What Americans don't want to see
Gaza Hospital struggles to cope with casualties-Jan. 4, 2009
According to the United Nations, at least 507 Palestinians have been killed, and more than 2,400 injured since Israel began its offensive in Gaza. A quarter of those killed are civilians.
Hospitals are at breaking point, families devastated, people are being forced from their homes.
Al Jazeera is the only international broadcaster with a presence in Gaza.
Sherine Tadros reports from the epicentre of Gaza's struggle to survive - its main hospital.
Reality and facts on the ground are of little interest to the Israelis or Americans. Their overarching belief and Myth is that Israel like America is always the victim and that the rest of the world is against them no matter what they do. Many people inside and outside America had hoped that with the Republicans out of office that Americans would begin to insist on being told the truth about the Middle East and Israel and other important issues. But it appears this is still not the case as MSNBC, CNN, Fox News etc. are insisting on a one sided view of the events unfolding in the attacks on Gaza by the Israelis. Part of this is as has been said many times is that Americans are told they must no matter what defend the actions of the current and past Israeli governments.And to criticize Israel is to be in their view anti-Israel and therefore anti-Semitic.
Queen Noor of Jordan speaks of Humanitarian Catastrophe in Gaza-Jan 4, 2009
CNN allows a critic of Israeli' Policies in Gaza to speak
B'Tselem questions Israeli account of attack - 1 Jan 09
The Israeli military says it bombed a lorry which Hamas fighters were loading with rockets on Monday.
But an Israeli human rights group says civilians were killed as they tried to protect their goods.
Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid talks to a Palestinian who says the vehicle was his and that it was being loaded with gas canisters by his family.
As we see in the next clip MSNBC's Joe Scarborough believes that Israel is always right and the Palestinians and the Arabs are evil and wrong. Scarborough is the typical Know Nothing Ugly American who refuses to look at all sides of a story or a serious issue such as Israeli Policies in Gaza. He and his co-host turn the whole discussion into a a joke . So while Palestinians die Joe Scarborough is all too willing to make jokes . But one can't expect the US Media or the American public to for one instant question the motives and actions of the Israelis anymore than they are willing to see America as the corrupt and immoral power which illegally invade Iraq and which systematically has tortured large numbers of prisoners whom they refer to as " detainees". Joe like others in the US media sees all Iraqis, all Arabs , all Afghans and Palestinians as the enemy who should be summarily wiped out . It appears that all that blather of the likes of Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly and the rest of the ultra-Conservatives and those of the Religious Right has left many Americans unable to think about these situations except in terms of the Bush Regime's Talking Points. They are unable to see that their views appear unreasonable and are based in some form of racism in which they are unable to see Palestinians as People as human beings who deserve to be treated justly and fairly. Americans much prefer using the force of military power to resolve any conflict. Joe Scarborough is stunned that anyone with a bit of knowledge about the Middle East would dare criticize Israel's disproportionate response to rocket attacks from Gaza.
So would America attack Canada ?
According to Scarborough in his example of rocket fire from a city ie Toronto in Canada he believes the United States would have the right to order an all out attack on that city in Canada ie Toronto even though the attack was by a terrorist group unconnected with the Canadian government. So Canada's sovereignty would at that point mean nothing to Scarborough and many other Americans. The deaths of a few thousand Canadians in Toronto Scarborough believes would be justified. It never occurs to him that there other ways of dealing with such an attack. Firstly the President of the US should speak to our Prime Minister to ensure the Canadian government and its intelligence and police are doing all they can to track down these hypothetical terrorists to stop the attacks and arrests those responsible. Scarborough it seems like many Americans just wants revenge at whatever the long term implications.
Scarborough doesn't even bother to mention that it is the United States that over and over again refuses to allow the United Nations to discuss whether or not Israel did or did not do the right thing. We can only assume that Americans in general with the help of their Media live in a protective bubble which filters out any information which might be critical of Israel or shows that the Israeli government like many governments is involved in disinformation, and lies and propaganda creating its own spin on what is actually taking place.
Scarborough treats Brzezinski as if he had little or no experience in regards to The Middle East when in fact Brzezinski is a Middle East expert and is no just some Naive left-wing college sophomore . But like many in the media Joe can not take anyone seriously who has a different opinion or analysis of what is going on in Gaza.
Scarborough "Stunningly Superficial" over the Israeli aggression in Gaza
Zbigniew Brzezinski is a statesman who served as United States National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981.
In this video Zbigniew Brzezinski debates with Joe Scarborough on MSNBC's Morning Joe, December 30, 2008 calling him "Stunningly Superficial" over the Israeli aggression in Gaza.
Also see article about US blocking any UN actions or even non-binding resolutions:
"U.S. blocks U.N. action on Gaza conflict"
Associated Press Los Angeles Times,Jan. 3, 2009
UNITED NATIONS -- "The United States late Saturday blocked approval of a U.N. Security Council statement calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel and expressing concern at the escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas.
