Eyeless in Gaza: Some thoughts on that “special relationship”
by Rich Broderick • During the presidential campaign there was much talk about how in the early days of the new Administration some foreign power would cook up a crisis to “challenge” an inexperienced Barak Obama. As to who the foreign power might be, top candidates included Russia, North Korea, and Iran, with Venezuela, Cuba or some other lesser nation-state as outside possibilities.
But now we know where the challenge was going to come from – and we didn’t even have to wait until January 20th to find out: our “closest ally” in the Middle East (if not the entire world), that “special friend” we are ready to defend to the death.
Israel.
In tossing down the gauntlet with its assault on Gaza and drive to overthrow the democratically elected Hamas government, Israel has demonstrated that – far from inexperienced or naïve – Mr. Obama is well versed in the protocol of American policy in the Middle East. In responding – or not responding – to Israel’s latest push to rid Palestine of those pesky Palestinians, Mr. Obama has demonstrated that he knows enough not to grasp the true third-rail of American politics and say or do or perhaps even allow himself to think anything that might, in any shape or form, be construed as critical of Israeli actions, no matter how atrocious, no matter how criminal.
For decades, the U.S. has been urging the Arab nations to “normalize” their relationship with Israel, but if the past few days have proven anything – beyond Israel’s well-established goal of creating a desert and calling it peace – it is that Mr. Obama probably has no intention of attempting to normalize this country’s relationship with Israel, meaning he is unlikely to treat Israel like any other sovereign nation and enforce such legal niceties as U.S. laws forbidding the use of U.S. armaments against civilian populations or U.S. policies opposing Israeli settlement on land it has stolen from the Palestinians or press for U.S. objectives concerning the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
It’s no mystery why. The dynamics of the U.S.-Israeli relationship are of a sick dependency relationship in which the ostensibly weaker party – Israel – controls the ostensibly stronger party, in this case the U.S.
This disparity is not at all unusual in such relationships. After all, the weaker party’s very survival depends on the actions of the stronger party. It is in the interest of the weaker party to know its stronger partner better than the partner knows himself – and to know exactly how to get that partner to do whatever is wanted.
Yet a third leg propping up this self-destructive dependency relationship is the avarice of the American defense industry which profits mightily from a three -way transactional flow in which the U.S. hands Israel billions in aid – our tax money – which Israel then turns over to U.S. defense contractors for weapons, ammunition, D9 Caterpillar tractors (the instrument of choice for demolishing Palestinian homes, with or without Palestinian civilians trapped inside), fighter jets, and so on.
In the peculiar moral universe this dynamic creates, everything is turned upside down. Right is wrong, black is white. Hamas is a terrorist organization that has been targeting Israeli civilians with crude rocketry. Israel is the victim in need of succor and unquestioning support, even though it initiated a blockade of Gaza once its residents made the mistake of electing a Hamas government (in elections international monitors declared free and fair — so much for bringing democracy to the Middle East!), and such blockades have long been recognized as an act of war, just as is the kidnapping and assassination of foreign officials – both actions taken by Israel against the Hamas government. Things are so off the rails that even thuggish “humor” like a high-ranking Likud official’s crack about putting the residents of Gaza “on a diet” – i.e., starve them into submission – manages not to prick the conscience of America’s political and media elites.
At the moment, there is probably very little we ordinary citizens can do to break the stranglehold this “special relationship” holds over American policy in the Middle East. We can demonstrate, certainly, and write or email our Congressional delegation (though why anyone would waste time trying to communicate with Amy Klobuchar is a mystery to me). Better still, we can offer our financial support to organizations dedicated to bringing some degree of sanity – and humanity – into the situation. Two of my favorites are Jewish Voice for Peace (www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org) and The Israeli Committee Against House Demolition (www.icad.org).
Both are grassroots organizations; both need our help.
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And, I would add the newly formed International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) at www.ijsn.net.
As an activist on this issue for the last 4 years, I can attest that, despite perceptions emulating from the monopoly of the Israel (Zionist) Lobby in Washington DC and the Zionist influenced media, there is no single Jewish perspective on Israel. Many Jews are critical of Israeli policies.
