Robert Fisk & Western Leaders

This is one of the shortest articles I have ever read written by Mr. Fisk. Not that he is speechless about Israel's massacre, he wrote other articles about it, but this one particular article aiming at European leaders.


Robert Fisk: Western leaders are too cowardly to help save lives

Has Israel lost it? Can the Gaza War of 2008-09 (1,300 dead) and the Lebanon War of 2006 (1,006 dead) and all the other wars and now Monday's killings mean that the world will no longer accept Israel's rule?

Don't hold your breath.

You only have to read the gutless White House statement -- that the Obama administration was “working to understand the circumstances surrounding the tragedy”. Not a single word of condemnation. And that's it. Nine dead. Just another statistic to add to the Middle East's toll.

But it's not.

In 1948, our politicians -- the Americans and the British -- staged an airlift into Berlin. A starving population (our enemies only three years before) were surrounded by a brutal army, the Russians, who had erected a fence around the city. The Berlin airlift was one of the great moments in the Cold War. Our soldiers and our airmen risked and gave their lives for these starving Germans.

Incredible, isn't it? In those days, our politicians took decisions; our leaders took decisions to save lives. Messrs Attlee and Truman knew that Berlin was important in moral and human as well as political terms.

And on Monday? It was people -- ordinary people, Europeans, Americans, Holocaust survivors -- yes, for heaven's sake, survivors of the Nazis -- who took the decision to go to Gaza because their politicians and their statesmen had failed them.

Where were our politicians on Monday? Well, we had the ridiculous Ban Ki-moon, the White House's pathetic statement, and dear Mr. Blair's expression of “deep regret and shock at the tragic loss of life”. Where was Mr. Cameron? Where was Mr. Clegg?

Back in 1948, they would have ignored the Palestinians, of course. It is, after all, a terrible irony that the Berlin airlift coincided with the destruction of Arab Palestine.

But it is a fact that it is ordinary people, activists, call them what you will, who now take decisions to change events. Our politicians are too spineless, too cowardly, to take decisions to save lives. Why is this? Why didn't we hear courageous words from Messrs Cameron and Clegg?

For it is a fact, is it not, that had Europeans (and yes, the Turks are Europeans, are they not?) been gunned down by any other Middle Eastern army (which the Israeli army is, is it not?) there would have been waves of outrage.

And what does this say about Israel? Isn't Turkey a close ally of Israel? Is this what the Turks can expect? Now Israel's only ally in the Muslim world is saying this is a massacre -- and Israel doesn't seem to care.

But then Israel didn't care when London and Canberra expelled Israeli diplomats after British and Australian passports were forged and then provided to the assassins of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. It didn't care when it announced new Jewish settlements on occupied land in East Jerusalem while Joe Biden, the Vice-President of its erstwhile ally, the United States, was in town. Why should Israel care now?

How did we get to this point? Maybe because we all grew used to seeing the Israelis kill Arabs, maybe the Israelis grew used to killing Arabs. Now they kill Turks. Or Europeans. Something has changed in the Middle East -- and the Israelis (given their extraordinarily stupid political response to the slaughter) don't seem to have grasped what has happened. The world is tired of these outrages. Only the politicians are silent.

(Source: The Independent)


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Fisk has pointed out to European and American leaders, indeed, but what about Arab leaders?

I followed the news and all what it came out from the intensive 5 hours meeting in Cairo the day before yesterday was the standard printed out condemnation... and ... a call to "break the siege imposed by Israel on Gaza, by all means".

All news agencies got puzzled by the "by all means" part in the final communique. In addition, news came out that Kuwait was the only country withdrew from the Arab initiative regarding the already dead peace process, but why did other "moderate" Arab countries followed suit?

I guess I blowing in an empty jar

In fact there is no need to add anything to this post.