He’s lied out his you know what!” Nor is it “I can’t stand the man. He is awful!” Instead, Obama actually deflected the conversation in an attempt to create camaraderie with Sarkozy, or to avoid an argument, while playing DOWN the situation. By saying he has to deal with Bibi every day, Obama ended the conversation.

Considering the fact that we already know that there have been a number of heated exchanges over the past couple of years between Obama and Bibi, Obama’s response to Sarkozy was highly restrained, in fact frankly surprisingly so. While Obama would not have said what he did in public, what he did say is a far cry from the sentiments that many ascribe to him and would have expected to hear from him under these circumstances.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of people who each of us like very well to whom we might refer at times as a pain in the ass, and certainly might in response to others who are very angry at those people. I think that Obama supporters will see Obama’s response as nothing more than that, essentially calling Netanyahu a pain in the butt. In fact, one could argue that no few of Netanyahu’s political opponents in Israel would say similar things about him or much worse. Sarkozy’s comments on the other hand are not acceptable at all and were clearly much more hostile and even slanderous.

On the whole, I think that people who dislike Obama will play this situation up, while those who support Obama will have an easy time maintaining that support. Sarkozy has some explaining to do. I think that this conversation will have little or no impact on swaying the opinions of those who support the President and consider him a friend of Israel.

Way to go, Obama. It’s almost like you’re oblivious to the real problems of the Middle East, acting like the only truly big issue it a Palestinian state, or something.

My family and I send our warmest wishes to all those celebrating the sacred festival of Passover.

On Monday evening, Jewish families and their friends in America, Israel, and around the world will gather around the Seder table and retell the story of the Exodus, one of the most powerful stories of suffering and redemption in history. The story of Passover – which recalls the passage of the children of Israel from bondage and repression to freedom and liberty – inspires hope that those oppressed and enslaved can become free. The Seder, with its rich traditions and rituals, instructs each generation to remember its past, while appreciating the beauty of freedom and the responsibility it entails.

This year, that ancient instruction is reflected in the daily headlines as we see modern stories of social transformation and liberation unfolding in the Middle East and North Africa. Against the backdrop of change, we continue to pray for peace between Israel and her neighbors, while reaffirming our enduring commitment to Israel’s security.

As Jewish families gather for this joyous celebration of freedom, let us all be thankful for the gifts that have been bestowed upon us, and let us work to alleviate the suffering, poverty, injustice, and hunger of those who are not yet free. Chag Sameach.

Gee, civilians complicate war? Who knew? France is finding out that it’s not so easy to bomb the bad guys when they hide among civilians. Libya, Gaza, gee, what are the commonalities? Let’s think. Hm… (Hint: Ruthless disregard for civilian life from only one side of the conflict.)

And the Keen Grasp of the Obvious Award goes to: The Associated Press, for this gem: It’s a gasoline world: Fuel connections everywhere. Oh, so that’s why prices are going up. Duh.

Oblahma: Peres meets Obama, blah blah blah, construction in Gilo is “disappointing,” blah blah blah, peace with Palestinians more urgent than ever, blah, blah, blah. Check out the body language in the picture. Obama is not a happy man around Israelis, unless they’re named Rahm Emanuel, apparently.

The IDF saves Bambi: Or Bambi’s mom. Or sister. A Palestinian was taking the doe to the PA, presumably to present them with dinner. The IDF confiscated her and got her fixed up.

Oh, look: More to hate about Obamacare. Yep. If you’re a member of the protected class (read: Labor unions), you get taxpayer money to support your people’s medical benefits when they retire early. Me? I have to support myself if I retire early. Time to end all public-sector unions. All of them. Private-sector unions will die of their own accord, eventually.

Oh, so this is what they mean by “quiet”: Only two rockets in the past three days

Former MI6 chief: What moderate Muslim Brotherhood? Ynet buried the lede in this story. So the former head of MI6 knows that the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization, but our own pundits and politicos just can’t see it. Good to know that our people are so easily fooled.

