The announcement last week by the United
States of the largest military aid
package in its history – to Israel – was
a win for both sides.
Israeli prime
minister Benjamin Netanyahu could boast
that his lobbying had boosted aid from
$3.1 billion a year to $3.8bn – a 22 per
cent increase – for a decade starting in
2019.
Mr Netanyahu has presented this as a
rebuff to those who accuse him of
jeopardising Israeli security interests
with his government’s repeated affronts
to the White House.
In the past weeks alone, defence
minister Avigdor Lieberman has compared
last year’s nuclear deal between
Washington and Iran with the 1938 Munich
pact, which bolstered Hitler; and Mr
Netanyahu has implied that US opposition
to settlement expansion is the same as
support for the “ethnic cleansing” of
Jews.
American president Barack Obama,
meanwhile, hopes to stifle his own
critics who insinuate that he is
anti-Israel. The deal should serve as a
fillip too for Hillary Clinton, the
Democratic party’s candidate to succeed
Mr Obama in November’s election.
In reality, however, the Obama
administration has quietly punished Mr
Netanyahu for his misbehaviour. Israeli
expectations of a $4.5bn-a-year deal
were whittled down after Mr Netanyahu
stalled negotiations last year as he
sought to recruit Congress to his battle
against the Iran deal.
In fact, Israel already receives
roughly $3.8bn – if Congress’s
assistance on developing missile defence
programmes is factored in. Notably,
Israel has been forced to promise not to
approach Congress for extra funds.
The deal takes into account neither
inflation nor the dollar’s depreciation
against the shekel.
A bigger blow still is the White
House’s demand to phase out a special
exemption that allowed Israel to spend
nearly 40 per cent of aid locally on
weapon and fuel purchases. Israel will
soon have to buy all its armaments from
the US, ending what amounted to a
subsidy to its own arms industry.
Nonetheless, Washington’s renewed
military largesse – in the face of
almost continual insults – inevitably
fuels claims that the Israeli tail is
wagging the US dog. Even The New York
Times has described the aid package as
“too big”.
Since the 1973 war, Israel has
received at least $100bn in military
aid, with more assistance hidden from
view. Back in the 1970s, Washington paid
half of Israel’s military budget. Today
it still foots a fifth of the bill,
despite Israel’s economic success.
But the US expects a return on its
massive investment. As the late Israeli
politician-general Ariel Sharon once
observed, Israel has been a US
“aircraft carrier” in the Middle East,
acting as the regional bully and
carrying out operations that benefit
Washington.
Almost no one blames the US for
Israeli attacks that wiped out Iraq’s
and Syria’s nuclear programmes. A
nuclear-armed Iraq or Syria would have
deterred later US-backed moves at regime
overthrow, as well as countering the
strategic advantage Israel derives from
its own nuclear arsenal.
In addition, Israel’s US-sponsored
military prowess is a triple boon to the
US weapons industry, the country’s most
powerful lobby. Public funds are
siphoned off to let Israel buy goodies
from American arms makers. That, in
turn, serves as a shop window for other
customers and spurs an endless and
lucrative game of catch-up in the rest
of the Middle East.
The first F-35 fighter jets to arrive
in Israel in December – their various
components produced in 46 US states –
will increase the clamour for the
cutting-edge warplane.
Israel is also a “front-line
laboratory”, as former Israeli army
negotiator Eival Gilady admitted at the
weekend, that develops and field-tests
new technology Washington can later use
itself.
The US is planning to buy back the
missile interception system Iron Dome –
which neutralises battlefield threats of
retaliation – it largely paid for.
Israel works closely too with the US in
developing cyberwarfare, such as the
Stuxnet worm that damaged Iran’s
civilian nuclear programme.
But the clearest message from
Israel’s new aid package is one
delivered to the Palestinians:
Washington sees no pressing strategic
interest in ending the occupation. It
stood up to Mr Netanyahu over the Iran
deal but will not risk a damaging clash
over Palestinian statehood.
Some believe that Mr Obama signed the
aid package to win the credibility
necessary to overcome his domestic
Israel lobby and pull a rabbit from the
hat: an initiative, unveiled shortly
before he leaves office, that corners Mr
Netanyahu into making peace.
Hopes have been raised by an expected
meeting at the United Nations in New
York on Wednesday. But their first talks
in 10 months are planned only to
demonstrate unity to confound critics of
the aid deal.
If Mr Obama really wanted to pressure
Mr Netanyahu, he would have used the aid
agreement as leverage. Now Mr Netanyahu
need not fear US financial retaliation,
even as he intensifies effective
annexation of the West Bank.
Mr Netanyahu has drawn the right
lesson from the aid deal – he can act
against the Palestinians with continuing
US impunity.
