Did Obama Sound Hypocrtical When Asked About Human Rights Violations in Israel?
Remember all the high expectations about US President Barack Obama's promise to deliver peace and even-handedness in matters dealing with the Muslim world vis-a-vis Israel? In recent months he has forgotten such promises, as is obvious from his government's opposition to the UN fact finding mission on Gaza, and the ensuing Goldstone Report. It is clear that he has caved into pressure from Israel-firsters both within his administration and the "Amen Corner" in the Capitol Hill.
Soon after his State of the Union speech, Obama has been traveling to sell his new ideas of putting America back on the right track for economic recovery. He visited Florida. There at a gathering of university students on Thursday, Laila Abdel-Aziz, a university student, who added that she worked on Obama's campaign last year, asked him, "Last night in your State of the Union address, you spoke of America's support for human rights. Then why have we not condemned Israel and Egypt's human rights violations against the occupied Palestinian people? We continue to support [Israel and Egypt] financially, with billions of dollars coming from our tax dollars."
From his response, it was clear that Obama was not prepared for such a tough question which would only unmask his hypocrisy on matters related to the Middle East, esp. the rogue Zionist state. He said, the United States would always ensure Israel's security but that Washington must also pay attention to the plight of the Palestinians.
I was not impressed with Obama's answer--but was impressed that a question about Palestinian human rights and U.S. aid to Israel was the first one asked, and that it was a student who'd worked on Obama's campaign that asked it. As noted by "End the Occupation" group, which comprise of Jews for Peace initiative, it is obvious that slowly and slowly, the discourse is changing in this country. People are no longer afraid of asking politically incorrect questions that affect our nation. Truly, when was the last time you heard a question about U.S. aid to Israel being aired on CNN?
As I write this, yet another high-profile Palestinian leader of nonviolent resistance to the Apartheid Wall has been arrested by the Israeli military. Mohammad Khatib, a leader of the struggle against the Wall in the West Bank village of Bil'in and a coordinator of the Popular Struggle Coordinating Committee, was taken from his house in a pre-dawn raid.
Will the USA administration ever have the moral courage to say that enough is enough with such human rights violations of the Jewish/Zionist state? Or will we let ourselves ignore such crimes while we complain about violations in other parts of the Muslim world? Will hypocrisy be the hallmark of Obama Administration, much in common with his predecessors'?
Shame on the hypocrites if they think that they could simply fool everyone for all time!
Soon after his State of the Union speech, Obama has been traveling to sell his new ideas of putting America back on the right track for economic recovery. He visited Florida. There at a gathering of university students on Thursday, Laila Abdel-Aziz, a university student, who added that she worked on Obama's campaign last year, asked him, "Last night in your State of the Union address, you spoke of America's support for human rights. Then why have we not condemned Israel and Egypt's human rights violations against the occupied Palestinian people? We continue to support [Israel and Egypt] financially, with billions of dollars coming from our tax dollars."
From his response, it was clear that Obama was not prepared for such a tough question which would only unmask his hypocrisy on matters related to the Middle East, esp. the rogue Zionist state. He said, the United States would always ensure Israel's security but that Washington must also pay attention to the plight of the Palestinians.
I was not impressed with Obama's answer--but was impressed that a question about Palestinian human rights and U.S. aid to Israel was the first one asked, and that it was a student who'd worked on Obama's campaign that asked it. As noted by "End the Occupation" group, which comprise of Jews for Peace initiative, it is obvious that slowly and slowly, the discourse is changing in this country. People are no longer afraid of asking politically incorrect questions that affect our nation. Truly, when was the last time you heard a question about U.S. aid to Israel being aired on CNN?
As I write this, yet another high-profile Palestinian leader of nonviolent resistance to the Apartheid Wall has been arrested by the Israeli military. Mohammad Khatib, a leader of the struggle against the Wall in the West Bank village of Bil'in and a coordinator of the Popular Struggle Coordinating Committee, was taken from his house in a pre-dawn raid.
Will the USA administration ever have the moral courage to say that enough is enough with such human rights violations of the Jewish/Zionist state? Or will we let ourselves ignore such crimes while we complain about violations in other parts of the Muslim world? Will hypocrisy be the hallmark of Obama Administration, much in common with his predecessors'?
Shame on the hypocrites if they think that they could simply fool everyone for all time!
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