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The whole world watches as the Palestinians in Gaza are being massacred. The justification for watching the slaughter is that Israel has the right to defend itself from Hamas rocket attacks on Israelis. But what of Palestine’s right to defend itself against further incursion by Israeli tactics? The massacres of non-combatant women, children, aid workers, medical staff, United Nation refuge workers etc. are excused away as inevitable and acceptable casualties of war. If all the nations of the world were to apply these justifications for their military actions, the whole world would become lawless, unsafe and barbaric. It would be a world ruled by bullies. The strongest would dominate and dictate to the rest of the world. The footprints of the ongoing slaughter in Gaza are all too obvious. America attacks by bombing incessantly and obliterating their opponent’s civilian infrastructure before sending in their invading forces. The Clinton administration did this in Yugoslavia and Bush has done it in Iraq. Today’s Israeli invasion of Gaza follows the American military strategy. One might ask why a small nation like Israel would dare to defy the Secretary General of the United Nations and almost all civilized nations on the planet by continuing the slaughter. The obvious answer is that Israel has the support of America in this activity. That is, Israel dares its massacre of the Palestinians in Gaza because the Bush administration condones and/or has orchestrated it. But, does Israel have the same support from President-elect Barack Obama? Obama’s silence on the issue of the slaughter can be construed as tacit approval of the Bush policy. Today, he has finally spoken out and was reported in the Guardian News and Media Limited to have said: Is the issue of ongoing killing of innocent civilians not pressing enough to speak out now? Is this because the lives of the goyim are being taken at a ratio of 100 for each Israeli killed? The casualties on both sides are not acceptable! They need to be stopped now! Were 100 Israelis dying for each Palestinian killed, what would Obama’s response be? Many of the Arab leaders are maintaining silence about the Israeli targeting of schools, hospitals and UN refuge centres as they slaughter Palestinian civilians in Gaza. This massacre cannot go on. Cowardice will not be rewarded. The quiet ones are slaves to their bully masters. Their nations could be the next targets of Israeli/American aggression, or that of other nations. Hamas leaders have now declared that it is open warfare on Israeli schools, hospitals and refuge points. Whilst it is understandable for Hamas to feel that way, it would be wholly unacceptable for them to carry out their warfare in that manner just because the Israelis have. Then their behaviour would be the same as Israel’s. This war has terrorized the civilians on both sides – it must stop now! Those responsible for destroying Iraq and spilling blood are now rewarding themselves with the highest civilian honour that can be bestowed by the American government. This just proves yet again that to the victors go the spoils. After Yugoslavia was destroyed by the West, Milosovich, who must have believed that he was trying to defend his own country, was being tried as a war criminal when he conveniently died in a Western prison. Saddam Hussein was tried, convicted and gruesomely executed for being a war criminal. Hussein must have also believed that he was defending his country. Were the vanquished to have been the victors, would Blair, Howard and Bush be tried, convicted and executed for war crimes? The media has been silenced on the Gaza war. Israel has denied foreign journalists access to the war zone. The New York Times has expressed its concern over this, but Ethan Bronner’s January 7, 2009 article, “Israel Puts Media Clamp on Gaza,” has clearly been restricted. Reading between the lines, he is declaring that Israel is antagonistic to free speech and the Western press. One Australian journalist for the Seven Television Network claimed that things are so horrendous in Gaza that he would not show pictures or discuss the horrific scenes that he had witnessed. The BBC has reported that Prime Minister Gordon Brown has finally stated: How could it have taken Brown so long to speak out? How could it take Obama so long to object? Whilst Obama could be viewed as only tacitly complicit in the massacre, this excuse is obscene. Obama is actively responsible for what is occurring. He has spoken publicly on many other issues, yet remained silent on the Gaza slaughter, claiming there is only one president at a time. His latest stance of wait until “after January 20” is even more appalling than his prior silence. In effect, he is saying that the massacre can continue for two more weeks! It can wait because the humanitarian crisis is not important enough to worry about now! However, Obama has not only tacitly condoned Bush’s approval of the slaughter, he is very actively involved, because Obama has selected Robert Gates as his proposed Secretary of Defence. Gates is Bush’s Secretary of Defence! Bush and Obama are of opposing political parties! To realize the absurdity of this, imagine the outrage if Gordon Brown removed Labour member John Hutton from Secretary of State for Defence from his Labour cabinet and appointed Tory Leader David Cameron to the post! By choosing the opposition party’s Secretary of Defence, Obama is proclaiming that there is not a single Democrat suitable for taking the position, and therefore he must take the opposition’s choice to fill this cabinet position. This means not only does he approve of Bush’s war policies, but that he also intends to continue along the lines of his predecessor. The growing anger directed at Israel for this ongoing massacre is boiling over. Since there are no strong stances being taken by world leaders to stop this incursion, one shudders to think at the escalation this is inviting. Fury is mounting against Israel, which is putting innocent civilians in Israel and around the world in severe danger. The political hypocrisy is exposed to the world. The mounting suffering must stop now! W.B.W. Light-Rider |