- See more at: http://www.jonathan-cook.net/2016-09-19/palestinians-lose-in-us-military-aid-deal-with-israel/#sthash.fL4Eq28N.dpuf
Ways
You Can Be Killed During An Encounter with
Police
By
John W. Whitehead
“Police
are specialists in violence. They
are armed, trained, and authorized to
use force. With varying degrees of
subtlety, this colors their every
action. Like the possibility of arrest,
the threat of violence is implicit in
every police encounter. Violence, as
well as the law, is what they
represent.”—Author Kristian Williams
October 05, 2016 "Information
Clearing House"
- "The
Rutherford Institute"
-
How do
you protect yourself from flying fists,
choking hands, disabling electrified darts
and killing bullets?
How
do you defend yourself against individuals
who have been indoctrinated into believing
that they are superior to you, that their
word is law, and that they have the power to
take your life?
Most of all, how can you maintain the
illusion of freedom when daily, Americans
are being shot, stripped, searched, choked,
beaten and tasered by police for little more
than daring to frown, smile, question,
challenge an order or just exist?
The
short answer: you can’t.
Now
for the long answer, which is far more
complicated but still leaves us feeling
hopeless, helpless and vulnerable to the
fears, moods and misguided training of every
cop on the beat.
If
you ask police and their enablers what
Americans should do to stay alive during
encounters with law enforcement, they will
tell you to comply (or die).
It
doesn’t matter where you live—big city or
small town—it’s the same scenario being
played out over and over again in which
Americans are being brainwashed into
believing that anyone who wears a government
uniform—soldier, police officer, prison
guard—must be obeyed without question, while
government agents, hyped up on their own
authority and the power of their uniform,
ride roughshod over the rights of the
citizenry.
For
example, a local law enforcement agency in
Virginia has started handing out a
guide—developed in cooperation with a
group of African American pastors—on how to
interact with police. The purpose of this
government resource, according to the
police, is to make sure citizens feel
“comfortable” and know what to do when
interacting with police in order to “promote
public safety and respectful interaction.”
Curiously, nowhere in the “Guide
to Interacting with Police” is there any
mention of the Constitution, or the rights
of the citizenry, other than the right to
remain silent.
In
fact, the primary point stressed throughout
the bilingual guide aimed at “building trust
and cooperation,” is that citizens should
comply, cooperate, obey, not resist, not
argue, not make threatening gestures or
statements, avoid sudden movements, and
submit to a search of their person and
belongings.
The
problem, of course, is what to do when
compliance is not enough.
I’m
not talking about the number of
individuals—especially young people—who are
being shot and killed by police for having a
look-alike gun in their possession,
such as a BB gun. I’m not even talking
about people who have been shot for
brandishing weapons at police,
such as scissors.
I’m
talking about the growing numbers of unarmed
people are who being shot and killed for
just standing a certain way, or moving a
certain way, or holding
something—anything—that police could
misinterpret to be a gun, or igniting some
trigger-centric fear in a police officer’s
mind that has nothing to do with an actual
threat to their safety.
Killed for standing in a
“shooting stance.”
In California, police opened fire on and
killed a mentally challenged—unarmed—black
man within minutes of arriving on the scene,
allegedly because he removed a vape smoking
device from his pocket and
took a “shooting stance.”
Killed for holding a cell
phone. Police
in Arizona shot a man who was running away
from U.S. Marshals after he refused to drop
an object that
turned out to be a cellphone.
Killed for behaving oddly and
holding a baseball bat.
Responding to a domestic disturbance call,
Chicago police shot and killed 19-year-old
college student Quintonio LeGrier who had
reportedly been experiencing mental health
problems and was
carrying a baseball bat around the
apartment where he and his father lived.
Killed for opening the front
door. Bettie
Jones, who lived on the floor below LeGrier,
was also fatally shot—this time,
accidentally—when she attempted to
open the front door for police.
Killed for being a child in a
car pursued by police.
Jeremy David Mardis, six years old and
autistic, died after being
shot multiple times by Louisiana police in
the head and torso. Police opened fire
on the car—driven by Jeremy’s father, Chris
Few, who was also shot—and
then allegedly lied, claiming that they
were attempting to deliver an outstanding
warrant, that Few resisted arrest, that he
shot at police (no gun was found), and that
he tried to ram his car into a police
cruiser. Body camera footage refuted the
police’s claims.
Killed for attacking police
with a metal spoon.
In Alabama, police shot and killed a
50-year-old man who reportedly charged a
police officer while holding “a
large metal spoon in a threatening manner.”
Killed for running in an
aggressive manner holding a tree branch.
Georgia police shot and killed a 47-year-old
man wearing only shorts and tennis shoes
who, when first encountered, was sitting in
the woods against a tree, only to start
running towards police
holding a stick in an “aggressive manner.”
Killed for crawling around
naked.
Atlanta police shot and killed an unarmed
man who was reported to have been “acting
deranged, knocking on doors,
crawling around on the ground naked.”
Police fired two shots at the man after he
reportedly starting running towards them.
