Jawaher Abu Rahme, killed by IDF December 31, 2010 (Haaretz)

On the one year anniversary of the death of non-violent Bilin protester Jawaher Abu Rahme, her family’s Israeli human rights lawyer, Michael Sfard, reminds us of the nasty conspiracy by senior IDF commander, Maj. Gen. Avi Mizrahi, with the Israeli media to rob Abu Rahme in death of her dignity through outright lies. These lies were dutifully disseminated by reporters and right-wing hasbara blogs like Muqata, Israellycool (yes, our old friend David Lange again), and Jonathan Hoffman at the Jewish Chronicle, who claimed in blaring headlines that the Palestinian non-violent movement had created a “blood libel” against the IDF. Virtually every claim of the IDF and their media whores was disproven. Yet no newspaper except Haaretz published anything close to the truth, nor did anyone publish a correction or retraction.

Thanks to Oren Persico at 7th Eye for publishing Sfard’s J’Accuse against Mizrahi. I should point out that the publication, showing an abundance of caution, refused to name the IDF liar (though Sfard did in his remarks). But it didn’t need to, because Yossi Gurvitz did so last year in +972. Sfard’s comments are expanded upon in Blood Libel in Bilin, a full-length investigation (summary here) prepared by the NGO Keshev. It recounts the entire media coverage of the tragedy and tells a particularly ugly story. To be fair, the report singles the Palestinian media out for criticism as well. But given that the killing was perpetrated by Israel and its media is much larger and has more resources, Israel’s media is far more culpable.

This is the schandeh of which Gen. Mizrahi is guilty: he told the Israeli media that Abu Rahme wasn’t at the demonstration at all and therefore couldn’t have died of tear gas inhalation. He told them that the activists delayed getting her to the hospital, which caused her death. He told them the hospital committed medical negligence by treating her for the wrong condition thereby causing her death. He said that the drugs she was given during treatment indicated she had cancer rather than gas toxicity and died of cancer instead of asphyxiation.

All these things were lies. Disgusting lies for which Mizrahi and no one in the IDF has paid a price. But Mizrahi isn’t the only bald-faced liar. Last year, I wrote a post noting that Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon also joined in the lie-fest echoing his colleague. In fact, Alon is such a good liar he was promoted to assume Mizrahi’s former position. On a further note, Mizrahi’s troops also murdered a Palestinian grandpa in his bed just before Abu Rachme’s killing. The troops had broken into an apartment on the wrong floor and killed the 65-year-old innocent man as he lay sleeping, while they held a gun to the head of his poor wife as she sat in another room. All this is proof positive that in addition to merit, the IDF rewards its commanders for deceit, subterfuge, fakery, murder, and dishonoring the memory of their Palestinian victims. It makes me ashamed. Damn ashamed.

The Israeli military prosecutor is “investigating” the case and there will be a Supreme Court hearing in July. Without this, the army would undoubtedly sweep yet another negligent homicide under the rug. For those who object to the term “homicide” they’ll recall an IDF study from 2002 which noted that CS gas in strong enough concentrations could kill a human being, which is precisely what happened.

Another word about the role played by David Lange in this matter. He and his fellow Hasbara media mavens were willing co-conspirators with the IDF in spreading its lies. They were hoaxed, but willingly so. And they in turn perpetrated the hoax on their readers, and they too may’ve been willingly hoaxed. I don’t mind that Lange hoaxed me into exposing a fraudulent identity he’d created for himself. All that was hurt was my pride. But through his fraud in this instance he dragged Jawaher Abu Rahme’s reputation in death through the mud. That is a far worse crime. Lange will never apologize. He doesn’t have it in him. Not least because Abu Rahme, as a Palestinian isn’t fully human to him. She is the enemy and therefore anything she does, including dying, is a personal affront to Israel and its army. An affront that’s worth lying about to “expose.”

