"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality." --Bishop Desmond Tutu

Friday, January 09, 2009

Why does Israel set our foreign policy?

Once again, our leaders have caved into that small nation carved out of another nation. Israel "forced" the US UN ambassador to abstain from a vote demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. How is this possible? How did America end up in the pocket of the Israeli government?
The resolution calling for a truce was passed by a vote of 14-0, but the US abstention will weaken its impact in Israel, where signals sent from Washington are taken very seriously and where an election is approaching. The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, issued a statement this morning saying that the security council resolution was "not practical" and that the Gaza offensive would continue.

America's volte-face over the UN resoltion stunned British and the French diplomats as the US had helped draft its text. The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, had fiercely defended the draft in the face of heavy lobbying from Israel which was adamant it would not accept any proposal that treated it on an equal footing with Hamas, and might limit its right of self-defence against Hamas rockets.
Apparently George Bush is not the President anymore (nor is Barack Obama for that matter). It's really Ehud Olmert.
The US change of mind came at the last moment, as a result of White House intervention following a call from Olmert.
Israel's behavior is reprehensible and our kowtowing to their demands leads me to fear for the sovereignty of our nation.

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