Obama: A Zionist President? Ghali Hassan* | Countercurrents.org | 20 June, 2008
http://www.countercurrents.org/hassan200608.htm "And I deeply understood the Zionist idea that there is always a homeland at the centre of our story". Barack H. Obama. Just after winning the Democratic presidential nomination on 04 June 2008, Senator Barack Obama kneeled and crawled before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) gathering in Washington DC. He begged his audience that he will "do everything in his power" to unconditionally support Israel. It was a humiliating U-turn for millions of people. AIPAC is not just a lobby like many lobbies in the U.S. AIPAC encompasses the multitude of the Jewish lobbies in the U.S. The pro-Israel Lobby is "a de facto agent for a foreign government" and enjoys tax exempt status no other foreign organisation enjoys. AIPAC is at the forefront of Major American Jewish Organizations entirely devoted to "pushing the U.S. into wars in the Middle East on behalf of Israel". From the sixty years war on Palestinian people to the ongoing war on the Iraqi people, AIPAC is an anti-Arabs/anti-Muslims war propaganda machine. For some years, AIPAC has been fighting tooth and nail for an unprovoked war of aggression against Iran. With about 100,000 wealthy members mostly from a single ethnic group (Jews), AIPAC wields a formidable force in American politics. "AIPAC's success is due to its ability to reward legislators and congressional candidates who support its agenda, and punish those who challenge it", write John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt (For more see: Mearsheimer, J. & Walt, S. The Israeli Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, 2006). "Money is critical to U.S. elections (as the recent scandal over lobbyist Jack Abramoff's various shady dealings reminds us), and AIPAC makes sure that its friends get strong financial support from the myriad pro-Israel political action committees. Those seen as hostile to Israel, on the other hand, can be sure that AIPAC will direct campaign contributions to their political opponents. AIPAC also organizes letter-writing campaigns and encourages newspaper editors to endorse pro-Israel candidates", added Mearsheimer and Walt. Jewish money and Jewish votes are important factors. Supported by the U.S. major television networks and most corporate media outlets, AIPAC has ousted anyone who is not following its pro-Israel agenda. Coercion and intimidation is AIPAC's most vicious tool. Those who had the courage to speak-out have paid dearly, and Obama knows that. The case of former U.S. president Jimmy Carter is a recent example. Carter has been demonised and accused of "anti-Semitism" for speaking-out against Israel's apartheid policies and Israel's Nazis-like treatment of the Palestinians, particularly inside the Gaza Concentration Camp. As the crowd of 7,000 AIPAC devotees roared at the Washington Convention Centre, a genuflected Obama "emphasised the need for principled diplomacy as the way to move forwards pledging active involvement in search for peace in the region", wrote James Zogby. It was when Obama turned to show his support for Israel his speech became a disgrace. For an "educated" man like Obama to call for an "undivided Jerusalem" the Palestinian Capital as Israel's capital was beyond the imagination of any government, including the Bush regime. Obama may be a Zionist-corporate candidate, but Obama must be aware that his rise is due to ordinary Americans' rejection of his predecessors (Democrats and Republicans) criminal policies and his promises to bring about a "change" in U.S. policies. To outdo Obama, John McCain, the Republicans nominee, embraced the Neocons-Christian Zionist policy, promising more wars, more extremism and more destruction. He reminded his faithful audience that if he becomes U.S. president, the murderous Occupation of Iraq could last 100 years and Iraqis will continue to die because "withdrawal is not good Israel". The U.S. one-way unconditional support for Israel's Zionist expansion and Israel' terror against the Palestinian people has little to do with Israel being "a tool of U.S. policy", as pro-Israel Zionists and Western leftist claim. Credible evidence shows that U.S. support for Israel is against U.S. interests. Israel is the primary cause of instability in the region, and rightly seen by the majority of the world's population as the greatest threat to world peace. To try to absolve Israel of its responsibility and deflect attention from Israel's crimes is to admit complicity in Israel's crimes. It is puzzling that Obama has been attacked by the same people (the so-called Left liberals and `progressives') who pretend to work to change (`anyone but Bush') America's current criminal policy. In an earlier article, I wrote: "No matter who will win the November elections, whether Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or John McCain, the U.S. inhumane and unjust capitalist system will remain the same". I find the ongoing attacks on Obama are very dubious. Any one who believes there are significant differences between Democrats and Republicans is naïve. The U.S. is a one party system of government with two right-wings; one is Democrats and the other is Republicans, as accurately described by Gore Vidal. There is little to choose between the two. However, Senator Obama has promised "change" that most ordinary Americans are striving for. If Obama is conscious of their support he might serve America with a much better sense of justice than McCain, who will continue the same criminal agenda pursued by the Bush regime. History shows that the Bush regime is the most fascist regime since the fall of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. Just because the Bush regime hasn't committed war crimes against Jews, it doesn't mean it is not guilty of horrendous war crimes against Muslims. During his Presidency, George Bush waged wars of aggression against defenceless nations, and threatened to attack others. The Bush regime's practice of torture is the most abhorrent of sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses. Muslims prisoner in U.S.-run gulags around the world are undergoing unimaginable systematic torture and abuses of human rights. Like Hitler's Third Reich, the U.S. is the most militarised country in the world and the most aggressive and extremist. The Bush regime intends to conquer the world, threatening with violence and forcing other nations to submit to U.S. hegemony. In Iraq alone, the Bush regime killed and maimed millions of innocent Iraqi civilians and carried out unlawfully and wantonly destruction to vital Iraqi civilian properties, including the destruction of entire cities and towns. Iraq's civilian infrastructure and services, including health care services and the education system have been destroyed. At least 4.7 million Iraqis were displaced, according to UNHCR estimates. Of these, more than 2.6 million Iraqis are displaced internally displaced persons (IDPs), while more than 2 million have fled to neighbouring countries, particularly Syria and Jordan. As a result of the illegitimate murderous Occupation, an entire generation of Iraqi children have been terrorised and destroyed. In a civilised and just world, Bush and his criminal accomplices should be prosecuted for first-degree murder and crimes against humanity. To do otherwise risks the degradation of human morality and justice. Finally, although Obama may identify with the "Zionist idea", he told pro-Israel propagandist Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic online: "My job in being a friend to Israel is partly to hold a mirror and tell the truth and say if Israel is bulding settlements without any regard to the effects that this has on the peace process, then we're going to be stuck in the same status quo that we've been stuck in for decades now, and that won't lift that existential dread that David Grossman described in your article". An American president to hold up a mirror and tells the truth? If Obama is elected president of the U.S. and does a U-turn on his many promises, he will not only betray those who supported him but will shame every black man and women on earth. He will bring back bitter memories of black collaborators in imperialism colonial wars. *Ghali Hassan is an independent writer living in Australia.
