U.S. Hypocrites Now Warn Israel to Be Careful - Opinion - Haaretz.com
After 58 days of horrific bombing, more than 20,000 dead and missing, thousands of destroyed homes and the start of a massive humanitarian crisis, the great and the good on the other side of the world have finally remembered to warn Israel against renewing its brutal attack on Gaza.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who donned the hat of an academic researcher, said, “In urban warfare you can win only by protecting civilians. If you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat." Really, Austin, if you can spout such wise words, where were you during the mass killing?
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris declared: “Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.” It is good you know how to count, Harris. Without you, how would we manage to tally the death toll? Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, said that the justified battle against terror can’t be waged by means of systematic and continuous attacks on civilians.
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My dear friends, why did you hide these pearls of wisdom when we first needed them? In the first days after Hamas’ bloody attack and its horrific mass murder, when the blood of a battered and bruised Israeli public was boiling, these same leaders did not try to cool the hotheads. Instead, they issued militant statements that could only warm the hearts of the hilltop youth and gave a carte blanche to the Israeli government and army.
Only now, when the extent of the humanitarian catastrophe has become clear, when the ordinary people in their own countries are shocked by what they see on their living room TVs and understand that the starring role is being played by a country that has received their full support, do they begin to talk like Mother Teresa. Even cynicism has a limit.
In Europe and America, they think that they can wash their hands of the blood flowing in our region. But every drop of blood spilled in Gaza and in Israel comes with an American-European seal of approval, in the unreserved support for the bombing of Gaza, in the weapons that flow like water in the streams after a rainy day, in the false statements of condemnation against the occupation – statements without sanctions.
World leaders pose for a group photo during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), in Dubai, Friday.Credit: COP28 /Mahmoud Khaled/ Reuters
For 75 years, the hollow call has gone out urging two states for two peoples while at the same time Israel enjoys military and diplomatic support. In doing so, they enable Israel to perpetuate the occupation, in effect saying, Yes, we have to condemn it, but in practice we have your back.
It can thus be said you are no friends of the Israeli people or world Jewry. For you, Israel exists to protect your interests in the Middle East. And least of all, if at all, do you care for the security of Israel’s people. Those who care about their security would not constantly involve them in security crises.
And what’s more, Israel is going from bad to worse. The messianic fanatics are already at the top of the ruling pyramid, democracy is collapsing, American McCarthyism is nothing compared to Ben-Gvirism – now literally weaponized with guns for all. About all this, you remain effectively silent, expressing disappointment and anger at what is happening but doing nothing about it. What could our fascists desire more than this. Speaking derogatorily of the United Nations, David Ben-Gurion once said, “Um-Shmum” (The United Nations – so what”); today, Israel is acting according to the motto, “America-Shmum.”
America is no friend of Israel’s and certainly no friend of the Israeli people, neither Jews nor Arabs. Instead of sending their troops to preserve their interests, they have handed the job over to the poor Jews over here. Instead of threatening Iran, Israel does the work for them. Every drop of Israeli blood is spilled in place of American-European blood.
Their moral awakening now is, as far as I’m concerned, suspicious. President Joe Biden wants to calm the disgruntled Democrats in his party, and is throwing them a bone.
Damn their hypocrisy.