Despite the danger it represents, the US is doing everything it can to support Israel's nuclear weapons programme, writes Stuart Littlewood* in London I went cold, very cold, when I read in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that, "the US has reportedly pledged to sell Israel... nuclear technology and other supplies, despite the fact that Israel is not a signatory of the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty [NPT]." "Other countries have refused to cooperate with Israel on nuclear matters because it has not signed the NPT, and there has been increasing international pressure for Israel to be more transparent about its nuclear arsenal." In their recent meeting in Washington, US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu also discussed the upcoming International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conference on a nuclear-free Middle East, which was proposed during the 2010 Non- Proliferation Treaty review conference in New York and which Netanyahu is refusing to attend because Israel would be singled out. Well obviously. So Obama thought it best put the toys back in Bibi's pram before he threw another tantrum. The two leaders agreed to work together to oppose efforts to single out Israel at the conference in September, in which case what will be the point of it? In what many will see as a pact with the devil, Obama has emphasised that the US will cuddle up to Israel to "support our common efforts to strengthen international peace and stability" and ensure that arms control initiatives don't rock the boat on Israel's precious security. In October last year the Washington Times ran a report, by Eli Lake, to the effect that Obama had agreed to keep Israel's nukes secret by reaffirming a four-decade-old secret understanding that allowed Israel to keep a nuclear arsenal without opening it up to international inspections. Under this understanding the US has not pressured Israel to disclose its nuclear weapons or sign the nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty, which could require Israel to give up its estimated several hundred nuclear bombs. "Israel had been nervous that Mr Obama would not continue the 1969 understanding because of his strong support for non-proliferation and priority on preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons," the report read. So here we have Obama helping the delinquent state on its way to Armageddon and God-promised world supremacy, while itching to vaporise Iran for daring to think nuclear even in a civil way. More than ever before, the world seems to be in the hands of madmen that are devoid of principle and completely, certifiably bonkers. And it's Western democracies that are producing the power freaks and militarised terrorists. They come from nowhere -- like Bush, like Obama, like Blair, like Cameron. They have no track record. They haven't put in any time in a key office so that we can study and measure their performance, and check their integrity, before handing them supreme power. They are too immature to have sound judgment and too distracted by a young family. But youth and family are vital ingredients in the marketing mix. These high-flyers are the carefully packaged product of political power brokers and interest groups, skillfully groomed for maximum public appeal and subsequent manipulation. For the obedient there's a rich and rewarding retirement waiting, lucrative jobs with merchant banks and board appointments with the likes of the Carlyle Group and honours by the barrow-load and peace prizes for waging mega-war on civilians. If ordinary people in the democratic world don't wake up very quickly, purge their administrations of corruption, run a psychological assessment on all candidates for power, and reverse course, we're sunk. In the UK, the Prime Minister David Cameron is concerned only that British troops are out of Afghanistan before the next election. That's in five years' time, during which we'll see countless more homeward bound coffins and many more thousands of local citizens shredded and maimed. At the Foreign Office, British foreign secretary William Hague, a besotted admirer of Israel since he was in short trousers, loudly threatens Iran with sanctions and worse. And Liam Fox, now British defense secretary, has been credited with the immortal words that, "we must remember that in the battle for the values that we stand for, for democracy against theocracy, for democratic liberal values against repression, Israel's enemies are our enemies and this is a battle in which we all stand together or we will all fall divided." We are at a time in history when those with dangerous views and evil intentions are rising to the top of the political cesspit, usually by default because the others wallowing in it can be relied on not to make waves. Yet, considering the Zionist regime's unhinged mentality and notorious lack of restraint, it is obvious that Israel's 200 (or is it 400?) nuclear warheads pose a massive threat not only to the Middle East but also to the rest of the world. Those warheads can be targeted on European cities and, some say, already are. Why hasn't Israel signed the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention? And why hasn't it ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty or the Chemical Weapons Convention? Because