If the report from Channel 2 News in Israel is accurate, the Israeli government outmaneuvered the American government in what might be described as a political game of Chicken.   The report from Arad Nir of Channel 2 Israel states that the Israeli government told the US that it understands the rules and reasoning of the FAA in banning flights to Tel-Aviv, but that the situation could not continue this way and that to change it they would need to amp up and accelerate the operation in Gaza.   Click to see the report by the Jewish Press.

In doing this Israel reinforced one fact and may have proven another. The fact that it reinforced is once again that it has been showing incredible amounts of restraint.  This fact has been reinforced over and over in numerous ways so there is no reason to believe those denying it will change their tune, but this indeed does provide one more piece of evidence.  The second claim it may have verified is that the ban from the FAA was more about politics than it was about safety.  If indeed the US Government was using the banning of flights into Ben-Gurion as a way of strong-arming Israel into stopping or pulling back on its operation in Gaza, Israel’s response politically outmaneuvered the U.S.

The fact that Israel may have been put into a position where it needed to outmaneuver the United States, a nation that traditionally has been a close friend and ally,  is another sad commentary of a very sad time.