Finally, we should note that the very same CS tear gas and the projectiles that deliver them continue causing death to Palestinian protesters including one that happened last month. The fact that the IDF uses munitions and crowd control devices that kill not just once but repeatedly, makes the entire army guilty of violations of international law. These deaths are no longer accidents or unfortunate mistakes. They are, at the very least negligent homicide and at worst murder. Take your pick.

When an Israeli reader sent this story to me I couldn’t believe the headline summarized above.  Further, in this day and age of Norwegian neo-Nazi, anti-jihadi attacks which wrap themselves in the Israeli flag, this story is simply mind-blowing.

Russian neo-Nazis parade displaying Hitler salute before their settler-organized visit to Knesset and Yad VaShem.

It begins with a visit from a Russian neo-Nazi delegation to Israel.  Under the auspices of Tuvia Lerner, editor of the Russian edition of Arutz 7, the media voice of the settler movement, they inveigled themselves an invitation to meet with far-right MKs Aryeh Eldad and Ayoob Kara.  They also toured Yad VaShem without telling anyone there that they were Holocaust deniers.  Like I told you, this story has to be read to be believed.  The two Russians have been photographed giving Nazi salutes, celebrating Der Fuhrer’s birthday, and they published songs of praise to Adoph Hitler on their website.

Naturally, when they met with the MKs the ideas they espoused were quite different.  One of the neo-Nazis told Israeli TV that the concept of Israel “excites me,” because it involves “an ancient people who took upon itself a pioneer project to revive a modern state and nation.”  The TV reporter tartly asked how the neo-Nazi of yesterday suddenly became a Zionist.  How they did it, is by finding a common enemy: Islam (sound familiar?).  The second neo-Nazi tells the interviewer:

“We’re talking about radical Islam which is the enemy of humanity, enemy of democracy, enemy of progress and of any sane society.

With friends like this does Israel need enemies?  Does it wish to lie down with dogs who kill Chechens and Africans for sport only to rise up with fleas?  Who assassinate human rights activists and lawyers?  Who dream of a master race following its destiny?  Is Israel so desperate that it needs such friends in order to battle the common Muslim enemy?  Have we not learned a single thing from Anders Breivik?

Lerner attempts to defend his efforts to ingratiate the Russian fascist movement into the good graces of Israeli society by claiming that the two neo-Nazis told him they regretted the anti-Semitic statements they’d made fifteen years ago.  But can the leopard changes its spots??  The reporter notes that in just the past year the group wrote that the Holocaust was “a myth.”  Then he asks whether the apology was sincere and whether such figures belonged in a place in which the elected representatives of the nation gathered.

The report also features an interview with Eldad in which he feigns an intelligence he clearly lacks, when he says that he knew from the outset that something “didn’t smell right.”  And that he met them for only a few minutes (when the TV screen fills with images of him shaking hands and laughing jovially with the Russian delegation).

Anyone reading this blog knows my views about settler extremists, but how can Israel countenance such shocking, disgraceful acts from Arutz 7 and these disgusting representatives of the Israeli people elected to the Knesset?  Is anyone using their brains there?  Or has everyone lost their senses?  Regaling neo-Nazis with anti-jihadi jokes in the halls of the Knesset?  Defiling Yad VaShem with unreconstructed Holocaust deniers?  Please someone explain this to me (if you can).

I like that phrase.  It has a nice ring to it.  And Sarid uses it, davke, the day before the Knesset is due to pass its anti-boycott legislation which would criminalize references to BDS in the Israeli media, to affirm his intent to boycott the settlements and to support all those throughout the world who do as well.  He explicitly invites the state prosecutor to question him for violating the forthcoming law.

Interestingly, Sarid notes that the first prosecution that should come from the new law is that of government of Israel itself, which agreed to a demand from the EU to mark products originating in the Territories and so distinguish them from regular Israeli merchandise so that Europeans can (are you ready) boycott settlement goods.

