Barack Obama gave a speech at the spy den known as AIPAC, or the Israel lobby. He said, “There are those who would lay all the problems of the Middle East at the doorstep of Israel and its supporters as if the Israeli Palestinian conflict is the root of all trouble in the region. These voices blame the Middle East's only democracy for the region's extremism. Our alliance [with Israel] is based on shared interests and shared values. Those who threaten Israel threaten us; Israel has always faced these threats on the frontlines and I will bring to the White House an unshakable commitment to Israel's security.” No, President Obama did not say this on Sunday May 22, 2011, but in June 2008, after he won the Democratic Party nomination for the presidency. Last Sunday, the U.S. President reiterated what he said in his speech on Thursday, May 19, 2011, that “The United States believes that negotiations should result in two states, with permanent Palestinian borders with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and permanent Israeli borders with Palestine. The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps”. He repeated this last phrase in response to Benjamin Netanyahu and challenged Israel to “make the hard choices” necessary to protect a Jewish and democratic state that it has sought for generations. But Israel cannot be classified as Jewish and democratic, because it is also home to 1.6 million native inhabitants. This is while a democratic state cannot deserve its name when some of its citizens do not enjoy full rights, and if this state continues to murder and destroy every day, as long as U.S. commitment to it is unshakable, as Obama said three years later, or “ironclad”, as he said last Sunday. More importantly, the two states, Israel and Palestine, which Obama and the whole world speak of, are both Palestine. As regards the Jewish generations he mentioned, these have stolen the land from its native inhabitants, murdering some and dispossessing others, and now refuse to allow them to return to their land. I noted the above without failing to see the significant difference between Obama's speech three years ago and his recent one. In the previous one, the content of his speech reflected his electoral needs, and this time it reflected his interests in next year's elections. However, he seems like he has learned a lot in three years, and now realizes that Israel is indeed the root of all evil and the cause of all extremism in the region, even if he does not say so explicitly. The security of the U.S. and that of Israel are not one and the same. Indeed, Israel represents the largest threat to the security of American interests in the Middle East, and the whole world, and its terrorism has spawned all other terrorism. As the reader can see, I am trying to be objective, as I have noticed the change of tone in President Obama's discourse. I still trust his intentions but very much doubt his ability to deliver. Of course, I would have preferred it if Obama had not given a speech at AIPAC two days ago, and if Obama had not addressed AIPAC three years ago as a presidential candidate, because the Israel lobby is nothing short of a spy den. Its espionage acts are well-known, such as that of Jonathan Pollard who stole classified U.S. documents and gave them to AIPAC's men, who were charged with espionage as well. But more importantly, and less known [to the readers], is the free trade agreement between the U.S. and Israel which gives the latter perks worth ten billion dollars annually in addition to official aid. They are thus robbing a country whose military adventurism has led it to the brink of bankruptcy, in collusion with Congress. The free trade agreement was promoted by American Likudniks who betrayed their country for the benefit of Israel. I thus find it strange that Barack Obama has returned to the lobby, even when he knows that Ronald Reagan himself declined to address AIPAC's annual meeting in 1988, sufficing himself with the aid he offered to Israel such as the free trade agreement of 1985. In truth, since the establishment of the lobby to this day, only Bill Clinton and Obama have addressed it among all incumbent U.S. presidents. Israel is a criminal neo-Nazi state. Every day, Israel gives further proof of its Nazism, terrorism and racism. To Obama, I would like to tell the part I know, about the killing of unarmed protesters commemorating the Nakba on May 15. Munib Rabih al-Masri is the grandson of Munib al-Masri, one of the leaders of the West Bank. He was at the protest on the border with Occupied Palestine in Maroun al-Ras (which I know inch by inch since the early days of my adolescence). Israeli soldiers then fired at the protesters and killed ten and injured 122 others. Munib is twenty-three, and is not more important than any other martyr or injured. However, I write about him because I know him. He was hit with an explosive round that settled in his spine and tore apart his liver and spleen. Only God knows whether he will walk again. While the finger that pulled the trigger belonged to a criminal Israeli soldier, the criminal bullet was U.S.-made and came from the same “aid” mentioned above. [email protected]
