Congress Ignores Israel’s War Crimes: It’s the American Way
While many European parliamentarians have been outspoken in their disgust at the “horrific” one-sided atrocity being clearly observed in the Israeli slaughter of Palestinian demonstrators last week, most of their U.S. counterparts appear to have lost their ability to express themselves over the egregious human rights violations being committed by the Israeli Army in Gaza. Sixty-two unarmed Palestinian demonstrators were shot dead and nearly three thousand more were injured by gunfire and tear gas versus no Israelis killed or wounded while a leading Knesset parliamentarian has assured the public that the Army has plenty of bullets left to kill all the Gazans if necessary.
The White House, however, has obviously not seen the video footage of the slaughter, and was instead celebrating the opening of the new American Embassy in Jerusalem intended to coincide with the 70th Anniversary of the creation of Israel, which some might also refer to as the 70th anniversary of the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian Christians and Muslims. Donald Trump tweeted that it was a “great day for Israel,” apparently having missed watching the slaying of the Palestinians by split screen as the largely American Jewish celebrants yukked it up with a broadly grinning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A short time later someone named Raj Shah at the White House told reporters at a press briefing that “The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas. Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response” as “a gruesome and unfortunate propaganda attempt.”
And meanwhile over at the United Nations, American Ambassador Nikki Haley vetoed a Russian proposal seeking an investigation into the carnage, explaining that that Hamas, aided of course by Iran, was to blame for the violence. “I ask my colleagues here in the Security Council: who among us would accept this type of activity on your border? No one would. No country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has.” She then walked out when Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian Permanent Representative to the United Nations began to speak.
Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, who was part of the Jerusalem delegation, even as violence was erupting in Gaza forty miles away, also knew whom to blame, saying “As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today, those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution.” He was not talking about the 200 Israeli snipers firing into an unarmed crowd of Gazans.
To be sure, some Democratic Congressman have expressed horror over what has been taking place. Barbara Lee, Betty McCollum and Bernie Sanders have all spoken up. Sanders said that “Israel should be condemned.” Congressman Mark Pocan declared that “There are better ways to deal with the tensions in Gaza than bullets.” Pocan and Raúl Grijalva, Pramila Jayapal, Keith Ellison, and Hank Johnson all expressed shock and dismay at “the lethal force used by Israeli troops against mostly unarmed protesters demonstrating at Gaza’s border.” They asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to “show utmost restraint, allow for unfettered medical attention for those who have been wounded, and ease the 12-year blockade on Gaza, which has contributed to grave food insecurity, unemployment and a humanitarian crisis for Gaza’s two million inhabitants.”
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Congressmen Johnson and Pocan as well as Dan Kildee of Michigan have recently called for the Israeli government to permit them to enter the Palestinian region to see what is happening on the ground there. The three congressmen visited Israel in 2016 but were blocked from crossing into the Gaza Strip by the Israeli Coordination and Liaison Administration, which operates the borders and entry points, limiting who can enter and leave as well as the flow of such essentials as food supplies. It might astonish some Americans to learn that Israel can stop any U.S. Congressmen from entering Gaza, which Tel Aviv illogically claims is no longer under its control even though it has turned the area into an outdoor prison camp.
One notes particularly the lack of even a single Republican concerned over the completely disproportionate carnage in Gaza. Senator Rand Paul, who one referred to Israeli controlled Gaza as a “concentration camp,” is notable by his absence. Senators Ten Cruise, Lindsey Graham, Dean Heller and Mike Lee (a bit of a surprise that, but he is a Mormon) were all part of the official delegation, which also included a number of GOP House members as well as Florida governor Rick Scott.
Regarding the Democrats, it has long been observed that the party base does not any longer support the philo-Israel policies embraced by the Clintonesque Democratic National Committee leadership. Those congressmen who have spoken out certainly deserve the public’s support when they find Israel’s behavior just too much to take.
It would have been refreshing to see more Congressmen criticizing Israel for what are indisputably war crimes in using live fire against unarmed demonstrators. And they should use the same blunt language they use when criticizing Russia or North Korea or Iran. Unfortunately, even when there have been comments or statements that express some concern, they are inevitably and invariably wrapped in excuses for Israel’s inhumane actions, referring to provocative protests “organized by Hamas,” a claim that is pure Israeli propaganda, and/or blaming “all sides,” which again distributes the fault to make Israel look like a victim as well as the Gazans. It is typical newspeak intended to avoid making Israel and its friends unhappy.
