Obama has made it virtually impossible for Israel to escape both international scrutiny about the flotilla incident and a review of its internal investigation. But in contrast to the U.S. reaction to Israel’s flotilla investigation, Canada manages to treat Israel as an ally rather than as a suspect:

We welcome the Israeli Government’s decision to set up an independent public commission which will investigate what exactly occurred on board the flotilla headed for Gaza a few weeks ago. Canada fully supports an impartial, credible, and transparent investigation into the tragic incident. Canada joins others in calling on Israel and the Palestinian Authority to return quickly to negotiations toward a comprehensive and lasting peace in the region. Canada fully understands and sympathizes with Israel’s legitimate security concerns in the face of terrorism against its people. While we fully support the importance of delivering humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, we also fully support Israel’s right to inspect ships to ensure military material and armaments do not reach the hands of Hamas terrorists.

With Obama cheer leading for an international inquiry, Canada appears to have been selected as the international element. (This is a typical Obama compromise — unlikely to assuage the Israel-haters and setting a dangerous precedent that Israel is unable to do this on its own.) The Canadian statement explains:

Retired Canadian Forces Brigadier General Ken Watkin will be a part of the panel leading the investigation. Given his career in the Canadian Forces, and his service as Judge Advocate General, Brigadier General Ken Watkin is well suited to participate in this commission. We expect that the findings of the investigation, upon completion, will be presented to the international community. States and international bodies should not rush to judgment before all the facts are known.

Now imagine that Obama had made it clear that the administration would support no international inquest. If Obama had assembled a group of countries to stand with Israel and support the blockade, reminded the world that Israel’s forces acted in self-defense, insisted that Turkey come clean on its role, and made it clear that the real responsibility lies with Iran and its proxies, he would have avoided repeating the same error that has been at the root of 18 months of his failed Middle East policy. It is only by standing with allies, facing down bullies, and forcing Iran and its network of allies to pay a price for their aggression that we can prevent the erosion of American power in the Middle East and hope to stave off more aggression. Unfortunately, this president apparently thinks his policies are working just fine.