If Israel Wants to Be an ‘Independent Nation,’ Let It Be

Israel knows it’s fully dependent on the U.S. and cannot sustain its nonstop violence without the backing of the U.S. war machine, writes Caitlin Johnstone.

“As a lifelong supporter of Israel, it has become clear to me: The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7. The world has changed, radically, since then, and the Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in the past,” said Schumer, adding, “At this critical juncture, I believe a new election is the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel, at a time when so many Israelis have lost their confidence in the vision and direction of their government.”

Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):

Netanyahu’s Likud party responded with an indignant statement saying that Schumer is “expected to respect Israel’s elected government and not undermine it.”

“Israel is not a banana republic, but an independent and proud democracy that elected Prime Minister Netanyahu,” the statement said.

“Regardless of our political opinion, we strongly oppose external political intervention in Israel’s internal affairs. We are an independent nation, not a banana republic,” echoed former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett.

“With the threat of terrorism on its way to the West, it would be best if the international community would assist Israel in its just war, thereby also protecting their countries,” Bennett added, an assertion that is ridiculous in multiple ways.

There’s no basis for the claim that the threat of terrorism is growing in the west, there is no basis for the claim that Israel’s genocide in Gaza is a “just war”, and there is no basis for the suggestion that helping Israel kill Palestinians in Gaza makes the western world safer in any way.

The Israeli right wing’s repeated use of the term “banana republic” is both pointed and revealing. The term was coined in 1904 by O. Henry to describe the Central American states which U.S. imperialists ruled with an iron fist in order to exploit their people’s labor at robbery prices for the immensely profitable export of tropical fruit.

The insinuation being that it’s fine when the U.S. dictates the governmental affairs of the brown-skinned people south of its own border, but it’s unacceptable for the U.S. to do this to Israel.

We saw this point driven home in even starker terms with a Council on Foreign Relations piece titled “Schumer’s Attack on an Ally at War” by virulent neocon Elliott Abrams.

Abrams calls Schumer’s mild finger-wagging “an unconscionable interference in the internal politics of another democracy”, claiming the American senator is trying to treat Israel like a “colony” of the United States by controlling its internal affairs.

Which is hilarious, given that just a few years ago Abrams was openly working to stage a coup in Venezuela under the Trump administration.

More to the point though, we should probably pay attention to this absurd claim that Israel is an “independent” nation.

Calling Israel an independent nation is like calling a fetus in the womb an independent person. It’s like looking at a man in a hospital bed whose body is full of tubes and medical devices who needs to be manually repositioned every two hours to prevent him from getting pressure sores, and calling him independent.

Israel is as dependent as a nation can possibly be. It literally cannot exist without the direct military backing of the most powerful empire of all time, namely the United States and its globe-spanning network of allies and assets. 

Last November a retired Israeli major general named Yitzhak Brick told a columnist with the Jewish News Syndicate,

“All of our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes and bombs, it’s all from the U.S.. The minute they turn off the tap, you can’t keep fighting. You have no capability… Everyone understands that we can’t fight this war without the United States. Period.”

That is not how one talks about an “independent nation.”

Israel knows it’s fully dependent on the U.S. empire, which is why it pours so much energy into lobbying in the U.S. and its imperial member states like the U.K. Israel cannot exist without nonstop violence, and it cannot sustain that nonstop violence without the backing of the U.S. imperial war machine.

The reason Israel cannot exist without nonstop violence is because it is an artificial nation that was simply dropped on top of a pre-existing civilization whose inhabitants and neighbors had a deeply-rooted way of living which was massively disrupted by the sudden imposition of a newly created ethnostate ruled by people who’d never lived there before.

[Israel’s former defense minister Moshe Dayan said in 1956: “We are a generation of settlers, and without the steel helmet and gun barrel, we shall not be able to plant a tree or build a house.”]

Its emergence was so forced and unnatural that Zionists literally revived a dead middle eastern language called Hebrew and made it their national language so they could LARP as indigenous people speaking in their native tongue.

Because this alien synthetic ethno-state was abruptly forced upon an ancient pre-existing civilization with no regard for the humanity of the people living there, ever since this occurred the region’s indigenous populations have been rejecting it like a body rejecting an ill-matched organ.

The only way for the state of Israel to remain the state of Israel is therefore to exist in a continuous state of war, like a house that can only remain standing if it’s got a giant team of construction workers toiling in perpetuity to stop it from falling over.

But if Israeli right-wingers want to pretend none of this is happening, that’s fine. Let Israel be an “independent nation” if that’s what they want.

Stop sending it arms, stop being its ally, stop bombing Yemen, Iraq and Syria in facilitation of its current military onslaught, stop providing it with intelligence, training and logistics support, stop operating in tandem with its military and intelligence services in the region, stop allowing its lobbyists and influence campaigns to operate in the United States, and stop providing its atrocities with diplomatic cover and mass media narrative spin.

See how long Israel can stand independently if that occurs.

