Diplomacy is one thing.....but on one hand asserting and claiming some sort of honest-broker role, yet being seen to be partisan, to the extreme, is an entirely different thing.
How on earth the Americans can be viewed as mediators, interlocutors or honest-brokers in the present Gaza-Israel conflict is difficult to see. In fact, it's impossible!
Take this partisan position as but one example.....
"In this handout provided by U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro hold a press conference as they visit the Iron Dome battery on November 18, 2012 in Tel Aviv, Israel. At least 39 Palestinians and three Israeli's have died since conflict began a few days ago. Israeli troops have been massing on the border as hundreds of targets were hit in Gaza, including Hamas cabinet buildings. More then 240 rocket attacks were intercepted by the Iron Dome system. Ambassador Dan Shapiro said "If there's a more meaningful contribution of the United States to Israel's security than the Iron Dome system, I don't know what it is."
The role of the US in the conflict is the subject of a first-class analysis by Glenn Greenwald, writing in "Stop pretending the US is an uninvolved, helpless party in the Israeli assault on Gaza" in The Guardian.
"A central premise of US media coverage of the Israeli attack on Gaza - beyond the claim that Israel is justifiably "defending itself" - is that this is some endless conflict between two foreign entitles, and Americans can simply sit by helplessly and lament the tragedy of it all. The reality is precisely the opposite: Israeli aggression is possible only because of direct, affirmative, unstinting US diplomatic, financial and military support for Israel and everything it does. This self-flattering depiction of the US as uninvolved, neutral party is the worst media fiction since TV news personalities covered the Arab Spring by pretending that the US is and long has been on the side of the heroic democratic protesters, rather than the key force that spent decades propping up the tyrannies they were fighting.
Literally each day since the latest attacks began, the Obama administration has expressed its unqualified support for Israel's behavior. Just two days before the latest Israeli air attacks began, Obama told Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas "that his administration opposes a Palestinian bid for non-state membership of the UN". Both the US Senate and House have already passed resolutions unequivocally supporting Israel, thus earning the ultimate DC reward: the head-pat from Aipac, which "praised the extraordinary show of support by the Senate for Israel's struggle against terrorist attacks on its citizens". More bipartisan Congressional cheerleading is certain to come as the attacks continue, no matter how much more brutal they become."
How on earth the Americans can be viewed as mediators, interlocutors or honest-brokers in the present Gaza-Israel conflict is difficult to see. In fact, it's impossible!
Take this partisan position as but one example.....
"In this handout provided by U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro hold a press conference as they visit the Iron Dome battery on November 18, 2012 in Tel Aviv, Israel. At least 39 Palestinians and three Israeli's have died since conflict began a few days ago. Israeli troops have been massing on the border as hundreds of targets were hit in Gaza, including Hamas cabinet buildings. More then 240 rocket attacks were intercepted by the Iron Dome system. Ambassador Dan Shapiro said "If there's a more meaningful contribution of the United States to Israel's security than the Iron Dome system, I don't know what it is."
The role of the US in the conflict is the subject of a first-class analysis by Glenn Greenwald, writing in "Stop pretending the US is an uninvolved, helpless party in the Israeli assault on Gaza" in The Guardian.
"A central premise of US media coverage of the Israeli attack on Gaza - beyond the claim that Israel is justifiably "defending itself" - is that this is some endless conflict between two foreign entitles, and Americans can simply sit by helplessly and lament the tragedy of it all. The reality is precisely the opposite: Israeli aggression is possible only because of direct, affirmative, unstinting US diplomatic, financial and military support for Israel and everything it does. This self-flattering depiction of the US as uninvolved, neutral party is the worst media fiction since TV news personalities covered the Arab Spring by pretending that the US is and long has been on the side of the heroic democratic protesters, rather than the key force that spent decades propping up the tyrannies they were fighting.
Literally each day since the latest attacks began, the Obama administration has expressed its unqualified support for Israel's behavior. Just two days before the latest Israeli air attacks began, Obama told Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas "that his administration opposes a Palestinian bid for non-state membership of the UN". Both the US Senate and House have already passed resolutions unequivocally supporting Israel, thus earning the ultimate DC reward: the head-pat from Aipac, which "praised the extraordinary show of support by the Senate for Israel's struggle against terrorist attacks on its citizens". More bipartisan Congressional cheerleading is certain to come as the attacks continue, no matter how much more brutal they become."
Comments