Killed for hunching over in a
defensive posture.
Responding to a domestic trouble call,
multiple officers with the Baltimore County
police forced their way inside a home where,
fearing for their safety and the safety of
others,” three officers opened fire on an
unarmed 41-year-old man who was
hunched over in a defensive posture. The
man was killed in front of his
two young daughters and their mother.
Killed because a police
officer accidentally pulled out his gun
instead of his taser.
An Oklahoma man suspected of trying to sell
an illegal handgun was shot and killed after
a 73-year-old reserve deputy
inadvertently fired his gun instead of his
taser. “Oh! I shot him! I'm sorry!” the
deputy cried out.
Killed for wearing dark pants
and a basketball jersey.
Donnell Thompson, a mentally disabled
27-year-old described as gentle and shy, was
shot and killed after police—searching for a
carjacking suspect reportedly wearing
similar clothing—encountered him
lying motionless in a neighborhood yard.
Police “only” opened fire with an M4 rifle
after Thompson first failed to respond to
their flash bang grenades and then started
running after being hit by foam bullets.
Killed for telling police you
lawfully own a firearm and have a
conceal-and-carry permit.
Philando Castile was shot and killed during
a routine traffic stop allegedly over a
broken tail light. As he was reaching for
his license and registration, Castile
explained to police that he had a
conceal-and-carry permit.
That’s all it took for police to shoot
Castile four times in the presence of
his girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter.
Killed for leaving
anywhere at all when a police officer
pulls up.
Deravis Caine Rogers was killed after
starting to drive away from an apartment
complex
right around the same time as a police
officer pulled up. Despite the fact that
the police officer had no reason to believe
Rogers was a threat or was suspected of any
illegal activity, the officer fired into
Rogers’ passenger side window.
Killed for driving while
deaf. In
North Carolina, a state trooper shot and
killed 29-year-old Daniel K. Harris—who
was deaf—after Harris initially failed
to pull over during a traffic stop.
Killed for being homeless.
Los Angeles police shot an unarmed homeless
man after he
failed to stop riding his bicycle and
then proceeded to run from police.
Killed for being old and
brandishing a shoehorn.
John Wrana, a 95-year-old World War II
veteran, lived in an assisted living center,
used a walker to get around, and was shot
and killed by police who
mistook the shoehorn in his hand for a
2-foot-long machete and fired multiple
beanbag rounds from a shotgun at close
range.
Killed for having your car
break down on the road.
Terence Crutcher, unarmed and black, was
shot and killed by Oklahoma police after his
car broke down on the side of the road.
Crutcher was
shot in the back while walking towards his
car with his hands up.
Killed for holding a garden
hose.
California police were ordered to pay $6.5
million after they
opened fire on a man holding a garden hose,
believing it to be a gun. Douglas Zerby was
shot 12 times and pronounced dead on the
scene.
Shot seven times for peeing
outdoors.
Eighteen-year-old Keivon Young was shot
seven times by police from behind while
urinating outdoors. Young was just zipping
up his pants when he heard a commotion
behind him and then found himself struck by
a hail of bullets from two undercover cops.
Allegedly officers mistook Young—5’4,” 135
lbs., and
guilty of nothing more than taking a leak
outdoors—for a 6’ tall, 200 lb. murder
suspect whom they later apprehended. Young
was charged with felony resisting arrest and
two counts of assaulting a peace officer.
Now
you can make all kinds of excuses to justify
these shootings, and in fact that’s exactly
what you’ll hear from politicians, police
unions, law enforcement officials and
individuals who are more than happy to march
in lockstep with the police. However, to
suggest that a good citizen is a compliant
citizen and that obedience will save us from
the police state is not only recklessly
irresponsible, but it is also deluded and
out of touch with reality, because in the
American police state, compliance is no
longer enough.
Frankly, as these incidents make clear, the
only truly compliant, submissive and
obedient citizen in a police state is a dead
one.
If
you’re starting to feel somewhat
overwhelmed, intimidated and fearful for
your life and your property, you should be.
As
I point out in my book
Battlefield America: The War on the
American People, “we the people”
are now at the mercy of law enforcement
officers who have almost absolute discretion
to decide who is a threat, what constitutes
resistance, and how harshly they can deal
with the citizens they were appointed to
“serve and protect.”
Sad, isn’t it, how quickly we have gone from
a nation of laws—where the least among us
had just as much right to be treated with
dignity and respect as the next person (in
principle, at least)—to a nation of law
enforcers (revenue collectors with weapons)
who treat us all like suspects and
criminals?
Constitutional attorney and author John W.
Whitehead is founder and president of The
Rutherford Institute. His book
Battlefield America: The War on the American
People (SelectBooks, 2015) is available
online at www.amazon.com. Whitehead can be
contacted at
johnw@rutherford.org. Publication
Guidelines / Reprint Permission: John W.
Whitehead’s weekly commentaries are
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