The Pirates of Zion: Obama misses the Boat

Dr. Alan Sabrosky
Wednesday, 01 July 2009 02:46

justice_boat_out-of-port
Israel’s boarding and capture in international waters of The Spirit of Humanity, an unarmed boat carrying relief supplies to the suffering people of Gaza, shows that state-sponsored piracy is a real peril today.

It is just one more breach of international law added to the global “rap sheet” of a rogue state that, as Netanyahu remarked a few weeks ago, is not like other countries. But Israel’s capture of this boat was also Netanyahu’s test of Obama’s resolve – a test Obama failed, to his shame and discredit.

The Past as Prologue

It isn’t the first time Israel has done something like this. Virtually everyone who manages to get into Gaza is appalled by the destruction and suffering there. Most of the destruction occurred during Israel’s savage onslaught against Gaza six months ago, accompanied by applause from the US Congress and the Bush Administration, and silence from President-elect Obama. Most of the suffering, before and since that attack, occurred because of the blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza, reducing the flow of basic necessities to a bare minimum and post-attack recovery aid to a meaningless trickle.

A key part of this policy of strangulation has been Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza’s coast and its interception, removal or capture of several small boats attempting to bring humanitarian assistance to the population of Gaza. Tuesday’s totally illegal seizure of The Spirit of Humanity was relatively restrained – they merely intercepted and surrounded the boat in international waters at night, electronically disrupted its onboard navigational devices, then boarded and captured the ship and crew, including several Americans. In the past, they’ve rammed and nearly sunk relief boats (December 2008) or beaten the crew after boarding it (February 2009). Israel always denies wrongdoing and claims it was intercepting war material – the olive trees carried on The Spirit of Humanity doubtless being camouflaged missiles.

The Present as Portent

Israel’s blockade of the Gaza coast is a violation of international law, of course, as is boarding a peaceful ship in international waters under threat of armed attack, and Israel’s treatment of Gaza overall. There is no ambiguity whatsoever in these matters, which is why Israel never cooperates with any international effort to investigate them – even when a UN commission is headed by a Jewish jurist (from South Africa) with impeccable credentials. Israel, like all the truly guilty throughout history, dares not let its actions be exposed officially. But owning most of the US Congress and a major part of the mainstream media apparently means, to them, never having to say you’re sorry.

This incident, however, had the potential to be different. It is not just that piracy in any form is commonly viewed as a plague. It is that few principles are so embedded in US tradition as that of the freedom of the seas, and with it the inviolability of US citizens. Some of the earliest victories two centuries ago by the fledgling American Republic were over the Barbary pirates of North Africa, and the US has joined in combating piracy recently off Somalia. Moreover, Obama himself has been something of a cipher to Israel – not so much because of what he has done (they haven’t lost a penny or a bullet in US aid under him), but because of uncertainty concerning his character and his intentions. A test of the new president was clearly in order.

And this was that test. The US knew The Spirit of Humanity was en route to Gaza and that Americans were aboard. The US also knew that Israeli gunboats were en route to intercept the relief ship, and that the interception would occur in international waters. The US understood that the Israelis would not simply send their gunboats out and then recall them, absent outside pressure. And once those gunboats surrounded and began assailing the relief ship, the only question was whether they would ram and perhaps sink it, or board and capture it and the people aboard, unless the US intervened.

If Obama seriously meant to change the US role in the region and the dynamics of the conflict, this was the time and place to take a stand. A single call to Netanyahu might have caused the Israelis to abort the attack. A single US destroyer or frigate from the 6th Fleet, with orders to enforce international law and protect The Spirit of Humanity in international waters, thereby safeguarding US citizens, absolutely would have done it. An open encounter with a US warship would inevitably have unpleasant consequences for the Israelis, costing them several gunboats and opening a can of political worms they dare not allow the American public to see — and it is a great pity that did not happen.

But it didn’t. Obama kept quiet, as he did during the Gaza onslaught – perhaps he is writing a book called Profiles in Silence? – the US 6th Fleet did nothing, and the world has the joy of yet another successful Israeli act of piracy and breach of international law. Netanyahu and Lieberman must be laughing. Their prisoners, including American citizens abandoned yet again by their government, are not. And neither are the oppressed Palestinians.

A Future?

The suffering in Gaza needs to end, but the rest of the world needs to realize that they can expect little or no tangible help from the US, at least for the present. Obama may have good intentions, and his words are good, but his policies increasingly give them the lie. Perhaps Israel’s crimes are too complex for him to grasp. More likely, he is politically incapable of holding it to account. If any other country did what Israel has done here and in Gaza, Obama would likely treat it as an act of war, or at least do to it what NATO did to Yugoslavia in the 1990s. But not Israel, not now, and certainly not by Israel’s sitting president pro tempore in the White House.

