Israel
Israel's Latest Outrage: Piracy on the Open Seas
Jun 01, 2010 11:52
The Israeli attack in international waters upon a defenseless flotilla bringing humanitarian supplies to Gaza is no isolated event, but merely one more step towards what looks like a Zionist version of the Final Solution. They pushed the Palestinians off their land, imprisoned them in Gaza—which can be accurately described as one of the world’s largest concentration camps—and it is now tightening the noose around its hapless inhabitants.
We in the U.S. have long been the enablers of this vast atrocity and will have much to answer for when the inevitable time of accounting comes.
Already, the usual game of “Blame the Victim” is in full swing.
But this is not the time to equivocate or to blame the victim. The Israeli attack was an act of piracy, in violation of the law of the oceans, and a serious international crime. Resisting piracy is not the same as causing death and mayhem by the pirates. In fact, resisting piracy is usually regarded as a laudable, if unwise, action. Israeli/U.S. “logic” is reminiscent of WWI atrocities against civilians by the German army under the doctrine that resistance by an occupied people to its occupiers is a heinous crime and a justification for indiscriminate mass murder.
I am ashamed of the Obama administration for its duplicitous behavior. And we wonder why so much of the world hates us. There’s your answer. If he had only done the decent thing he would have raised the reputation of the U.S. throughout the world, and especially thorughout the middle east.
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, however. Obama’s silence as president-elect during the Israeli assault on Gaza should was a powerful clue to his later behavior.
We in the U.S. have long been the enablers of this vast atrocity and will have much to answer for when the inevitable time of accounting comes.
Earlier, Turkey — the unofficial sponsor of the convoy — had proposed a statement that would have condemned Israel for violating international law and demanded a United Nations investigation, the prosecution of those responsible for the raid and compensation for the victims. It also called for the end of the blockade.
But the Obama administration refused to endorse a statement that singled out Israel, and it proposed a broader condemnation of the violence that would include the assault by passengers of the Israeli commandos as they landed on the deck of the ship.
Already, the usual game of “Blame the Victim” is in full swing.
But this is not the time to equivocate or to blame the victim. The Israeli attack was an act of piracy, in violation of the law of the oceans, and a serious international crime. Resisting piracy is not the same as causing death and mayhem by the pirates. In fact, resisting piracy is usually regarded as a laudable, if unwise, action. Israeli/U.S. “logic” is reminiscent of WWI atrocities against civilians by the German army under the doctrine that resistance by an occupied people to its occupiers is a heinous crime and a justification for indiscriminate mass murder.
I am ashamed of the Obama administration for its duplicitous behavior. And we wonder why so much of the world hates us. There’s your answer. If he had only done the decent thing he would have raised the reputation of the U.S. throughout the world, and especially thorughout the middle east.
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, however. Obama’s silence as president-elect during the Israeli assault on Gaza should was a powerful clue to his later behavior.
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