The U.S. government is making it painfully obvious that we're in the business of assassinating not only foreign nationals, which doesn't apparently require special approval, but our own citizens as long as the President gives the go-ahead. Before getting to the substance of the problem that this creates, I'd like to remind everyone that the chairwoman of a House intelligence subcommittee on homeland security, Rep. Jane Harman, who is quoted as saying about Mr. al-Awlaki that he is "probably the person, the terrorist, who would be terrorist No.1 in terms of threats against us," was caught on an NSA wiretap taking bribes from a suspected Israeli operative in exchange for her efforts to get charges reduced against two accused AIPAC spies for Israel.
Of course, in the wake of the scandal, it seems that Rep. Harman did not receive her full bribe, although charges were dropped against the accused spies.
"Pelosi passed over Harman for the Intelligence Committee chairmanship, eventually appointing Silvestre Reyes , D-Texas. Although she was frequently said to be a candidate for a high post at the CIA or Homeland Security Department, she failed to win a spot in the Obama administration."
But she did eventually wrangle the chairmanship of a House intelligence subcommittee on homeland security, a position from which she could arguably be yet more valuable to the Israelis. A position from which she might readily advocate for the assassination of any Muslim leaders that the Israelis might desire, particularly troublesome clerics with seeming influence or ties to volatile American dissidents.
Harman herself was not prosecuted for her apparent corruption, in exchange for which the Bush administration apparently got her to endorse their warrantless wiretapping procedures against the American public.
"On Dec. 21, 2005, in the midst of a firestorm of criticism about the wiretaps, Harman issued a statement defending the operation and slamming the Times, saying, 'I believe it essential to U.S. national security, and that its disclosure has damaged critical intelligence capabilities.'"
Thus it seems treason begets treason, and the American people have been betrayed not merely once, but twice in this debacle. A U.S. Congressional Representative is let off the hook for accepting bribes from Israel in a matter of national security, and the clearly unconstitutional Bush administration program of spying on the public with warrantless wiretaps receives public Democratic support. With so much open treason against the U.S. public being tolerated, is it any wonder that the current administration has no qualms about issuing a public assassination order against a U.S. citizen?
It seems that Awlaki has said a great many inflammatory things about the U.S., and may have had contact with the "underwear bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and been in e-mail contact with Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the accused Ft. Hood shooter. But we don't pursue this policy with radical Israeli clerics, such as Rabbi Ovadia Yosef or Yitzhak Shapira, the latter of whom co-authored a book describing when it's okay to kill non-Jews.
According to Israeli press reports that provided excerpts of the book, the rabbis do not shy away from calling for the killing of any non-Jew who may threaten the state of Israel. They write: "In any place that the presence of a gentile endangers the existence of Israel, it is allowed to kill him ... also if he is completely not to blame for the situation that has been created."
Children, the authors insist, should not be exempt from this fate. They add: "There is a reasonable explanation for killing infants if it is clear that they will grow up to hurt us – and in this situation, the strike should be directed at them." According to the book, the children of a non-Jewish leader may be targeted as a means of applying pressure.
The authors say that even innocent people are allowed to be killed if they belong to a state that Israel considers an enemy. They also say: "Evil people should be treated with revenge and a like-for-like manner in order to be defeated."
The rabbis added that non-Jews could also be killed if they "violate ... commandments" such as the prohibition against stealing, murdering or idol-worshipping.
That last bit seems to indicated that I should be killed if I have a plastic dashboard Jesus in my car. The rest makes clear that killing children is okay if they're the kids of people you consider your enemy. And it's okay, according to Yitzakh Shapira, to threaten to kill someone's children to influence them. For instance, if Rep. Harman hadn't taken a bribe from the Israelis, the moral stance of Shapira would indicate that it's okay to threaten to kill her kids.
And since we're talking primarily about the assassination of U.S. citizens engaging in terrorism, why are we not discussing the case of Yaakov Teitel, a US citizen who moved to the Occupied Territories and spent 12 years killing people out of religious hatred? He's clearly engaged in violence that undermines efforts by the U.S. to broker peace and influence Arab governments in the region. Yet despite Israeli settlements being chock full of U.S. citizens as psychotic as Teitel, the U.S. makes no effort to monitor or apprehend them, and doesn't pressure Israel to do so either. Teitel stands accused of targeting not only Palestinians, but gays and leftist intellectual Israeli citizens as well. So it would seem that encouraging or engaging in rampant murder and terrorism is okay for American citizens as long as you're doing it on behalf of the radical right-wing Israeli cause, but not if you're doing it "in defense of Islam".
In the U.S. currently, there is no effort being made to stop transaction of funds being sent to radical Israeli settlers with U.S.-Israeli dual citizenship engaged in murder and terrorism against Palestinians. Every effort is being made to prevent funds being sent to Islamic charities or individuals suspected of ties to terrorists. U.S. citizens suspected of ties to Islamic terrorism can be specifically targeted by the President for assassination. Foreign nationals do not even require Presidential approval in order to be assassinated. U.S. citizens engaged in terrorism against the Palestinians are not even investigated by the U.S. Justice Department. No effort is made to stop transfer of funds to them. They hold regular fundraisers in the U.S. In fact, Yaakov Teitel seems to have quite a following, including this deviant youth, Ephraim Khantsis. It's not like they're hiding, folks. Heck, they even get celebrity endorsements.
People who suggest that Israel holds too much sway in the U.S. are constantly derided as anti-semites, dismissed as lunatic-fringe bigots, and especially marginalized from conversations regarding the "War On Terror" and homeland security. But if we don't want the world to get the impression that we're taking our marching orders from the Israelis, perhaps we shouldn't work so hard to cultivate the image. The least we can do in that regard is demand that U.S. citizens engaging in violence against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories be held accountable, and that such citizens receive no financial support from either the Israeli government or private donations. If we do that, we may not see radical Islamists like Anwar al-Awlaki popping up with such frequency, and those that do may not find themselves with an audience. And until we do that, right-wing Israeli influence and the perceptions fostered among the world community by our government's unconditional support of its most radical elements is our most dangerous enemy, not radical Islam.