If he’s lost Ruth Marcus, he’s losing Liberal America: What? The Great Orator has become pedantic and repetitive? Say it ain’t so! Wow, she really skewers him. Check this out:

The false-choice dodge takes three overlapping forms. The first, a particular Obama specialty, is the false false choice. Set up two unacceptable extremes that no one is seriously advocating and position yourself as the champion of the reasonable middle ground between these unidentified straw men.

Thus, Obama on health care, stretching back to the presidential campaign: “I reject the tired old debate that says we have to choose between two extremes: government-run health care with higher taxes — or insurance companies without rules denying people coverage,” he said in 2008. “That’s a false choice.” It’s also a choice that no one — certainly no other politician — was proposing.

He’s losing his formerly adoring audience. Hope he’s losing his voters just as much.

The administration officials offered few details on how Obama would turn the broad objectives he’ll call for Wednesday into specific policies. They did, however, say the efforts would require increased spending on research and development. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to preview the president’s speech.

Of course. Spending other people’s money has been his life.’s work Why stop now that he’s president? Oh, as to drilling in America’s oil fields? Shyeah, right. Why would he want to do that?

Yeah, and the Israeli Air Force jets were on their way to synagogue: This is a new excuse. PIJ admits that Israel killed one of its terrorists, but he wasn’t going to launch rockets at Israel. The random group of Islamic terrorists was on its way to the mosque to pray. Uh-huh. By the way, the headline, of course, uses the active voice when discussing the death of Palestinians. And blames Israel (which is, of course, responsible). As opposed to AP’s inability to use the active voice or blame Palestinians when Israelis are killed.

Israel airstrike kills 1 Gaza militant

Awesome. Egypt’s new government wants to build ties with Iran. See title.

Check back later: Ban Ki-Moon made a speech about Israel and the Palestinians. I suspect fiskability.

The surprise would be if they could find a single pro-Israeli Egyptian: Egypt’s new FM hates Israel. Yawn.

Wow, gas prices are sure going up fast! Gee. We need more oil. Hey, there are these rigs offshore that could get oil to us really fast, over 200,000 barrels a day! But wait—the Obama administration refuses to issue the permits to allow the drilling. So what shall we do to cut the cost of oil? I know! Let’s think about tapping the reserves, but of course, not do it. And why is that? Because Obama wants high gas prices. He wants to force Americans to conserve. The fact that high oil prices will cause all sectors of the American economy to raise prices? It’s okay. He can print more money or something. What a tool. By the way, to all of you conservatives who sat on your hands because you didn’t like McCain enough to vote for him? How do you like him now? And oh yeah—Obama’s raising money for 2012. We might have this jerk for eight years. But hey, you didn’t vote for a RINO, so good for you!

This is interesting: Shoah, the French documentary about the Holocaust, is going to be broadcast in Iran, in Farsi, on a satellite channel. I keep hearing that the average Iranians don’t hate Israel or Jews. If that’s true, this will be a very good thing.

Seriously? We were selling Libya APCs? The Obama administration was going to sell Libya APCs. Seriously? I mean, seriously? And the Bush administration sold Libya weapons, too?

Sometimes, I hate our government.

Sirhan Sirhan: Slammer Stay Set. Like the comedian said the last time Sirhan Sirhan said that if Bobby Kennedy were alive, he’d vote for parole: “Sucks that he killed the only guy that would set him free!” This time, he claims he’s full of remorse, thinks about it every day. Just look how remorseful he is. This is a dialogue between him and the panel:

He noted the impact on the Kennedy family, which had endured another tragedy five years before with the killing of President John F. Kennedy.

At that point, Sirhan interjected, “That’s not my responsibility.”

Yeah, now that’s remorse. Say it with me, folks: Asshole.

The Incredible Shrinking President: Peter Wehner talks about Fouad Ajami’s description of the constantly-reducing public role of Barack Obama on the international stage. And I simply had to use that subhead.

How stupid is the Obama administration? This stupid. Hillary Clinton says the U.S. should continue to fund the Lebanese army even though Hizbullah is getting more and more control over the country.

The Lebanese army “cooperates with the United Nations mission in the south, to try to keep the peace there,” she said.

Really? Would that be the same Lebanese Army that ambushed Israeli soldiers clearing brush on the Israeli side of the Blue Line, killing Lt. Col. Dov Hariri, who wasn’t even near the brush-clearing crew?

