Blatant Hypocrisy in Response to Russian, Israeli and U.S. Aggressions
Protesters hold “Peace now’” placards during the demonstration in Regent Street. Protesters marched through central London calling for an end to the war in Ukraine. (VUK VALCIC/SOPA IMAGES/LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES).
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, October 2023, pp. 38-39
Special Report
By Ron Forthofer
THE U.S. MAKES CLEAR its shameful hypocrisy about war and occupation in its contrasting treatments of actions taken by Russia and Israel as well as of Ukrainians and Palestinians. Israel attacked and invaded Arab lands in 1967. Palestinians and Syrians have been living under Israeli occupation since then, and Israel has been able, with steadfast U.S. support, to defy and undermine the rule of law and to maintain these occupations. By contrast, parts of Ukraine have been under Russian occupation since 2022, and there has been a strong U.S./NATO military effort to weaken Russia and to end its occupation of Ukraine. Can you imagine the difference in the Middle East if the U.S. had supported international law and, with the U.N., demanded that Israel end its occupations?
But the U.S. only selectively invokes international law. It certainly didn’t follow the rule of law when it led the attack on Iraq in 2003, which constituted a major war crime for which Iraqis are still paying a terrible price. Twenty years later, that country remains contaminated with depleted uranium, divided and devastated with little hope of recovery. There is little concern for Iraq in the United States today.
POLITICIANS LIE AND MEDIA SPREAD THE LIES
If one relies on the prominent Western news sources today, one finds few voices challenging the U.S./NATO story that the Russian attack on Ukraine was unprovoked. However, current CIA director William Burns is one of many U.S. officials who warned against provoking Russia by including Ukraine in NATO. In 2008 when Burns was the U.S. ambassador to Russia, he wrote to then U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: “Ukrainian entry into NATO is the brightest of all redlines for the Russian elite (not just Putin). In more than two and a half years of conversations with key Russian players, from knuckle-draggers in the dark recesses of the Kremlin to Putin’s sharpest liberal critics, I have yet to find anyone who views Ukraine in NATO as anything other than a direct challenge to Russian interests.”
Burns also warned that Russia would likely respond militarily.
Moreover, U.S. moves to expand NATO violate the 1990 U.S. promise not to expand NATO one inch to the east if the Soviet Union would allow the reunification of Germany. And in 2014, the U.S. supported the violent coup against the democratically elected president of Ukraine. Most of the U.S. public is still unaware of these U.S. provocations that predictably resulted in war.
WEAPONIZING ANTI-SEMITISM
Israel and its supporters are trying to expand the definition of anti-Semitism to include criticism of Israeli policies. Israel realizes that the barbarity and cruelty of its policies are criminal and indefensible, so it must either change its policies (which it is unlikely to do) or criminalize criticism of its actions. If this new definition is adopted, legitimate criticism of Israeli crimes may be banned from the web and other sources of information.
Working in the mainstream media, Katie Halper, Emily Wilder, Nathan Robinson and Marc Lamont Hill lost their jobs for critical comments about Israel. In his article “How the Media Cracks Down on Critics of Israel,” Robinson wrote about his experience and other groups that have been targeted by apartheid Israel supporters in Current Affairs. Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (fair.org) has pointed out that on numerous occasions, the New York Times and the Washington Post may violate their own conflict of interest rules in their appointment of reporters covering the Middle East. Reporters are expected to present information from an Israeli/U.S. perspective, not from the perspective of those suffering decades of brutal occupation.
Norman Finkelstein, Steven Salaita and Kenneth Roth lost university positions for speaking the truth about Israel’s policies toward Palestinians. (Roth was eventually hired.) According to an Intercept article by Murtaza Hussain in 2021, an Israeli consul general even made baseless claims of anti-Semitism against a graduate student, Kylie Broderick, who was teaching a course on the conflict between Israel and Palestine at the University of North Carolina. To its credit, UNC did not give in to these politically motivated charges and Broderick taught the course as she planned it.
Israel and its supporters continue to wage intense campaigns on college campuses, on the internet and social media sites, in the media, in state legislatures and in Congress to stop criticism of Israeli crimes and to limit the impact of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. Israel understands that its savage and criminal behavior, not BDS activities, raise questions about its legitimacy. No wonder, then, that it worked diligently to redefine anti-Semitism to include criticism of Israeli policies.
WEAPONIZING THE CHARGE OF BEING PRO-RUSSIAN OR PRO-PUTIN
Ukraine seems to have studied the Israeli playbook on how to control the narrative. The media coverage of the Russian conflict with Ukraine and NATO does not provide the vital context; the reporting conveys only the Ukrainian/U.S./NATO perspective, it says little about the lead-up to the war, and it has been overly optimistic about a quick Ukrainian victory, which is not feasible. People with a view that dissents from the mainstream narrative are essentially charged with being pro-Putin or pro-Russia tools; their views are not sought by the media, and their social posts are often quickly removed.
There is little hope for global security if the rule of law doesn’t apply equally to all states, including Russia, the U.S., and Israel. There is no U.S., Israel or Russia exception.
Ron Forthofer, Ph.D., is a retired professor of biostatistics and a volunteer for peace and social justice organizations. Forthofer, who was a Green Party candidate for governor and Congress, has written articles published in numerous newspapers and websites. He went on two delegations to Palestine with the Christian Peacemaker Teams.
