Nasir Khan, March 8, 2015
On March 3, 2015, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel delivered his speech before a joint session of the US Congress. His reception was of a kind, which has amused very many of us around the world. Still, we may ask: For what was Netanyahu accorded such a heroic reception and standing ovations? Only the AIPAC, the Zionist lobbyists or US Congress may have the answer. Somehow, it seemed the US Congress had finally found the right man, almost a messianic figure, a saviour, who was among them to their great delight! All they had to do to show their esteem and devotion. This they did and in abundance.
During his speech, the members rose on their feet repeatedly as if they heard something novel. What he offered was only a theatrical performance that could easily have moved a Sunday school congregation but was hardly worth a fig for experienced legislators and politicians. Indeed, his deceptive rhetoric in his fluent American English was well suited for the audience. However, a few things did not tally with facts. First, he is not a messianic figure or a hero. Netanyahu is a vile politician, a ruthless Zionist leader who has committed the horrendous crime of genocide in Gaza only a few months earlier. ‘The fact that his obnoxious performance was received so warmly in Congress … is not surprising, but it is nonetheless discouraging for anyone interested in peace and foreign policy restraint,’ wrote Daniel Larison in The American Conservative.
In his speech, Netanyahu did what he could to sabotage the nuclear deal with Iran that the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany are hoping to finalise soon. Just to pre-empt the deal he unleashed his foray of misleading claims that was to scare Congress and the American people. A nuclear deal with Iran was therefore a potential danger to the world and Netanyahu was only trying to save the world. Such scaremongering no doubt has many followers in Congress who will do anything to implement the Zionist agenda and block any US-Iran rapprochement.
Netanyahu said: ‘In the Middle East, Iran now dominates four Arab capitals: Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut and Sana. And if Iran’s aggression is left unchecked, more will surely follow. So at a time when many hope that Iran will join the community of nations, Iran is busy gobbling up the nations.’
Oh, really? Let us pause for a minute and see what the facts are. Iran has been a victim of imperial aggression for long. It is common knowledge that in 1953 the British and American governments overthrew the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Dr Mohammad Mossadegh and installed the Shah who proved to a loyal servant of his patrons. He furthered the U.S. interests in the region and was a close ally of Israel. In 1979, the Shah was overthrown and the Islamic regime took over power. The United States opposed the new rulers, not because they had introduced a religious system but because they opposed the role of US imperialism in the Iran during the oppressive rule of the Shah.
With the tacit approval of Washington, in 1980 the Iraqi president Saddam Hussein foolishly attacked and started the Iran-Iraq War that lasted until 1988. This long war proved disastrous for both Iraq and Iran. We should keep in mind it was not Iran that started this war. Iran has not invaded any country for over 200 years. No doubt, Tehran has regional interests but it has no ambitions to invade or conquer any neighbouring land or territory. If Netanyahu asserts to the contrary then he is doing it gain support for war from Congress, neo-conservatives and war hawks in America. He continues to threaten if US will not stop Iran, then he will do it. He has done his utmost to push America to war with Iran because it would serve Israel’s strategic interests in the Middle East.
In fact, Iran has no quarrel with Israel if the Zionists end the illegal occupation of Palestine and let the Palestinian people decide their destiny, live in freedom and dignity. Iran’s support for the Assad regime in Syria in the ongoing civil war has not been motivated to conquer Syria. The situation in Lebanon has been precarious due to the Israeli wars of aggression and military incursions. The Hezbollah with the support of Iran has confronted the Israeli aggressors but it is not the sole political force in Lebanon. The right-wing Christian militias have had Israel as a patron for many decades. Iran has no control over the Houthi coup in Yemen. The ‘gobbling up of nations’ by Iran is an absurd assertion by a warmonger.