Of course, it won’t happen. The managers of the U.S. empire know their agendas of global hegemony benefit greatly from having a fully dependent and intimate ally in a region as geo-strategically crucial as the middle east (which is why they allow the Israel lobby to continue to exist), and Israel knows it isn’t actually independent in any meaningful sense of the word.

But the fact that the U.S. and Israel are so inextricable shows what a joke it is to pretend that this is a normal nation independently going about its own affairs like any other.

Caitlin Johnstone’s work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, following her on FacebookTwitterSoundcloudYouTube, or throwing some money into her tip jar on Ko-fiPatreon or Paypal. If you want to read more you can buy her books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff she publishes is to subscribe to the mailing list at her website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything she publishes.  For more info on who she is, where she stands and what she’s trying to do with her platform, click here. All works are co-authored with her American husband Tim Foley.

This article is from CaitlinJohnstone.com.au and re-published with permission.

The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.

40 comments for “If Israel Wants to Be an ‘Independent Nation,’ Let It Be

  1. Litchfield
    March 18, 2024 at 13:10

    So many excellent comments.

    Question: I agree that “someone” has told Schumer to give Netanyahu the old heave-ho, PR-wise.

    But who would this be? Who is in charge of this narrative? Blinken? AIPAC? Mossad?

  2. robert e williamson jr
    March 17, 2024 at 15:13

    Anybody remember who Joe Lieberman is? A “Yalie”, Joe seems to have learned well his trade craft of being a very divisive self described “Independant Democrat”.

    Joey vocally described his condemnation of Chuck Schumer’s rant against Bini the “Bade” Notinyuha, stating he doesn’t intend to be a divisive force but he is launching a third party for the 24 presidential election.

    He is a member of a long list of others. Beware, be vigilant, and pay attention. Watch the Episode One video again. These two are never to be trusted by non-supporters Israel.

    The world wasn’t against Israel until Israels actions could no longer be ignored.

    Educate yourselves on the facts that are the AIPAC we know today. Just google the Israellobby archives to get a great start.

    Following the path Israel desires to travel is a journey down the path to perdition!

    Thanks CN

  3. LeoSun
    March 17, 2024 at 12:03

    In the spirit of “March Madness,” Johnstone & Foley, @ center court, Foley’s got the b-ball & nails the pass to Johnstone. Johnstone w/hands of steel & a heart of gold, feigns right, moves left, pivots, BOOM! Johnstone, shoots, S W O O S H!!! “NOTHING; But, NET!!! SCORE! “Game, Over!” Done & Dusted, i.e., the fakery & the phuckery facilitated by Chucky Schumer “larping” @ the open mic, straight-up, exposes ‘The ROT!” Taking “US” back to the start, “Intelligence Agencies ‘Have Six Ways From Sunday Of Getting Back At You.” Chuck Schumer

    “Ladies & Gentlemen,” this is the show:: “Larping has become a popular hobby for many” [orgs], i.e., POTUS, the WH, POTUS’ Bd of Executioners, their MIC, Congress. They thrive on chloroforming the Nation w/their warped, f.u.b.a.r., fantasies of democracy & “WHO IS, really, running the show?!?

    The “answer,” is posted, above,“The Covert War.” Crank It Up!!!

    “Here’s the Deal,”

    ….. * “How much longer will an influential special interest group continue to dominate U.S. foreign policy?”
    ….. “Who is the “invisible government” shufflin’ the deck in the WH

    …. “How many more innocent people have to die?”

    … * “How many more such tragedies will occur b/c the [Nation’s Corporati$t Zionists] have accumulated so much power?”

    “Zionism, in short, rules America; &, America, under the Zionist thumb (or so it seems) seeks to rule the world.” * ‘The New Jerusalem-Zionist Power in America,’ by Michael Collins Piper.

    Oh, Chucky “the unhinged, $enate’s Tool” Schumer’s “March Madness” is $candalous!!! W/his a$$ in hand, Schumer, humped over, “walks away.” Imo, Chucky Schumer is done & dusted. His cheerleader, posing as POTUS masquerading as human, repeating their WH’s S.O.P., hiding from the Public. Hence, the refrain, from sea to shining sea, “Biden, Biden, you can’t hide; we charge you with/genocide.”

    Concluding, “this ‘jam’ “If Israel Wants to Be an ‘Independent Nation,’ Let It Be,” is “fly!” Once, again, a “BEST” practice, “Crank Up the Volume!!!”

    TY, Caitlin Johnstone, Tim Foley, CN, et al. “Keep It Lit!” Ciao

  4. hetro
    March 16, 2024 at 19:01

    Schumer is a liar offering another posture. In this bit of theater, remove Netanyahu and the disproportionate slaughter and Nazi playbook will end. “Democracy” will solve the problem, proving Schumer’s nobility in support of the poor beleaguered Biden. The Dems are desperately seeking more cover for their misguided and amoral weakness in dealing with a state gone lunatic into revenge and self-pity. And it’s not working.

