Defense of the Morally Bankrupt

Today a band of willful men will attempt to pass a bill (H.R. 867) calling on the U.S. Government to stick its head in the sand; to speak, hear, and see no evil; and to refuse to discuss charges of war crimes during Israel’s vicious and equally willful attack on the people of Gaza in December 2008. In a move that would make John C. Calhoun proud, this band will adopt the final defense of the morally bankrupt and instead attack free speech. Knowing well that their position cannot stand in the light of day, they will demand that the charges being brought against them in the closest arena the world has to a court of law simply “not be discussed.”

For a long sad generation, slavery was an issue that “could not be discussed” in Congress, thus allowing the pressures to build to the point that only a horrifying domestic war could resolve the issue. And today it is the barbaric collective punishment of the people of Gaza that “cannot be discussed.” Just as history today blames Calhoun for paving the road to the U.S. Civil War, so may history one day blame this petty group of American supporters of the Israeli right wing for paving the road to the destruction of Israel.

The right to buy and sell and oppress and murder slaves by Southern plantation owners could “not be discussed;” the right to oppress and bomb and murder Palestinians by the Israeli Army and the extremist politicians who control the Israeli government “cannot be discussed.” Of course not. What else can these so-called American “friends” of Israel do? When one is complicit in the rape of Fallujah and the endless rain of Predators on innocent Central Asian villagers, how can one protest the same behavior from those who perfected such tactics?

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In depth:

1."No Partner for Peace; Our American Problem" Analysis by Israeli human rights worker Jeff Halper.

Despite the mission’s charges over Israeli war crimes, South African jurist Richard Goldstone actually bent over backwards to protect Israel as much as possible. Thus the report does not mention Israel’s 42-year occupation of Gaza or its three year siege which has left a million and a half Gazans without adequate food, medical care or the basic necessities of life. Nor does it mention the fact that, rather than defending itself, it was Israel which violated the cease-fire with Hamas and refused repeated appeals by Hamas to renew it....

When, recently, I did the rounds of Congress and the State Department promoting a just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I was told that “justice” is not an active element in American foreign policy.