If we guess what Netanyahu is good at then the first thing that strikes about him is his capacity to lie, deceive and manipulate others. At present, he has directed his energies to thwarting a nuclear deal with Iran and creating confusion between the powers involved in the negotiations. Because of his enormous political influence in Congress, and support of the AIPAC and the rest of the Israel lobby he can thwart the attempts of negotiators to find a solution. There lies the danger. In such a case, he will be free to push Washington for more punitive sanctions against Iran. In any case, his goal remains to involve the United States in a war on Iran as he previously did in the case of Iraq. Once Iran is demolished as a political force in the region, as happened with Iraq after the US invasion of Iraq, then Israel would be the sole undisputed regional superpower in the Middle East. That will enable the Zionists to pursue their objectives of further expansion and political control over the rest of the Middle East.
The Israeli leaders know that a peaceful outcome of the nuclear talks can have positive effects on US-Iran relations. They see it as a danger to their position and power within and over the United States. If United States can loosen the grip of Zionists and choose normal diplomatic and trade relations with Iran then that would mean the lessening of tensions in the region. Such a change in policy towards Iran will create an atmosphere of mutual trust and co-operation between the two countries. Other countries closely allied with America (except Israel) will also be happy to normalise relations with Iran. However, in the way of any such change stands Israel. It will not let United States follow such a course. As long as there is an unconditional support for Israel in Congress and American ruling elite, any change in US policy towards Iran will not be easy.
The Zionist leader used all deceptive ploys to make false charges of an Iranian threat to Israel and the rest of the world. He referred to the Holocaust and ‘Munich’, because the ‘genocidal’ Iranian regime wanted to kill all the Jews. To accentuate the effect of his tirade on Iranian threat, he referred to a story in the Book of Esther about a ‘powerful Persian viceroy … who plotted to destroy the Jewish people 2,000 years ago’ and ‘another attempt by another Persian potentate to destroy us’. Here this dishonest leader is distorting the facts again. In fact, in the olden times, Jews were well integrated in the Persian empires and Persians protected them. For instance, the great conqueror Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, captured Babylon in 538 BC. He freed the Jews from their former captors and allowed them to return to their native land. They were free to practise their religion freely. He also started rebuilding the Second Temple at Jerusalem; however, he died before the temple was completed. During the reign of Darius the Great the temple was completed. Such are the facts of history, which the Zionist leader did not want to present to Congress.
Only ignorant people will take the bait of a threat from Iran for real because there is no such threat. The Zionist leaders of Israel have been busy in scare mongering and nurturing such a non-existent threat for their geo-political objectives. For serious political observers and thoughtful politicians the whole game is only a baseless Zionist fabrication. Obviously, because of the Zionist power in the United States, there is much hostility towards Iran. That meets the domestic and regional interests of people like Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders; they are quite happy with this untenable situation. The speech by Netanyahu should be an eye-opener for the naïve gung hu Americans. But perhaps this writer is being over-optimist!
Only Israel has the stockpiles of nuclear warheads in the Middle East. We all know that. But Israeli leaders never say a word that they possess these deadly weapons, which can destroy the whole region in minutes. Even if (a big if though) Iran develops a nuclear device as a deterrent at some time in the future, say in 20 years, will it ever think of using it against Israel that has stockpiles of these weapons? The answer is absolutely in the negative. One thing is certain: Israel will wipe out Iran in minutes. The people of Iran are not so short-sighted; nor are their leaders ignorant of the reality of Israeli and American nuclear arsenal. At the same time, Israel is the only nuclear country that is keeping its nuclear a secret, let’s call it an open secret, which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, an international treaty, opened for signature on July 1, 1968 to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. It does not submit to IAEA inspections either.
This Zionist leader on whose deceptive words US Congress danced is the man who killed over two thousand Palestinians in Gaza last year and caused devastation on a scale that can be compared with the destruction of Warsaw and Stalingrad at the hands of Nazi Wehrmacht. This unscrupulous leader is blaming the Hamas without saying a word that it is Israel that is keeping Gaza under siege; Gaza is the largest prison in the world. At the same time, the colonisation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem goes on unabated. Israeli rulers are systematically crushing the voice of a captive people who want liberation from the Zionist yoke and oppression. All this happens because Israel gets US financial and military assistance for whatever it does in the occupied Palestine. The reception of Netanyahu in Congress on March 3, 2015 was a grand spectacle of the Zionist power over the United States of America.
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