Obama Affirms Israel's "Right to Defend Itself"

There seems to be a trend among American foreign policy circles. Of course, I'm referring to the mainstream foreign policy circles, and not the crazy delusional neo-con foreign policy circles. The mainstream ones are willing to speak out against Israel's occupation of Arab land, and they are willing to use the word "occupation." That's nice of them. But they are never willing to speak out against Israel's tendency to use excessive force against Arabs. Hezbollah killed 2 Israeli soldiers in 2006, and Israel responded by killing over 1,000 Lebanese civilians. Hamas and its affiliates fire rockets that hardly ever kill anyone in Israel, and Israel responded by massacring over 1,300 Palestinians, a third of whom were children.

But Americans never fail to criticize Hamas and Hezbollah for using force against Israel. I disagree with the Hamas tactic of firing rockets into Israel, but surely the crime of firing home-made rockets pales in significance to the Israeli crime of using white phosphorus against women and children. One other thing: people always use the words "women, children, and elderly" when they're describing civilian casualties. What, men aren't civilians? Is there no such thing as an adult male civilian? Can a man never be a civilian? If a man is an adult, is he no longer considered a civilian? Adult male civilian casualties should also be acknowledged.

President Obama gave a speech in Cairo yesterday. He too spoke out against Israel's occupation, and he also spoke out against Hamas's rockets. But he did not mention the fact that more than 400 children died in Operation Cast Lead a few months ago. If Mr. Obama is supposed to be reaching out to Arabs and Muslims, then shouldn't he stop being so one-sided even if it is just for one day? By not condemning Israeli aggression against Arabs, Mr. Obama affirmed Israel's "right to defend itself." By the way, Israel's "right to defend itself" does not actually refer to its right to defend itself... what it really refers to is Israel's right to kill innocent Arabs in order to instill fear into the hearts of all Arabs. Mainstream American foreign policy wonks believe that Israel has a "right to defend itself." Apparently so does Obama.