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Why hasn't the US condemned the Israeli massacre in Gaza as a "terrorist" attack? |
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Hassan A. El-Najjar 7/30/02 The Israeli newspaper, Ha'aritz, reported that the opposition leader, Yusi Sarid, criticized the Israeli Defense Minister, Ben Eliezer, for using one-ton bomb against a Palestinian civilian target in Gaza, on 7/23/02, which resulting in killing 15 and injuring more than 170 Palestinians. Ben Eliezer, who was answering questions before a parliamentarian committee, was surprised for the question. He said that Israel used the bomb 47 times before (aljazeera.net). In fact, Ben Eliezer was surprised that somebody still cares about Palestinian people in the world. After what Israel had done against them in 35 years of brutal military occupation, particularly since April 2002, he expected that people of the world, generally, and Israelis in particular, would not care about anything, anymore. They were silent when the bomb was used 47 times before and they should not have been surprised when it was used again. Is he right? Has Israel and its supporters succeeded in making people num and indifferent? Are there still people with conscience, like Yusi Sarid, anywhere in the world who care enough to stand up and say no to the mad Zionists who rule Israel? Neither President Bush nor any senior member of his administration came out personally to condemn the Gaza massacre, loud and clear, like they used to condemn Palestinians as "terrorists" every time there was a suicide bomb. None of them condemned Sharon and Ben Eliezer as "terrorists," as they are, and as they have admitted that they knew that there would be Palestinian civilian victims. The only exception was a defensive statement from Ari Fleischer, the White House Press Secretary. A pro-Israel journalist asked him whether the Israeli raid was different from the US raids in Afghanistan, which resulted in killing civilians. Fleischer answered him saying that it is different because Israeli leaders knew in advance that they were targeting civilians. The Bush administration is, further, shielding Israel from any condemnation in the UN Security Council. For days now, the US has blocked any resolution that condemns Israel by threatening to use its veto. The US established media (written, heard, or seen) went through the same path. None of them described the Israeli air raid as a "terrorist" attack, as they have done all along when Israeli civilians were targeted by Palestinians. None of them called Sharon or Ben Eliezer or the Israeli military as "terrorists" as they have always done when it comes to Palestinians. Is it the old-fashioned double standard or the Israeli hegemony or both? God help the Palestinian people for now and the Iraqi people, when the bombs start to fall on Baghdad shortly.
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