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 A Declaration of Independence From IsraelPosted on Jul 2, 2007
By Chris Hedges Israel, without the United States, would probably not exist. The country came perilously close to extinction during the October 1973 war when Egypt, trained and backed by the Soviet Union, crossed the Suez and the Syrians poured in over the Golan Heights. Huge American military transport planes came to the rescue. They began landing every half-hour to refit the battered Israeli army, which had lost most of its heavy armor. By the time the war was over, the United States had given Israel $2.2 billion in emergency military aid. The intervention, which enraged the Arab world, triggered the OPEC oil embargo that for a time wreaked havoc on Western economies. This was perhaps the most dramatic example of the sustained life-support system the United States has provided to the Jewish state. Israel was born at midnight May 14, 1948. The U.S. recognized the new state 11 minutes later. The two countries have been locked in a deadly embrace ever since. Washington, at the beginning of the relationship, was able to be a moderating influence. An incensed President Eisenhower demanded and got Israel’s withdrawal after the Israelis occupied Gaza in 1956. During the Six-Day War in 1967, Israeli warplanes bombed the USS Liberty. The ship, flying the U.S. flag and stationed 15 miles off the Israeli coast, was intercepting tactical and strategic communications from both sides. The Israeli strikes killed 34 U.S. sailors and wounded 171. The deliberate attack froze, for a while, Washington’s enthusiasm for Israel. But ruptures like this one proved to be only bumps, soon smoothed out by an increasingly sophisticated and well-financed Israel lobby that set out to merge Israeli and American foreign policy in the Middle East. Israel has reaped tremendous rewards from this alliance. It has been given more than $140 billion in U.S. direct economic and military assistance. It receives about $3 billion in direct assistance annually, roughly one-fifth of the U.S. foreign aid budget. Although most American foreign aid packages stipulate that related military purchases have to be made in the United States, Israel is allowed to use about 25 percent of the money to subsidize its own growing and profitable defense industry. It is exempt, unlike other nations, from accounting for how it spends the aid money. And funds are routinely siphoned off to build new Jewish settlements, bolster the Israeli occupation in the Palestinian territories and construct the security barrier, which costs an estimated $1 million a mile. The barrier weaves its way through the West Bank, creating isolated pockets of impoverished Palestinians in ringed ghettos. By the time the barrier is finished it will probably in effect seize up to 40 percent of Palestinian land. This is the largest land grab by Israel since the 1967 war. And although the United States officially opposes settlement expansion and the barrier, it also funds them. The U.S. has provided Israel with nearly $3 billion to develop weapons systems and given Israel access to some of the most sophisticated items in its own military arsenal, including Blackhawk attack helicopters and F-16 fighter jets. The United States also gives Israel access to intelligence it denies to its NATO allies. And when Israel refused to sign the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, the United States stood by without a word of protest as the Israelis built the region’s first nuclear weapons program. U.S. foreign policy, especially under the current Bush administration, has become little more than an extension of Israeli foreign policy. The United States since 1982 has vetoed 32 Security Council resolutions critical of Israel, more than the total number of vetoes cast by all the other Security Council members. It refuses to enforce the Security Council resolutions it claims to support. These resolutions call on Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories. There is now volcanic anger and revulsion by Arabs at this blatant favoritism. Few in the Middle East see any distinction between Israeli and American policies, nor should they. And when the Islamic radicals speak of U.S. support of Israel as a prime reason for their hatred of the United States, we should listen. The consequences of this one-sided relationship are being played out in the disastrous war in Iraq, growing tension with Iran, and the humanitarian and political crisis in Gaza. It is being played out in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is gearing up for another war with Israel, one most Middle East analysts say is inevitable. The U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East is unraveling. And it is doing so because of this special relationship. The eruption of a regional conflict would usher in a nightmare of catastrophic proportions. There were many in the American foreign policy establishment and State Department who saw this situation coming. The decision to throw our lot in with Israel in the Middle East was not initially a popular one with an array of foreign policy experts, including President Harry Truman’s secretary of state, Gen. George Marshall. They warned there