ISRAEL'S ROLE IN THE AMERICAN EMPIRE

 

                                                    

                                                                

      I am fortunate enough to live in a place where the local paper still prides itself on being a public forum. Every three months, I'm allowed 600 words to say whatever I think is most important for readers to understand. 

    This is my most recent submission. It is my second guest column on the nature of the US Empire. Others will follow.

If you wonder why Israel attacked Iran now, with an overextended army tied down in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, congratulations on refusing to be a passive consumer of what passes for American reporting on foreign affairs.

Bombing Iran was not about fictitious weapons of mass destruction any more than was the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. In a 2012 UN speech, Netanyahu insisted that Iran was already on the verge of having a nuclear weapon. Cheney made a similar claim in 2007 that was debunked by the Intelligence Community. This saved the US from a disastrous military confrontation with Iran that would be much worse if attempted today.

National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard stated there is still no evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program. Under pressure from the Israeli lobby and powerful neocons like Israel-first campaign donor Miriam Adelson, President Trump dismissed her assessment and attacked anyway, placing 40,000 American service members at risk of Iranian retaliation.

As many predicted, the attack failed to eliminate the “threat” despite initial claims of success. Now, pressure is mounting for deeper US military involvement in Israel’s latest war of choice. Israel knows that without such help, it cannot complete its objective of eliminating the last obstacle to regional dominance, a plan 40 years in the making.

In 1982, Israel publicly debated a strategy to fragment any neighboring country that might oppose its expansion, rendering it too weak to resist Israeli aggression. The “Oded Yinon plan” has been refined over the years but still forms the basis for current US plans for Israel to dominate the region. That is why the US has enabled it to flout international law with impunity since the Nakba in 1948, as the US itself has done in the region.

Since 9/11, Lebanon, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Somalia and Iran have been targeted by the US and Israel. Former NATO commander Wesley Clark has publicly stated that within two weeks of 9/11, he learned of plans to undermine all seven countries. Obviously, these plans had been drawn up earlier. Since then, five of the seven have effectively been partitioned, as envisioned by Yinon. Iraq and Libya were not failures. They accomplished their actual objectives.

The purpose of destabilizing these countries is to control this fossil fuel-rich region by militarily dominating the area through Israel. The ultimate prize in this game of Risk is US control of the entire Eurasian land mass, long regarded as the key to global domination. While Netanyahu and other political and military leaders are directly responsible for their genocidal actions and war crimes throughout the region, the US shares the blame.

Like all empires, the American one will fall. The Wall Street denizens whose profits determine “American interests” have hollowed out the real economy in creating an economic system dependent on endless war. An alternative system is being created by Russia, China and others who are not going to continue to tolerate the economic and military threats of an increasingly belligerent US Empire.

The fact that the US has cut off access to critical weapons needed to defend Ukraine so that it can provide them to Israel reveals its weakness. Meanwhile, China has declared that it cannot accept allowing Russia to lose in Ukraine. It knows that if it does, the empire will turn its attention to it. American military and political officials have publicly stated that the US will go to war with China as soon as 2030.

If President Trump really wants to leave a legacy as a peace President, let him start by standing up to Israel and its lobby.

PALESTINE WILL FREE US ALL

 

                                                                

                                                                   

There has been little news in the mainstream media recently about the increasingly dire situation in Gaza. The genocide has been overshadowed by the massive No Kings demonstrations, the courageous resistance to the brownshirt tactics of masked ICE agents used on immigrants and citizens alike and now, a war between Israel and Iran that could easily go nuclear.

Meanwhile, Israel’s pitiless assault on the civilian population of Gaza continues. The starvation has not ended. The bombing is relentless. There are daily reports of Israeli occupation forces and the mercenaries guarding the “humanitarian” food distribution points slaughtering desperate Palestinians seeking sustenance for their families. Even the lucky few who escape alive with supplies are denied the fuel or water needed to cook them with. Israel’s genocidal intent is obvious, yet Western media still cannot call this evil by its name.

Most joined the Palestinian solidarity movement in response to the genocide. Over 600 days later, it has now entered its final stage. No hope for an end is in sight. For some, it has become unbearable to continue to bear witness to the suffering.  It is understandable that they can no longer look at the horror, but we cannot unsee what we have witnessed.  We owe it to every Palestinian, living or dead, to continue the struggle to build our movement for Palestinian liberation. Furthermore, we owe it to our children and to future generations.

The outrage in response to the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestine has created an historical opportunity to free humanity. We have an obligation to seize it. Palestinian freedom and resistance to fascism in America are two aspects of the same cause: liberty and justice for all. It is estimated that 3.5% of Americans attended demonstrations on No Kings Day. Imagine the effect it would have had on fascists if half of them had been wearing keffiyehs!

In this moment, our only options are to continue the struggle for Palestinian freedom, recognizing that our own liberty depends on it, or to submit to the psychopaths who are behind the genocide and allow ourselves to become their next victims. They are already coming after us. We have seen their goons on the streets of LA, and campuses across the U.S.

