Obama warns against 'ramping up' in Gaza crisis
BANGKOK (AP) - President Barack Obama said Sunday an incursion by Israel's forces into the Gaza Strip could only deepen its death toll, cautioning against an escalation even as he defended the Jewish state's right to defend itself. Obama also warned Palestinians the crisis could crush peace hopes for years.
"Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory," Obama said at the start of a three-nation tour in Asia.
"If that can be accomplished without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that's preferable," he said. "It's not just preferable for the people of Gaza. It's also preferable for Israelis, because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they're much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded."
Obama's comments came as Israel's campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza blasted into its fifth day. Israel is at a crossroads of whether to launch a ground invasion or pursue Egyptian-led truce efforts. Obama sought to defend the U.S. ally's rights while pushing for a halt in the violence.
Obama made his remarks during a news conference at the start of a four-day trip, a visit designed to expand the U.S. economic and military footprint in a region long dominated by China.
But the developments in and around Israel illustrated the foreign policy challenges facing Obama. Even as he mounted a proactive mission in Southeast Asia, he was forced into a reactive mode to respond to conflict in the Middle East that he has been unable to help resolve.
From Thailand, Obama also defended his decision to go to Myanmar, also known as Burma, as some critics called his presence premature.
Obama will be the first U.S. president to visit the country, which is moving from a brutal reign toward democracy but still holds political prisoners and is living with ethnic violence.
"This is not an endorsement of the Burmese government," Obama said. "This is an acknowledgement that there is a process underway inside that country that even a year and a half, two years ago, nobody foresaw."
Obama said he was also guided by Myanmar's longtime democracy advocate, Aung Sung Suu Kyi, who visited him recently at the White House.
"I'm not somebody who thinks the United States should stand on the sidelines and not get its hands dirty when there's an opportunity for us to encourage the better impulses inside a country," he said.
Change in a country can happen quickly, Obama said, if people believe "their voices are heard."
The president will also visit Cambodia during his Asia trip, which began Sunday in Thailand. He was here as a sign of U.S. commitment to a region his administration deems vital to U.S. economic growth, but the shadows of another Mideast conflict hung over his journey.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Sunday that Israel was prepared to significantly expand its military operation in Gaza. Obama has been lobbying Netanyahu along with the leaders of Egypt and Turkey to try to halt the crisis - including stopping rocket strikes on Israel.
He said Israel was justly responding to "an ever escalating number of missiles that were landing not just in Israeli territory, but in areas that are populated. And there's no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders."
Obama said Palestinians will have no chance to pursue their own state and a lasting peace with Israel as long as rockets are fired into Israel. He said he hoped for a clearer process over the next 48 hours - showing how much the Mideast conflict had intruded on his diplomatic mission to Asia.
Still, Obama got a red-carpet welcome, a dose of sightseeing and an official dinner of authentic Thai food.
In a news conference with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, both leaders spoke of deepening ties of trade, security and democracy. Obama's praised Thailand for being a supporter of democracy in Myanmar, the once-pariah state that is rapidly reforming. He said he appreciated the Thai prime minister's insights into Myanmar during their private meeting Sunday.
On a steamy day, Obama began with a visit to the Wat Pho Royal Monastery, a cultural must-see in Bangkok. In stocking feet, the president and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton walked up to a giant statue of Reclining Buddha, nearly 50 yards long and 45 feet high. The complex is a sprawling display of temples with colorful spires, gardens and waterfalls.
After his time at the temple, Obama paid a courtesy call to the ailing, 84-year-old U.S.-born King Bhumibol Adulyadej in his hospital quarters. The king, the longest serving living monarch, was born in Cambridge, Mass., and studied in Europe.
The centerpiece of the Asia trip comes Monday when Obama travels to Myanmar.
Obama aides see Myanmar as not only a success story but also as a signal to other countries that the U.S. will reward democratic behavior.
"Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory," Obama said at the start of a three-nation tour in Asia.
"If that can be accomplished without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that's preferable," he said. "It's not just preferable for the people of Gaza. It's also preferable for Israelis, because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they're much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded."
Obama's comments came as Israel's campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza blasted into its fifth day. Israel is at a crossroads of whether to launch a ground invasion or pursue Egyptian-led truce efforts. Obama sought to defend the U.S. ally's rights while pushing for a halt in the violence.
Obama made his remarks during a news conference at the start of a four-day trip, a visit designed to expand the U.S. economic and military footprint in a region long dominated by China.
