Russia’s Daring Vote
Israel Shamir
Russia's vote to endorse the
Goldstone Gaza report in the United Nations Human Rights Council last
Friday was an important, milestone event both for Palestine and for
Russia. For Palestine, this vote opened a way to try and sentence
Israeli mass-murderers, and thus ushered Israel into a new era of
responsibility after a long period of Wild West-style, Colt-45 justice.
For Russia, this vote has proved to its own country and to the world
that it is free from American and Zionist diktat and able to navigate
its own policy.
This story began on Christmas with
the Israeli onslaught on defenceless Gaza. Taking advantage of the
holiday lull, the Israeli army killed hundreds of Palestinian children
and other civilians by indiscriminate use of white phosphorus and
artillery. The world was horrified, and the UN Human Rights Council
appointed Judge Richard Goldstone, a former prosecutor for Rwanda and
Yugoslavia, to find out the facts. Many people doubted his impartiality:
Goldstone is a Jew -- a self-described Zionist, well-connected to Israel
– he sits on the board of its University and his daughter even lived in
Tel Aviv for a while.
Goldstone was guided by his
conscience and not by his blood. He went to Gaza, invested a lot of time
and effort, and concluded: Israel has committed war crimes and crimes
against humanity. He recommended the case be transferred to the ICC
court in the Hague. Israel did not cooperate and tried to undermine and
block the report, but failed. That was the first Israeli defeat.
The second defeat occurred a few
days later. The Fatah chairman, Ramallah PNA ruler Mahmud Abbas, was
ready to do anything in order to remain in power after his electoral
defeat. Netanyahu threatened him with taking away the broadcasting
frequency for a second mobile phone provider – Abbas promptly called his
representative in Geneva and ordered him to put the Goldstone report on
a slow, very slow burner. Popular indignation was furious; he was called
‘traitor’ and worse. Facing revolt and sure political demise, Abbas
u-turned once again and ordered his ambassador to proceed at full speed.
Thus Bibi undermined and delegitimised his agent Abbas, while the report
made its way to the council anyway. That was the second defeat.
Israel was infuriated by this
development. The Jewish State considered itself invulnerable behind the
triple defence of the Sixth Fleet, the US Senate and the Holocaust
Museum. President Obama’s soft request to freeze the settlement building
was met in Tel Aviv by what Internet chat calls “lol”. Worse, the
Zionists then declared open season on Obama and his health care reform.
He was ridiculed. Ehud Barak and Bibi Netanyahu even sped up their
building plans in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in order to show that
they could not care less. And now, all of a sudden, Jewish ministers of
state are going to be judged as if they were Serbs or Sudanese.
Israeli leaders activated their
main reserves, the US State Department and the Lobby. A few days ago I
spoke with Martin Indyk, former US ambassador to Tel Aviv, and he
confirmed that the US State Department will do all it can to stop the
Goldstone report before it gets to the Security Council. Another
American veto would not look good. Worse, an insulted and hurt Obama
might just forget to veto an anti-Israeli decision.
Israel began courting Russia,
hoping to build bridges and to enlist Moscow in its cause. Avigdor
Lieberman, Israeli Moldova-born Foreign minister, met ten times with his
Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov; Netanyahu flew to Moscow on a “secret
mission” for a talk with Medvedev, and President Peres met with Medvedev
in Sochi. They wanted Russian support for Iran sanctions and for
silencing the Goldstone report.
They said to the Russians that it
would create a dangerous precedent: If today they judge Israeli
ministers and generals for Gaza, tomorrow they will judge Russian
ministers and generals for Chechnya. This is a false comparison:
Chechens are Russian citizens with full rights, Gazans have no rights at
all; Chechens are free to travel and live in Moscow or elsewhere, Gazans
are not allowed to leave their concentration camp. Though Yeltsin’s
campaign against Chechen separatists was bloody and cruel, it could not
be compared with the cold-blooded murder the Israelis unleashed on Gaza.
Moreover, the precedents were established a long time ago, when
Milosevic the Serb was tried in The Hague. The question is whether the
Jews are indeed above the law.
Israeli observers were certain that
Russia would stand by them. There is a small but profitable trade
between the two countries; there is a Russian immigrant community in
Israel; there are many bilateral relations. Beside, Russia has
traditional interests in the Holy Land, and hundreds of thousands of
Russian pilgrims make their way to the Holy Sepulchre. On top of all
this, Russia was interested in hosting a Moscow Middle East Peace
Conference, in direct continuity with the Madrid Conference of 1989.
There is also a powerful Zionist
lobby in Moscow. True, some of the most obnoxious oligarchs are gone,
whether to a Siberian jail or to exile in Tel Aviv or London. Power is
now concentrated in the hands of Putin and Medvedev, and money is
respected but not more than that. But there are many very wealthy Jews
who like to play the Jewish Lobby game. One of them is an effervescent
TV boss, famous for his vivacious and gay lifestyle, a billionaire and
self-styled “President of the world’s Russian-speaking Jews”, a senator
and head of the culture content committee of the Russian Parliament,
Boris Spiegel. During his visit to Israel, he
promised to fund the defence of Israeli war criminals because they
are his “flesh and blood”.