In a nice turning of the traditional Biblical quotation, “If I forget thee O Jerusalem,” on its head, Sarid proclaims his refusal to partake of the joys of settlement:

May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I take a slice or a sip; may my right hand lose its cunning if it lends itself to their cheesemakers and vintners, whom we herein recommend boycotting.

This is good news for the people behind CodePink’s Boycott Ahava international campaign, which seeks to target a beauty products company based in the West Bank.

The problem, of course, is that Sarid, as a liberal Zionist, doesn’t go far enough.  We should boycott or divest from not just settlements, but companies that benefit from settlements and Occupation in general.  And this should not just be Israeli companies, but international ones as well, such as the French company building Jerusalem’s light rail line through occupied East Jerusalem.  We should boycott and divest from U.S. companies that provide cluster bombs, white phosphorus or similar heinous, illegal weapons to the IDF which kill civilians indiscriminately. But make no mistake, I am not advocating indiscriminate boycott or divestment.  This is targeted BDS.  BDS with a scalpel, not a sledgehammer.  Others may have a more far-reaching or draconian approach, but this is mine.

IDF K-9 attacks Palestinian woman

Calling the IDF practice of siccing K-9 attack dogs on undocumented Palestinian workers (Hebrew) a “terror policy,” the Israeli NGO B’Tselem is appealing against its use to the army senior command.  It should be noted that the victims are not security suspects, but rather day laborers seeking to enter Israel to find work and who do not have the proper permits to do so (which are practically non-existent anyway).  According to B’Tselem:

The incidents took place in the area of a-Ramadin, southwest of Hebron. Most of those injured attempted to enter Israel to work, and one, to receive medical treatment. Two of them were arrested by soldiers and remain in custody. In some of the cases, the laborers told B’Tselem that the dogs did not respond to their handlers’ order to stop, and the handlers had to use an electric-shock device to calm the dogs.

…M [a Palestinian victim] also stated that, while fighting with the dog, a soldier filmed the incident on his cell phone. Soldiers then stunned the dog with an electric-shock device. The dog stopped the attack and his mouth was covered with a muzzle

In one case, the injured worker filed a complaint with the police and was arrested on suspicion of entering Israel illegally…Y, who is 22 and lives in a village next to a-Dhahiriya, was with a group of Palestinians trying to sneak into Israel. He told B’Tselem that…a dog jumped on him and bit him from behind and on his left hand. He managed to push the dog away and get into the waiting car, and they entered Israel. Later that day, he returned to the West Bank and went to the government hospital in Hebron, where the doctors found he had a torn tendon in one of his fingers. Three days later, when he went to the police station in Hebron to complain about the attack, he was detained on suspicion of entering Israel, disturbing a public official in the course of carrying out his duty, and fleeing…

…Furthermore, in the cases documented by B’Tselem, the soldiers apparently released the dogs at groups of Palestinian laborers attempting to cross the fence, and the dogs bit laborers who did not manage to flee…

Apparently, the IDF also shoots Palestinians for doing nothing more than trying to feed their families.  And then to cover up the crime they imprison them so the victim is out of reach of NGOs or journalists who might conceivably embarrass the army by exposing its egregious conduct:

On 25 April, K, a 45-year-old resident of al-Burej, Hebron District, tried to enter Israel illegally. During the attempt he apparently was wounded by gunfire and was bitten by a dog and was taken to Soroka Medical Center, in Beersheva. A few hours later, K was taken from the hospital and is now in the army’s prison at Ofer. Since he is incarcerated, B’Tselem presently [is] unable to obtain further details on the incident.

In its defense, the army claims the dogs only attack those attempting to damage the Wall and that they receive permission before unleashing the dogs.  This is disproven by the fact that dogs have attacked Palestinians even before they cross the Separation Wall while still inside Palestinian territory.  Also, it defies common sense that a Palestinian laborer seeking work in Israel would endanger his chances of crossing the barrier by damaging the Wall.

