The Comment Factory

What He Said:

“Hamas has so far sustained a very heavy blow from us, but we have yet to achieve our objective and therefore the operation continues”.

Ehud Barak, Israeli Defense Minister, January 6th 2008.

What He Meant:

We should speak of US-Israeli objectives. It’s more than just symbolic that Gaza is being pounded by US jet bombers and helicopters, of course in violation of US law (not to speak of international humanitarian law).

Traditionally over the years, Israel has sought to crush any resistance to its programs of takeover of the parts of Palestine it regards as valuable, while eliminating any hope for the indigenous population to have a decent existence enjoying national rights. Probably one factor in US support for Israel is that this resonates so well with American history, a fact that has not gone unnoticed. The West Bank and Gaza are, of course, a single unit: Occupied Palestine. Israeli military control of the West Bank, now with the help of US-trained collaborators, is so effective that protest or resistance there is unlikely. But the occupied Gaza Strip — and there has not been a day when it hasn’t been occupied — still has a degree of independence, and there are reactions there to Israeli crimes, which continue daily. The reactions can be condemned as criminal and politically foolish, but those who offer no alternative have no moral grounds to issue such judgments, particularly those in the US who choose to be directly implicated in these ongoing crimes — by their words, their actions, or their silence.

Noam Chomsky