US President Barack Obama has failed to condemn Israel over Gaza ship attack. Apparently he considered that there was not enough evidence to condemn Israel. Shame on him. When Mr Obama won the US elections in November 2008 and came to power, there was a wave of hope around the world. The world hoped that, in what seemed to be a new enlightened and impartial understanding of the world and geopolitics, Mr Obama could decisively contribute for world peace, by unblocking certain situations, namely the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. One and a half years later and having received a Nobel peace prize in the meantime, Mr Obama has failed to deliver and to fulfil the expectations. So far not only nothing has been done to put Israel and Palestina back on track towards peace, but the situation has even worsened, because Israel doesn’t comply with any international law, with any rules. Yet Mr Obama had good reasons and justifications to condemn Israel, as half of the world has and as the world expected.
The question is whether Mr Obama considers that it is normal and acceptable according to international law, that a state attacks several ships in international waters, kills a dozen civilians and injures tens? And, according to witnesses, deliberately killed these people, not in self defence? Has Mr Obama forgotten that Israel has imposed a blockade to the Gaza territory since 2007 (with complacency from the rest of the world) when it does not have any jurisdiction over the territory, which it occupies? Has Mr Obama forgotten that Israeli troops have invaded the same territory last year and killed some 1,300 people (in justification for some 12 people killed by Palestinian rocket attacks)? Has Mr Obama ignored that Israel kills several Palestinian civilians every week (sometimes it seems all the people there are terrorists and Hamas activists… one wonders why), in total disrespect for law and international rules? Has Mr Obama forgotten that hundreds of unarmed Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, were killed with Israel’s participation in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, in 1982? Does Mr Obama ignore the daily humiliation and oppression that the Palestinian population of Gaza and the west bank suffer daily in their land? (a friend was recently there in a delegation of the EP and was scandalised with the way Palestinians are treated).
Does Mr Obama consider normal and not condemnable that Israel, after invading the ships, takes some 700 people by force to Israel and obliges them to sign unacceptable declarations to expel them out of the country?
No Mr Obama, you cannot ignore all these facts and you should not forget History. According to Argentinean newspaper pagina12, already 87 years ago, Revisionist Zionism ideologue Ze'ev Jabotinsky, declared that the only way to impose the Jewish state was to crush the Arabs. No wonder then, when Ron Torossian, organizer of the demonstration in front of the Turkish Mission to the UN, “We are with Israel” said "I think we should kill a hundred Arabs or a thousand Arabs for every Jew they kill" (/ / gravker.com, 1610). Well, why not a hundred thousand, a million, then? Do you agree to this? Or don’t you think it should be condemned? Well, without strong world opposition and action from real democratic nations, I fear that might soon happen.
And Mr Obama, by not condemning Israel firmly, by not obliging Israel to follow international law and sit for peace talks instead, not only you are failing to contribute to world peace, the US is being an accomplice of Israel’s terrorist agenda.. As usual, the US is providing the international backup and space for Israel’s oppression and terror policy, with the excuse to support "the only democracy in the region". Yet instead the US is promoting world terrorism. And there is no democracy in Israel anymore.
Mr Obama, a simple clarification of the facts isn’t enough and there must be an international independent investigation commission, not one controlled by Israel. Are you naïf? Or making fools of us? Or do you consider that the ten Americans travelling with the convoy of humanitarian aid to Gaza, including Joe Meadors (signalman on the USS Liberty, bombarded by Israeli planes and torpedo boats in 1967), Ann Wright (Colonel of the US Army) and Edward L. Peck (former deputy director of counter-terrorism task force of Reagan's cabinet) were all terrorists as well and deserved punishment?
On top of this, Israel does not even respect the US, they believe they are above everything, untouchable. That is why they have also fooled Vice President Joe Biden, who has also been defending the blockade of Gaza and said that Israel "had the right to know what cargo the ship carried”. Remember when he went to Israel, supposedly to encourage the peace process, last March and your friend Mr Netanyahu announced the construction of 1600 new buildings in Palestinian occupied territory? That was a slap in the face… but it seems Mr Biden has a short memory, after all.
The truth is it doesn’t matter whether it’s Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama or whoever sits in the White House, the truth is no changes will occur in the blind support from the US to Israel’s policy, no matter who is in the government there, no matter the atrocities committed by Israel’s government and military. I don’t expect any changes, but I would expect some honesty… at least be honest and do not pretend to promote peace in the Middle East. Ah, and be consequent, return you Nobel peace prize.
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08 juin 2010
Blind for Israel
"Cegos por Israel" (Blind for Israel) is an excellent article that Rui Tavares (who is a member to the European Parliament) published in the newspaper "Público" last 2 June and also in his personal blog. Check here the original article in portuguese.
I have allowed myself to make a 'free' translation in english of what he wrote so that more people can read it. I think it is important to disseminate this type of opinion articles, particularly when the media in Portugal, unlike in many other countries in Europe, seem to deliberately justify and clear Israel's actions, with tendentious articles, that blindly defend the indefensible, such as newspaper Público or even the TV channels (RTP, etc). It seems these always try to justify whatever Israel does, without any critical and/or objective approach. That is for me unacceptable and there is less and less patience to read certain articles published in Públcio, for instance.
Blind for Israel
by Rui Tavares
"I have family in Israel and Jewish relatives or of Jewish descent, who, if they so wished, could obtain Israeli citizenship. Theoretically, it seems that even I could claim the right to live in one of those villages that I have never visited, but to which Palestinians who were born there cannot return - the villages where already their parents, grandparents and great grandparents were born.
What represented a hope of justice (and still does) for Jews around the world, after centuries of persecution, has actually been a tragedy for Palestinians. There are no affinities - ideological, family, or of pure obstination - that can silence this truth.