I’m reminded of the attitude of the beloved Prof. Amos Funkenstein, who passed away tragically some years ago, toward dogs.  Since he was a child of survivors, he always disliked canines and used the derisive term hund to describe them.  Do we not remember why Jews of that generation hated dogs?  Because the Nazis used them in precisely the same way the IDF is using them on Palestinians.  The only difference is that the Jews ended up gassed and the Palestinians ‘only’ end up maimed.  At least they have their lives.

Israel’s far-right nationalist rabbis have made a major political breakthrough in coming to recognize a Palestinian right of return.  The only problem…where they want them to return to: Saudi Arabia.  Rabbi Dov Lior, chief rabbi of the most extreme of the extremist settlers in Hebron, has come up with a tremendously creative notion to settle the Israeli-Arab conflict.  It involves two simple words: go away.   Go here, go there, go anywhere–just not Israel.  Here’s what the good rabbi told a crowd  of learned gentlemen at a recent conference:

I say we should create incentives–even financial ones, to encourage their return to the “lands of their origin.”  Today, there are many areas of Saudi Arabia and Libya and other places where they could live.  I’m not saying from a humanitarian point of view that we shouldn’t help [them].  Let’s help them [go] there.  If we leave them here and they act against the interests of the [Jewish] people and State of Israel there’ll be no [other] solution.  If this were a normal situation there would be a way to find a solution [short of expulsion].  But the reality is that this problem is so deeply rooted and so difficult that it has no solution [besides expulsion].

To show his true humanitarian credentials, Rabbi Lior even said the Bedouin should be treated far better than those who were expelled from Gush Katif, because the Bedouin should be aided financially to facilitate their transfer.  The good rabbi seems to forget that hundreds of thousands of shekels have been expended both by the government and private charities (among them one supported by the sister of The Limited founder, Susan Wexner) to help these settlers find new homes.

Rabbi Lior believes in Palestinian Right of Return

Lior continued in this report by Arutz Sheva:

“There is a struggle against our return to our homeland.  The Arab population opposes the creation of the State of Israel.  They oppose the existence of the Jewish people.  Which is why I don’t see any solution that can satisfy them.  There is a solution that can satisfy them.”  According to the Rabbi, return of territory and concessions will not solve the problem.  ”The subject of  control of land is part of the broader struggle of the Arabs against the Jewish people, the State of Israel–and therefore in my humble opinion there isn’t a solution to the conflict [without expulsion].  They say ‘Israeli-Arab conflict.’ For us there is no conflict with them.   They create the conflict with us.”

You have to admit that the saintly one has a point.  If his devoted followers in Hebron disfigure Palestinians by pouring acid in their faces, rain feces down upon them, and provoke their 8 year olds to smash Palestinian grandmothers heads’ open–how can anyone believe Jews have any conflict with Palestinians?  What a silly notion.  You’d have to be churlish to think otherwise.

The above quotation gives you a measure of the depth of delusion of the settlers and their “spiritual leaders.”  It gives you a sense of the amount of denial that contributes to their world view.  Simply, unbelievable shocking.

Let’s keep in mind that this is the same learned fellow who suggested that Jews not use goyische sperm to conceive because the goyim are depraved and it would create depraved Jewish babies.

An Israeli Palestinian MK responded to the cash for transfer offer with one of his own to Rabbi Lior:

“We are happy to pay for a one-way ticket for him to leave Israel.”

The conference at which he spoke was organized by the far-right Komemiyut organization and addressed the growing ‘menace’ of Israeli Palestinians intermingling with Jews in mixed communities.  The Israel Lands Administration, which is the battering ram destroying indigenous Bedouin communities through its confiscatory land policies, was an honored participant in the event.  Shockingly, the organizers invited Arab and Druze speakers and they didn’t show up for some inexplicable reason (according to the sponsors).