being a menace is necessary to its ambitions. But the US government now considers any "strong anti- Israel sentiment" to be anti-Semitic. Indeed, US politicians are so scared of the pro-Israel lobby that sales of congressional diapers have skyrocketed. In March, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) persuaded more than three-quarters of the House of Representatives to sign a letter calling for an end to public criticism of Israel and urging the US to "reinforce" its relationship with the Jewish state. This was underscored by the nauseating spectacle of the Senate and the House of Representatives giving virtually 100 per cent endorsement to a resolution praising Israeli war crimes against Gaza, while the rest of the world condemned Israel for its barbarity. In November 2009, they suspended the rules to cut short debate on Resolution 867, which the House of Representatives passed by 344 to 36. It called on the US president and the secretary of state to oppose unequivocally any endorsement or further consideration of the Goldstone Report on the Israeli assault on Gaza. The House rejected the report's findings that Israel committed war crimes during its military assault on the Gaza Strip as "irredeemably biased." Then, In the middle of the horrendous Cast Lead onslaught against Gaza's civilians, and after Israel deliberately breached the ceasefire with Hamas, the House of Representatives passed a resolution "recognising Israel's right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza" by a majority of 390-5. They noted that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was "becoming more acute" but dared not rebuke Israel. For a flavour of how the minds of American lawmakers work, take Senate Resolution 548 passed only last month. It includes in its preamble that "whereas since 2001, Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organisations have fired more than 10,000 rockets and mortars from Gaza into Israel, killing at least 18 Israelis and wounding dozens more." And "whereas according to Michael Oren, the Israeli Ambassador to the United States, 'If the sea lanes are open to Hamas in Gaza... they will acquire thousands of rockets that will threaten every single citizen in the state of Israel and also kill the peace process... Hamas armed with thousands of rockets not only threatens 7,500,000 Israelis but it's the end of the peace process.'" And "whereas upon the boarding of the Mavi Marmara by the Israeli Navy, the Mavi Marmara's passengers brutally and violently attacked the members of the Israeli Navy with knives, clubs, pipes, and other weapons, injuring several of them." And "whereas the members of the Israeli Navy, under attack and in grave danger, reacted in self-defense and used lethal force against their attackers on the Mavi Marmara, shooting and killing nine of them; whereas in the time since the attack, the United Nations has unjustly criticised the actions of the Government of Israel and called for an investigation of such actions; and "whereas the actions of the United Nations are undermining Israel's inherent right to self-defense, compromising its sovereignty, and helping to legitimise Hamas." And so on. The resolution is framed in terms that paint Israel, the brutal oppressor, occupier and sea pirate, as the victim. The crude disinformation is easily shot down in flames, but you mustn't criticise or question. Ignorance is such bliss to American decision making. As a result, they resolved: - Israel has an inherent and undeniable right to defend itself against any threat to the safety of its citizens. - To reaffirm that the United States stands with Israel in pursuit of shared security goals, including the security of Israel. - To condemn the violent attack and provocation by extremists aboard the Mavi Marmara, who created a highly destabilising incident in a region that cannot afford further instability. - To condemn any future such attempts to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza for the purpose of creating or provoking violent confrontation or otherwise undermining the security of Israel. - To condemn Hamas for its failure to recognise the right of Israel to exist, its human rights abuses against the residents of Gaza, and its continued rejection of a constructive path to peace for the Israeli and Palestinian people. - To condemn the government of Iran for its role, past and present, in directly supporting Hamas and undermining the security of Israel. - To encourage the Government of Turkey to recognise the importance of continued strong relations with Israel and the necessity of closely scrutinizing organisations with potential ties to terrorist groups. Thanks largely to US gullibility, Israel has been re- established and must next pass through the fires of tribulation before receiving the Godly pat on the head. So all this chicanery is presumably to prepare the ground for accelerating the "end times", or Armageddon, and to provoke the ultimate destruction-fest and max out the suffering that millions of believers are so looking forward to. When it's all over, mankind will simply have defeated itself, with America's help. So, while Obama and Netanyahu take the floor for the Armageddon waltz, let us pray, fervently. * The writer is the author of Radio Free Palestine on life in the occupied Palestinian territories.
