Israel Commits Daily Acts of Terrorism Against Palestinians: Where's the Outrage?

By James G. Abourezk, CounterPunch. Posted June 18, 2008.

It was only slightly amusing recently when one of the television news networks did a short segment on Nelson Mandela visiting George W. Bush in the White House. The newsperson describing the meeting happened to mention that Mandela was on America's terrorist watch list. There was no explanation of how this heroic figure from South Africa was able to fly to Washington, D.C. in order to meet with our President. Normally, being on the terrorist watch list would prevent anyone from boarding a passenger plane, to say nothing of being barred from entering the White House. That actually happened to Senator Ted Kennedy a couple of years ago -- he was barred from flying from Boston back to his work in Washington, D.C.

The newsperson also explained the reason that Mandela was on the terrorist honor roll because the apartheid government of South Africa had labeled him as such, and the United States simply went along with that designation.

I found myself wishing that the newsperson would go on to explain exactly how Hizbollah, or Hamas, made the American list of terrorist organizations. But we know how that happened, don't we? Israel wanted them labeled as terrorists, so the United States went along with it, as accommodating today to apartheid Israel as it was to apartheid South Africa back in the days before South Africa went straight.

I've often wondered what would happen if, say, Syria, would ask the U.S. to place Israel on its terrorist list. But that's digressing.

What the American public doesn't hear about from any mainstream news source is the history of Jewish terrorism from the 1940s when the Zionist movement methodically went about ethnically cleansing Palestine of Palestinians through present day, when Israel and its people commit daily acts of terrorism against the Palestinians.

From the early days of Zionism, two of the vilest Jewish terrorists went on to become prime ministers of Israel. Menachem Begin, no ordinary run-of-the-mill terrorist, but the actual head of the Irgun, one of two vicious Jewish terrorist groups that who worked hard to chase Palestinians out of their homeland to make room for Zionists intent on creating an exclusive Jewish state. The other was former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who was one of a three member troika that comprised the leadership triad of the Stern Gang, which was even more vicious, if that's possible, than the Irgun.

I used to know Nathan Yalin-Mor, who was one of the three person troika heading up the Stern Gang during its heyday. We actually became good friends, after he turned over a new leaf and made it his life's work to establish peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis. His new peaceful attitude did not sit well with the Israeli Lobby, nor did it with the Israeli embassy in Washington. The result was, when he came to visit Washington back in the 1970s, he would ask me to help him set up appointments with American officials so he could discuss peacemaking with them. I gladly did so.

I once mentioned to Nathan over dinner at my home in Washington that Sir Christopher Mayhew, the British Lord who was pro-Palestinian, had told me that the Stern Gang had sent him a letter bomb with the intention of killing him. He had incurred their wrath by taking the side of the Palestinians during the time that the Zionist movement was trying to move them out of Palestine.

"Did you send a letter bomb to Sir Christopher?" I asked Nathan.

"Oh, yeah, we sent lots of letter bombs in those days," he responded.

A few years ago, Robert Manning, a West Bank settler, was hired as a hit man by one businessman to kill another. Manning sent a letter bomb to his target's office, but it was his secretary who died, and not the businessman. The same Israeli terrorist killed Alex Odeh with a bomb, but our Justice Department was not allowed to bring that up because it had agreed with Israel not to do so if they would "allow" his extradition for the secretary's murder.

When Menachem Begin was first elected as Prime Minister of Israel, he came to Washington, presumably to tell the American government what it was that he expected it to do for him and for Israel. The U.S. Senate, of course, invited him to speak, an invitation he accepted. I attended the meeting, promising myself that I would remain silent so as not to disturb his victory lap around Washington, D.C.

But that promise lasted for only a few minutes. As Senator after Senator tossed him puffball questions, such as, "Mr. Prime Minister, do you think the Arabs really want peace?" I could take it no longer. I rose to ask him a question.

I opened with, "My name is Abourezk, and I'm from South Dakota." I wanted to make certain he knew who was accosting him.

"I heard you on the radio earlier this morning telling an interviewer that you were for peace, but that you would never negotiate with the PLO."

"How, Mr. Prime Minister, do you expect to make the peace you say you want if you refuse to talk to your main antagonist, the PLO?"

Begin, accustomed to debating in the Knesset, glared at me, pointed his finger in the air and asked rhetorically, "Who is the PLO?"

See more stories tagged with: terrorism, nelson mandela

James G. Abourezk is a lawyer practicing in South Dakota. He is a former United States senator of South Dakota.

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from Rights and Liberties! Sign up now »