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Saturday, June 21, 2008 

Israel and Iran

Israel has made a test-run for an attack on Iran. It sent its planes west, over the Mediterranean to an area over Greece - exactly the same distance from Israel as Iran's Natanz nuclear plant, but in the opposite direction.

The US has confirmed it was a try-out for an attack on Iran.

Why is no-one condemning this trial-run as an act of aggression in itself. It is far more threatening than any words that have come out of Ahmedinijad's mouth.

The UN's nuclear watchdog (the IAEA) has feebly responded by warning that an attack will make Iran even more determined to get nuclear weapons.

I always like to play the reverse game. Turn it around. Let's say Iran flew jets east in a trial-run for a bombing campaign over Israel. What would the UN say?

(a) Iran must be disarmed by whatever means possible - an emergency Security Council meeting is called for tonight.

or

(b) Iran, please don't attack Israel, it will just make Israel more determined to get nuclear weapons.

the arab world just does not understand what is going on in the united states..the media is owned and operated by jewish americans..we only see israels point of view..we see when israel is attacked and one israeli is killed..but..we do not see the thousands killed by israel..also all ap news goes through israel..now..and they release what they want..plenty of rich arabs..start with buying..fox news..cnn..and start letting americans see the truth.

I have to disagree about the existence of a Jewish American elite cabal controlling US media, but Americans do get a one-sided view. As a kid, I remember wishing the Palestinians would "leave the poor Jews alone," and that the "eternal hatred" would cease, not understanding the (recent) historical context. This stems from the US media's tendency to cut out the backstory, but in Israel's case we are taught the backstory in school, in the form of the holocaust. In almost every grade the holocaust is taught, we read the Diary of Ann Frank, Maus, and others to learn tolerance and other shiny American values. There is, naturally, nothing wrong with studying that tragic event, though it does allow us to feel superior to those evil Germans and French collaborators, instead of studying say, Native American genocide by our own forefathers or the recent Japanese American internment during WWII. (First time we read a holocaust book: 3rd grade. First time I ever heard of the internment camps: 7th grade) In these holocaust lessons, we learned that Israel is the answer to anti-semitism, that finally they have found a home where they can live without worrying about who's going to be banging on the door in the middle of the night. Then you turn on the news and hear about a suicide bomber hitting a cafe - oh my god we have cafes in the states too! - and killing innocents and you think, "Why can't they just leave the Jews alone?" and "Why are these Palestinians in Israel anyways?"

Add to that the overwhelmingly Christian makeup of the States, who can turn to their Bibles and read that Palestine is promised by God to Jews.

You get a lot of people sympathetic to Israel, because it is conflated with the holocaust and Biblical prophecy. Media that offers a different view is going to be tuned out.

That plays into all the double standards from then on. Why is the US clamoring for inspections of the suspected Syrian nuclear sites while Israel can flaunt its *shh secret* nukes? Why can Israel conduct training runs for a hit on Iran? Because at heart, the US government and US people believe Israel is entitled to this and more .

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About me

  • Written by sasa
  • From Damascus, Syria
  • From Damascus to London via Beirut. Based in and out of the central Damascene hamlet of Saroujah. News and feelings from the streets every day. I'm talking rubbish? Leave a comment. Welcome to the information democracy. See below for info about this site.
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