Another participant in the conference, the saintly Shmuel Eliyahu, chief rabbi of Tzfat, had this to say about the Arab usurpers:

Would [you] trust the Arabs whose national identity is Palestinian, who identify completely with Hamas and Hezbollah?” The rabbi added that “they [Arabs] want the whole world to convert to Islam,” and warned that the violence breaking out in the Arab world should be a warning sign about “these cultural standards which we can’t allow to enter Israeli society.”

True to its liberal values, the Jerusalem Post has given this story the exposure it surely ‘deserves.’  Should we expect any less of the settlers’ English language mouthpiece?

National security advisor candidate, Yaakov Amidror (Maya Levin/JINI

No sooner did the Bibi-Yvet show give us the public defenestration of Uzi Arad, whose appointment to be Israel’s next ambassador to Britain was confirmed and rejected all in leaked news stories within a single week, than Bibi has given us an even better show.  While Arad was the real thing, a genuine Mossad spy who’d run spies and been instrumental in the Rosen-Aipac spy episode, Amidror seems a parody of Dr. Strangelove; a Maj. Gen. who’s never had a field command, and who sees the troops as little more than ideological cannon fodder.

Peace Now’s Ori Nir calls him an “ultra-hawk” and “National-Religious icon.”  It’s hard to believe that anyone can be worse than Arad, but Amidror really and undoubtedly is:

Amidror…told a conference last year that soldiers should kill anyone who gets in the way of completing their mission – and that soldiers who refuse to attack should be shot, too.

“A soldier who won’t attack when they tell him ‘forward’ because he says, ‘Two soldiers to my right and two to my left have been killed, so I won’t move’ – any normal military system should put a bullet in his head, and a liberal system should put him in jail,” Amidror said, speaking at a conference organized by the Israel Democracy Institute on “National Values in the Israel Defense Forces.”

“The education we give soldiers is an education of risking or being willing to sacrifice one’s life … of knowing that some of the soldiers won’t return, but still, everyone goes. And anyone who doesn’t go should get a bullet in the head or be in jail.”

…When journalist Haim Yavin, a fellow panelist, noted the army’s orders during the first Lebanon war were to “fight carefully,” Amidror responded: “That’s a totally illegal order. What should be said is ‘kill more of the bastards on the other side, so that we’ll win.’ Period.”

He also criticized the IDF code of ethics drafted by Prof. Asa Kasher. “I said this should remain unwritten, so there wouldn’t be anything written, as [then] it would become technical,” Amidror said.

…Yesterday Amidror…told Haaretz that in some countries soldiers who won’t attack are executed…

This guy would’ve been right at home at the Wansee Conference.  You’ll recall that’s where the Nazis devised the Final Solution, while writing down almost none of their plans because they were wise enough to understand that if they did and anyone found out about it they’d be in mighty hot water.  To be clear, I’m not accusing Amidror of planning a genocide against anyone (expect perhaps Arabs or Palestinians if given half a chance).  But I’m noting an absolute similarity of thought and mindset.

As Bibi prepares for his ersatz peace offensive, let the world keep in mind that his incoming top security advisor said the following about the peace process:

Earlier this month, Amidror wrote that “negotiations with the Palestinians and even an agreement with the Palestinians (…) will not benefit Israel in any way…

Ori also notes the ultra-hawk’s “vicious attacks on the New Israel Fund.”  He has derided the Obama administration’s “naive” policies.  Politically, he was the public face of the far-right religious, Jewish Home party.  He’s not just a settler, but a supporter of the most radical and messianic among them.  He believes, in other words, that Israeli sovereignty over the entire greater Land of Israel will hasten the coming of the messiah.