But the developments in and around Israel illustrated the foreign policy challenges facing Obama. Even as he mounted a proactive mission in Southeast Asia, he was forced into a reactive mode to respond to conflict in the Middle East that he has been unable to help resolve.
From Thailand, Obama also defended his decision to go to Myanmar, also known as Burma, as some critics called his presence premature.
Obama will be the first U.S. president to visit the country, which is moving from a brutal reign toward democracy but still holds political prisoners and is living with ethnic violence.
"This is not an endorsement of the Burmese government," Obama said. "This is an acknowledgement that there is a process underway inside that country that even a year and a half, two years ago, nobody foresaw."
Obama said he was also guided by Myanmar's longtime democracy advocate, Aung Sung Suu Kyi, who visited him recently at the White House.
"I'm not somebody who thinks the United States should stand on the sidelines and not get its hands dirty when there's an opportunity for us to encourage the better impulses inside a country," he said.
Change in a country can happen quickly, Obama said, if people believe "their voices are heard."
The president will also visit Cambodia during his Asia trip, which began Sunday in Thailand. He was here as a sign of U.S. commitment to a region his administration deems vital to U.S. economic growth, but the shadows of another Mideast conflict hung over his journey.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Sunday that Israel was prepared to significantly expand its military operation in Gaza. Obama has been lobbying Netanyahu along with the leaders of Egypt and Turkey to try to halt the crisis - including stopping rocket strikes on Israel.
He said Israel was justly responding to "an ever escalating number of missiles that were landing not just in Israeli territory, but in areas that are populated. And there's no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders."
Obama said Palestinians will have no chance to pursue their own state and a lasting peace with Israel as long as rockets are fired into Israel. He said he hoped for a clearer process over the next 48 hours - showing how much the Mideast conflict had intruded on his diplomatic mission to Asia.
Still, Obama got a red-carpet welcome, a dose of sightseeing and an official dinner of authentic Thai food.
In a news conference with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, both leaders spoke of deepening ties of trade, security and democracy. Obama's praised Thailand for being a supporter of democracy in Myanmar, the once-pariah state that is rapidly reforming. He said he appreciated the Thai prime minister's insights into Myanmar during their private meeting Sunday.
On a steamy day, Obama began with a visit to the Wat Pho Royal Monastery, a cultural must-see in Bangkok. In stocking feet, the president and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton walked up to a giant statue of Reclining Buddha, nearly 50 yards long and 45 feet high. The complex is a sprawling display of temples with colorful spires, gardens and waterfalls.
After his time at the temple, Obama paid a courtesy call to the ailing, 84-year-old U.S.-born King Bhumibol Adulyadej in his hospital quarters. The king, the longest serving living monarch, was born in Cambridge, Mass., and studied in Europe.
The centerpiece of the Asia trip comes Monday when Obama travels to Myanmar.
Obama aides see Myanmar as not only a success story but also as a signal to other countries that the U.S. will reward democratic behavior.
I don't think either Israel or Hamas really care about what Obama thinks. Did you notice Obama calls them "people of Gaza" not the terrorists known as Hamas? Hmmm. Muslim much, Obama?
 @73challenger503 While I do think President Obama has been naively overly solicitous of extremist Islamic nations and factions, in what way would that make Obama Muslim?
He has said he's not a Muslim and I've seen no convincing evidence to contradict that assertion.
I don't care anymore.  Just stop sending the billions of dollars in foreign aid to both Israel and Egypt, and stop selling them conventional and nuclear weapons.  I don't want my tax dollars being used to fund any more armed conflicts.
 @UtterRealityÂ
Israel sells technology to the US. Many of the modern technologies the US is using today comes from Israel.
Â
They developed their own nuclear weapons.
Â
I agree that we don't need to be funding any armed conflict unless it is affecting us directly.
 @UtterReality We have not sold nuclear weapons to Egypt or Israel. As for foreign aid, given our national debt, there is no alternative but to cut back on all foreign aid substantially. However, I would oppose completely eliminating our aid to Israel because assisting them against Islamic terrorism is not only the right thing to do but we are supporting Israel who is fighting some of the battle for us.
UtterReality wrote," I don't want my tax dollars being used to fund any more armed conflicts."
I don't want my tax dollars going to fanatical, terrorist regimes bent on mass murder and driven by a twisted understanding of their religion to wage unceasing warfare against others. (It's not just Jews - in various places around the world, Muslims are at war with just about every other culture that has the misfortune to be near them.)
I *do* want my tax dollars going to assist good people of democratic, allied nations to defend themselves from fanatics.
