Recruiting to Kill - It Is Not Just an Israeli War on Gaza: US War on Gaza, EU Duplicity, Israeli-western War
09 September 2014
By Ramzy Baroud
To some, US secretary of state John Kerry may have
appeared to be a genuine peacemaker as he floated
around ideas during a Cairo visit on 25 July about a
ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian fighters in
Gaza. But behind his measured diplomatic language,
lies a truth not even America's top diplomat can
easily hide. His country is very much involved in
fighting this dirty war on Gaza which has killed over
1,050, injured thousands more, and destroyed much of
an already poor, dilapidated space that was barely
inhabitable to begin with.
US War on Gaza
US economic and military aid to Israel is measured
annually in the billions, and the US government
continues to be Israel's strongest and most ardent
ally and political benefactor. In fact, the US-Israel
"special relationship" is getting more "special" by
the day even though Israel is sinking further into the
abyss of a well-deserved isolation.
True, there are some, even in the justice for
Palestinians camp, who speak of how exceptional and
fair the Barack Obama Administration has been in
comparison to its predecessors. However, they neglect
the fact that aside from a few particularly
strong-worded statements, Obama has been a dedicated
stalwart of Israel and copper bottoming its vision of
its security by going as far as defending Israel's
‘Operation Protective Edge' war - the slaughter of
thousands of innocent civilians in Gaza.
On 5 March, 2014, a Congressional bill - The United
States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act (H.R. 938, S.
462) - declared that Israel is a "major strategic
partner of the UnitedStates." The sweeping bill
covered many programs from energy, to "research pilot
programs" between Israel and the US Department of
Homeland Security. What is most important to note is
that Congress now requires additional reports that
would update the government on the US' commitment to
Israel's Qualitative Military Edge (QME).
This is merely one of many bills and government
initiatives that continue to give Israel a special
undeserved status. But this military edge is used
mostly to maintain Israel's illegal military
occupation. Most of Israel's victims in its latest war
on Gaza are civilians who are killed by US weapons.
There is no escaping the fact that the US is a partner
in the Israeli crimes in Gaza and the rest of
Palestine. Without a complete reversal of US attitude
towards Israel, the US will continue to lack any
credibility as a peacemaker or a mere ceasefire
mediator.
But America's support for Israel is crossing new red
lines. There are reportedly over 1,000 US citizens
fighting in the Israeli army according to reports that
are now resurfacing due to the recent killing of two
US-Israeli soldiers - Max Steinberg, 24, of
California, and Nissim Sean Carmeli, 21, of Texas.
Like the rest of the IDF soldiers killed in recent
fighting, they were killed while invading parts of the
besieged Gaza Strip. But the number must be an
understatement since some of Israel's most ardent
Jewish settlers are also American, and happen to be
armed and dangerous. Although this is causing a bit of
a media buzz, there is no political crisis. Instead,
only condolences are offered to the families of the
Americans fighting the genocidal war on Gaza.
EU Duplicity
The US is not alone in this. European governments
display an incredible amount of hypocrisy as they
continue to utilise doublespeak in their approach to
Middle East conflicts in general, and the situation in
Palestine in particular. The pressure mounting from
European civil society makes it a bit more challenging
for EU governments to endow Israel with the same
unconditional love and support as that bestowed upon
it by the US. EU hypocrisy is too palpable even for
clever politicians to hide. The British government is
shamelessly on the Israeli side, even while entire
families in Gaza are being pulverized by western
weapons and military technology. Meanwhile, the French
government imposed a ban to prevent French society
from showing its solidarity with the besieged and
massacred Palestinians in Gaza.
But why ban mere demonstrations of solidarity while
France, the US and other Western governments are
allowing their Jewish citizens to be enlisted in the
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) which is actively killing
Palestinian civilians? Shouldn't that be a much
greater concern to the duplicitous French government
than some protesters chanting some slogans during a
solidarity rally that may or may not be deemed
anti-Semitic?
Indeed, not only are western governments providing
Israel with arms, funds and political cover to sustain
its occupation and war, but they are also contributing
thousands of military experts and boots on the ground
in order to fight a war in Gaza where war crimes and
crimes against humanity are being committed on an
hourly basis.
