Wednesday, January 21, 2009

President Obama's Pilgrimage and Fealty


For twenty three days of horrific war, President-elect Barack Obama stood silent. Israel killed 100 Palestinians for every Israeli lost. The IDF dropped cluster bombs, white phosphorous, and weapons hardened with depleted nuclear material. The Jewish state caused $2 billion in infrastructure damage, causing 50,000 people the loss of their homes. Water, sewage and electricity are impaired, in some cases severely.

MIT Professor Noam Chomsky spoke out against the murder of innocent people, effectively under siege in a huge Gaza prison camp. Some 1.5 million people suffer. Killing "two legged beasts" is the norm for Israel and its partner, the United States. Penning them in cantons, controlling supplies, harassing the population, capturing and holding prisoners without charges, these are longtime American/Israeli practices. They may continue.

President Obama's website offered this on Israel:

Ensure a Strong U.S.-Israel Partnership: Barack Obama and Joe Biden strongly support the U.S.-Israel relationship, and believe that our first and incontrovertible commitment in the Middle East must be to the security of Israel, America's strongest ally in the region. They support this closeness, and have stated that the United States will never distance itself from Israel.

Support Israel's Right to Self Defense: During the July 2006 Lebanon war, Barack Obama stood up strongly for Israel's right to defend itself from Hezbollah raids and rocket attacks, cosponsoring a Senate resolution against Iran and Syria's involvement in the war, and insisting that Israel should not be pressured into a ceasefire that did not deal with the threat of Hezbollah missiles. He and Joe Biden believe strongly in Israel's right to protect its citizens.

Support Foreign Assistance to Israel: Barack Obama and Joe Biden have consistently supported foreign assistance to Israel. They defend and support the annual foreign aid package that involves both military and economic assistance to Israel and have advocated increased foreign aid budgets to ensure that these funding priorities are met. They have called for continuing U.S. cooperation with Israel in the development of missile defense systems.

Now change means No Change from W.