- "Time's glory is...to wrong the wronger, till he
render right." - William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon
-
- On Nov. 27, 2007, an ultra-hyped, one-day Mideast parley
was held in Annapolis, MD, the capital of the state. This is also where
the U.S. Naval Academy is located. The idea that the hawkish Bush-Cheney
Gang is going to successfully broker an Israel/Palestine peace is absurd.
In a show-off-like gesture Maryland's Governor, Martin O'Malley invited
Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, for lunch on that day. But, he deliberately
chose to exclude the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.
The luncheon took place in the Governor's Mansion. O'Malley, instead of
acting like a statesman, came off as a lackey for the Israel Lobby, while
also embarrassing many Marylanders.
-
- James J. Zogby was right to take strong exception to
Gov. O'Malley's boorish conduct. He said: "This was a perfect time
to build that tie [with the Palestinian community] and to send a message
to both parties that the governor is committed to peace. In diplomacy,
everything matters, so if you're invited to someone's state and you're
there to make peace with someone and the person you're making peace with
isn't invited, it sends a message, and that message is one of slight."
(1) Mr. Zogby, an activist, is the President of the Arab American Institute.
-
- This isn't the first occasion that Gov. O'Malley's sucking
up to the Israel Lobby has caused Marylanders to cringe. Last summer, the
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) invaded Lebanon, with little justification,
and began bombing the country back to the Stone Age. They dropped over
1,000,000 cluster bombs there. During this bloodstained campaign, the IDF
specifically targeted the village of Qana (Cana) for attack and reportedly
killed 28 civilians, mostly women and children. (2) This is the site where,
according to the Holy Bible, Jesus performed his first miracle. So how
did Gov. O'Malley, a wannabe diplomat, respond to the IDF's invasion? Well,
he showed up at a pro-Olmert, pro-Israel rally, which was held in Baltimore,
to loudly cheerlead for the rampaging Zionist hordes. Since then, both
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have charged Olmert's Israel
with "War Crimes" for its alleged barbarous conduct in Lebanon.
(3)
-
- On Nov. 27th, I was in Annapolis covering the demonstration,
at the Naval Academy, near Gate 1. I was upset that Olmert was even in
the city. If it were up to me, he would have never been permitted to step
foot in America. His regime's egregious wrongdoings in Lebanon, and also
Israel's abysmal treatment of the Palestinian people for over four decades
of human rights abuses, are just two reasons why. Israeli-Occupied Gaza
is a hell on earth for its residents. (4) When its 1.4 million citizens
were being besieged daily by lethal missile strikes from the IDF, Olmert's
limp defense was: "Nobody dies from being uncomfortable!"
-
- Then, for me, there is the matter of Annapolis itself.
My first memory of this picturesque port city goes back to just after WWII.
Sitting on the Severn River, it is steeped in the history of the Republic.
It was in the State House, located across the street from the Governor's
Mansion, where General George Washington, the hero of the War for Independence,
resigned his commission, on Dec. 23, 1783, as the leader of the Continental
Army. For a short period, Annapolis was even the capital of the United
States.
-
- Getting back to the protest action, I was pleased to
see Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, of Neturei Karta International, there. He
is a fearless opponent of the ideology of Zionism. (5) All of this, brings
me to the issue of the IDF, its murderous attack on the USS Liberty in
1967, and the ongoing 40 years-plus struggle for justice by the survivors
of that vessel, and their supporters. (6)
-
- On June 8, 1967, 34 Americans on the USS Liberty were
slaughtered by the IDF, including one Marylander, William B. Allenbaugh,
(CT-3, U.S. Navy). Two of its slain crew members, Lt. Commander Philip
McCutcheson Armstrong, Jr. and Lt. Stephen Spencer Toth, were graduates
of the U.S. Naval Academy. The Zionist Propaganda Machine has insisted
the attack, which took place in international waters, was "an accident."
This is the same dubious excuse used to justify the IDF using a 60-ton
bulldozer to run over and kill peace activist Rachel Corrie, at Rafah,
Occupied Palestine, on March 16, 2003. She was a resident of Olympia, WA,
who was trying to stop a Palestinian home from being destroyed by the IDF.
Ms. Corrie was only 23 years old. The Israeli bulldozer, all 60 tons of
it, ran over her not once--but twice! (7)
-
- Now, new evidence suggests that the Israeli attack on
the USS Liberty was "deliberate!" (8) This is the position that
Lt. James Marquis Ennes, Jr., who was on the bridge of the ship on that
fateful day, has consistently taken. (9) Lt. Ennes is also the author of
a best selling book on the tragedy, "Assault on the Liberty."
As a result of the peace confab, Prime Minister Olmert was allowed on the
grounds of the U.S. Naval Academy. I think that was a gross insult to the
memory of the 34 men killed by the Israelis on the USS Liberty. This is
especially so, since the mostly cowardly U.S. Congress has never given
the survivors of that vicious and deadly attack, in which 174 men were
also wounded, a hearing "to tell their story under oath to the American
public." (6)
-
- Finally, when Gov. O'Malley and Olmert surfaced from
their luncheon, they gave each other a big hug. The governor boasted that
he and Olmert had discussed "national politics." Gov. O'Malley
is the honorary chair in MD of U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton's presidential
candidacy. But, you'd better believe Gov. O'Malley never confronted Prime
Minister Olmert about what happened at Qana last summer; the massive cluster
bombing, in 2006, of Lebanon by the IDF; what life is really like for the
oppressed peoples of Gaza; the fate of the 34 crew members on the USS Liberty,
including William B. Allenbaugh's; Rachel Corrie's tragic death; and/or
the speculation about those "five dancing Israelis on 9/11."
(10) If he did bring any subject like that up, I doubt that Olmert would
have given Gov. O'Malley a big hug. Running him over with a 60-ton bulldozer
would have been more like it.
-
- Notes
-
- 1. "O'Malley and Olmert," Andrew A. Green
and M. William Salganik, Baltimore Sun, Dec. 28, 2007.
- 2. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/30/lebano13881.htm
- http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/jul2006/qana-j31.shtml
- http://www.lookingglassnews.org/viewstory.php?storyid=6795
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5228392.stm
- 3. http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/13767/index.php
- http://electronicintifada.net/lebanon/
- http://web.amnesty.org/pages/lbn-010906-action-eng
- 4. http://www.pchrgaza.org/
- 5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9OIqy6md9w
- 6. http://www.gtr5.com/
- 7. http://www.rachelcorrie.org/`
- 8. http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/
- printedition/tuesday/chi-liberty_tuesoct02,0,1050179.story
- 9. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-ZJEhDfono
- 10. http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/fiveisraelis.html
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n-nT-luFIw&feature=related
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U_GISl3aAA&feature=related
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58h0LjdMry0
-
- ©2007, William Hughes, All Rights Reserved.
-
- William Hughes is a video and print journalist. His videos
can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=liamh2.
- Email Contact: liamhughes@comcast.net.
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