stan van houcke: Obama And Palestine

woensdag 5 november 2014

Obama And Palestine

Obama, the “Enabler in Chief” of 2014 Massacre against Palestinian Refugees

By Robert Barsocchini and Norman Finkelstein

Global Research, November 05, 2014

Washington's Blog 4 November 2014

Region: Middle East & North Africa

Theme: Crimes against Humanity, US NATO War Agenda

In-depth Report: PALESTINE

Dr. Norman Finkelstein, PhD Political Science, Princeton, prolific author, descendant of Holocaust death camp victims and son of survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto, on the “Enabler in Chief” of the 2014 Israeli massacre against the trapped Palestinian refugees:

It became, straight out, just a terror assault. The mosques, the schools, the hospitals, the ambulances, the civilians. You’d have to be blinder than King Lear not to see what was going on. It was just a pure terrorist attack.

By the end of it, the head of the International Community of the Red Cross, he said, and I’m quoting him, “I have never seen such massive destruction ever before.” And the normally comatose puppet of the United States, UN secretary general Ban ki Moon, he said, “Such massive deaths and destruction have shocked and shamed the world.”

Now, in the last thirty seconds, we have to ask ourselves, who or what allowed that to happen? And there can be no question whatsoever. None.

The Enabler in Chief of that massacre in Gaza, the Enabler in Chief of that death and destruction, was president Barack Obama.

That is not rhetorical. That is not a cheap shot. That’s a fact. I don’t say it as a person on the political left. I don’t say it as a member of the Tea Party. I say it as someone who is simply observing the facts.

Each day Mr. Obama went out, or one of his spokespersons went out, and when he was asked, or his spokesperson was asked about what was happening in Gaza, each day he repeated that same refrain, quote: “Israel has the right to defend itself.”

Now, already by the tenth day, the human rights organizations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, they were copiously and carefully documenting that Israel was targeting civilians in civilian sites. There was no dispute, no doubt about what was happening. Each time [Obama] came out and said “Israel has the right to defend itself”, each day that he did that, he was giving Israel the green light to continue the terrorist attack on Gaza.

Now, if you have any doubt, any doubt whatsoever about who was the Enabler of that massacre, all of that doubt is dispended by how it ended. How did it end?

Israel targeted one UN school shelter, a second UN school shelter, a third UN school shelter, then a fourth, and then a fifth. By the time it came to the fifth, the international community was erupting in a rage, and the pressure became so intense that even that brain-dead, comatose Ban ki Moon, he finally said that Israel was committing “a criminal act”. Ban ki Moon. Can you imagine? Ban ki Moon. For those of you who don’t know who he is, he’s the secretary general of the United States … United Nations. Very hard to tell. In any case, what happened?

After even Ban ki Moon condemned it as a criminal attack, Obama was completely isolated on the entire world stage. He was completely alone. So, finally, the state department started issuing statements calling what happened “disgraceful”, “awful”, “terrible”. That was August third. The US finally, on August third, denounced what happened.

What happened the same day? What happened the exact same day? Netanyahu announced “The ground invasion is over. It’s finished.”

Who was responsible for what happened? Look at the sequence of events. It was made, paid for, the green light was given, here.

Thank you.

The entire speech:

Quoted section starts at 20:20.

Website of Dr. Finkelstein.

…

US/Israel’s Operation Solid Cliff (English name: “protective edge”) against Gaza, Palestine:

2,100 kills, approx. 75-80% civilian, almost 600 children

11,000 wounded

1,000 children inflicted with lifelong disabilities

1,500 children orphaned

89 bloodlines completely wiped out

Nearly 20,000 housing units destroyed or almost destroyed

66 Israeli soldiers and 6 civilians were killed

Afterwards, Israel seized another 1,000 acres of Palestine, and announced or began construction of thousands of new settlement housing units in Palestine. All settlements are classed as war crimes.

Statistics compiled by journalist Max Blumenthal.

…

A study reported on last week in the Jerusalem Post found that Israel has the “best air force in the world”.

Gaza has no air force or air defenses.

Obama has requested more money for Israel than any president ever.

The US is currently selling/giving Israel billions of dollars more in planes to “sharply strengthen” Israel’s air force, already considered the world’s best.

Robert Barsocchini is a researcher focusing on global force dynamics. He also writes professionally for the film industry. Here is his blog. Also see his free e-book, Whatever it Takes – Hillary Clinton’s Record of Support for War and other Depravities. Click here to follow Robert and his UK-based colleague, Dean Robinson, on Twitter.

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