would be a backlash. They knew the cost the United States would pay in the oil-rich region for this decision, which they feared would be one of the greatest strategic blunders of the postwar era. And they were right. The decision has jeopardized American and Israeli security and created the kindling for a regional conflagration. The alliance, which makes no sense in geopolitical terms, does makes sense when seen through the lens of domestic politics. The Israel lobby has become a potent force in the American political system. No major candidate, Democrat or Republican, dares to challenge it. The lobby successfully purged the State Department of Arab experts who challenged the notion that Israeli and American interests were identical. Backers of Israel have doled out hundreds of millions of dollars to support U.S. political candidates deemed favorable to Israel. They have brutally punished those who strayed, including the first President Bush, who they said was not vigorous enough in his defense of Israeli interests. This was a lesson the next Bush White House did not forget. George W. Bush did not want to be a one-term president like his father. Israel advocated removing Saddam Hussein from power and currently advocates striking Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons. Direct Israeli involvement in American military operations in the Middle East is impossible. It would reignite a war between Arab states and Israel. The United States, which during the Cold War avoided direct military involvement in the region, now does the direct bidding of Israel while Israel watches from the sidelines. During the 1991 Gulf War, Israel was a spectator, just as it is in the war with Iraq. President Bush, facing dwindling support for the war in Iraq, publicly holds Israel up as a model for what he would like Iraq to become. Imagine how this idea plays out on the Arab street, which views Israel as the Algerians viewed the French colonizers during the war of liberation. “In Israel,” Bush said recently, “terrorists have taken innocent human life for years in suicide attacks. The difference is that Israel is a functioning democracy and it’s not prevented from carrying out its responsibilities. And that’s a good indicator of success that we’re looking for in Iraq.” Americans are increasingly isolated and reviled in the world. They remain blissfully ignorant of their own culpability for this isolation. U.S. “spin” paints the rest of the world as unreasonable, but Israel, Americans are assured, will always be on our side. Israel is reaping economic as well as political rewards from its lock-down apartheid state. In the “gated community” market it has begun to sell systems and techniques that allow the nation to cope with terrorism. Israel, in 2006, exported $3.4 billion in defense products—well over a billion dollars more than it received in American military aid. Israel has grown into the fourth largest arms dealer in the world. Most of this growth has come in the so-called homeland security sector.
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By GodSend, July 10, 2007 at 11:02 am # LWAJB: Aha! - ‘Lefty’-II has arrived. Misquoting Iran’s leader, who said that Israel’s (Evil) Zionist regime must be removed! These Zionist sympathizers sure are a bunch of deceptive devils The Israel motto seems to be: “By deception we will create ‘Greater Israel’ and the New World Order”. Of course, crimes against humanity, murder of Arab civilians and bulldozing American protesters are also part of their portfolio. Did I mention nuclear blackmail? Did I mention assassination of American political leaders? Did I mention entrapment and bribery? If I mentioned every nasty thing they do, it would be a Never-ending Story!
By Left-Wing Anti-Jewish Bigtry, July 10, 2007 at 9:16 am # Dear Lefty if you believe that the bigots of Truthdig care about the murder of Jew you are wrong. This is evidenced by the fact that there will never be and never has been an article written on the thousands of Israeli civilians exterminated by neo-Nazi groups like Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad, Hamas ect. When the leader of Hizbullah says “If Jews gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide” or the leader of Hamas says “We will not recognize Israel, We will not recognize Israel, we will not recognize Israel” or “Israel is a tumor which needs to be removed” or their friend Ahmedinijad says “Israel must be wiped off the face of the earth” they agree. The Neo-Left has firmly aligned itself with these fascists. They don’t care about democracy, or womens rights, of the rights of homosexuals. That is the reason they will never speak out against the numerous human rights violations against Israelis or Muslim for that matter. Hatred of Jews is an age old phenomena that comes from religious intolerance,Fascists on the right and now the neo-Left. Israel is the new Jew which is all-powerful and responsible for the problems of the world. Take a look at what the Nazi leader David Duke has to say. It is identical to that of Democracy Now,Robert Fisk, Norm Finklstein or Noam Chomsky.Why else could a guy like Chris Hedges get away with blaming Jewish control for what the U.S. has done. Antisemitism is alive and well on the neo-Left.
