The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) exerts tremendous amount of influence on US foreign policy.
The official name for Israel's latest assault on Gaza is "Operation Protective Edge." A better name would be "Operation Déjà Vu." As it has on several prior occasions,
Israel is using weapons provided by U.S. taxpayers to bombard the captive and impoverished Palestinians in Gaza, where the death toll now exceeds 500. As usual, the U.S. government is siding with Israel, even though most American leaders understand Israel instigated the latest round of violence, is
not acting with restraint, and that its actions make Washington look callous and hypocritical in the eyes of most of the world.
This Orwellian situation is eloquent testimony to the continued political clout of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and the other hardline elements of the
Israel lobby. There is no other plausible explanation for the supine behavior of the U.S. Congress - including some of its most "progressive" members - or the shallow hypocrisy of the Obama administration, especially those officials known for their purported commitment to human rights.
The immediate cause of this latest one-sided bloodletting was the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli hikers in the occupied West Bank, followed shortly thereafter by the kidnapping and fatal burning of a Palestinian teenager by several Israelis. According to
J.J. Goldberg's reporting in the Jewish newspaper
Forward, the Netanyahu government
blamed Hamas for the kidnappings without evidence and pretended the kidnapped Israelis were still alive for several weeks, even though there was evidence indicating the victims were already dead. It perpetrated this deception in order to whip up anti-Arab sentiment and make it easier to justify punitive operations in the West Bank and Gaza.
Comment: The fact that Palestinian rockets haven't killed many Israelis is also due in large part that they are crude garden shed projectiles fueled by sugar and fertilizer. If the 'rockets' were as threatening as Israel says, you can be sure we would be seeing the results in the media. Instead, Israelis are cheering atop parked cars as Palestinians are being slaughtered.