To the amazement of many, he had only one point to talk about, the alleged kidnapping of an Israeli soldier.
JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: William Dalrymple has pointed out recently that not only is Gaza the world’s biggest concentration camp it has now become the world’s biggest graveyard.
One wonders how come Nobel Peace Prize-winner US President Barack Obama has failed to take notice of the ongoing slaughter in Gaza. After days of silence, he came on TV the other night; one would presume that he might have some important announcements to make to stop the Israeli aggression in Gaza. To the amazement of many, he had only one point to talk about, the alleged kidnapping of an Israeli soldier and how bad an act he said it was.
One may remember the story from our childhood where a wolf blames a lamb for every bad thing he can think of and then using these pretexts and excuses, he finally has the lamb for dinner. Apparently, the same thing is happening right now in Gaza. First Israel attacked Gaza to avenge the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank; and it turns out that Hamas may not have even been behind their kidnapping and deaths. Then, Israel said it would eliminate the firing of rockets from Gaza towards Israel and then said it wanted to find the tunnels that Hamas was using to hide these rockets and their launchers.
And on August 1, the wolf (Israel) gave the excuse that one of its soldiers had gone missing and went on to viciously shell the town of Rafah in southern Gaza.
One would expect that an American president in his second term would be able to take some bold and courageous decisions and not be dictated — like the rest of the American establishment — by the American Israel Public Action Committee (AIPAC). But then again, perhaps that is expecting too much from a country which happens to be Israel’s biggest military supplier (much of it is paid by American taxpayers) and financial backer.
Masood Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, August 3rd, 2014.
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