Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Wikileaks Cables on Israel's Gaza Onslaught

US was Cheerleader for Massacre

By KATHLEEN CHRISTISON
CounterPunch

"CounterPunch has accessed Wikileaks’ file of cables on Israel’s Gaza assault two years ago (Operation Cast Lead, December 27, 2008 through January 18, 2009). Though the cables often simply rehash Israeli press reporting, providing little new insight into Israel’s attack or the planning behind it, they show with pitiless clarity the U.S. government to be little more than a handmaiden and amanuensis of the Israeli military machine.

The cables make clear, were any further disclosure needed, exactly where the United States stands with respect to Israel’s unprovoked attacks on Palestinians and its other Arab neighbors. Although Operation Cast Lead took place in the last days of the Bush administration, ending two days before Barack Obama was inaugurated, every Obama policy in the succeeding two years – including the administration’s repudiation of the Goldstone Report detailing Israeli atrocities and war crimes during Cast Lead – has demonstrated a striking continuity of support for Israeli actions.....

The hypocrisy is glaring. The U.S. bias shown here is obviously not at all a new phenomenon. But here it is in black and white—or, more accurately, in pin-stripe: diplomacy as cheerleader for massacre and genocide (a term used by not a few Jewish and other commentators during the Gaza assault). Such atrocities are all right in U.S. eyes if Israel commits them, but Hamas is not allowed."

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