By Jeroen de Jager, July 10, 2007 at 6:25 am # Thruth? Dig? It might inconvenience a reader or 2 on this site, but this story is so slanted, so rife with lies and inaccuracies, I’d need a new keyboard before I’m done with this. I don’t digg this article, the untruthful presumption of which is that Israel and the US are in a deadly embrace. In fact, Israel had to fight an uphill battle, all by it’s own against 6 invading neighbours, whom it had invited for peaceful negotiations. That was 1948, after over 50 years of Arab incitement. I’d love to go into a history class here, for readers with a mind open enough, or not totally blinded by hatred. But let’s not. I read a lot of opinions here, by people that have ne’er travelled outside of the US, have never been to the Middle East. And are just plain and simple angry. Foam around the mouth usually doesn’t make for good analysis. Israel is a democracy with flaws. That, against its will is pitted against regimes that bulldozer tens of thousands of the own population (Syria), shoot tens of thousands of other Arabs (as did Jordan in Black September), or minorities (as did Iraq to the Kurds). Maybe these FACTS can bring about some slight doubt. Doubt as to whether the world view of some people that Jews might not be (the only) root of ALL evil. For Jews you may read Israelis, if you’re sincerely opposed to counting yourself among the mildly anti-semitic. I’m not making it a hitparade of who killed most. Israel is not competing in that league. Doesn’t want to. And never will. So, please use a sense that goes a bit beyond the regurgitated crap you can so easily find. And become a human being yourself too, in the process
By Inherit The Wind, July 9, 2007 at 3:10 pm # Robert on 7/09 at 1:49 pm ITW...just keep blowing in the wind! Your hysterical zionist ranting & frothing just continues...there is no need to waste my time. Get yourself a laxative treatment! No need. Your posts already have that effect. You could compete with Ex-Lax and Philips’ Milk of Magnesia.
By Inherit The Wind, July 9, 2007 at 7:23 am # Robert on 7/09 at 5:46 am Comment #85209 by ITW on 7/8 ITW...Your post didn’t even come close to the truth. You beat around the bush...with NO direct response to the below request. Can you answer truthfully to the request, below? I don’t need any apologies from you at all. Just be truthful! Your last post has discredited you and what you accused me of. All of us are sick and tired of your garbage about “anti-semetism”. Zionism is wrong; Zionism is the worst forms of racism. ITW...you are full of hot wind and that is about all you got! “ITW...I sure would like for you to show me where from all my posts/comments on truthdig that I am, as per your statement, “truly anti-semitic, committed to the total destruction of Israel and don’t give a shit if 5.5 million Israelis are slaughtered” There you go ITW, here is your chance to tell the truth. Please show/provide for me that I made such statements. Where & when did I posted such statements/comments? If you are going to quote me, please quote me word by word and ITW, come back with your response and confirmation to the exact above...ASAP. I have a very good memory...ITW!” ************************************************* Robert, you have gone truly delusional. I have answered and shown you EXACTLY what you said, and what it had to have meant. I have not lied, not once. But you have, repeatedly and baldly. In fact, all you can do is bluster and invent foul names for people who you don’t like. What constitutes being the target of Robert’s abusive pen? Disagreeing with Robert. You refuse to acknowledge what I wrote, AND WHAT YOU WROTE AS WELL! Your “very good memory” is clearly nothing but another lie. You remember what you want, the way you want. Which is really pitiful because what you ACTUALLY POSTED is there for all to see. You can bluster and obfuscate and say I lied a hundred thousand times and it will be just as untrue as if you said it just once. You claimed I was part of some conspiracy, knew Lefty and Lilmamzer beforehand, trained with them under some Israeli organization and other PURE FANTASY. It’s nothing but a lie and YOU HAVE NO BASIS FOR THAT LIE! In fact, for that deliberately false accusation, you owe ME an apology. Of course I won’t get it. You don’t have the backbone (and other attributes) to admit you are wrong or have done something wrong and to own up to it. I am done with you, your anti-semitic crap, your hatred for all things Jewish, and your love and admiration for terrorists who not only target and deliberately murder women and children, but also CHEERED the worst attack ever perpetrated on our nation. And, to make things WORSE, you don’t blame those responsible. Instead you buy into the Arab shit that it really was the Jews who attacked on 9/11, not 15 Saudi Arabians and 4 other Arabs. You don’t understand the difference between LEGITIMATE criticism of both Israel and the Palestinians, nor do you care about it. You don’t even want to see a fair and safe peace for all parties. You want Hamas to take over Israel and you don’t give a shit if the 5.5 millions Jews there are slaughtered. You don’t deserve logical arguments and facts because you are unable to process and accept them in your fascist paranoia.
