The Only Red Line That Matters: American Good Guys Or?

Author: Phil Butler

Column: Politics

Region: Middle East

Country: Israel

Picture – courtesy of Bahaa Salman

I will ask the question for those of you who are afraid to: “Why does the United States of America still back Israel? The Netanyahu regime is sanctioning the killing of unarmed civilians at the Gaza border, but the American people still turn a blind eye to this speck of a nation’s connivances and killings. It’s time for the United States of America to wake up. It’s time for the right regimes to be overthrown.

The reader may find it interesting to note today, that not one mainstream American media outlet is covering the thousands of Palestinians killed or wounded by Israeli Defense Force since the “Great March of Return” began some weeks ago. Could this be because the Zionists control all of the news? Or is this because the Israelis truly do have God on their side? I’ll grant you, ninety percent of Americans are not even aware the Palestinian prisoners of Gaza have staged the protest. And God forgive me, but very few of my countrymen even know who the Palestinians are. Let’s blame this on “No Child Left Behind,” because generations of Americans are dummified on account of mediocre education. Writing this today I am becoming more aware of the real reason for the world’s problems, but here’s one last stab at moderation.

When Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman more or less established a “kill zone” near the fence that separates Gaza from Israel, there was only a whimper from our leadership and media. When B’Tselem called on Israeli soldiers to refuse to fire on unarmed Palestinian protesters, those pleas went unnoticed – IDF snipers were caught on video laughing about shooting an unarmed man near the fence. Then on April 6, Yaser Murtaja was shot and killed in Khan Yunis wearing a blue journalist-style flak jacket marked with the word “press.” The New York Times, Reuters, CNN, nobody even so much as ran a headline. 

And the Washington Post ran the story made up by the Israelis, that the slain journalist was a Hamas spy! Amazing is the only word that describes the capability of Israeli shooters – they can determine a lot from hundreds of meters away through a sniper scope. Murtaja was shot as he filmed protests at the border fence. Israel’s “proof” the journalist was a spy came in the form of typical Israeli arrogance and exceptionalism from Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman. The fact Murtaja had recently been screened by the CIA run U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), it only made a footnote at the WaPo.

The festering sore that has become Israel’s leadership went further though. When Education Minister Naftali Bennett criticized those upset over the video of snipers joking over a shooting, the fascism that has become Israeli policy came out.

“To sit in Tel Aviv and criticize combat soldiers is illegitimate, to judge them while they protect our borders is illegitimate.”

The brash and cruel statement also shows, not all Zionists have the gift of intelligence in their DNA. If it is illegitimate to criticize one’s trained murderers, then it’s even more hypocritical to judge millions jailed in an open-air prison. And for 15-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim Ayoub, shot dead on camera near the fence, the life leaving his motionless body managed to touch Nickolay Mladenov at the UN. After seeing the video, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tweeted:

“It is outrageous to shoot at children! How does the killing of a child in Gaza today help peace?”

Tweeted. One Palestinian life is now equal to one Tweet! But only if IDF soldiers are caught killing you on YouTube, otherwise a Gaza resident is not worth spit. And Trump, the Senate, the Congress, and the world know full well these are crimes against humanity.

It’s unimaginable for me, the fact my country has started so man wars and regime changes, and that Benjamin Netanyahu is still in charge in Israel. What does this tell us? We are the bad guys, that what. We grew up believing Americans were the ones who rode in and saved the helpless. Now we find ourselves shooting the innocent, denying medical attention to those we’ve wounded, and practicing the brand of justice once reserved by Hitler’s SS and Gestapo. A story I just read over at The Independent reveals the reality of the Gaza situation. Let me quote from Sarah Helm’s story:

“In the deadly, no man’s land of Gaza’s buffer zone, a small group of Palestinian protesters hidden by black smoke braved Israeli sniper fire and reached the perimeter fence. Tearing a piece away they made it back to safety, holding their trophy.”

The heroes of this story were women emulating imprisoned teenager Ahed Tamimi, just to drive home my point. The women of Gaza are willfully turning themselves into human shields against IDF sniper fire! Willfully trying to save their husbands and sons from being murdered – what can be more heroic than that? But America turns a blind eye, which is the worst ever cowardice in my book. For what does it take to “Tweet” or to call a congressman? 

Then again, what does it say when a section of chain linked fence is brought home as a trophy?

A sweet and kind man I know in Gaza, freelance photographer Bahaa Salman talks with me on Facebook sometimes. He once shared images of the devastation and the real situation in Gaza. This was some years ago. Now Bahaa only takes pictures of kindness and hopefulness, mostly the wonderful children locked in this hellish prison the Israelis made. Bahaa believes, strangely, that the people of the world need to see the joy and beauty shining inside Palestinians. He believes that the world will not save Gaza if people only see the defeat and the horror. So he shows the treasures of these people, and he is right. Let Israel show us the dark horror of inhumanity. Let the Zionists rule everything from banking to movies and news. Let the whole world see who is behind all the evil that befalls us. And the utter victory will be at hand. The Palestinians are the water that breaks the mountains down – perhaps? Only, I had hoped Israel would survive. No spiritual being would want a people to completely destroy themselves because of a few bad men – but this is what will happen eventually.

“If you are victorious from within, no one will defeat you, and if you are defeated from inside, no one will uplift you.” – Bahaa Salman Facebook quote

Reports from the border of Gaza say that in between 1,500 and 5,000 Palestinians have been wounded since the order “shoot to kill” was issued by IDF commanders. The “Great March of Return” protests may well be the catalyst for saving the people of Gaza, so there is hope. When Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to defend his military calling their murdering “holy work,” and accusing those Israelis who condemned his actions of voicing “outrageous absurdity,” the stage was set. And I pray that Netanyahu’s days are truly numbered.

My countrymen do not see Gaza’s horrific plight so often. CNN does not figure sick and starving people living like sardines in a desert will get ratings up. Propagandizing for the liberal world order that runs things, this is more important than any Palestinian life. But if my people could hear from Fox or CNN the story of a 7-year-old little blonde at the rally with her dad in protest to the 700,000 Palestinians who were displaced from their original villages by Israeli forces in 1948 war, then some would stand up. I just know it. If good Americans every learned how Donald Trump and other U.S. presidents had protected, armed, and killed for Israel’s regime, they’d raise hell, I am sure. And if our citizens ever listened to that a 7-year-old recite her people’s story, Washington would have hell to pay. 

A quote from this article by Ahmad Kabariti should suffice:

“I came today for the third time, to tell the Israeli soldiers that if my grandfather was unable to return to Al-Majdal, [where the Israeli city of Ashkelon now stands], then my father will do it, and if my father fails, I will return one day over there. I do not know anything about Al-Majdal, but my grandfather and dad say it is our original town and I am not afraid of these gas bombs or bullets.”

So, if you read this and you are an American, it is your duty to pick a side. You cannot wear a white hat and a black one at the same time. Americans can only be either the good guys or we are the bad guys. And good guys do not shoot unarmed women and children and call it “holy work” …. So what will it be, the Netanyahu regime, or sanctions on Israel until peace can be had?

Phil Butler, is a policy investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, he’s an author of the recent bestseller “Putin’s Praetorians” and other books. He writes exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”

https://journal-neo.org/2018/05/11/the-only-red-line-that-matters-american-good-guys-or/