Is Israel now the unofficial 51st State of the United States of America?
Ibrahim Hewitt | 07.02.2012 16:28 | Palestine
We shouldn't talk about Israel being the 51st State of the USA; we should think of the USA as the 2nd State of Israel.
President Barack Obama has done us all a favour with his speech to the United Nations; rarely, if ever, has a US president made it so obvious what many of us started to believe years ago, namely that Israel is now the unofficial 51st State of the USA.
President Barack Obama has done us all a favour with his speech to the United Nations; rarely, if ever, has a US president made it so obvious what many of us started to believe years ago, namely that Israel is now the unofficial 51st State of the USA.
So now we know that it is foolish to expect the Americans to do anything remotely objectionable to Israel or remotely beneficial for the Palestinians. We know that it is ridiculous to consider the US to be an honest broker in the Israel-Palestine conflict; how could it be when its president now wears a "badge of honour" bestowed by the right-wing Prime Minister of the Zionist state, Benjamin Netanyahu. The same Netanyahu, remember, who basically told Obama where to go when asked to put a stop on building and expanding Israel's illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. And we know that the government of United States of America is being led by the nose by a pro-Israel Lobby which places Israel's interests above all others, America's included.
When even the BBC's Middle East editor says that "The president's speech was as much about the politics of his own re-election bid next year as it was about the politics of making peace", we also know where he is coming from. This was a bid by the US president for his share from the pork-barrel that is American politics at its most obnoxious. Obama needs Zionist votes and Zionist money, and didn't this speech show that.
Obama said, "Let's be honest", so here we go: let's be honest about the historical inaccuracies his speechwriter made him say. And let's mention what Obama thought was clearly off-limits for the Zionist audience for whom the speech was intended. Fact: Israel is a brutal military occupying power which is colonising occupied Palestinian land illegally. Fact: Israel has accepted only one UN resolution (the General Assembly recommendation to partition mandate Palestine) while ignoring blatantly the wishes of the international community as expressed by dozens of others. Fact: Israel and its armed forces use US armaments in the occupied territories in contravention of America's own export laws. Let's be honest about this, Mr. President.
"Israel is surrounded by neighbours that have waged repeated wars against it," claimed Obama, perhaps unaware that Jewish militias - terrorists in all but name - committed numerous massacres of Palestinian civilians in the run-up to the declaration of the state of Israel. Jewish groups such as Irgun and the Stern Gang carried out a terrorist campaign against the lawful British Mandate authorities, bombing and shooting their way across Palestine. During the Suez Crisis of 1956, Israel colluded with France and Britain to invade Egypt. In 1967 Israel lied to the then US president and pre-empted Arab action by destroying the whole Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian air forces on the ground before any other shots had been fired in anger. Israel also attacked a US naval vessel, the USS Liberty, during the Six-Day War that it had instigated, killing 34 crew members and wounding 170; "It was a mistake," claimed the Zionists, and to the shame of its claim to stand up for what is right, the American government accepted the apology and led a cover-up. The surviving crew members still campaign for the true story to be accepted on Capitol Hill. The so-called "Yom Kippur" war of 1973 was a stitch-up between Anwar Sadat's Egypt and the US administration; Egyptian soldiers crossed the Suez Canal, advanced a few miles, then stopped; the idea was to boost an American politician's reputation as a peacemaker but at no time, records show, was there any possibility of Israel being conquered, for the simple reason that the Egyptian Army had no orders or plans to advance much beyond the Canal. Israel invaded Lebanon in 1978, 1982, 1993, 1996 and 2006. Thousands of civilians, Lebanese and Palestinian refugees, have been killed by Israeli bombs and bullets. And how could Obama forget the Israeli invasion of Gaza in 2008/9 during which more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed, one-third of them children? Israel is a threat to its neighbours, not least because of its nuclear arsenal; why doesn't the US president insist on that being inspected by the international community? Because the Americans don't allow their own arsenal to be inspected either, perhaps? Israel, lest we forget, is an aggressive occupying power which has destroyed the lives and livelihoods of thousands of Palestinians.
"Israel's citizens have been killed by rockets fired at their houses and suicide bombs on their buses." All of which have provided excuses for Israel to "respond" and kill hundreds, if not thousands, more Palestinians "in retaliation". Bring an end to the Israeli occupation of their land, Mr. President, and you remove the reason why Palestinians feel the need to resist the occupation in this way. If we want to be pedantic, we'd say that rockets were not "fired at their houses" because the rockets in question are not the "smart bomb" technology used by Israel.
"Israel's children come of age knowing that throughout the region, other children are taught to hate them." Obama should go to Hebron to see how Israeli settlers' children are shown by their elders how to treat Palestinians. I have never met any Palestinian children who are taught to hate Israelis by anything or anyone other than the actions of the Israelis themselves. Palestinians and pro-justice activists around the world will tell you that it is those actions which are hated, not the Israelis as individuals.
"Israel, a small country of less than 8 million people, looks out at a world where leaders of much larger nations threaten to wipe it off of the map." One leader of one country has, as far as I am aware, made such a statement, and even that is disputed by those who claim it was a mistranslation from Farsi. So who are these "leaders of much larger nations", Mr. President, and when did they make such statements?