By Inherit The Wind, July 8, 2007 at 5:56 pm # ““Each time you make such an absurd and slanderous assertion I have another piece of evidence that you are truly anti-semitic, committed to the total destruction of Israel and don’t give a shit if 5.5 million Israelis are slaughtered. Since ANYONE who disagrees with you MUST be part of some sort of demonic conspiracy, you think EXACTLY as fascists the world over think.” -------------------------------------- ITW...I sure would like for you to show me where from all my posts/comments on truthdig that I am, as per your statement, “truly anti-semitic, committed to the total destruction of Israel and don’t give a shit if 5.5 million Israelis are slaughtered” There you go ITW, here is your chance to tell the truth. Please show/provide for me that I made such statements. Where & when did I posted such statements/comments? “ Robert maybe you remember everything I say but you sure don’t remember everything YOU say!: The rest is the inevitable inference that flows from such an absurd statement. Because I disagree with you and challenge your sources, YOU claim I’m part of a conspiracy. You can’t deny you did that, it’s right there. You claim I must have attended a “Hasbara” course, and must have attended it with Lefty and Lilmamzer--whoever they are, and whatever Hasbara is. Talk about a LIE! So I can INFER (you know what “infer” means, don’t you Robert?) that your perpetual disdain and discounting of Jewish losses, of the Holocaust’s importance that you MAY be anti-semitic. But to lock it in you quote explicitly Palestinian propaganda sites’ manifestos as if they are actual fact. You are intelligent enough to know they spewing lies, but you post them anyway. Because the facts don’t matter to you. The sites you quote are propaganda for people who believe The Protocols Of The Elders of Zion were factual, and spout that Zionists collaborated with the Nazis, who were sworn to destroy them--totally absurd. But since you have NO problem posting this garbage you are either a total moron or an anti-semite. If you wish to claim that you are a total moron, I’ll be happy to humbly appologize for saying you are a proven anti-semite. Your own words and paranoia betray you.
By steve heeren, July 8, 2007 at 2:01 pm # lefty: i am not “anti-simitic” (your spelling), but i am “anti-simian” which is why i find you hard to take.
By GodSend, July 8, 2007 at 1:50 pm # I wonder if ‘Lefty’ is familiar with all those white, ‘Christian’, fundamentalist morons who just LOVE the rogue State of Israel and Zionists!? If ‘Lefty’ keeps talking like this, he’ll have the Mossad after him - not to mention AIPAC, Abe Foxman, Daniel Pipes and all those other Zionists who have formed an alliance with those ‘moron’ white ‘Christians’. It’s obvious that ‘Lefty’s brain and heart lobotomy was completely successful! He doesn’t know if he’s on 1st, 2nd or 3rd! Oh, this is sooooooooooooooo much fun
By NYCguy, July 8, 2007 at 1:16 pm # I have read the article and some of the comments posted, I just want to say that I agree with Sgt 100%. I am Persian, and an American citizen. I have to give the Israelis a lot of credit; they have really got us from all angles (media, government, finance). I love what America claims to stands for. But that is really a myth these days. The problem is that Americans are too stupid or distracted to care. They just want it simple like in a comic book. So the media feeds them this horseshit and they eat it up without questioning why we support Israel so much. As long as the Muslim world is portrayed as an alien culture, which we have nothing in common with (as the media has so effectively accomplished) then the stage is for Americans to accept our blind allegiance to Israel. To say all this I feel like I have to give a disclaimer that I do not hate any race or religion. I feel like I have to say this because the Israel influence has made it taboo if not a crime to say anything bad about Israel policies by equating them with anti-Semitism. This is a great article and anyone who doesn’t think it is correct is either a Jewish/Israeli nationalist or just ignorant to what is going on. This article is not a far-flung conspiracy theory; it is simply what is happening right now in the world.
By GodSend, July 8, 2007 at 12:56 pm # You can’t have a ‘reasonable’ discussion with ‘Lefty’. You could have a more reasonable discussion with A. Sharon than with ‘Lefty’. Can you imagine an entire country filled with ‘Lefty’s? The Palestinians don’t have to imagine it! They pray for deliverance from ‘Lefty’s all the time. What should we do with all the ‘Lefty’s in America? Send them to Israel, of course! (and you thought I was going to say “extraordinarily rendition” him to Egypt, right?) Of course, Gitmo will soon have a few empty cages!
By steve heeren, July 8, 2007 at 12:32 pm # to tony wicher: all i meant to say was that “lefty” must be an arab troll whose continuous and insane postings have no other result than to discredit zionism. a responsible zionist would do no such thing. it’s funny that, as the word about israel’s murderous policies in palestine spreads, its defenders get more and more “crazy.” dershowitz is one example but “lefty” is another, and, in his case, it borders on outright lunacy. i can’t imagine his contibtutions doing any good at all for his “cause.” and calling himself “lefty” also discredits the left in america. it’s like their world is coming apart. fun to watch, actually. “no meaning where none intended”, lefty.
By jbart, July 8, 2007 at 12:13 pm # Lefty/Epraim??? |
Huckabee’s Major Misfire
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Musta learned that from their Zionist idols (who learned it from the Devil, himself!) 
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