Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi

 

THIS newspaper had earlier published an article by me in which I spoke about the double American standards. I had compared between President Barack Obama's attitudes on the Ukrainian crisis and the ongoing Israeli aggression against Gaza.



I spoke about Obama's open threats to Russia and the sanctions he has imposed on it. I also talked about the pressures Obama has put on the European countries to join him in his sanctions against Russia for annexing Crimea. Obama had also criticized Russia for supporting the rebels in east Ukraine who were fighting for independence in order to join Russia.



I compared Obama's stance vis-a-vis Ukraine to his attitude on the ferocious war launched by Israel against the besieged Gaza and the brutal massacres the Israeli army has committed against the innocent civilians including old men, women and children.



Obama's attitude towards Israeli's unjust war against Gaza is exactly opposite to his stand regarding the crisis in Ukraine. Instead of condemning the aggressor, Obama had condemned the Palestinian resistance for launching missiles against Israel, which is attacking the Palestinians with the most modern weapons provided to it by none other than America itself.



He did not utter a single word to denounce Israel's crimes and has never dared to ask the Zionist state to stop targeting the civilians or destroying houses, mosques, hospitals and schools including the UNRWA's school in which about 3,000 Palestinians had sought shelter.



All that the American president had said was that he was worried about the fate and the predicament of these civilians.



My article was well received by the readers. I received a number of appreciating email messages. Appraising comments were also made on the newspaper's website. Some comments were made on the hashtag of one of the Twitter accounts, who advised the Arabs to establish an Arab lobby similar to or more stronger than the Jewish lobby in the United States.



The hashtag made me and many other readers laugh. How can the Arabs establish a lobby that is more stronger than the Jewish one which is actually running the US political affairs? The Jewish lobby is considered a state within a state. It has penetrated all the American political bodies especially the Congress’ two bodies: The Senate and the House of Representatives.



The Congress members issued a statement asking Obama to extend all out support to Israel in its war against Gaza as if Gaza was a real state with a regular army which could compete with the army of Israel — considered to be the fourth strongest army in the world.



Obama was not content with supporting Israel in its unjust war against the besieged Gaza but also stood firm against any resolution that might be taken by the Security Council against it. He even directed the American delegation at the UN to veto any decision to the effect.



The US media launched a campaign against Secretary of State John Kerry criticizing his efforts to stop the war. On request by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself, Kerry made contacts with all the concerned parties to broker an initiative aimed at reaching a ceasefire.



The Israelis were not happy about the initiative so they hastened to reject it. They were supported in this stand by the Jewish lobby and the Congress members who issued the statement I referred to earlier in this article. The attitude of the Congress was actually strange because it was a clear intervention by the Legislative power in the work of the Executive body.



The Jewish lobby in the United States is composed of what is known as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which holds thousands of meetings with the Congressmen. The AIPAC also invites top officials of the administration to participate in these meetings.



Whoever wants to know the strength of the Jewish lobby should go back to Obama's meeting with it during his presidential campaign. Obama tried hard to please the AIPAC by confirming his commitment to the security of Israel in a humiliating manner. He was openly pleading for the lobby's satisfaction.



Many people at the time thought that Obama did this because he was not experienced enough. These people came to realize later that the presidential candidate was actually implementing the instructions of the pubic relations company that was running his campaign.



Obama might have contracted this company not only to run his campaign but also to advise him on how to deal with the AIPAC.



It is not simply possible for the Arabs to come closer to this lobby let alone establishing one, which is similar or more stronger than it.



This, however, does not mean that the Arabs should leave the arena entirely open to the AIPAC to do whatever it may want to do. They should come together to establish their own lobby at any cost.



Individually, the Arab countries might have their own lobbies consisting of a number of American friends. These friends are, however, not sufficient enough to constitute a strong lobby.



No doubt that the Arab countries have interests with America which may enable them to set up a strong and influential lobbies that may be able to change some of America's attitudes in favor of their causes particularly the Palestinian cause to which the US has always been unfair.



If the Arab countries came together and threatened America to withdraw their ambassadors if it used the veto to intercept a UN Security Council's decision asking Israel to halt the construction of the settlements, things might have changed drastically.



In this case America would not dare to use the veto and Israel would have stopped building more Jewish settlements.



In this regard we should take the example of Tunisia when a draft resolution was tabled at the Security Council to condemn Israel for murdering the second man in the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) on its soil. The then Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba said he would sever relations with any country that might use the veto to obstruct the Security Council resolution. The decision was passed unobstructed.

 

— Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi is a former Saudi diplomat who specializes in Southeast Asian affairs. He can be reached at algham@hotmail.com