Global Arab Network

*Alan Sabrosky (Ph.D, University of Michigan) is a ten-year US Marine Corps veteran and a graduate of the US Army War College. He can be contacted at docbrosk@comcast.net This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

We spy and do other naughty things to our “friends” and allies, possibly more than we do with our enemies, and those friends/allies do the same.

The 40 year old Liberty incident is, while certainly an aggrievance, not in the league of rupturing the arrangement for the convenient base that Israel is as a vanguard station for projection of US influence.

I am not always against conspiracies, only if the cover up of the conspiracy is more complicated/”bigger” than the action. Even then they should be looked at.

Cheers,

OK, Lets start here

http://www.ussliberty.org
http://www.gtr5.com/

On June 8, 1967, US Navy intelligence ship USS Liberty was suddenly and brutally attacked on the high seas in international waters by the air and naval forces of Israel. The Israeli forces attacked with full knowledge that this was an American ship and lied about it. Survivors have been forbidden for 40 years to tell their story under oath to the American public. The USS Liberty Memorial web site tells their story and is dedicated to the memory of the 34 brave men who died.

The Attack

After surveilling USS Liberty for more than nine hours with almost hourly aircraft overflights and radar tracking, the air and naval forces of Israel attacked our ship in international waters without warning. USS Liberty was identified as a US naval ship by Israeli reconnaissance aircraft nine hours before the attack and continuously tracked by Israeli radar and aircraft thereafter. Sailing in international waters at less than five knots, with no offensive armament, our ship was not a military threat to anyone.

The Israeli forces attacked without warning and without attempting to contact us. Thirty four Americans were killed in the attack and another 174 were wounded. The ship, a $40-million dollar state-of-the-art signals intelligence platform, was later declared unsalvageable and sold for scrap.

The Cover Up

Despite a near-universal consensus that the Israeli attack was made with full knowledge that USS Liberty was a US Navy ship, the Johnson administration began an immediate cover-up of this fact. Though administration officers continued individually to characterize the attack as deliberate, the Johnson administration never sought the prosecution of the guilty parties or otherwise attempted to seek justice for the victims. They concealed and altered evidence in their effort to downplay the attack. Though they never formally accepted the Israeli explanation that it was an accident, they never pressed for a full investigation either. They simply allowed those responsible literally to get away with murder.

In an ongoing effort to reveal the truth about the attack, the USS Liberty Veterans Association has filed with the Secretary of the Army in the manner prescribed by law a detailed, fully documented Report of War Crimes describing the circumstances of the attack on our ship and evidence that it was a crime under international law. In accordance with international law and treaties, the United States is obligated to investigate the allegations. So far, the United States has declined even to acknowledge that the report has been filed. The full text of the report can be found at http://www.gtr5.com/evidence/warcrimes.pdf

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914952,00.html

Lets say just for the purposes of argument, that Israel has done bad things, even escalated some very dangerous issues such as the above and I do think they were involved with both situations, the Palestinians still should have accepted the Barak plan. Leaders aren’t always interested in what’s best for those they lead, but almost always are interested in leading — whatever it takes, and that goes for both sides.

– Therefore the PLO/PA should have taken the deal, if only to alleviate the above, for those who are born into this situation through no fault of their own. Again the PLO/PA totally f-ed up.

Israel should also withdraw regardless of the inept incoherent Palestinian (gag) “leadership.” They then should be open to negotiations, on those items you mentioned, and you won’t like this; promise and deliver massive retaliation to those states/extra-territorial entities that decide to use violence, instead of negotiations. Any Palestinian connected to any hate crime, after deciding to accept Israeli citizenship, should be expelled/exiled permanently, to never return. So Israel is not embarrassed, the legal procedings in such cases should be very public (televised with Palestinian observers in the court room) and exceptionally diligent.

The Palestinians should accept joint administration of East Jerusalem with the UN, and a Teddy Kollek type of guy as a sort of governor, and then by stages reversion to possible total Palestinian control.

The problem with this, or just about any such process, has been Israeli intransigence, and chaotic minority Palestinian representation and a lack of restraint by various composite factions. I do not see that changing anytime soon — I hope I am wrong.

Check these movies out to see for yourselves what kind of relationship we historically have had with Israel.

I corresponded with one of the participants of the second movie (BBC). Lets just say his perception of the Flag, Mom and Apple Pie took a major hit.

Cathleen and Sue are not fools when they say you must look beyond your conceptual bias.

Remember, we are a quarter century beyond 1984. The alarm has been ringing for many years. Just because it is easier to try and keep sleeping doesn’t mean its not time to wake up…

—used to express surprise, disbelief, or confusion, or as an inquiry inviting affirmative reply

Hhmmnnn…