Mousa Abu Marzook, a senior member of Hamas exiled in Damascus, has another opinion piece out, this one, naturally, regarding the Israeli incursion into Gaza.
The most poignant line reads: “But now, amid Israel’s latest attack on our people, as the death toll rises in the hundreds, with thousands wounded — all victims of American taxpayers’ largesse — Palestinians wonder how Obama will react to the escalating crisis. They demand of the next White House a new paradigm of respect and accountability, because when Palestinians see an F-16 with the Star of David painted on its tail, they see America.” It’s worth a read.
The U.S. feels surprisingly intertwined with the current conflict in the Levant – especially given the lack weight our own two wars often bring to bear.
Protests in New York, Boston and Washington; counter protests to anti-Semitic vandalism in Chicago; in San Francisco Palestinians and Israelis protesting together, and in Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa becoming embroiled.
Both sides of the heated conflict – those vehemently pro-Israeli and those more sympathetic to Palestinian views – seem anxious to find out where the next president will fall on the issue come January 20th.
Lost in the chaos, though, seems to be the extent to which this clash is also America’s, a fact outlined in Marzook’s argument.
American bombs, American planes, and American idleness, all lead rage in the Muslim world to be directed at the far enemy in addition to Israel. As Lawrence Wright often remarks, “if the Israeli-Palestinian crisis were resolved tomorrow,” bin Laden “would be heartbroken.” The conflict remains his bread and butter.
It’s difficult to think about this bitter fight without pondering the role of American war machines, and thus the American military complex.
New America will be hosting an important event here on Thursday with Eugene Jarecki, director of Why We Fight, a seminal documentary that won the 2005 Sundance grand jury prize.
Jarecki will be discussing his new book, The American Way of War: Guided Missiles, Misguided Men, and a Republic in Peril.
The book traces the evolution of the military industrial complex through the years, from Eisenhower’s forewarning to the Bush tenure, in which Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld launched a campaign to revamp the American way of defense and, quite revolutionarily, the American way of offense.
Please join us, or if unable, watch streaming live here on the Wash Note.
— Brian Till
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