Behind the Iron Curtain: The Truth of the Israeli Occupation in the Middle East (Part 1)

In 1967, following a war between Israel and Syria, Jordan and Egypt (also known as the Six Day War), Israeli military occupied the West Bank, the Gaza Stripe, East Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula, and Golan Heights. That same year, the United Nations passed Resolution 242, calling for Israel to withdraw from occupied territories. Forty one years later Israel has yet to comply. Currently, three million Palestinians live under illegal Israeli military occupation.

The media portrays the Palestinian militant groups as terrorist. Our government, in support of Israel, promotes this view point to the American people. But what is the real truth behind the Iron Curtain of deception? I have watched several videos concerning this issue. The truth that the mass media does not allow to be shown is astounding. Israeli solders, clad in military fatigues, armed with United States military weapons, rule the Palestinian people with an iron first. During an interview of an Israeli solder, he tells the reporter that “they (Palestinians) use suicide bombers, we use tanks”. The tanks that he was referring to were United States Army M1 Abrams. Israel also has the second largest fleet of F-16’s second to of course the United States. It is known that our government has been a long time supporter of the Israeli nation, supplying them with armaments, money, and “body guard like protection” on a global, political scale. But what the vast majority of Americans do not know is that the American government is supporting the torture, murder, and the violation of the Palestinian people’s civil liberties. The weapons, money and political support that our government gives to Israel have been funding a 41 year occupation of Palestine. The same tyranny that President George W. Bush accused Saddam Hessian of is the same tyranny that he supports in the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
The ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people is the sole purpose of this occupation. According to reports from BBC, the Israeli government has been moving Jewish families into East Jerusalem. Theses “settlements” are in strict violation of the Geneva Convention. News reporters have been referring to this as what is it; settlements, until pressure was put on the news stations to change the usage of “settlements” to “neighborhoods”. This is just one of the many ways that our government and Israel uses the media to sway American support and sympathy. When reporting about Israeli attacks on Palestinian people, it is portrayed as “self defense” and/or “in retaliation” of Palestinian “attacks”. How can it be self defense when Israel is illegally occupying territories that do not belong to them? But Israel has not only attacked the Palestinian, Egyptians, Jordanians, or the Syrian people during the ‘Six Day War’. Israel military also attacked United States Naval ship U.S.S Liberty.

The True Meaning of Patriotism

Do not be fooled by what the mass media and the government may lead you to believe about what being patriotic means. Some believe, by deceit from our government and educational systems that being patriotic means to support our government and more precisely, our president. This is not patriotism at all. Supporting our troops, rather it is in time of war or peace, is not the meaning of patriotism. Please don’t get me wrong, we should support our troops in every way. The true meaning of patriotism is to believe in, uphold, and defend our Constitution and Bill of Rights. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights were not created for the American people to “serve” the government, but rather to set guidelines for our government to “serve” the American people. Knowing all to well how corrupt governments can exert it’s doctorial like authority over its countrymen, the founders of this great nation, the authors of both the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, put pen to parchment in order to create a structure that will protect the citizens of this nation from suffering the same fate that many had died for in order to gain their freedom (and ours) from British rule. Our forefathers knew of the dangers of government. They created a system to protect us from the government. Now, in this day and age, our rights, under the Constitution and Bill of Rights, are slowly being stripped away from us. If you sit by and do nothing about this fact, then you are not a patriot. If you support our troops, yet do nothing to save our Constitution, you are not a patriot. If you support the president, yet do nothing to protect our Bill of Rights, you are not a Patriot.
However, not knowing the true meaning of patriotism excuses the lack of action. But now that you know the meaning of patriotism there will be no excuse. To reiterate the meaning of patriotism, let’s look at the embodiment of patriotism. Who were patriots? John Adams, Aaron Burr, John Dickinson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Mason, Gouverneur Morris, George Washington, and Abigail Adams. These people were patriots in is truest form. So who are some modern day patriots? These patriots are such men as Ezra Taft Benson, Michael Peroutka, and Ron Paul. I’m sure there are more, but I am further sure that the list will not be as long as the patriots of our past. In closing, I want to end with a quote from Ezra Taft Benson: “I am for freedom and against slavery. I am for social progress and against socialism. I am for a dynamic economy and against waste. I am for the private competitive market and against unnecessary governmental intervention. I am for national security and against appeasement and capitulation to an obvious enemy.”