OPINI: THE TRIPOLI POST

Opinion:Israel is No Friend of Obama

By Akbar Muhammad
08/01/2009

Why should the Israelis expect any sane and rational human being to believe that their barbaric attack on Gaza and the indiscriminate slaughter of defenseless and helpless civilians including men, women, the elderly, and children can be justified? Why have not the Israelis wait until a new president is about to take office on a platform of change? It has been reported over and over again that Israelis have planned this attack for over one year. Did they plan it in order to make sure that the number one issue that Barack had to deal with is the problem of Israel and the Palestinians? Again, why did they plan the attack in the middle of the western world's celebration of their Christmas and New Year holidays?

It is obvious to all who are looking that the Zionist entity wants to be center stage regardless of circumstances. Israel wants to see if they can play the new president like they played Bush for the last eight years.

In President Bush's radio show on Saturday January 3, he tried to justify, in words, Israel's attack on the Palestinians in Gaza. Gaza is an area of 150 square miles and home to a population of 1.5 million. It is the most densely populated area in the world as the Palestinian people were forced into this small area in 1948 when Israel usurped their land.

President-elect Barack Obama has been quiet on this issue because he knows that this is the most highly explosive challenge that he will face as soon as he steps foot in the White House. The question is; why didn't the Israelis give Barack Obama the chance to implement a new policy that may bring about a lasting peace.

Barack Obama is very knowledgeable and has fresh ideas of how to move the peace process and has behind him the history of the mistakes of the presidents who came before him. Israel, not knowing what direction he may be headed, has already put him in an awkward position before he walks into the White House.

President Bush has shown complete weakness in the face of the Israelis savage slaughter of the Palestinian people. Pat Buchanan asked the right question in one of his articles: should the Israelis have this much control over American foreign policy toward the Middle East?

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said when she emerged from the White House to speak to the press, "we would like to see a cease-fire, but a cease-fire that is durable and sustainable." Is she saying that the Israelis should keep killing until we have a durable and sustainable cease-fire? The Israelis can look at this as a green light to continue their slaughter.

How can Barack Obama not hear the world that has said loud and clear that the savage and barbaric attack against the people of Gaza is immoral and not keeping with civilized behavior even in warfare. What justifies the massacre of an entire family, including nine children, just to kill one man?

Barack has to ask, are these Israelis who commit these crimes his friends, as they claim? During the presidential campaign, President-elect Barack Obama said that he would convene a conference of Muslim leaders from around the world within his first year in office and it was later reported that he would make a speech from a Muslim capital within the first 100 days. Is this attack on Gaza a plot by the Israelis to thaw these plans? It would be almost impossible now, with the current atmosphere, to carry this out because the world is not only upset with the Israelis but they are upset with the United States government that supplies them with money and weapons to carry out their carnage against the Palestinian people. Now that the Israelis are for the last eight days have started a ground offensive, where will this slaughter go?

President-elect Barack Obama is now put in a position to see if he can make changes we believe in. One change must be the foreign policy vis-à-vis the Palestinians and the Israelis. He must have the strength and courage to make a mid-course correction that will stop the Israelis from having an inordinate amount of influence and control when it comes to American foreign policy toward the Middle East. They are testing whether Barack Obama has the strength to stand up and refuse to say "we back Israel right or wrong."

A 'friend' would never do that to his benefactor. Israel is no friend to Barack Obama. No friend to the American people! Some political analysts believe that Israeli arrogance and disrespect to human life show without any doubt that Israel is an enemy of Israel.

About The Author
To make comments or contact Akbar Muhammad you may email him at Africandtheworld@msn.com

(The Tripoli Post)