Unlike fanatics of all kinds suggest, within and outside the region, it is obvious that the world does not know how to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
With more or less detail, the solution can only be to have two separate states side by side, according to the 1967 borders, with occasional exchanges of land on a 1:1 basis; Jerusalem as a shared capital of both states, perhaps under international supervision, with financial and moral compensation for the Palestinian refugees, with the possibility of living in their independent state or, in some negotiated cases, return to their home place.
Another possible solution, supported by a minority although still by many people who want peace, would be to have a single state with equal rights for all religions and people living on its territory.
Like any non-fanatic, I am not worried about the details. What I want is that Palestinians may reach self-determination with dignity, in the same way as any other nation in the world. At the same time, I respect the state of Israel and the Israeli citizenship of my cousins. I cannot respect, however, the actions of the Israeli government because this government has not respected any limits of decency, honesty or international law. Neither have they respected their own commitments. It's even hard to believe that they have made those commitments in good faith. The Israeli government is a pariah one and should be treated as such.
However, for some fanatics, to be a "friend of Israel" seems to imply two things: first that everything the Israeli government does, no matter how brutal and inhumane, is always legitimate, is always justifiable, second, that international standards are not to be applied equally to Israel as to other countries.
Extraordinary as it may seem, these fanatics of Israel can justify everything, even the recent raid and kidnapping of a small fleet of unarmed boats in international waters, killing a dozen people. When a boat is in international waters, it is acceptable to approach it, perhaps to guard it or even escort it, at most. It is certainly not acceptable to attack the boat and kill the passengers, that is an act of pure piracy. Not even a so-called "state of war", mentioned by some commentators, could justify this: and Israel has not declared war on Turkey (in international waters, attacking a boat means attacking the territory of its flag), and even if it had, wars have rules to which States are obliged by signing conventions - and even when they do not sign, war crimes continue to exist. You may decide: what happened was either piracy, act of terrorism or war crime. But it is never justifiable.
It is often said that the fanatics are the worst enemies of Israel. It's true: the fanatical Muslims,
the fanatic pseudo-friends of Israel in the West and, increasingly, the fanatics in the Israeli Government."
By Rui Tavares, Historian, independent MEP.
(Http://twitter.com/ruitavares)
[free translation, not the responsibility of the article's author]
>
I have allowed myself to make a 'free' translation in english of what he wrote so that more people can read it. I think it is important to disseminate this type of opinion articles, particularly when the media in Portugal, unlike in many other countries in Europe, seem to deliberately justify and clear Israel's actions, with tendentious articles, that blindly defend the indefensible, such as newspaper Público or even the TV channels (RTP, etc). It seems these always try to justify whatever Israel does, without any critical and/or objective approach. That is for me unacceptable and there is less and less patience to read certain articles published in Públcio, for instance.
Blind for Israel
by Rui Tavares
"I have family in Israel and Jewish relatives or of Jewish descent, who, if they so wished, could obtain Israeli citizenship. Theoretically, it seems that even I could claim the right to live in one of those villages that I have never visited, but to which Palestinians who were born there cannot return - the villages where already their parents, grandparents and great grandparents were born.
What represented a hope of justice (and still does) for Jews around the world, after centuries of persecution, has actually been a tragedy for Palestinians. There are no affinities - ideological, family, or of pure obstination - that can silence this truth.
Unlike fanatics of all kinds suggest, within and outside the region, it is obvious that the world does not know how to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
With more or less detail, the solution can only be to have two separate states side by side, according to the 1967 borders, with occasional exchanges of land on a 1:1 basis; Jerusalem as a shared capital of both states, perhaps under international supervision, with financial and moral compensation for the Palestinian refugees, with the possibility of living in their independent state or, in some negotiated cases, return to their home place.
Another possible solution, supported by a minority although still by many people who want peace, would be to have a single state with equal rights for all religions and people living on its territory.
Like any non-fanatic, I am not worried about the details. What I want is that Palestinians may reach self-determination with dignity, in the same way as any other nation in the world. At the same time, I respect the state of Israel and the Israeli citizenship of my cousins. I cannot respect, however, the actions of the Israeli government because this government has not respected any limits of decency, honesty or international law. Neither have they respected their own commitments. It's even hard to believe that they have made those commitments in good faith. The Israeli government is a pariah one and should be treated as such.
However, for some fanatics, to be a "friend of Israel" seems to imply two things: first that everything the Israeli government does, no matter how brutal and inhumane, is always legitimate, is always justifiable, second, that international standards are not to be applied equally to Israel as to other countries.
Extraordinary as it may seem, these fanatics of Israel can justify everything, even the recent raid and kidnapping of a small fleet of unarmed boats in international waters, killing a dozen people. When a boat is in international waters, it is acceptable to approach it, perhaps to guard it or even escort it, at most. It is certainly not acceptable to attack the boat and kill the passengers, that is an act of pure piracy. Not even a so-called "state of war", mentioned by some commentators, could justify this: and Israel has not declared war on Turkey (in international waters, attacking a boat means attacking the territory of its flag), and even if it had, wars have rules to which States are obliged by signing conventions - and even when they do not sign, war crimes continue to exist. You may decide: what happened was either piracy, act of terrorism or war crime. But it is never justifiable.
It is often said that the fanatics are the worst enemies of Israel. It's true: the fanatical Muslims,
the fanatic pseudo-friends of Israel in the West and, increasingly, the fanatics in the Israeli Government."
By Rui Tavares, Historian, independent MEP.
(Http://twitter.com/ruitavares)
[free translation, not the responsibility of the article's author]
>
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