Â
So Israel hands over the Gaza strip to the homeless Palestinians, who then use it as a platform to lob missiles at Israel? They then complain when Israel retaliates? Be careful Hamas, Israel has the might to obliterate you in a few days, as they did the four well-armed Arab states in the six-day war in 1968. Â Israelis are surrounded by over a hundred million Arabs who hate them and would like to exterminate them. In the past two decades some of the Islamic extremists have been armed to the teeth by Iran. Many of the Israelis have had to flee from tyrannical Arab regimes and they are now having to defend themselves with whatever means they have. The Islamic extremists would exterminate all non-Muslims if they could. Support Israel and save your criticisms for the way all minorities are treated in Muslim countries.
 @KHEB They gave the Gaza strip to the homeless Palestinians?  That's kind of like saying that the Americans gave the reservations to the homeless Indians.
 @UtterReality No, it really isn't because the Native Americans have been an identifiably separate group for thousands of years based on anthropological evidence. The "Palestinians" were a group fabricated out of thin air for propaganda purposes shortly after the Arab Muslims lost the war of genocidal invasion that they launched against Israel. Prior to that (and certainly before Israel's independence in 1948, the "Palestinians" (as they are erroneously known) were merely displaced Jordanians in the West Bank and displaced Egyptians in the Gaza strip.
If you disagree, please identify the "Palestinian" leaders before then? Who was their king, queen, prime minister or President? Who were their legislators? Who were their ambassadors? Upon what nations did they call? What did they seek? What was their policy?
 @mikew  @UtterRealityÂ
Nice post.
Â
Can't deny facts and you stated them pretty well. Facts can be denied of course or lies can be repeated enough times to crowd out the facts but facts have a way of coming back and cannot be denied.
Â
The ignorant believe the lies because, as a famous leader once said, lies are easy to tell and if they are big enough most folks will say that it has to be true because who would tell such a big lie..
Â
The so called palestinian people is a huge lie. It is nothing more than a bunch of freeloading folks who want to be given land and money. It is a welfare scam.
obozo took a page from the scam adams playbook. When things start getting rough, jet off to an Asian country for a 'economic' visit.
Mr. Obama failed as our president in providing security for our americans in Benghazi. At least Israel is doing someting to protect  their people.
 @Mark B obozo failed as president, period.
I say let Them fight it out themselves. Stop funding Israel and giving them weapons and technology. They decided to forcibly take others land, and now they claim they're "defending themselves." I'm sorry, but you can't invade another nation then claim self defense when they fight back.
 @Ramsesthegreat ... how old are you?  I know they don't teach real history any longer but that shouldn't stop you from finding out for yourself how events happened, etc.....
 @Ramsesthegreat Your comment is flatly false. Israel has been attacked repeatedly by Muslim extremists who through a twisted understanding of their religion believe that they must kill Jews and erase Israel.
You take the side of mass-murdering terrorists in this case. Did you do the same when terrorists have attacked the U.S. (for example, on 9/11?)Â Why are you defending terrorists who have a long history of targeting civilians? (And try to avoid the old propaganda lie that Israel does the same. Israel takes great pains to avoid civilian casualties in counter-strikes. The complete avoidance of civilian casualties is simply impossible because Gazan terrorists are firing their rockets right in the middle of civilian areas (like the rooftop of a hospital, the play yard of a school...)
Your history is also very much mistaken. Israel has been invaded by several larger and wealthier Muslim nations several times with the stated purpose of driving the Jews into the Sea.
 @mikew  @Ramsesthegreat He's talking about the events that happened shortly after the UN resolutions in 1948.
 @UtterReality If so, then his comment is still flatly false. Prior to Israeli independence, the lands now known as Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan and others were a part of Transjordan - all a part of the British Mandate that they controlled after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire.
There have always been Jews living in what is now Israel continuously since Biblical times though a large majority of the Jews have been forced from that area by numerous conquerors, persecutors and crusaders. The British mandate went through decades of discussions in which the land was supposed to be divided between the Arab and the Jewish residents. (As an example, there is the Balfour Declaration.) That didn't happen and 80% of Transjordan was given to the Arabs and it became the modern nation of Jordan. Then the British (and later the U.N.) tried to mediate a division of the remaining 20% of the land between resident Arabs and resident Jews. That failed every time because the Arabs insisted that they get everything and the Jews get nothing.
Eventually, the Jews figured out this grotesque parody of negotiation wasn't going to work so they declared independence in 1948. They did not take this land by force from anybody.