Trump is not the cause of the decline of what passes for democracy in America. He is the result of it.  And he is right about one thing: The enemy is among us. They always have been. They are the economic elite. The plutocrats. The oligarchs. The globalists, who profit from war. The American aristocracy, in league with their counterparts abroad to monopolize the resources of the entire world. The self-styled Masters of the Universe. They are individuals so wealthy that their only goal in life is to acquire enough power to control us all.

They are people who have abandoned all that makes us human. Governments are the tools by which they wield their power, the U.S. being the center of an empire that aspires to world domination. They are psychopaths who hide behind corporate charters, having gained control of enough of the judicial system so that corporate executives have no personal accountability except for maximizing profit for Wall Street shareholders. Politicians are their tools, whether they are used wittingly or unwittingly.  The CIA, FBI and DHS work for them. To an alarming degree, so do the police.

Corporate control of the mainstream media has led to our being conditioned to think of war and other forms of violence as normal, even inevitable. It is not true. Violence is always a choice, and government violence serves a purpose for those who hold real power. We have been blinded to the nature of how power operates in this country, lulled by the false claim that we live in a democracy. We do not, and we never have.

The Constitution created a republic. We are told we live in a “representative democracy” but if that is true, who does Congress represent? The Bill of Rights was an afterthought. The principal purpose of the Constitution was to protect property rights, including the right to own humans. Now corporations are regarded as people with constitutional rights that are sacrosanct, while the civil rights of humans are trampled with the blessings of the Supreme Court.

The struggle must continue. As the darkness grows before we see the light, let us remember that King reminded us that we engage in this work out of love. When we let ourselves be overwhelmed by anger or depression, we forget that ultimately, it is compassion that brought us to the struggle. Compassion is a manifestation of love. We must keep that in mind as the violence of the oppressors and the suffering of their victims tests our ability to stay focused on why we have joined the resistance.

Paraphrasing Dr King, it has never been more apparent that tolerating injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. There will be no justice in the world until there is justice for Palestine. If you have only been an observer, now is the time to get active.

Normalize protesting genocide. Show up at demonstrations wearing a keffiyeh, regardless of the cause of the day. Have the courage to speak about what you know to those who don’t want to look for themselves or just wear a T-shirt or button expressing what you know to be true. Write letters to the editor if you are lucky enough to live where local newspapers still provide a public forum.

For humanity’s sake, just show up.

WHY GOOD PEOPLE SUPPORT GENOCIDE

 
                                                                  

Hoping to understand why good people support genocidal behavior, I invited a Zionist friend to coffee to exchange thoughts on the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

We met three times, including twice after the International Court of Justice ruled in January that there was a plausible case that Israel’s tactics constituted genocide (an opinion more than 500 genocide experts had expressed in a public letter released Oct. 15).

The ICJ ruling cited Israel’s systematic commission of war crimes in its response to the Hamas attack, crimes that continue today. This is why warrants are being prepared by the International Criminal Court for the arrest of Netanyahu and his defense minister, and why the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to stop its Rafah offensive to allow aid in.

The conversations with my friend were enlightening. She would state her opinions about why the assault on the Palestinian people was justified, and I would cite factual sources that undermined the assumptions behind her arguments.

At her request, I supplied links to the sources of my claims, including Israeli newspapers and mainstream press articles, citing Israeli sources. She said little about the information I shared. Instead, she raised new arguments each time we met for why Israel had no choice but to continue its wholesale slaughter of the population of Gaza.

I eventually realized that she was able to support the destruction of an entire people because she didn’t want to confront the facts. I think she suspected that knowing the whole truth might undermine her deeply held beliefs about Israel and perhaps Zionism itself.

I haven’t heard from my friend lately. I miss talking to her. Until Oct. 7, she always had a bright smile and a carefree, friendly demeanor. I’m sure we had much in common besides membership in a local interfaith group and concern for the lives endangered by the 100-year-old conflict that has exploded since Oct. 7.

The critical difference between us was that her concern seemed almost exclusively for the safety of Israelis. She seemed adamant that the ongoing bombardment and starvation of tens of thousands of innocent civilians was an appropriate response to a single attack by a specific group among them.

I wonder: Has she ever seen the pictures of the Palestinian children mutilated by Israeli bombs, or those emaciated as a result of Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon?

I suspect that if my friend were to acknowledge the reality that what is happening to Gazan civilians is not the result of a war but of systematic war crimes, she would understand why millions are outraged by Israel’s actions. Perhaps then she would realize that slaughtering civilians will not make Israelis safer.

Despite our differences, I still regard this person as my friend. I refuse to let a conflict between us diminish my regard for her as a human. This attitude is not based solely on my spiritual beliefs; it is an essential part of waging peace.

True peace requires us to look beyond our differences, even when seemingly insurmountable, to see the humanity of others beneath their fear and anger.

We must abandon the notion that any human is “the other” and beyond redemption. When your identity is based on membership in the human family, these illusions fall away.

A lasting peace in Palestine/Israel will require justice. There can be no justice unless negotiations are based on recognition of mutual rights and acknowledgement of facts.

However painful it may be to surrender one’s cherished fantasies, that pain is nothing compared to the suffering Zionists are causing Gazans, and all Palestinians.

This essay was originally published in the Albany Democrat-Herald on June 18, 2024 as Why good people support genocidal behavior.