Amidror espouses a stridently anti-Arab strategic doctrine which attributes annihilationist views to all Muslism and Arabs.  Further, his own views are completely out of touch with the developments of the Arab democratic revolutions sweeping the Middle East:

His approach to Israel’s national security attributes little value to political accords between Israel and its neighbors. In Amidror’s view, Israel’s chief national security asset in its relations with its neighbors is deterrence…Amidror wrote that…the Arab world “does not accept the very presence of a sovereign and independent Jewish state in the heart of the Middle East and will do its best to annihilate it.” Any other basic assumption, Amidror wrote, is “self deception.” Amidror repeated…that Israel’s goal should not be to change the minds and hearts of its Arab neighbors – such attempts would be in vain – but to deter them by force. “The processes taking place in the Middle East are leading it toward becoming more fundamentalist, less tolerant and less democratic.”

…[In his recent essay] The Chief Lesson – Security is Preferable to Peace…Amidror argues that because Israel lives “on the edge of a volcano,” it must always be ready for the worse. “The main lesson is that we must emphasize Israel’s security needs and its ability to defend itself over any other requirement, including the lofty dream to reach political agreements [with its neighbors].

This guy is a troglodyte.  A Curtis LeMay.  A Gen. Jack D. Ripper.  Is this what Israel and the Middle East needs right now?  An ideological flamethrower who wants to cast oil on the fire that is the Israeli-Arab conflict?

Clearly, it seems that Amidror’s appointment is meant to be red meat to those coalition partners farther to his right (yes, there are, I know it’s hard to believe).  Perhaps Bibi means for the arm-chair general to be little more than a figure-head with no influence over policy.  But the guy scares me and should scare anyone who has even a scintilla of faith that the conflict can and should be settled sometime by someone.

Related articles

• Yaakov Amidror – in his Own Words (peacenow.org)

Ynet reports that among the bullying tactics the U.S. used in a vain attempt to force the PA to withdraw the UN Security Council resolution  opposing Israeli settlements, Hillary Clinton threatened to halt U.S. aid.  Now how stupid can you get?  The U.S. already looks lame through the role it’s played as outlined by the Palestine Papers in the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.  We dissed the Palestinians every chance we got.  We spoke ill of them behind their backs.  We stiffed them on issues that were crucial to their interests.  We all but threw in our lot with Israel.

And now Hillary thinks she’s going to withdraw the only leverage the U.S. has with the Palestinians?  Who does she think she’s kidding?  This actually sounds like something cooked up in Dennis Ross’ kitchen.  I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your Palestinian homeland down.

What’s ridiculous about this is that the Palestinians call our bluff and refuse to withdraw the resolution.  Are we going to follow through on our threat?  No.  Will any Palestinian leader believe anything she says to them in future?  Will she have any credibility with them?  Hillary, you might as well resign now and go to work as an Aipac lobbyist.  You’re not advancing the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace.  We know it, Palestinians know it.

We’re doing Israel no favors either.  Ynetnews notes the worries of Israeli officials that the solid European support for the Security Council resolution, even in the face of the U.S. veto, indicates a further distancing of Europe from Israel.  They’re even using the B (boycott) word:

State officials warn of political isolation following European nations’ support of Palestinian bid to condemn settlement construction in Security Council. ‘Every tender for settlement construction distances us from Europe.   Some countries boycott Israeli goods and things can deteriorate,’ one official says.

State officials said Saturday that the US veto which prevented a UN condemnation of settlement construction is not a reason for celebrations. “Israel is becoming increasingly isolated from West European countries which consider settlements a red rag [?],” one element said. The senior officials said they do not rule out financial consequences as a result of Israel’s isolation.

These sentiments sound far too reasonable to emanate from Likud or Kadima officials, so I’m guessing these are the sentiments of Ehud Barak.  Which still makes them worth considering.  Even Barak or whoever said this recognizes the handwriting on the wall.  The veto hasn’t helped Israel.  It has only increased its international isolation and advanced the cause of BDS worldwide.

