International Political Will

Another year, another Israeli-Arab war.

And another pile of horseshit to convince us that it is only the Muslims’ fault.

The six-month ceasefire in Gaza ended in late December, and – according to American mainstream media, pundits, politicians, and so-called journalists – it ended because Hamas started firing rockets.

Okay, but such an illogical conclusion requires several conditions:

Let’s ignore Israel’s refusal to abide by the terms of the truce and open Gaza’s borders for humanitarian aid, fuel, food supplies, and trade.

Let’s ignore the 23 Palestinians killed by Israel while the truce was in effect. Let’s ignore the 60+ injured, and the 38 that were “detained” indefinitely by Israel without trial.

Let’s ignore the fact that no Israelis were killed during the truce, yet Israel continued to keep the borders closed and force 1.5 million people to live in a de facto prison camp in one of the most densely populated places on earth.

Let’s ignore the fact that Israel controls a section of land 1/6 the size of Rhode Island but has fenced Palestinians in a la apartheid, controlling all entries, exits, and economic activity.

Let’s ignore the fact that this situation has gone on, in some form or fashion, for 60 years.

And most of all, let’s ignore the fact that Israel gets virtually all their weapons, defense funding, and international support from the United States (including vetoes of UN Security Council resolutions).

Instead…

Let’s show pictures on the news of Palestinians throwing rocks and use captions that refer to “violence.”

Let’s misleadingly refer to the crude rockets used by Hamas as “missiles” and call the Israeli bombing that has killed more than 500 Palestinians “targeted.”

Let’s make sure to ease our collective conscience by noting that before bombing, Israel dropped warning leaflets telling Palestinians to “leave the area” (even though Gaza – with 4,300 people per square kilometer – doesn’t exactly give people the space to “leave” anywhere).

Let’s put every Israeli foreign minister, prime minister, and spokesperson on every Sunday morning talk show to state their justification. And let’s refuse to broadcast a single word from Hamas.

Let’s have our Secretary of State proclaim that “Hamas has held the people of Gaza hostage ever since their illegal coup against the forces of President Mahmoud Abbas,” instead of identifying it correctly: democratic elections that the Western world refused to accept.

Let’s pretend Palestinians – who overwhelmingly elected Hamas instead of the corrupt Fatah leadership – actually hate Hamas as much as we do, and convince ourselves that Israel is really “liberating” the Palestinians (where’s the flowers?).

Let’s have our prematurely-consecrated president-elect remain disturbingly silent about the whole mess, and just show photos of him bodysurfing in Hawaii.

Let’s allow unfounded claims of anti-Semitism to smear anyone who would dare criticize a democracy like Israel of violating human rights, and accuse anyone who sympathizes with human beings who happen to be Arab or Muslim of being a Nazi.

Let’s continue to give $250 USD to every Israeli man, woman, and child, while we give only $1 USD to every sub-Saharan African living in poverty.

And by all means, let’s promote misinformation, propaganda, and stereotypes that allow the violation of human rights to continue, keep the world’s number one democracy isolated and uneducated on world affairs, oversimplify foreign policy by creating a false dichotomy of good and evil, and go on thinking we are always right and “they” are always wrong.

Every time I watch, listen, or read the mainstream American media on the subject of Israel/Palestine, I feel a frustration rise up that I have been unable to put into words. Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski did it for me.

Brzezinski was recently interviewed on MSNBC by Joe Scarborough about the current situation in Gaza (Stop the Press has video). Brzezinski “sat through nine minutes of stupid questions” before finally telling Scarborough:

“You know, you have such a stunningly superficial knowledge of what went on that it’s almost embarrassing to listen to you.”

And to think our foreign policy is shaped by politicians that are operating on the same level of “stunningly superficial knowledge.”

Tags: media, brzezinski, rice, Israel, terrorism

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