Hillary Clinton, Obama's Secretary of State, has just issued a statement on the upcoming blockade-running peace flotilla to Gaza: "We do not believe that the flotilla is a necessary or useful effort to try to assist the people of Gaza...Just this week, the Israeli government approved a significant commitment to housing in Gaza. There will be construction materials entering Gaza. And we think that it’s not helpful for there to be flotillas that try to provoke actions by entering into Israeli waters and creating a situation in which the Israelis have the right to defend themselves."
That last sentence is the clincher: the flotilla has no intention of going near Israeli waters. It intends to go into Palestinian waters off Gaza. And besides that, the last flotilla, on which Israeli commandos assassinated eight peace activists including one American citizen (with total impunity), was in international waters when it was attacked. The flotilla is an example of nonviolent activism, which the American government claims to endorse, supporting international law and the rights of the Palestinian people, which the American government also claims to endorse, and now the American government, in advance, takes the side of pirates and murderers.
Back in 2009, Clinton claimed "the new U.S. administration will vigorously pursue the creation of a Palestinian state, stressing that movement toward Palestinian independence seems 'inescapable.'" Apparently her definition of a Palestinian State means something different than an independent nation with control of its own borders and neighboring waters, in other words, an Apartheid-style Bantustan.
(News first noted on Mondoweiss.)
I swear we act like we are afraid of Israel... like they know 'where we hid the bodies'.
ReplyDeleteI just opened today's mail. I had a 'letter' from James Carville which contained a little notepad with a heading on it: "Stand with PRESIDENT OBAMA for LASTING CHANGE - SILENCE GOP LIES". Obviously the 'GOP' didn't get a copyright on the use of 'lies'.
ReplyDeleteLaughing ... but crying as well.
As I've said before, I don't see much choice but to vote again, defensively, for Obama to forestall much worse, but it makes me sad to be back to such lesser evilism. Such a mess, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI know... it's like Santa Claus, you know the truth but you still want to believe.
ReplyDelete