Our esteemed President has no credibility when he tells a sovereign nation "not to ramp up" it's defenses. Especially since attack is the best defense. He has no business telling Israel what to do or not do! Â
 @jpk You are correct - Israel is a sovereign nation and they can conduct their own affairs and suffer the consequences of their own actions. Â
Â
We also don't need to be sending them Billions of American taxpayer dollars year after year either.
 @UtterReality Given our national debt, we do need to cut back substantially on all of our foreign aid. Yet, Israel does deserve some support as they are the only true democracy, not to mention a very valuable ally. Also, helping those who are being attacked by Islamic terrorists is the right thing to do.
So Opie is warning against 'ramping up' the violence? What will you do? will you offer as much help to Israel as you did to our Benghazi ambassador and the three other Americans that were slaughtered?Â
Obama doesn't want "war" because he might have to pick a side. Logic would dictate who the West would choose but we haven't been dealing with logic for 4 years. Obama wining & dinning the Muslim Brotherhood in the WH.
"Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory," . .  What would he do if it were the US.
Â
Oh !! That's right !! He favors an embargo !!
Â
And where is Obama?  On a road trip, not working on the deficit.
 @NorthernBlackBear What would you like Obama to do about the deficit, exactly? Do you have specific actions in mind that you'd like him to take?
Easy. Lead; instead of sending Reid to tell us that they are 'stiffining'.   http://www.katu.com/news/national/Democrats-stiffen-spine-against-trimming-benefits-179812901.html
Â
He was elected by the people.  He is the great orator,  he needs to 'splain to the people what he's doing to solve the problem: Not send Reid saying ". . I am not going to be part of . . ".    Clear enough? Â
Hey Barry wana know something?.... that's an VERY intellectual comment, "if you keep fighting you will lose more people" -----no #$%$, they call that "WAR" , I would think their is no-body better than the USA THAT UNDERSTANDS THIS BY NOW.
Â
I hope the Prez understands this that the #1 objective any democratic country , or nation has to live up to is the protection and the security of its people, Israel is doing what a free nation must do this should be done  in a military way and in a political way, I just wish our prez would start Defend our own borders before lecturing other countries how to defend theirs.
 @shadowwalker How would you like him to "Defend our borders"?
@poopstainmonkey @shadowwalker How about enforcing immigration laws for a starter?
 @Ramsesthegreat Ramsesthegreat wrote, "yet Republicans seemed to have no issue with it then." Speak for yourself. I very much had an issue with it and I continue to have an issue with it.
Neither party has "clean hands" when it comes to immigration and border enforcement.
 @Ramsesthegreat Yeah... that whole more illegals deported bullsh... guess you forgot about the new way they are counting those deports. Google it. They are now counting those caught at the border as deports.
@jpk more illegal immigrants have been deported under Obama's 4 years as President than Bush did under 8 years in office, yet Republicans seemed to have no issue with it then.
Basically Obama will do nothing except for paying lip service. No doubt new shipment of weapons will be packed up and shipped to Israel.
"Obama aides see Myanmar as not only a success story but also as a signal to other countries that the U.S. will reward democratic behavior."
Â
I hope this does not mean more taxpayer-funded largesse flowing to these third-world money-pits.
 @Altazi i wouldn't consider israel to be third world
Perhaps Obama should have taken this into consideration a few months ago but instead he had to show up on The View and other TV shows instead of meeting with Israel's PM. Hmmmm?Â
Â
American's are continually being duped by this fool. His foreign policy is worse than Jimmy Carter's.
"Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory," Obama said at the start of a three-nation tour in Asia.
Â
...umm, President Obama, while you were busy campaigning this had been going on for over a year. When you sidestepped a meeting with PMÂ Netanyahu to hang out with the ladies on TV, the topic would have undoubtedly come up.
Â
Â
This comment has been deleted
 @JouThePlumber Why do you engage in childish name-calling? It only detracts from any valid points you may have.
@mikew because its all he can do. He never presents valid information, and instead he simply acts like a 10 year old who just had his favorite toy taken away.
 @Ramsesthegreat  @mikew around the interwebs, we call them 'trolls'
He leaves 4 americans dead in Benghazi,but warns isarel about ramping up!
@Mark B funny that the 4 people killed were brought home. So much for leaving them in Benghazi.
 @Ramsesthegreat Well then yes... that makes it better... Hey... so if someone kills someone you care about, as long as the corpse is returned to you, you are cool with that right?
Seriously, congrats on making the most idiotic comment on the katu forums since Soup.