Thursday, December 29, 2016

THE UNITED NATIONS, THE UNITED STATES….AND ISRAEL.

I’d like to address a couple of the comments John Kerry made during his speech about the UN/Israel vote:

John Kerry, in his remarks about America’s “position” on the UN/Israel vote, said, “…I am compelled to respond today that the United States did vote in accordance with our values…”.

How pathetic an opinion of the Unites States must he, Kerry, have, to suggest that abstaining from a critical vote is an American value? Israel, who remains a target in the Middle East, surrounded by wolves whose core values include the total destruction of the Jewish state as well as the annihilation of the Jewish people, who represents the very idea of democracy in the Middle East, whose very existence is tenuous, guaranteed by The Unites States, was abandoned by that very protector; not by virtue of a “yes” or “no” vote, but rather by an “abstain” vote. To me, this is nothing short of cowardice; gutless, spineless cowardice.

Is gutless, spineless cowardice an American value?

Perhaps I’m just an idealist, but I always thought that America counted among its values courage, steadfast alliance with our allies, and bravery in the face of opposition. I thought that America counted among its values decisiveness. I thought that America was “the cop on the corner”. I thought America was the best and brightest hope for the future.

Now, it seems, that our (thankfully) outgoing leadership believes none of this. They prefer a vision of a nation of weak, indecisive cowards.

But, I’m not sure why anyone would be surprised by this; for the past two of three election cycles, we chose as our leader a man who, in his brief tenure as a US Senator, recorded more “present” votes than any Senator in US history. Even then, his core value was cowardice and indecisiveness; the very picture of a cowering decidophobiac.

The only question, in my mind, is this: is John Kerry’s and Barack Obama’s vision (and practice) of “United States values” shared by those who support them? Evidence certainly points to exactly this.

Consider:

Obama, speaking about the 2016, November 8th election:

“There are some things that we know are a challenge for Democrats — structural problems. For example, population distribution, oftentimes younger voters, minority voters, Democratic voters, are clustered in urban areas. And so as a consequence you’ve got a situation where there’re not only entire states but also big chunks of states where, if we’re not showing up, if we’re not in there making an argument, then we’re going to lose. And we can lose badly, and that’s what happened in this election.”

Clearly, in this election, Democrats, overwhelmingly, acted out Kerry’s and Obama’s “vision”: they abstained from the vote.
On November 8th, Democrats reaped what had sown.

“…if we’re not showing up, if we’re not in there making an argument, then we’re going to lose. And we can lose badly, and that’s what happened in this election.”

Yes, Mr. President, if America does not show up, we WILL lose.

Kerry also said, If the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or democratic. It cannot be both.”

Mr. Kerry, does this also apply to the Palestinians? Must they, too, choose between being Palestinian and being democratic?


Somehow, I doubt….rather, I am CERTAIN…that it does not. Not in Kerry’s mind. Not in Obama’s, either.

Hirota
December 2016

No comments: