Barack Obama yesterday appeared to line up behind the
Bush administration in support of Israel's attack on Gaza.
Speaking on CBS's Face the Nation, his chief adviser,
David Axelrod, initially repeated the Obama team's formula
that there could only be one president at a time and that
president was George Bush.
But he went on to recall comments that Obama made in
July at Sderot, the Israeli town that is the target of
rocket attacks from Palestinian militants in Gaza.
At the time, Obama said : "If somebody was sending
rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at
night, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop
that. I would expect Israelis to do the same thing."
A similar sentiment was expressed by Condoleezza Rice,
the US secretary of state, on Saturday. She said: "The
United States strongly condemns the repeated rocket and
mortar attacks against Israel and holds Hamas responsible
for breaking the ceasefire and for the renewal of violence
in Gaza." She added: "The ceasefire should be
restored immediately. The United States calls on all concerned
to address the urgent humanitarian needs of the innocent
people of Gaza."
Gordon Johndroe, the White House security spokesman,
also blamed Hamas, whom he referred to as terrorists and
thugs. Rice briefed Obama by phone for about eight minutes
on Saturday and further calls are planned to ensure he
is up to speed on the issue by the time he takes office.
