CAIR: Bush Administration Resupply of Israel "Unconscionable"
Parvez Ahmed, the Board Chairman of The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued the following statement on Saturday, 22 July 2006.
Why is it wrong for the United States to resupply Israel when the Syrians and Iranians are resupplying Hezbollah? A reasonable and balanced position for CAIR to have taken would be to call on all sides to stop the resupply of weapons.
Why no mention of the Hezbollah rocket attacks against Israeli towns and cities? Hezbollah is actually aiming at, and trying to maximize casualties among, the Israeli civilian poulation. The Israelis are trying to minimize civilian casualties. And if anyone thinks otherwise, they’re idiots. Let’s get real: if the IDF wanted to maximize civilian casualties in Lebanon and Gaza, there would be one hell of a lot more dead Lebanese civilians.
CAIR also assumes that American support for Israel is caused by the political iinfluence of a minority of Americans determined to support the Jewish state: “the self-serving dictates of the pro-Israel lobby.” This is inaccurate. For example, recent polls demonstrate that a majority of Americans support Israel and brand Hezbollah as the culprit in the current crisis. Since 11 September 2001 American support for Israel has grown stronger, and the public image Americans have of Muslims has grown steadily worse. In a February 2006 Gallup poll, only 15 percent of those polled said their sympathies were primarily with the Palestinians; 59 percent responded that their sympathies lay with the Israelis. Only 11 percent said they had a favorable opinion of the Palestinian authority after Hamas’s victory.
CAIR has a problem. Its leadership should begin by realizing that American support for Israel is growing stronger, but not as a result of the machinations of some sinister group of Jews and Neocons. The force driving American public opinion toward even greater sympathy for Israel is, in fact, the behavior of its Arab neighbors, as well as the continuing barrage of global Jihadist attacks against targets considered, by Americans at least, as civilian in nature (the Mumbai [Bombay] bombings in India being only the most recent).
It is unconscionable that our government would rush eapons to a state engaged in vicious and indiscriminate attacks on the civilians and civilian infrastructure of a friendly nation. Thousands of our nation's citizens also remain in Lebanon facing death or injury from these American taxpayer-supplied weapons.There are several problems with the statement. First, much of it is inaccurate. Second, it is reflective of self-delusion.
The baffling decision to assist in the destruction of a nation that has been held up as a model of democratic reform can only serve to harm our long-term interests in the region. Aiding attacks on civilian targets in Lebanon also calls into question our nation's commitment to fighting terrorism in all its forms.
America must disengage its Middle East policy from the self-serving dictates of the pro-Israel lobby. Failure to do so will allow Israel to once again drag our nation into its self-perpetuating cycle of hatred and conflict.
Why is it wrong for the United States to resupply Israel when the Syrians and Iranians are resupplying Hezbollah? A reasonable and balanced position for CAIR to have taken would be to call on all sides to stop the resupply of weapons.
Why no mention of the Hezbollah rocket attacks against Israeli towns and cities? Hezbollah is actually aiming at, and trying to maximize casualties among, the Israeli civilian poulation. The Israelis are trying to minimize civilian casualties. And if anyone thinks otherwise, they’re idiots. Let’s get real: if the IDF wanted to maximize civilian casualties in Lebanon and Gaza, there would be one hell of a lot more dead Lebanese civilians.
CAIR also assumes that American support for Israel is caused by the political iinfluence of a minority of Americans determined to support the Jewish state: “the self-serving dictates of the pro-Israel lobby.” This is inaccurate. For example, recent polls demonstrate that a majority of Americans support Israel and brand Hezbollah as the culprit in the current crisis. Since 11 September 2001 American support for Israel has grown stronger, and the public image Americans have of Muslims has grown steadily worse. In a February 2006 Gallup poll, only 15 percent of those polled said their sympathies were primarily with the Palestinians; 59 percent responded that their sympathies lay with the Israelis. Only 11 percent said they had a favorable opinion of the Palestinian authority after Hamas’s victory.
CAIR has a problem. Its leadership should begin by realizing that American support for Israel is growing stronger, but not as a result of the machinations of some sinister group of Jews and Neocons. The force driving American public opinion toward even greater sympathy for Israel is, in fact, the behavior of its Arab neighbors, as well as the continuing barrage of global Jihadist attacks against targets considered, by Americans at least, as civilian in nature (the Mumbai [Bombay] bombings in India being only the most recent).