Consider this: While British citizens fighting against
the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad are being
detained and persecuted, British citizens who are
fighting for Israel are not. The British government is
turning a blind eye to what should be considered a
criminal act.
Belgium Double-standards
Western hypocrisy on this is as profound as the
phenomenon of westerners killing Palestinians, which
some are now calling ‘Israeli Jihadists'.
Belgium also stands accused of allowing such
criminality. Although Belgian civil society is one of
Palestine's strongest supporters, their government is
cloaked with unmistakable dishonesty. Many Belgian
citizens are also taking part in Israel's lethal wars
in Gaza and military occupation of the occupied
territory, with little or no protest from their
government. The recruitment of Belgians is mostly done
through the same organisations that recruited
thousands of foreign fighters for the IDF. Think of
them as terrorist headhunting organisations that
operate in a perfectly legal environment.
Recently, Mayor of Antwerp, Bart De Wever, called on
the Belgian government to cancel dual citizenship of
‘Syria jihadis'. His call was made during a recent
visit to a synagogue in Brussels after four people
were shot by an alleged French-born citizen suspected
of having spent time fighting in Syria. The country's
Minister of Justice Annemie Turtelboom took the
initiative further by calling on EU countries to block
jihadists from going to Syria, suggesting the creation
of a list of all known "Syria jihadists."
But what about the number of Belgians who are
fighting, killing and committing war crimes on behalf
of Israel? Why is the Belgian government keeping
silent about those in the Israeli army, with no
statement yet issued, even after the killing of
Belgian citizen Eytan Barak?
The French and Others
Not only is the Belgian government miserably failing
to prevent Belgians from fighting in Gaza, but the
mainstream media is also failing to report such
events. Only alternative media seems interested in
what should be a major story in Brussels.
The same questions apply to other western governments.
The hyper-sensitive French government turned a blind
eye when a French citizen was killed during the Gaza
onslaught. While the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on
the killing of staff Sgt. Jordan Bensemhoun, most of
the French media and government have looked the other
way. The very government that continues to make life
difficult for African immigrants in France, sees no
problem of its own immigrants taking part in foreign
wars that are in violation of its own citizenship
laws.
In fact, the French are now considering a six months
ban on those travelling to Syria and Iraq, so as not
to take any chances that some of them may be recruited
in the ongoing strife there. As for travelling to
Israel to join the IDF? Well, for Paris, that's a
whole different matter.
The list of participating countries is growing as is
the number of those suspected war criminals fighting
and killing in the name of Israel. This is not met
with enough civil society initiatives to bring
criminals to justice for the sake of exposing the
organizations that recruit them, the "support groups"
that sustain them, and government silence and
hypocrisy that tolerate the entire criminal
enterprise.
Israeli-western War
Western involvement in the war on the Palestinian
people is indeed going beyond the usual and known
support of funds, military technology and economic
aid, to actual participation in the slaughter of
Palestinians in Gaza. This is not a matter than can be
addressed within the larger argument of Western double
standards in Israel and Palestine, but an urgent issue
that demands immediate attention.
By preventing those who leave their countries to kill
Palestinians in Gaza, less civilians are likely to be
murdered.
Legal cases should be brought before courts throughout
western capitals to try known names of US-EU soldiers,
and new lists should be composed of others who use
dual citizenship status to further the suffering of
the Palestinians so that legal action may immediately
take place.
It is one thing to fail to stop war crimes from being
committed, it is a whole other level of failure to
defend, finance and take active part in carrying out
these war crimes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu is not the only leader culpable of Gaza's
bloodbath; others in western capitals should also be
held to account.
(Thanks to Laila Benallal for her help with the
research for this article.)
- Ramzy Baroud is a PhD scholar in People's History
at the University of Exeter. He is the Managing Editor
of Middle East Eye. Baroud is an
internationally-syndicated columnist, a media
consultant, an author and the founder of
PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father
Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story (Pluto
Press, London).
©
EsinIslam.Com
Add Comments