"So they don't have to look."

Ever see the movie; THE FISHER KING? I’m reminded of a scene in that movie where Jeff Bridges character is sitting next to a homeless man played by Tom Waits. The two are in Grand Central Station in New York. Waits, who plays a homeless man in confined to a wheelchair in the movie, is talking to Bridges about various philosophical things. As they speak a man walks by and drops a coin in Waits’ coffee. Bridges looks on at the passerby incredulously and says:

“He didn’t even look at you.”

“They pay so they don’t have to look.” Replies Waits.

As Israel continues its stranglehold on the Palestinians in both The West Bank and The Gaza Strip, The United States remains like that passerby, not wanting to look at the scourge of injustice that is taking place.

Whenever someone tries to call out the injustice that is being perpetrated upon the Palestinians, calls of anti-Semitism bathe the air like dew in the morning. Never mind that the UN under-secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs has said; “There is no hope in Gaza.” Never mind that Palestinians have had to scavenge for food on rubbish dumps these things don’t matter, what matters is the security of the Israeli State.

What matters, as President Bush seems apt to repeat; “Israel is our ally and she has a right to defend herself.” Well yes and no Mr. President. True, Israel does have a right to defend its citizens against terrorist attacks, but not at the expense of collective punishment on Palestinians. Oh and just so we’re clear, Israel is not America’s ally. Listen to how Roy McGovern an ex-CIA analyst explains it:

In 1967 after the first Arab/Israeli War, we offered Israel
a mutual defense treaty with the rationale that perhaps this
would give the Arabs pause from attacking Israel again, and
give us a certain leverage over the Israelis. And guess what?
The Israelis said, "Thanks, but no thanks."

I was surprised to hear that. I asked the people who were
involved in this, who happen to be involved in Veteran
Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, including one person
who was actually in the process of making this overture to 
Israel. I said, "Why did they turn it down?" He said, "Ray,
mutual defense treaties require clearly defined

international boundaries. And the Israelis, after they took
the occupied territories in '67 and '73, didn't want any part
of clearly defined international boundaries. And also, the
Israelis really like to be able to do what they want to do.
If they want to attack Iraq and take out the

Osirak nuclear reactor as they did in 1981

they don't want to have to ask Washington, they just want to do it.
So they didn't want to be inhibited by any of the normally
accepted norms of behavior. If you have a mutual defense treaty,
you usually tell the other partner what you're going to do, if
you are going to invade or bomb another country."

So as Israel continues its march towards expulsion of Palestinians from their ancestral homelands, the ever growing settlement construction, and extra-judicial killing of not
only “supposed” militants, but also innocent civilians, The US Congress accepts
money from APIAC in their proverbial coffee cups so they don’t have to look at what
is really going on in this “so called” democracy.