Subject: Israel Comes First: Pelosi at AIPAC
> To: [email protected]
>
> Please call Ms. Pelosi's San Francisco office
> (especially in the aftermath of the lastest atrocity
> in Gaza). The number is
>
> (415)556.4862
>
>
................................... ................................... ................................... .............................
> www.counterpunch.org
> Israel Comes First
> Pelosi at AIPAC By JOSHUA FRANK
>
> I think it is finally time we stood up and thanked
> Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the darling Democrat from the Bay
> Area who leads her party in the House. Pelosi's
> recent speech to the Israel-American lobby AIPAC,
> the second largest lobby in Washington, was
> monumental - truly unparalleled in its candor.
> Despite the fact that AIPAC was recently busted
> for spying on the United States, Pelosi, along with
> many other top bureaucrats from Washington, gushed
> effusions of praise on the foreign power. "There are
> those who contend that the Israeli-Palestinian
> conflict is all about Israel's occupation of the
> West Bank and Gaza," Pelosi said as she rallied
> AIPAC loyalists. "This is absolute nonsense. In
> truth, the history of the conflict is not over
> occupation, and never has been: it is over the
> fundamental right of Israel to exist."
>
> Apparently Pelosi has never asked a Palestinian
> what they think of Israel's brutality. Not that she
> hasn't witnessed the occupation first hand; Pelosi
> is just not concerned in the least with the
> Palestinian resistance.
>
> "This spring, I was in Israel as part of a
> congressional trip that also took us to Egypt,
> Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq," said Pelosi. "One of the
> most powerful experiences was taking a helicopter
> toward Gaza, over the path of the security fence. We
> set down in a field that belonged to a local
> kibbutz. It was a cool but sunny day, and the field
> was starting to bloom with mustard. Mustard is a
> crop that grows in California, and it felt at that
> moment as if I were home. And then we were told that
> the reason we had to land in that field, as opposed
> to our actual destination, was because there had
> been an infiltration that morning, and they weren't
> sure how secure the area was. And that point alone
> brought us back to the daily reality of Israel: even
> moments of peace and beauty are haunted by the
> specter of violence."
> Pelosi, like so many other Democrats and
> Republicans in DC, does not appreciate the asymmetry
> of the conflict. She cannot understand that
> Palestinians are faced with violence every day as
> their livelihoods and homes are uprooted to make way
> for new Israeli settlements. Never mind that the
> farm collective where Pelosi landed in her fancy
> helicopter was at one time operated by Palestinian
> farmers. For the land, according to Pelosi, has
> always belonged to the state of Israel.
> "One thing, however is unchanged," Pelosi added.
> "America's commitment to the safety and security of
> the State of Israel is unwavering. America and
> Israel share an unbreakable bond: in peace and war;
> and in prosperity and in hardship."
> Sadly, Palestinians don't figure into Pelosi's
> lopsided equation; those darn Arabs just don't
> matter. And when Pelosi speaks of "safety and
> security," its only Israelis she's talking about.
> While Pelosi ignored Israel's vast arsenal of
> chemical, biological and nuclear weaponry, along
> with the numerous UN Resolutions the country has
> broken - she still had the audacity to lash out at
> the latest troublemaker in the Middle East: Iran.
>
> "The greatest threat to Israel's right to exist,
> with the prospect of devastating violence, now comes
> from Iran. For too long, leaders of both political
> parties in the United States have not done nearly
> enough to confront the Russians and the Chinese, who
> have supplied Iran as it has plowed ahead with its
> nuclear and missile technology."
> So, three cheers for Pelosi! Her honesty has been
> crudely insightful. Especially given the fact that
> two AIPAC staffers have just been indicted for
> espionage by the US government.
>
> Joshua Frank is the author of the forthcoming
> book, Left Out! How Liberals Helped Reelect George
> W. Bush, to be published by Common Courage Press.
> You can pre-order a copy at discounted rate at
> BrickBurner. org. Josh can be reached at:
> Joshua@BrickBurner. org.