WRMEA, August 2010, Page 7

Publishers' Page

From the World's First Skyjacking...

On Dec. 12, 1954, when Israeli warplanes forced a Syrian passenger plane to land in Israel (see Donald Neff's 50 Years of Israel, available from the AET Book Club), to its deadly May 31 attack in international waters on the Free Gaza Flotilla, Israel continues to behave as...

An Outlaw State.

Once again it has killed an American citizen—19-year-old Furkan Dogan—just as in 1967 it killed, also in international waters, 34 crewmembers of the USS Liberty. A survivor of that attack, Joe Meadors, was onboard a flotilla ship, the Sfendoni. The Irish-flagged MV Rachel Corrie was named after the young American activist who was killed when a Caterpillar bulldozer driven by an IDF soldier ran over her as she tried to prevent it from demolishing the home of a Gaza pharmacist. Ordinary people...

Doing What Governments Should Do.

In 1948 the Americans and British undertook an airlift to Berlin to feed starving Germans—who, a mere three years earlier, had been considered enemies. U.S. leaders decided to do the moral, humane thing: save the lives of people surrounded by a ruthless Russian army. But today's pusillanimous politicians are silent when it comes to helping suffering Gazans cut off from the world by Israel's crippling blockade. This time it was civilians from some 50 countries who organized a relief flotilla to try to deliver food, water purification systems, wheelchairs, hospital and building supplies, cement, books and paper to a population living under siege for three years. And when Israeli commandos and naval ships captured the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, taking the goods and killing and grievously wounding some of the do-gooders, U.S. politicians justified Israel's use of lethal force against unarmed civilians, and...

Once Again Blamed the Victims.

The flotilla attack triggered widespread criticism around the world and calls for a credible, impartial international investigation—unlike the so-called investigations on the attack on the USSLiberty—with no whitewash this time around. Comparing the Israeli commandos to "pirates off the coast of Somalia," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, "Now it is time to decide: Are we in a civilized world, or do some continue to have the law of the jungle? If it is the second, we know what to do." The U.N. Security Council condemned the raid and called for the immediate release of goods and activists, and every country—except for the United States—called for an end to Israel's siege. The U.S. media focused their rage on the BP oil spill instead of the flotilla disaster. Now...

Netanyahu Wants More Weapons.

Just before Israel launched its deadly attack on the humanitarian flotilla, Tel Aviv asked Washington to increase its emergency cache of arms stored in Israel—including rockets, bombs and armored vehicles—from $800 million to $1.2 billion. The U.S. permits Israel to use this stockpile in case of "emergency." Israel used the weapons in its 2006 war on Lebanon, killing 1,200-1,300 Lebanese, and during its 2008-09 attack on Gaza which killed 1,300 people, mainly civilians. Israel's war gift registry includes more Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) bombs, a sophisticated satellite-guided bomb used with deadly results in Lebanon and Gaza.

Shared Values? Not So Much.

Israel loves to describe itself as "the only democracy in the Middle East"—conveniently ignoring the "free and fair" 2006 elections in which Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza elected a Hamas government. While Israel demands that the world recognize its elected officials—even if they include former terrorists like Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, alleged war criminals like Gen. Ariel Sharon, and avowed racists like Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman—not only does it refuse to acknowledge Palestinians' elected leaders...

It Kidnaps and Imprisons Them.

Apparently not even all Israeli Jews are created equal. On June 17 tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Ashkenazi (European) Jews demonstrated in Jerusalem against a Supreme Court decision that they could not refuse to send their daughters to school with Sephardic (Middle Eastern) Jews. Sounds like the formerly segregated American South to us. Nevertheless, last year American taxpayers—whether they wanted to or not—gave Israel...

More Than $2.5 Billion.

This at a time when millions of Gulf coast residents are facing the extinction of their way of life, states are facing bankruptcy, and teachers and other public service providers are being laid off. Not to mention the deaths of thousands of American troops and myriads of Iraqis, Afghans, Pakistanis and other Muslims in a "war on terror" that benefits only Israel. Even if we could afford the money, we can never afford the loss of...

So Many Innocent Lives.

Yet in this election year President Barack Obama reportedly is going soft on Israel so as not to jeopardize organized Jewish support for Democratic congressional candidates. But if the victorious Democrats continue to put the interests of a foreign country ahead of America's, we'd call that a...

Pyrrhic Victory With a Vengeance.

Snazzy Digital Washington Report.

Now that you've had the chance to explore the July edition of our online flip-page Washington Report, subscribers to our print edition can access it for an additional $10 per year. This state-of-the art digital version is available to non-print subscribers for $29 per year. Visit our Web site at <www.wrmea.org> for complete details.

Messages Poured in From Readers...

Via phone and e-mail in response to Israel's attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and our action alert updates. (If you haven't already, please visit our Web site and select "join our email list.") Fortunately for our tiny staff, a new group of terrific summer interns had just begun working at our office. We put them to work helping write action alerts, covering protests and talks, and answering calls. You warmed our hearts and renewed our faith in the...

Good Sense of Our Readers.

We're counting on that when you receive our bi-annual appeal. We're late getting it in the mail, but the need for your help is more urgent than ever. We have only enough funds to keep us going until the end of summer. Please help us continue to provide information that is more essential than ever. Together, we can ...

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