Silence on latest Israeli crime is not an option for Obama

Gregg Carlstrom:

Marc Lynch, a professor at George Washington University – writing in his Foreign Policy blog – notes that the global outcry over the attack will force the Obama administration to react.

I’ll just say that the bottom line for Washington is that the U.S. can not ignore this or try to hope that it will pass quickly so that it can resume business as usual. It is rapidly spiraling into one of the most intensely galvanizing issues in the Arab media — and around the world — since the Israeli war on Gaza itself. If Obama goes ahead and meets with Netanyahu as if nothing happened, then his administration’s outreach to the Muslim communities of the world is effectively over.

The White House has not exactly rushed to comment on the flotilla attack. We reported a brief one-sentence statement this morning (see 11:51am post); that’s all we’ve heard so far.