"The Jewish people carry the burden of centuries of exile, persecution and the fresh memory of knowing that six million people were killed simply because of who they were." Jews lived in peace in Palestine under Muslim rule for centuries before the atheist European Zionists came along. The Palestinians weren't responsible for the Holocaust, or the pogroms in Tsarist Russia, or numerous expulsions of Jews from countries across Europe over many centuries. Why should the Palestinians pay the price for Europe's crimes?
It was ironic for Obama to say that the UN was not the forum for finding a solution to the crisis in the Holy Land, given that it was the US-controlled UN which decided to partition Palestine in 1947, a decision which led to the creation of the state of Israel. Which was the first country to recognise the Zionist state? It was America, of course, within ten minutes of Israel's declaration of independence coming into effect. America has been in Israel's pocket ever since, with American politicians lining up to see who can do the most for the benefit of a foreign state. The latest disgrace (Obama's UN speech aside) is the introduction of a bill by 30 Republican members of the US Congress saying that Israel should annex the occupied West Bank if Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas carries on with his bid for UN recognition of an independent Palestinian state. Media reports say that the group's leader is Republican Joe Walsh (Illinois); that's the same Joe Walsh who, it is reported, has just been named among "Congress's thirteen 'most corrupt' representatives by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)". This upright American politician believes that Israel would be "within its rights" to annex "Judea and Samaria". His evidence for such an outrageous claim can probably be found in the amount of money donated to his election campaigns by Zionists.
Despite the economic crisis facing the US along with other Western states, America still doles out billions of dollars of aid to Israel; why? At a time when American citizens are tightening their belts due to the recession the US administration has ring-fenced military spending on its wars in the Muslim world and its financial support for Israel. That's what Obama meant when he said that "America's commitment to Israel's security is unshakeable and our friendship with Israel is deep and enduring". Yeah, right.
I wonder if the Israelis feel the same way towards America. If they do, they have a funny way of showing it, treating politicians and public alike with contempt, and even sending agents to spy on this "deep and enduring" friend.
President Obama has embarrassed himself more than anything else with the content of his speech, because it was so blatantly one-sided. How I wish the supporters of the Palestinian bid who were in the audience at the UN had had the guts to walk out while Obama delivered his hymn to Israel. The man has sacrificed his self-respect on the altar of his re-election campaign.
If being the president of the United States of America now means doing whatever is necessary to be re-elected and serve two terms of office rather than doing what is right and standing up for the interests of the American people, and peace and justice around the world, then the office itself has become meaningless. The US Congress is so in thrall to Israel that its members are prepared to push legislation for the benefit of the Zionist state rather than cooperate to get the US (and the rest of us) out of recession. There are a number of quotations alleged to have been made by prominent politicians suggesting that US foreign policy is dictated by the Israelis, including one by ex-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "yelling" at Shimon Peres, "Don't worry about American pressure, we the Jewish people control America".
If that is true, then perhaps it's time for a rethink. We shouldn't talk about Israel being the 51st State of the USA; we should think of the USA as the 2nd State of Israel.
When even the BBC's Middle East editor says that "The president's speech was as much about the politics of his own re-election bid next year as it was about the politics of making peace", we also know where he is coming from. This was a bid by the US president for his share from the pork-barrel that is American politics at its most obnoxious. Obama needs Zionist votes and Zionist money, and didn't this speech show that.
Obama said, "Let's be honest", so here we go: let's be honest about the historical inaccuracies his speechwriter made him say. And let's mention what Obama thought was clearly off-limits for the Zionist audience for whom the speech was intended. Fact: Israel is a brutal military occupying power which is colonising occupied Palestinian land illegally. Fact: Israel has accepted only one UN resolution (the General Assembly recommendation to partition mandate Palestine) while ignoring blatantly the wishes of the international community as expressed by dozens of others. Fact: Israel and its armed forces use US armaments in the occupied territories in contravention of America's own export laws. Let's be honest about this, Mr. President.
"Israel is surrounded by neighbours that have waged repeated wars against it," claimed Obama, perhaps unaware that Jewish militias - terrorists in all but name - committed numerous massacres of Palestinian civilians in the run-up to the declaration of the state of Israel. Jewish groups such as Irgun and the Stern Gang carried out a terrorist campaign against the lawful British Mandate authorities, bombing and shooting their way across Palestine. During the Suez Crisis of 1956, Israel colluded with France and Britain to invade Egypt. In 1967 Israel lied to the then US president and pre-empted Arab action by destroying the whole Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian air forces on the ground before any other shots had been fired in anger. Israel also attacked a US naval vessel, the USS Liberty, during the Six-Day War that it had instigated, killing 34 crew members and wounding 170; "It was a mistake," claimed the Zionists, and to the shame of its claim to stand up for what is right, the American government accepted the apology and led a cover-up. The surviving crew members still campaign for the true story to be accepted on Capitol Hill. The so-called "Yom Kippur" war of 1973 was a stitch-up between Anwar Sadat's Egypt and the US administration; Egyptian soldiers crossed the Suez Canal, advanced a few miles, then stopped; the idea was to boost an American politician's reputation as a peacemaker but at no time, records show, was there any possibility of Israel being conquered, for the simple reason that the Egyptian Army had no orders or plans to advance much beyond the Canal. Israel invaded Lebanon in 1978, 1982, 1993, 1996 and 2006. Thousands of civilians, Lebanese and Palestinian refugees, have been killed by Israeli bombs and bullets. And how could Obama forget the Israeli invasion of Gaza in 2008/9 during which more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed, one-third of them children? Israel is a threat to its neighbours, not least because of its nuclear arsenal; why doesn't the US president insist on that being inspected by the international community? Because the Americans don't allow their own arsenal to be inspected either, perhaps? Israel, lest we forget, is an aggressive occupying power which has destroyed the lives and livelihoods of thousands of Palestinians.
