In three weeks between Dec. 27, 2008 and Jan. 18, 2009 Israel killed 1,284 Palestinians in Gaza. Of this figure 894 were civilians and among the civilians were 280 small children and teens under the age of 17. Everyone knows that Israel gets its courage from the US and Europe. Israel has never faced the consequences of its actions and cannot be stopped by anyone. On top of everything, it possesses nuclear weapons.It’s impossible to correctly understand what’s happening today without thoroughly understanding Israeli-US relations. I would like to recall the USS Liberty incident which Yıldıray Oğur mentioned in his article published in the Taraf daily the other day.
During the Arab-Israeli war, a US intelligence ship, the USS Liberty, was attacked by Israeli jet fighter planes and motor torpedo boats on June 8, 1967 while sailing in international waters with a staff of 294 onboard. The attack killed 34 and wounded 171 people.
First two Mirage jet fighters Israel had bought from France started attacking the ship at 2.00 p.m. A few minutes later, without any warning, three Super-Mystere fighter bombers came and launched dozens of rockets and napalm bombs at the ship. Shortly afterwards the ship was again attacked by two Mirage jet fighters.
Liberty’s distress call was first received by the aircraft carrier Saratoga, which was only 400 miles away. Twelve F-14 Phantom jets and four tanker aircraft were instructed to be deployed to defend the Liberty. But help was never delivered because then-Defense Secretary Robert McNamara personally got on the radio and said, “Tell the Sixth Fleet to get those aircraft back immediately.”
Sixth Fleet Rear Adm. Lawrence Geis demanded confirmation of the recall order which he could not make sense of. The order was confirmed by President Johnson. The admiral was told that it didn’t matter who was killed or what happened to the ship because the president did not want to cause stress for their ally (Israel). The jets had to return. That was it.
The attack by fighter jets was followed by attacks from torpedo boats. They fired torpedoes and one of them killed 25 people. They surrounded the ship and for 40 minutes continued shooting at injured people on the deck and at fire extinguishers. When the Liberty was later pulled into Malta, 821 rocket holes and 3,000 holes from armor-piercing bullets were found.
For many years surviving personnel of the USS Liberty have asked members of the Congress to investigate the attack. Not only have US officials not done anything on this matter for the past 43 years but they’ve refused to hear any information on how the incident happened. The incident was a war crime and not investigating a war crime is a crime itself.
The crucial point of this matter is the weakness of the US, which sparks an outcry anytime an American is killed anywhere in the world, to shed light on this incident. The Liberty attack is the only incident in the history of the American naval force that has not been investigated by the US Congress. This incident is one of the most tightly kept secrets of the American secret service. (For more information you can go to www.ussliberty.org or www.haysiyet.com.)
The Liberty incident illustrates the magnitude of the Jewish hawks’ continuing influence over the US government and politicians. But can the US continue to bear the weight of the Israeli government’s preposterous and inhumane policies? No it cannot. In Israel, there may be rapacious and barbaric politicians who don’t essentially think about the future of the Israeli people but the whole of humanity cannot stand by and watch this vile recklessness, this rapaciousness.
America should pull itself together. The European Union should pull itself together.
It’s time to say stop to Israeli governments. How much longer will a country of 5 million continue to pose a threat to world peace? The alliance of civilizations needed for global peace will remain at stake as long as Israel’s atrocious policies and state terror continues. It’s time to bring Israel to its senses.
