If nuclear weaponry wasn't such a threat to humanity, the rhetorical battle between Israel and Iran would be comical and laughable. But nuclear weapons are a threat to all mankind, not just to the arrogant who believe they and they alone count on this planet that we call Earth. The irony is that Israel has 250 armed nuclear warheads that can be fired at any time to destroy its Arab and Muslim neighbors, including Iran. Yet, it screams at every opportunity afforded it by the biased mainstream Western media attacking Iran and declaring that Israel will prevent Iran from developing nuclear technology. Let's get something straight in this hypocritical rhetorical battle of hyperbole and public relations spin: Only one country in the Middle East region has nuclear weapons and that is Israel. Not Iran. Not the Arab countries. Just Israel. Israel provokes the region through offensive policies that affront civil rights and the rule of law. Israel's fanatical leaders continue to proclaim they will destroy anyone who challenges their power, even if the challenge is to force Israel to be accountable for its war crimes committed since its founding in 1948. Israel, not Iran, is the country that threatens the region. It has taken, and continues to take, lands owned by Arabs. Israel, not Iran, has killed civilians. Israel is the country that continues to call for military strikes against another foreign country while Americans ignore justice, law and principle to mindlessly soak in the Israeli propaganda. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does not represent the Arab or the Muslim world. Many argue he doesn't run Iran's government. But his indictment of Israel, burdened by extreme rhetoric and wild emotional invective, resonates among the Arabs and Muslims who have been bullied, oppressed and victimized by Israel. America is much like a police officer who watches as a friend enters and robs a store. When the store owner screams for help, he is beaten by the police officer and the thief is allowed to flee. When it comes to Israel, American justice is based on politics not the rule of law. American justice is blind to crimes against Arabs and Muslims. Israel steals land from Arabs and America is silent. Israel murders Arab activists calling it “extrajudicial killing,” an admission that the killings are illegal. Israel's government conducts itself outside of the rule of law, and exploits American ignorance and its powerful PR spin and news media manipulation and influence to prevent challenge. I'm not saying that Ahmadinejad is any better than Israel's rightwing fanatic leadership, a leadership that has for the past four years refused to negotiate peace just so it can expand its illegal Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank. But Ahmadinejad is no worse that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It wasn't Ahmadinejad who sent armed soldiers to assault a flotilla of boats in 2010 driven by loud-mouthed but unarmed activists, many of whom hate Israel. But hatred isn't a crime. Isn't that what the West keeps telling Muslims? Hatred of Muslims in the anti-Muslim video is “free speech.” But hatred was enough for Israel to kill nine civilians, including one American citizen. Apparently the murder of an American who criticizes Israel is not murder. Furkan Dogan, an American living in Turkey, was murdered by Israeli soldiers on the flotilla when he resisted, without a weapon, the attacking Israeli soldiers. Rachel Corrie was another American citizen who was killed by an Israeli soldier driving an American-made Caterpillar D-9 tractor. The Israeli soldier was destroying Arab civilian homes to make room for Israeli settlers in the Gaza Strip in 2003. The soldier knew protestors including Corrie were trying to stop the destruction and saw her. He ran her over. Justice and Israel are antonyms, words opposite in meaning to each other. And you can't get justice in America either if you happen to be a critic of Israel. I support two-states, compromise and peace. I support non-violence and I oppose violence. But I don't support hypocrisy. It is shameful to watch as President Barack Obama cowers under Israel's PR onslaught, afraid to tell the American people the truth because it might cost him his re-election. Obama's actions are an admission that extremism is more powerful than truth! Obama walked out of the United Nations because he didn't want to hear criticism of Israel. Americans tolerate criticism of every other country in the world, including of some of the most oppressive regimes in the world like China. But criticize Israel and America won't tolerate it at all. We'll even go to war for Israel, at the cost of American lives. We already give Israel billions of dollars in funds every year, money that could otherwise feed Americans who continue to starve on the streets of America. But America won't stand up to Israel. By refusing to stand up to Israel, America empowers megalomaniacs like Ahmadinejad who speak to the injustices caused by Israel, injustices no one else will address. American justice truly is blind.
— Ray Hanania is an award winning columnist. Reach him at www.TheMediaOasis.com