The truth is that what Israel does in its own neighborhood endangers the United States and makes every American who travels through the Middle East a target. I recently returned from a conference in Iran and, as the Gaza tragedy was unfolding, we American participants were all wondering if we would make it home. We considered that Israel, bent on a war with Iran that would drag the U.S. in to do the real fighting, might just choose their moment of apparent strength with the new Embassy and the “successful” slaughter of the Palestinians without so much as a peep out of the White House, as a good time to escalate. How many civilian airliners might get shot down? How many more Palestinians will have to die for the monstrous Benjamin Netanyahu’s blood lust truly to be satisfied?
PHILIP GIRALDI
Philip M. Giraldi is a former CIA counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer who served nineteen years overseas in Turkey, Italy, Germany, and Spain. He was the CIA Chief of Base for the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and was one of the first Americans to enter Afghanistan in December 2001. Phil is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a Washington-based advocacy group that seeks to encourage and promote a U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East that is consistent with American values and interests.
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Nothing our Congress does or doesn't do ever surprises me. All new Congressmen get their expenses-paid trips to the "Holy Land" for their little tuneups. They learn how the world is run there during their training. Even the sanctimonious types are told the rules of the game and that they must and will follow said rules. It's a rotten disgrace and it is no surprise dimbulb Americans are not able to read this in their papers. The stories about these lies is NOT put in papers, now you know why people cannot find and read them. Every candidate for office should face a panel of investigators who ask these pointed questions about how the candidates feel about the Palestinian genocide, for example. But, the slime is protected from the questioners in good, ol' peace lovin' 'Murrica. What a joke!!
Thank you Philip Giraldi for a powerful and courageous article describing the obscenities the Israelis inflict on innocent Palestinians daily over there. The $64,000 question is why do these inhumane terrorist criminals in Israel continue to win when they should lose? Suppose a football team lost every game including the playoffs, yet was awarded "National Champion"? Wouldn't everyone be indignant? For example, Cal Tech at Pasadena is a top science school but a poor football school. There have been years when their football team did not win a single game! But suppose they were declared the "National Football Champions"! Wouldn't the population be incensed, outraged, indignant, angry at such a decision? Why are not the large population indignant that the thugs in Israel continue to brutalize the Palestinians year in and year out? Why does Israel "win" when they should "lose"? What is going to be the "straw" which broke the "camel's", "Israel's" back? Suppose beyond brutally murdering these innocent Palestinian human beings, the Israelis sent thugs in to carve organs out of the dead bodies killed by Israelis? Suppose Netanyahu himself ordered the cameras to roll while he personally cut the hearts out of dead Palestinians on National Television? Would such and act after death, be the "straw" which broke the Camel's back and finally achieved a unified military group to arrest and bring to justice with necessary military armed force, these terrorist criminals in Israel to face world Justice for a change? Can these thugs get away with any unspeakable crimes to the Palestinians without arousing the rage and indignation of the powers of the world to finally take the necessary military action against these criminals over there who obviously have no conscience and no respect for the lives of Palestinians although they purport to believe in a higher being called "GOD". When will the world finally, if ever, rise up and say and demand, with the full military power necessary to enforce it, STOP the madness Israel. YOU have crossed the line. You have overloaded the Camel. You have stacked the deck once too many. YOU MUST LOSE NOW? Will this scenario ever happen? Or has our brave new world turned into one where only losers win games? Israel is the biggest terrorist coward loser on Planet Earth. They even did 9/11/01 to the U.S. but blamed it on Muslims: https://wikispooks.com/wiki/9-11/Israel_did_it
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• “Larry Silverstein – is a Jewish American businessman from New York. Silverstein obtained a 99 year lease on the entire world trade center complex on 24 July, 2001. [3] The towers were in fact close to worthless, being filled with asbestos, [4] yet Silverstein “felt a compelling urge to own them”. Silverstein had breakfast in "Windows on the World" restaurant (located in North Tower 107th Floor) every morning. [5] but broke this routine on the morning of 11 September 2001. Silverstein’s two children, who also worked in the WTC, were also absent from work that day. Larry Silverstein was paid a little over $4.5 Billion in insurance money as a result of the destruction of the WTC complex. [6] Silverstein was on personal friendship terms with Zionist media-magnate Rupert Murdoch, former Israeli president Ariel Sharon, as well as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. Silverstein was such good friends with Netanyahu that, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz he would speak with him on the phone every sunday. [7]
• Video – Where was Larry Silverstein on 9/11?”
Just remember countries of the world: This mistreatment could be against any other country or group on the planet too, not just Palestinians. Would you act then if it was YOU? Winfield J. Abbe, Ph.D., Physics