Moreover, a growing minority of American Jews are standing up for Palestinian rights. Some see parallels between how Jews were treated during the European Holocaust and how Palestinians are being treated today.
As an ethnocracy, Israel is a racist state. Israel is racist not only for Palestinians but also for Jews. European Jews (Ashkenazim), Iberian Jews (Sephardim), Middle Eastern and North African Jews (Mizrahim) and Ethiopian Jews (Falasha) make up the ethnic pecking order within Israel. The Ashkenazim rule. Although this is not well known by Americans, this is a topic of much discussion within Israel.
Since Israel is the #1 recipient of US foreign aid (6.8 million dollars/day in 2007!), Americans should feel compelled to also criticize the policies of Israel, or, at least, US aid to Israel… which, by the way, is all military aid to the Middle East’s only established nuclear state.
You mentioned Klobuchar
Israeli lobbyists flew candidate Klobuchar to Israel a full year before she was elected to the Senate. She got to meet with then Prime Minister Sharon to discuss “security issues” and tour a “new” border crossing into Gaza (since closed along with all other “crossings” for 18 months leaving Gazans trapped like fish in a bowl). Gee, I wonder if Israeli interests helped her with her campaign after that?
I read the original article about her trip with disgust because I saw the situation of today come in to focus. “You scratch my back….”
It’s because of sell-your-soul politicians like Klobuchar that Americans — hell the whole world — are held as unwilling hostages to abhorrent policies in the ME that make the whole world less safe.
Most politicians at least have the integrity to make their obligatory pilgrimage to Israel AFTER they are elected. Klobuchar is an AIPAC tool, always has been always will be.
article from Strib: Nov. 29, 2005:
On Klobuchar’s agenda with (Israeli PM Ariel) Sharon: Security issues and Jesse Ventura
by Eric Black
Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem on Monday.
Klobuchar, who is on a five-day trip to Israel with officials and members of the Minnesota chapter of the Jewish Community Relations Council, said she and Sharon discussed Israeli security issues and the political storm that Sharon had caused by leaving Likud, a political movement he helped found.
Sharon had just presided over the first meeting of his new centrist party, Kadima, when he met for 15 to 20 minutes with Klobuchar and JCRC executive director Stephen Silberfarb.
Klobuchar, who is running for the U.S. Senate, said she sought the meeting because of Israel’s importance as a U.S. ally. She said she thought it was important to meet foreign leaders with whom she might be working if she becomes senator.
She met a Palestinian official and visited the new border crossing in the Gaza Strip earlier Monday.
Klobuchar said she told Sharon about Minnesota’s recent experiences with third-party politics, including the 1998 election of Gov. Jesse Ventura.
The conversation was conducted in English, Klobuchar said, except when she described Ventura as a flamboyant former wrestler who used to wear a feather boa.
Sharon did not appear to grasp the concept of a feather boa and after pursuing the matter with his translator, Sharon still didn’t seem to get it, Klobuchar said. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/NewsDetail.html?NewsID=27548
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http://klobuchar.senate.gov/newsreleases_detail.cfm?id=297536 Klobuchar Honors Israel on its 60th Anniversary
Cites mutual values of democracy and Middle East stability
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Klobuchar shares the values of murdering children. Just one more opportunisic, soulless politician. Too bad she’s ours.
I was referred to this
I was referred to this article by a fan of yours
and read it with great interest. I was unaware
of some of the facts you brought to light.
For instance I didn’t know the Israelis favored
The caterpillar d9 for demolishing Palestinian
Homes(with without people inside) I always assumed
They used Renault 4CV earthmovers because they
Incorporate state of the art sound proofing with Bose
Surround sound which would drown out even
The most blood curdling screams of the victims
Of naked Israeli aggression. I am also thankful
That a great humanitarian group like Hamas
Has found a spokesman willing to point out all
Their great virtues, like demolishing airliners
(with or without passengers aboard) this will
Drive up the value of Boeing stock because the
planes will have to be replaced. Sending rockets
into residential areas for the amusement of the
inhabitants and the occasional suicide bomber
(they all wear London fog trench coats I’m told) .
This is definitely a piece of even handed journalism
I’m surprised that it hasn’t been nominated for A Pulitzer Prize! Keep up the good work but don’tQuit your day job whatever that is
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