54 Members of Congress and J Street Seek to Mislead Obama

Last week, two members of Congress, Keith Ellison (who claims King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is a visionary leader, notwithstanding the fact that his monarchy whips and imprisons women who are gang raped) and Jim McDermott, delivered a letter to President Obama, which asks for Israel to ease the "unabated suffering" of Gazan civilians. The letter was signed by a total of 54 members of Congress, including George Miller and Betty McCollum ("rockets are like a drug gang that uses drive by shootings as a tactic to terrify a neighborhood" and the solution is not "to lay waste to the neighborhood"), and was supported, inter alia, by J Street.

Although the letter seeks to strike a tone of balance by observing that Israeli civilians have also suffered from rocket attacks (Does this remind you of Goldstone?), the letter amounts to little more than a coarse attempt to pressure only Israel, and in order to achieve its goals, the Ellison/McDermott letter plays fast and loose with the facts.

Let's have a look at those facts:

The letter refers to a Hamas "coup" and tries to depict Gaza's civilians as the victims of the "coup".

Was there a "Hamas coup" in Gaza? No. If you ask Hamas, they will tell you that there was an attempted Fatah coup. Beyond question, there was a civil war, or Wakseh as it is known among Palestinians, beginning in late 2006 between Fatah and Hamas. Also beyond doubt, Hamas came to power in Gaza as a result of the January 2006 Palestinian elections, whereby Gaza's "civilians" supported an organization whose charter states:

"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."

"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up."

"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."

"After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion', and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying."

"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."

Bottom line, Gaza's "civilians", who elected Hamas, cannot be held blameless for Hamas' terrorist actions, preordained by its charter, as the authors and signatories of this letter would have President Obama believe.

As noted earlier, the letter also states:

"We also sympathize deeply with the people of southern Israel who have suffered from abhorrent rocket and mortar attacks."

Excuse me, but aren't these congresswomen and congressmen, in their haste to appear unbiased, forgetting something?:

- No mention in this letter of the hundreds of Israeli civilians who lost their lives to Hamas suicide bombers, when the Gaza crossings were open, which is again being requested by Ellison & Co.

- No mention of Gilad Schalit, an Israeli soldier who was abducted by Hamas into Gaza in June 2006 and has never since seen the light of day or been visited by Red Cross officials.

- No mention that notwithstanding the fact that there have been fewer rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel since Operation Cast Lead, the firing of missiles out of Gaza continues, i.e. attempts to kill Israeli civilians persist.

Ellison & Co. claim:

"lifting these [Israeli] restrictions will give civilians in Gaza a tangible sense that diplomacy can be an effective tool for bettering their conditions."

Oh, really. I always thought that diplomacy involves negotiations, which require both sides to make concessions. Here, the pressure is only being placed on Israel. Moreover, are Ellison & Co. really so naive as to believe that by providing, for example, free entry into and out of Gaza, Gaza's civilians will value the effectiveness of diplomacy, or, agree with Hamas that there was no need for concessions? Ellison & Co. obviously have no clue as to the workings of the Middle East mentality.

But before I take this to too great a length, let's suppose that Washington was under periodic rocket and mortar fire from Gaza and hundreds of Washingtonians had lost their lives to suicide bombers. Would these same members of Congress ask to provide Gaza Civilians with "plentiful and varied food", "access to fuel and spare parts", "prompt passage for commercial goods", and "easy movement for people into and out of Gaza"?

You know the answer. Ellison & Co. do, too.