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June 2010 Special Edition

 Israeli raid on international aid flotilla

Prof.  Stephen Zunes comments on Israeli attack on the humanitarian flotilla
Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and international studies at the  University of San Francisco have written a number of articles addressing the Israeli attack on May 31 on an international humanitarian aid  flotilla sailing in international waters. The first article examines the Obama administration’s decision to block the United Nations Security  Council from criticizing Israel for its actions and other ways in which  the administration and Democratic Congressional leaders are bucking the  tide of international public opinion condemning the assault. Read More

The  second article compares U.S. support for the Salvadoran junta in the  1980s with U.S. support for Israel’s rightist government today. Read More

The  third article looks at the overwhelming response by prominent Democratic members of Congress in support of the Israeli action. Read More

The fourth article examines the effort by the  chair of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism to have the participants  and supporters of the humanitarian effort prosecuted on terrorism  charges and the reaction by the peace and human rights community to the  flotilla attack and the threats of prosecution. Read More

Updated June 25, 2010

Israel's Dubious Investigation of Flotilla Attack
By Stephen Zunes: Few decisions of the Obama administration have outraged the peace and human rights community as much as its successful efforts to block an international inquiry into May's Israeli aid flotilla attack. Instead, supported by leading Republican and Democratic members of Congress, the Obama administration has thrown its weight behind an investigative committee handpicked by right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu to examine the incident. Read More

Pavlovian Congress Jumps to Israel's 'Self-' Defense
By Stephen Zunes: In a letter to President Barack Obama date June 17, 329 out of 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives referred to Israel’s May 31 attack on a humanitarian aid flotilla in international waters, which resulted in the deaths of nine passengers and crew and injuries to scores of others, as an act of “self-defense” which they “strongly support.” Similarly, a June 21 Senate letter — signed by 87 out of 100 senators — went on record “fully” supporting what it called “Israel’s right to self-defense,” claiming that the widely supported effort to relieve critical shortages of food and medicine in the besieged Gaza Strip was simply part of a “clever tactical and diplomatic ploy” by “Israel’s opponents” to “challenge its international standing.” Read More
 

Who controls America?
By Prof.  Arthur Kane Scott: The financial oligarchy exercises incredible  political influence on Washington decision-makers by dominating  ex-officio appointed bodies that in reality shape the foreign and  domestic policies of the United States but fall outside the  constitutional structure. This pattern of supra-governmental bodies  setting national policies makes a mockery of the principle of the  sovereignty of the people. Read  More