Less than a month ago, Israeli forces attacked a flotilla of eight ships carrying much needed humanitarian supplies to the impoverished and contained people of Gaza. In the brutal assault, nine activists were murdered, some in cold blood according to eyewitnesses.
While there was immediate and almost universal condemnation of the pre-dawn Israeli assault in international waters following the barbaric incident, the administration of President Barack Obama was noticeably muted and avoided assigning blame. This silence added to the growing frustration and anger in the Arab world over Obama's failure to back up the pledge he made in Cairo over a year ago to "personally pursue a two-state solution with all the patience and dedication that the task requires" and to alleviate what he called "the continuing humanitarian crisis" in Gaza.
No sympathy
The impotence within the US administration to condemn such state-sponsored terrorism by Israel was immediately complemented by leading US media outlets, who perhaps pushed the notch a step further in denials or half-truths. In its editorial on June 1 following the unjustified attack, the respected Washington Post had this to say: "We have no sympathy for the motives of the participants in the flotilla — a motley collection that included European sympathisers with the Palestinian cause, Israeli Arab leaders and Turkish Islamic activists".
Other columns and analyses in many of the major papers were more concerned with the resulting public relations nightmare that would follow, rather than censuring the cold-blooded killings that had just occurred. "Condemnation of Israeli Assault Complicates Relations With US. The timing of the incident is remarkably bad for Israel and the United States," wrote a columnist for the Post
In the Los Angeles Times, this heinous crime against innocent activists who had lost their lives in an attempt to carry out humanitarian acts for the long-suffering residents of Gaza was simply brushed off as a "public relations nightmare for Israel", while The New York Times topped it with "the criticism of Israel over the attack offered a propaganda coup to Israel's foes, particularly the Hamas group that holds sway in Gaza".
Added another media pundit, "On the domestic political front, the latest incident could also compromise Obama's month-long effort to reassure the right-wing leadership of the organised Jewish community — whose support for Democratic candidates in the November mid- term elections is considered critical to the party's retaining control of Congress — of his ‘unshakeable' commitment to Israel's security".
Other US news sources continued to offer diabolic justifications for Israel's actions, and soon relegated the story to the back pages. Notwithstanding the fact that Israel is in the hands of a dangerous and illegitimate regime that continues to violate international law and moral principle regionally, the US media quickly shifted their targets to their favourite whipping boy in the region Iran.
From June 6 through June 10, the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group was deployed 80 kilometres off the coast of southwestern Israel, secretly practising the interception of incoming Iranian, Syrian and Hezbollah missiles and rockets against US and Israeli targets in the Middle East. This US-Israeli aerial exercise, dubbed Juniper Stallion 2010, was conveniently withheld from public exposure.
Shoot to kill
Israeli authorities continue to violate Palestinians' basic human rights, with increasingly aggressive policies against the presence of the Palestinian people in Gaza, occupied Jerusalem and elsewhere. The increase in colony activities, demolition of Palestinian homes and the ejection of Palestinian families from their own houses, as well as deportations and confiscations of ID cards continue in the Occupied Territories. And when those with a sense of moral conscience attempt to intervene, it's shoot to kill.
The children of Auschwitz and Dachau have learned their lessons well. And they have been actively engaging in similar practices against the people of Palestine. And yet such crimes remain unreported in most US media.
Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
