No Change for the Palestinians

international | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis Thursday December 04, 2008 15:52 by Maidhc Ó Cathail

Obama picks Israeli hard-liner as White House Chief of Staff

Despite rightwing media attempts to portray Barack Obama as a covert Muslim during the U.S. Presidential election campaign, his appointment of pro-Israel hard-liner Rahm Emanuel as White House Chief of Staff indicates that there will be no change in American policy toward Israel/Palestine.

“Change we can believe in” - whatever is meant by “change” - was the marketing slogan of Barack Obama’s successful presidential election campaign. The next president of the United States quickly let it be known, however, that there would be no change in American policy toward Israel, with his first appointment as White House Chief of Staff - Rahm Emanuel.

“There could not be a more provocative appointment than Rahm Emanuel,” wrote Ali Abunimah, the editor of Electronic Intifada (5 November, 2008), an online news site from a Palestinian perspective, “if he wanted to send a signal that he is going to stick by a quite hardline pro-Israel policy.”

Rahm Emanuel’s father has no doubts either that his son will influence President-elect Obama’s Middle East policy in favour of Israel. According to an article in the Jerusalem Post (6 November, 2008), Dr. Benjamin Emanuel said in an interview with the Hebrew newspaper Ma’ariv: “Obviously he will influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn’t he? What is he, an Arab? He’s not going to clean the floors of the White House.”

Whatever about the doctor’s racist comments, he is right. The Chief of Staff is a very important position because it’s he who decides who gets access to the President and who doesn’t. If Rahm has inherited any of his father’s racism, it’s unlikely that many Arabs will be given access while he’s running the White House.

Israeli Terrorism

In the 1940s Benjamin Emanuel smuggled weapons to the Irgun, the Zionist militia of Menachem Begin, (one of three Israeli Prime Ministers - Yitkhak Shamir and Ariel Sharon are the other two - who were former terrorists), which waged a campaign of terror against the Palestinians and the British, including the bombing of the King David Hotel in 1946, in which 93 people were killed. As a result of the ruthless acts of Emanuel’s comrades, the Jewish state was established two years later. Founded on terrorism, the Israeli state is now in the vanguard of the “global war on terrorism.”

Although Rahm Emanuel was born and raised in Chicago, he also showed his loyalty to Israel when he volunteered his services to the Israeli army during the Gulf War in 1991. He maintained vehicles for the army near the border with Lebanon while Israel was occupying the southern part of that country.

Member of Congress

Rahm Emanuel was elected to the U.S. Congress in 2003, where he has been a staunch defender of Israel’s aggressive policies ever since. In June of that year, he was less than pleased with President Bush when Bush criticised the Israeli policy of assassinating Palestinian leaders. Along with 33 other Democrats, Emanuel signed a letter to Bush in which they said: “We were deeply dismayed to hear your criticism of Israel for fighting acts of terror.”

In July 2006, Emanuel gave a speech in the House of Representatives supporting Israel’s attack on Lebanon, in which they destroyed the country’s infrastructure and killed over a thousand civilians. He also tried to prevent Nouri al-Maliki, the President of Iraq, from speaking to Congress because of his criticism of the attack.

Ethnic Cleansing

Emanuel sometimes feigns concern for Palestinian civilians, however. In July 2006, he wrote to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice “on behalf of students in the Gaza Strip whose future is threatened by the ongoing fighting there.” Instead of criticising Israel for its barbaric blockade of the region, Emanuel laid the blame on the fighting between Hamas and Fatah. Predictably, he failed to mention that the United States had fomented the violence to get rid of the Hamas government, which had been democratically elected by the Palestinian people in 2006. Emanuel advised Rice to cooperate with other governments in the region - for example, Egypt and Jordan - to find a safe place in those countries for students from Gaza.

Palestinians are well aware, however, that the likes of Emanuel are not genuinely concerned with the students’ safety. It’s merely an excuse to transfer young Palestinians out of the country, as part of the ongoing ethnic cleansing that is necessary to maintain a Jewish majority in the Israeli state. At present, Palestinians comprise a little over 50 percent of the population in Israel and the Occupied Palestinians Terroritories combined, and that’s cause for concern for the Israeli government and its supporters overseas like Rahm Emanuel.

Obama's Zionism

After Barack Obama spoke this June before AIPAC - the most powerful Israel lobby in the United States - Emanuel accompanied him to a meeting with AIPAC’s executive committee. The committee must have been pleased with Obama’s speech in which he pledged his firm support to the Israeli state. But they must have been delighted when Obama controversially said that an undivided Jerusalem was the capital of Israel, despite United Nations resolutions condemning Israel’s annexation of the city, and despite the fact that no country has its embassy in Jerusalem.

During the election, right-wing media like Fox News spread doubts that Barack Obama was a covert Muslim. They focused on his middle name, Hussein, trying to forge a link in the minds of an ignorant audience between Obama and Saddam Hussein. They must be happy now, however, that Rahm Israel Emanuel will be in the White House making sure that President Obama isn’t “soft” on terrorists - Muslim terrorists, that is. Of course, American and Israeli terrorists will be given free rein to widen their “war on terror.” Plus ça change...

This article was originally published in the Irish-language magazine Beo (www.beo.ie). That article can be read here:
http://www.beo.ie/?page=ar_na_saolta_seo&content_id=757