Probably he overstated his case. At
a Middle East round-table discussion chock-full with Russian diplomats,
everybody was shocked by this revelation of Spiegel's. Thank God, Russia
is not a parliamentary, Western-style democracy, and wealthy Jews do not
rule it.
Other arguments by the Zionist
Lobby for supporting Israel were even more specious. They said that
Russia should be forever grateful to Israel because it had allowed a few
Russian wives to leave Gaza just before their homes were bombed to
smithereens. If you buy that one, you may also buy their argument for
bombing Iran: in 1836 (sic!), the Persians had lynched Russian
playwright and diplomat Alexander Griboedov, who had sneaked into a
harem and gotten caught.
Notwithstanding, the Russians
disregarded the US and Israel’s overtures and stalwartly voted to
endorse Goldstone’s report. They were joined by their three allies,
China, India and Brazil, together representing the lion’s share of
mankind’s human resources – of oil, of industry and apparently of
conscience as well. These countries are free from Zionist diktat. They
do not seek profit and gain, but they do what is benevolent and right.
The Chinese sage Mencius (or Mengzi
372-289 BC) went to see t King Hui who said: “Old man, since you dared
the distance of 1000 li to come here, you may know of a way to profit my
state.” Mencius replied: “Why should you ever mention the word ‘profit’?
What counts is benevolence and righteousness. If the King says ‘How can
I profit my country?’ the high officials will say, ‘how can we profit
our fiefs?’, and the intellectuals and the commoners will say: ‘How can
we profit ourselves?’ If the upper and lower classes strive to snatch
profit one from another, the state will be endangered.”
Apparently the Eurasian landmass of
Russia, China and India prefer benevolence and righteousness, while the
Anglo-American world prefers lust for gain. That is why the latter was
suborned by Zionists, while the former remain free.
Russian leaders Putin and Medvedev
were very outspoken in their objections to the Israeli plans to attack
Iran. They spoke against the sanctions, too, and here they were fully
supported by China. At the same time, Turkey refused to let the Israeli
Air Force join its joint maneuvers with the US. The Zionist-run US
immediately withdrew from the maneuvers as well. The position of Turkey
is extremely relevant: This is the old imperial power that protected and
controlled the Middle East for centuries. Turkey, together with Russia
and Greece, are the main heirs to Byzantium. If we want to help Turkey
to support the Palestinian cause we must not allow the Zionists to play
the Armenian card right now. When Turkey joins Russia and China, they
can decide quite a bit. They have put paid to the notion of Israeli
impunity.
One can’t overestimate the
importance of the Russian vote:
(1) This vote confirmed the
principle of equality. All human beings are equal. If the ICC can judge
Milosevic and Burundians and Sudanese, they can also judge Jewish
ministers and generals.
(2)
This vote demonstrated that
Russia is independent, not only of Washington, but even of Tel Aviv. The
Zionist Lobby in Russia is powerful, but not omnipotent.
(3) This
vote saved innumerable children, women and men from death. After this
vote, an Israeli general will have to think twice before dropping a bomb
on a civilian target. This will save Israeli children as well from
retaliation.
(4) Russia regained its position
lost by Gorbachev and Yeltsin. Russia became again a leader of the free
world, I mean the world free of US bases. Moscow’s position was decisive
in forming China’s position as well.
(5) It seems that the main weapon
of Zionists, their voice, has worn out. Once upon a time they could
convince individuals and nations as easily as the sirens by the charm of
their persuasion. Now the witch of Zion had lost her charm.
A few years ago I wrote: “The world
needs Russia, for since her star was obscured in 1990, for almost twenty
years the runaway train of US and the loose cannon of Israel made a mess
on the planet. Russia must stop their orgy of aggression and regain its
place as the ultimate protector of the weak and the meek. This is her
manifest destiny”.
The Geneva vote proved that Russia
has done just that. We may once again connect our hopes with Russia in
her friendship with China. They also can stop Israel from hurting itself
and others. So many people in the US and France, in Egypt and Palestine
are tired of Israeli intransigence, egotism, hypocrisy and impunity.
That is why so much hope was invested in Barack Obama after his Cairo
talk. Obama had promised to cut Israel down to size, but meanwhile
Israel cut him down to smaller-than-life. That is why the US is going
down just like the Titanic, undermined by a Lobby iceberg and fleeced by
financial wizards.
Now Russia is coming under
tremendous pressure from the US and other Zionist-led groups and states.
We should pray she will withstand it and maintain her and our dignity.
Edited by Ken Freeland, Texas