Obama: Israel Should Defend Itself

President Obama may be in Thailand, but his mind is elsewhere. As he kicked off the first day of his post-election tour, increased violence in Israel and Gaza turned the president’s focus from the future of American foreign policy in Southeast Asia to the enduring Middle East turmoil. “There is no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders,” Obama told reporters Sunday after a meeting with Thailand’s prime minister, backing the Israeli airstrike that killed 10 civilians in Gaza. “We are fully supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself.”