Following up on yesterday's
post about how the American media disappeared a Palestinian dissident and
an American victim of Israeli aggression in one fell swoop of ideological
misrecognition.
As this
story in the New York Times (NYT) describes, in a dramatic
last-minute, on-the-tarmac-before-takeoff telephone negotiation, Obama went out
of his way to "broker" a deal whereby Israel would give an apology (one of
those sorry for "any mistakes" non-apology apologies, to be sure) to Turkey for
the killing of nine people during the 2010 Israeli raid the on the Turkish-flagged
vessel Mavi Marmara in the Gaza
Freedom Flotilla, in exchange for Turkey's restoration of full diplomatic ties
with Israel.
Restoring
what historically has been a friendly relationship between Israel and Turkey
is, you see, good for Israel. As both the NYT and the Jerusalem Post (JP) report, it means that Turkey will
drop its criminal indictments against Israeli military officials, and it will open
the door for Israel "to upgrade its ties with NATO, something that Turkey, as a
NATO member, had continuously vetoed." It will also help the American-Israeli
effort to, as the NYT so delicately puts it, "confront Syria's civil war." Indeed, the JP reports that Syria was the decisive factor for Netanyahu, who
posted that: "The fact that the crisis in Syria is getting worse by the minute
was the central consideration in my eyes."
As Netanyahu's National Security Adviser, Yaakov Amidror, puts it: "What
we wanted is to get to a situation where the relationship will be upgraded so
that we can cooperate more regarding Syria, and will give Israel more freedom
of action in the Middle East and elsewhere."
More (?!) "freedom
of action" for Israel. (N.B. NATO, "and
elsewhere"?!!) Just the formula for
peace that the world needs.
So, in order
to restore Israel's beneficial relation to Turkey, open the door for Israel's de facto integration into NATO, bring
everyone on the same page for destroying
the
Syrian State,
and, generally, everywhere, "give Israel more freedom of action," Obama used
his newly-lauded "talent
for arm-twisting" to get the Israeli Prime Minister to apologize to Turkey for an incident in which an American citizen was also killed -- but
nary a twist, tweak, word or suggestion about an apology to the United States,
Israel's uniquely generous patron. Love is never having to say you're sorry.
Or, the American Israel lobby would never allow that.
As Dave
Lindorff points out in this
cogent post, the American media "are full of glowing reports and praise"
for Obama's display of tough-minded diplomatic prowess. Of course, neither would the American
president "bother to demand that Netanyahu include an apology, weak or
otherwise, to the American people for the killing of an American national," nor
would the American media bother to notice that he hadn't. Not allowed.
Some might
find "the idea that this president cannot demand even a mild apology from an
Israeli prime minister for the brutal slaughter of an unarmed US citizen, even
as he is brokering such an apology for the killing of nine Turkish citizens "
beyond appalling." "Some," who will not
be found -- will not be allowed -- in the Democratic or Republican parties, or in
the mainstream media.
So after
being killed by the IDF with "two shots to the face fired at close range "as he lay
already gravely wounded " having been already shot in the back, leg and foot," Furkan
Dorgan, along with Rachel
Corrie and the sailors of the USS Liberty, officially joins the ranks of
Americans with whom, when it comes to Israel's "freedom of action," the
President of the United States and the American media cannot be bothered.
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