"Israel's citizens have been killed by rockets fired at their houses and suicide bombs on their buses." All of which have provided excuses for Israel to "respond" and kill hundreds, if not thousands, more Palestinians "in retaliation". Bring an end to the Israeli occupation of their land, Mr. President, and you remove the reason why Palestinians feel the need to resist the occupation in this way. If we want to be pedantic, we'd say that rockets were not "fired at their houses" because the rockets in question are not the "smart bomb" technology used by Israel.
"Israel's children come of age knowing that throughout the region, other children are taught to hate them." Obama should go to Hebron to see how Israeli settlers' children are shown by their elders how to treat Palestinians. I have never met any Palestinian children who are taught to hate Israelis by anything or anyone other than the actions of the Israelis themselves. Palestinians and pro-justice activists around the world will tell you that it is those actions which are hated, not the Israelis as individuals.
"Israel, a small country of less than 8 million people, looks out at a world where leaders of much larger nations threaten to wipe it off of the map." One leader of one country has, as far as I am aware, made such a statement, and even that is disputed by those who claim it was a mistranslation from Farsi. So who are these "leaders of much larger nations", Mr. President, and when did they make such statements?
"The Jewish people carry the burden of centuries of exile, persecution and the fresh memory of knowing that six million people were killed simply because of who they were." Jews lived in peace in Palestine under Muslim rule for centuries before the atheist European Zionists came along. The Palestinians weren't responsible for the Holocaust, or the pogroms in Tsarist Russia, or numerous expulsions of Jews from countries across Europe over many centuries. Why should the Palestinians pay the price for Europe's crimes?
It was ironic for Obama to say that the UN was not the forum for finding a solution to the crisis in the Holy Land, given that it was the US-controlled UN which decided to partition Palestine in 1947, a decision which led to the creation of the state of Israel. Which was the first country to recognise the Zionist state? It was America, of course, within ten minutes of Israel's declaration of independence coming into effect. America has been in Israel's pocket ever since, with American politicians lining up to see who can do the most for the benefit of a foreign state. The latest disgrace (Obama's UN speech aside) is the introduction of a bill by 30 Republican members of the US Congress saying that Israel should annex the occupied West Bank if Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas carries on with his bid for UN recognition of an independent Palestinian state. Media reports say that the group's leader is Republican Joe Walsh (Illinois); that's the same Joe Walsh who, it is reported, has just been named among "Congress's thirteen 'most corrupt' representatives by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)". This upright American politician believes that Israel would be "within its rights" to annex "Judea and Samaria". His evidence for such an outrageous claim can probably be found in the amount of money donated to his election campaigns by Zionists.
Despite the economic crisis facing the US along with other Western states, America still doles out billions of dollars of aid to Israel; why? At a time when American citizens are tightening their belts due to the recession the US administration has ring-fenced military spending on its wars in the Muslim world and its financial support for Israel. That's what Obama meant when he said that "America's commitment to Israel's security is unshakeable and our friendship with Israel is deep and enduring". Yeah, right.
I wonder if the Israelis feel the same way towards America. If they do, they have a funny way of showing it, treating politicians and public alike with contempt, and even sending agents to spy on this "deep and enduring" friend.
President Obama has embarrassed himself more than anything else with the content of his speech, because it was so blatantly one-sided. How I wish the supporters of the Palestinian bid who were in the audience at the UN had had the guts to walk out while Obama delivered his hymn to Israel. The man has sacrificed his self-respect on the altar of his re-election campaign.
If being the president of the United States of America now means doing whatever is necessary to be re-elected and serve two terms of office rather than doing what is right and standing up for the interests of the American people, and peace and justice around the world, then the office itself has become meaningless. The US Congress is so in thrall to Israel that its members are prepared to push legislation for the benefit of the Zionist state rather than cooperate to get the US (and the rest of us) out of recession. There are a number of quotations alleged to have been made by prominent politicians suggesting that US foreign policy is dictated by the Israelis, including one by ex-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "yelling" at Shimon Peres, "Don't worry about American pressure, we the Jewish people control America".
If that is true, then perhaps it's time for a rethink. We shouldn't talk about Israel being the 51st State of the USA; we should think of the USA as the 2nd State of Israel.
Ibrahim Hewitt
