We are all Israelis now….
After
the Israeli war machine overwhelmingly attacked the only democratic Arab country
in the area, Eric Black reported in the Strib that GOP candidate Mark Kennedy
and DFL candidate Amy Klobuchar agree that
Israel
has the right to use massive force against Hezbollah. Even 6th district
candidate Patty Wetterling and Bachmann, who mostly disagree, completely agree
on Israel. However, this is not just local
Minnesota
politicians who want to show their political stature in world affairs.
Republican congressional leaders left their political wrangling behind and
rushed to offer unconditional support for Israel's offensive against Hezbollah
fighters, “reflecting a bipartisan desire to not only defend a key U.S. ally but
also solidify long-term backing of Jewish voters and political donors in the
United States, according to officials and strategists in both parties,” reported
the Washington post. Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman sees
the political eureka moment with a speech to Christians United for
Israel,
declaring that "today, we are all Israelis.” Even those congressional
representatives, who are against the war on terrorism in Iraq, are going out of
their way to show their unconditional support to Israeli in the war against
Lebanon. The US congress issued a resolution with an astonishing approval of
410-8 vote, supporting the Jewish state action. I understand the political
pragmatism and the incumbents’ strong needs to hold on power and get reelected,
but salivating to the Jewish and Israeli lobby AIPAC in a country that champions
democracy around the world is not just a mind-boggling but is dangerous. Only
eight representatives showed any political courage and voted against signing a
blank check to Israel to do what it pleases to the small country of Lebanon. As
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt reported in their three years of research,
“For the past several decades, and especially since the Six-Day War in 1967, the
centerpiece of US Middle Eastern policy has been its relationship with Israel.”
This situation, they explained, “has no equal in American political history.”
Why has the US been willing to set aside its own security and that of many of
its allies in order to advance the interests of another state? No one denies
that this is a Bush or a new evangelical conservative thing; this is an American
thing, with a political system that is void of any political courage. As an
Arab/Moslem myself, I must raise the question, “Why do they hate us?” President
Bush - the leader of the free world - declared that
Israel
has the right to defend itself, and nobody else you may wonder! He also
explained that we should look at this war as an opportunity for a lasting peace,
rising out of the Lebanese ashes and children corpuses somehow a lasting peace
will develop. I wish he had listened to his own advice on September 11, standing
by the rubble and the ashes of the
Twin
Towers. When the whole world was listening and genuinely ready to lend us a hand
to work for a lasting peace, President Bush made the biggest political blunder
of modern times.
Ahmed
Tharwat/ Host of the Arab American TV show
BelAhdan/ Airs on public TV Sundays
10:30pm
www.belahdan.com