Haaretz brings word that the PA plans its own “Day of Rage” protesting the U.S. veto of the settlement resolution.  Though I find it dubious that a non-elected rump government like the PA would attempt to organize a popular protest aping the raging Middle East revolutions, the U.S. has it coming.  We abandoned our own principles and policies in vetoing this resolution.  We did it for Israel.  And we did it at the most inopportune moment when dictatorial regimes are falling like dominoes around the Middle East.  Once again we sided with the strong man (Israel) and against justice.  Once again U.S. policy was shown to be tone-deaf.

What does this veto gain us?  Scoring a few points with Israel?  Consoling them after they lost their Egyptian stuffy toy leader?  Is that what U.S. policy has come to?  What about staking out vigorous, bold positions that advance our interests and those of the region, even if they run contrary to Israel’s political elite?

The U.S. and the Obama administration is now just phoning in its Mideast policy.  There’s no “there there.”  No long-term vision.  No strategy.  Nuthin’.  God help me, I’m even getting a little nostalgic for Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon.  At least they knew how to lay out a strategy and achieve it.

Mahmoud Abbas: what's this nonsense they're talking about democracy and some sort of Revolution? Did I miss that? (EPA)

In a sign of the ripple effect that the Egyptian Revolution is having on its neighbors in the region, virtually the entire rump PA government resigned and Mahmoud Abbas called for new elections.  It’s rather comic because he has had the opportunity to do this since 2006 and only chose now to do so.  Abbas also chooses to hold an election without the participation of his chief rival, Hamas.  The latter refuses to participate in an election while Fatah has refused efforts to reconcile and restore a unified Palestinian government.

This will essentially be a one party election and the West Bank will be a one party rump state.  So much for real democracy.  Abbas is runnin’ scared that the Egyptian model might be embraced in Palestine.  This reminds me of the tribe that believes it must appease the volcano god by tossing a maiden into its maw.  This is cosmetic surgery, designed to fool Palestinians and the rest of the world into believing that Fatah is the democratically elected representative of the people.  But how can it be when it will have virtually no competition?

James Steinberg, proudly points to U.S. success in stifling Security Council resolutions which conform with U.S. policy (AFP)

Saeb Erekat’s resignation is a further indication of the failure of Peace Process 1.0.  Any such process predicated on maximum Palestinian flexibility and minimum Israeli concessions along with a mediator heavily tilted toward Israeli interests–that is dead.

On a related matter, the Obama administration, with its announcement that it would proudly and eagerly veto the Security Council resolution condemning settlements, seems not to have learned any lessons from Tahrir Square.  The message conveyed by this veto is: we stand by our allies, even when they behave in ways antithetical to our own policies and values.

Didn’t we just dump a guy for that?

What irks me especially is the pride the U.S. State Department official takes in the fact that the U.S. continually frustrates any attempt to address the evils of the Occupation in the Security Council:

“We have made very clear that we do not think the Security Council is the right place to engage on these issues,” Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg told the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee.

“We have had some success, at least for the moment, in not having that arise there. And we will continue to employ the tools that we have to make sure that continues to not happen,” said Steinberg.

Imagine the April 6th Youth Movement bringing a resolution to the Security Council condemning Mubarak’s 30 years of venality and oppression of the Egyptian people and a similar statement from a U.S. representative boasting of our ability to game the system so troublesome matters like these are never brought up.  Is this what the Obama administration wishes to be remembered for as its legacy?  That we were Israel’s toady?

Let’s also not lose sight of the fact that this resolution’s wording tracks almost note for note specific U.S. policy on the settlements.  So we’re placed in the incredibly awkward and lame position of vetoing a resolution that diverges not a whit from our pronounced policy against settlements.  I couldn’t have thought of a way to look more stupid on the world stage.  Not to mention that after we struggled so hard to appear relevant during the events in Tahrir Square, for us to recede so quickly into irrelevancy is almost heartbreaking.

The truth is that the Obama administration defends freedom and liberty up to the shores of Tel Aviv.  Beyond that, we’re captive to the Israel lobby here and a set of Likudist-settler interests there.