U.S. deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff said the United States saw no prospect of Hamas abiding by last week's council call for an immediate end to the violence. Therefore, he said, a new statement at this time "would not be adhered to and would have no underpinning for success, would not do credit to the council."
and on Israeli invasion of Gaza :
"Israeli troops and tanks slice deep into Gaza" by IBRAHIM BARZAK and JASON KEYSER at Huffington Post, January 4, 2009
As a matter of fact, the cease-fire did not collapse, because there was no real cease-fire to start with. The main requirement for any cease-fire in the Gaza Strip must be the opening of the border crossings. There can be no life in Gaza without a steady flow of supplies. But the crossings were not opened, except for a few hours now and again. The blockade on land, on sea and in the air against a million and a half human beings is an act of war, as much as any dropping of bombs or launching of rockets. It paralyzes life in the Gaza Strip: eliminating most sources of employment, pushing hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation, stopping most hospitals from functioning, disrupting the supply of electricity and water.
Those who decided to close the crossings – under whatever pretext – knew that there is no real cease-fire under these conditions.
That is the main thing. Then there came the small provocations which were designed to get Hamas to react. After several months, in which hardly any Qassam rockets were launched, an army unit was sent into the Strip “in order to destroy a tunnel that came close to the border fence”. From a purely military point of view, it would have made more sense to lay an ambush on our side of the fence. But the aim was to find a pretext for the termination of the cease-fire, in a way that made it plausible to put the blame on the Palestinians. And indeed, after several such small actions, in which Hamas fighters were killed, Hamas retaliated with a massive launch of rockets, and – lo and behold – the cease-fire was at an end. Everybody blamed Hamas.
WHAT WAS THE AIM? Tzipi Livni announced it openly: to liquidate Hamas rule in Gaza. The Qassams served only as a pretext.
...The strategic concept is ...to terrorize the civilian population by unremitting attacks from the air, sowing death and destruction. This poses no danger to the pilots, since the Palestinians have no anti-aircraft weapons at all. The calculation: if the entire life-supporting infrastructure in the Strip is utterly destroyed and total anarchy ensues, the population will rise up and overthrow the Hamas regime. Mahmoud Abbas will then ride back into Gaza on the back of Israeli tanks.
In Lebanon, this calculation did not work out. The bombed population, including the Christians, rallied behind Hizbullah, and Hassan Nasrallah became the hero of the Arab world. Something similar will probably happen this time, too. Generals are experts on using weapons and moving troops, not on mass psychology.
Some time ago I wrote that the Gaza blockade was a scientific experiment designed to find out how much one can starve a population and turn its life into hell before they break. This experiment was conducted with the generous help of Europe and the US. Up to now, it did not succeed. Hamas became stronger and the range of the Qassams became longer. The present war is a continuation of the experiment by other means.
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Commenting on the attack on Gaza by the far superior Israeli military Ralp Nader goes on to accuse President Bush of helping to create the situation by his lack of action in trying to broker a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. In part this appears a useless gesture since Bush's Regime has been involved in its own series of War Crime and Crimes Against humanity . As bush and Cheney would say " So What?" having no compassion or empathy for anyone why would they care. As for the American public they have been fed so much propaganda and lies about Israel and Palestine how could they even begin to judge the situation in a serious and realistic manner . In general they prefer the comfort of the Myths and lies they have been told rather than the harsh and complex reality of the situation. This would mean that the mainstream media and the American public would have to spend time thinking about the situation within its historical context which is either beyond their capabilities .
"America Must Stop Shirking Its Responsibility on Gaza:An Open Letter to president Bush" by Ralph Nader at Media With Conscience, Jan. 3, 2009
Peace was possible, but you provided no leadership, preferring instead to comply with all wishes and demands by the Israeli government' even resupplying it with the still active cluster bombs in south Lebanon during the invasion of that country in 2006.
The arguments about who started the latest hostilities go on and on with Israel always blaming the Palestinians to justify all kinds of violence and harsh treatment against innocent civilians.
From the Palestinian standpoint, you would do well to remember the origins of this conflict which was the dispossession of their lands. To afford you some empathy, recall the oft-quoted comment by the founder of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, who told the Zionist leader, Nahum Goldmann:
"There has been anti-Semitism the Nazis Hitler Auschwitz but was that their [the Palestinians] fault" They only see one thing: We have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that??
Alfred North Whitehead once said: ?Duty arises out of the power to alter the course of events.? By that standard, you have shirked mightily your duty over the past eight years to bring peace to both Palestinians and Israelis and more security to a good part of the world.
The least you can do in your remaining days at the White House is adopt a modest profile in courage, and vigorously demand and secure a ceasefire and a solidly based truce. Then your successor, President-elect Obama can inherit something more than the usual self-censoring Washington puppet show that eschews a proper focus on the national interests of the United States.
and so it goes,
GORD.
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