Oh, yeah. We should totally give them $100 million a year.

Obama to American Jews: Pressure Israel to make peace. Meryl to Obama: [censored]. Yep, he’s doing it again, trying to set Jew against Jew. Have we ever heard Obama tell the Palestinians to pressure Hamas to make peace? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Obama said Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is eager to secure his legacy by establishing a Palestinian state and would accept a decent offer if one were on the table, according to participants.

“The Palestinians don’t feel confident that the Netanyahu government is serious about territorial concessions,” the president reportedly said.

Obama reportedly said that the Jewish sections of Jerusalem would remain in Israeli hands as part of any peace deal, but that the Arab sections would not.

Who gives a shit that Abbas wants to secure his legacy? You make peace because it’s the right thing to do, not because the world will give you a prize for it. And Obama is utterly snowed by the lies of the Palestinians. They don’t want peace. They want Israel to become Palestine.

The Obama Doctrine defined: And apparently it’s, “Let the UN take care of business.” The Security Council issued sanctions against Libya and referred Ghaddafy to the ICJ for war crimes. Did he send the Sixth Fleet towards Libya? Did he help the people of Libya by getting a no-fly zone enforced? Nope. Not our problem, apparently. The fact that world oil prices are crashing upwards at warp speed? Feh. Obama wants $5/gallon gas. He thinks that would cause Americans to conserve more. And screw the economy. He can always print more money, right? And raise more taxes. Right? Right? Anyone? Bueller?

Another kassam, another biased Hamas news release from the media: They’re landing daily now, and get a load of this biased piece of crap by AFP. In the lead, third paragraph:

The missile fire came after the Israeli military launched on Saturday overnight air raids across the Gaza Strip, targeting militant training camps.

Really? That’s why the missile was fired?

No. In the seventh paragraph, after devoting four paragraphs to the Israeli “raids,” we are given this information:

The air raids came after tensions rose along the Israel-Gaza border this week following clashes in which an Islamic Jihad gunman was killed and a rocket attack on the Israeli city of Beersheba that hit a house but caused no casualties.

That’s barely an explanation of what happened. Here’s how it actually occurred: Terrorists set off bombs on the border and fired mortars at the IDF. The IDF returned fire, hitting the terrorists. Terrorists then sent a Grad rocket into Beersheba. The IDF then targeted Islamic Jihad and Hamas terrorist rocket squads. But you wouldn’t know that if you only read the wire services, which always see the cause as IDF “retaliation,” not the attacks that caused the “retaliation.” But of course, that’s not the narrative the media wants you to read.

The U.S. today vetoed a draft resolution in the United Nations Security Council that would have declared Israel’s settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to be illegal and demanded a halt to such activity.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice sought until the final hours before the vote to reach agreement with Palestinian and Arab diplomats on a compromise statement that would have increased pressure on Israel to cease settlement construction, while stopping short of calling it illegal or demanding a moratorium.

Rice was alone in opposing the measure on the 15-member council, the UN’s principal policy making panel. It was the Obama administration’s first veto of a UN resolution and marked the 10th time in the past 11 years that the U.S. has voted against a text considered to be critical of Israel.

In the meantime, the Middle East is burning.

As protesters attempted to converge on Pearl Roundabout, a landmark in the capital Manama that has become the principal rallying point of the uprising, soldiers stationed in a nearby skyscraper opened fire.

Since they took to the streets, Bahrain’s protesters have come to expect violence and even death at the hands of the kingdom’s security forces. At least five people were killed before yesterday’s protests.

But this was on a different scale of magnitude.

As they drew near, they were met first with tear gas and then with bursts of live ammunition.

Clearly, if only the UN had passed the anti-Israel resolution, all would be well with Bahrain.

Why is Abbas so set on this resolution? So he can keep on doing what he’s been doing—not conduct peace negotiations with Israel. If the Obama administration truly cared about peace, they’d treat Abbas as badly as they treated Netanyahu. They’d scold him and publicly humiliate him and force him to come to the table. But that’s not the narrative. No. The narrative is that it is Israel that is intransigent.