  5. March 16, 2024 at 17:51

    Interesting contrast between the two Johnstone’s. Diana Johnstone points out that Israel has never materially benefitted the US in the Middle East and in fact has been a continual source of trouble as the US tries to contain the damage following each Israeli atrocity. Caitlin Johnstone says the US empire benefits from “having a fully dependent and intimate ally in a region as geo-strategically crucial as the middle east…” Does this mean Israel could alert the US to an emerging threat? Does it mean it would go to war to serve US interests if need be? Perhaps the idea is that Israel represents an implicit threat hanging over the region. Look at what our bulldog can do to Palestinians at the drop of a hat. All we have to do is transfer a little weaponry and they can do that to you too!

    I’m not so sure. Is the threat of the stick really necessary to keep the oil rich Arab kingdoms in check when the carrot works so well? None of the established elites in Western-subservient states have shown any interest in rebellion in decades. Iraq and Libya are pacified. Even if a crisis did erupt, Israel’s dependence on US aid for its high tech military is no guarantee that it would sacrifice troops it may need for its own security. Surely it would choose to do without all those gadgets, if need be, rather than serve a cause other than Zionism. If US elites think they’ve got a reliable ally in the region, they are deluded. And if this boils down to Western delusions, maybe there’s a much deeper one at work.

    Jonathan Cook provides a useful insight in this context. “Jewish leaders and influencers in the West who champion more, not less, genocide in Gaza face neither disgrace nor shame. They are not shunned for cheering policies that have slaughtered and maimed at least 100,000 Palestinians. Why? Because they are articulating an Israel-focused version of an ideology that fits neatly with the worldview of western establishments.”

    To condemn Israel for its predations would mean exposing to moral judgment the entire 500 yearlong Western project of settler-colonialism. Support for Israel is not only unconditional but devoid of reflective thought because any genuine reflection would shatter the delusion of innate American goodness. This delusion unites the political class like nothing else and makes US elites uniquely vulnerable to exploitation by the Israel lobby.

    That’s my guess anyway.

  6. irina
    March 16, 2024 at 15:31

    Meanwhile, in Rafah :

    hxxps://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/16/gaza-missing-war-israel-detained/

    I honestly cannot imagine what the outcry would be if Rafah were, say Tel Aviv . . . .

  7. BOSTONIAN
    March 16, 2024 at 14:41

    Some suggest the US is giving Netanyahu free rein with the goal of widening the conflict, in order ultimately to contrive a reason to wage war on Iran, which has been in neocon gunsights for a very long time now. The growing influence in the Middle East of China and Russia has further set the stage for an existential confrontation. Now the effort to provoke WW3 in Ukraine is collapsing, a new flash point is required for the cabal that has hijacked our government.

    It’s been convincingly documented that FDR did everything in his power to provoke global conflict in 1941, so the US could emerge from the chaos as the new global hegemon. The media campaign of distortions and hate propaganda is identical, but this time we are no longer safe from the conflict zone behind our two wide oceans.

  8. Mark Stanley
    March 16, 2024 at 11:37

    When I Become King~~I Will Terminate Military Aid To All Countries.

    OK. Within that tabloid grabber headline is a no-nonsense idea: No military aid—period.
    Why, when the USA is deeply in debt?
    Why, when the UK is in debt?
    Why~~at all~~ever?
    The whole notion of military aid emanates from an international psychological disorder.
    Psychopathy delivered in packaged form
    Military aid? What the f@#* is that?

    • Teleman
      March 18, 2024 at 09:01

      Guns and drugs are an inexhustable supply of dark money for all sorts of nefarious activities, as we learned in the 80’s.

  9. John Z
    March 16, 2024 at 11:10

    Jesus stood before Pilate, truth incarnate, and Pilate cynically, sneeringly and rhetorically asked, “What is truth?”, as if it were a commodity to be traded for expediency. In its best moments the U.S. has historically stood up for truth, mercy, and justice, if only briefly and spottily. We are certainly not living in such moments any longer, and the flawed country I grew up in, especially during the tempest years of the 1960s, is but a distant memory. The dogs of war should be gathered up and euthanized because they are beyond redemption on this side of eternity.

  10. Vera Gottlieb
    March 16, 2024 at 07:08

    Partners in crime…

    • Anna
      March 16, 2024 at 19:33

      The US “supposedly” is pulling back from its military support of Israel in Gaza? No way! The US salivates over its share of the biggest oil discovery in the world (lying under the Red Sea), which rightfully belongs to the Gazans (but Israel thinks is theirs!). I believe the real reason is SHOW: the US wants to look “innocent” to the world, with elections right around the corner. It’s pretending to clean up its act and show some pity for the Gazans. All fake humanitarianism! Who has supplied Israel with all of its weapons? The US of course!

  11. bardamu
    March 15, 2024 at 23:56

    But none of this is really accidental, is it?

    This is the plausible deniability that the US pays Israel to accomplish. The surlier Netanyahu is with the Americans, the happier everyone is.

    • Rafael
      March 16, 2024 at 12:57

      Thanks for the insight. Much closer to the truth than most of the other comments on this article.

      • Michael G
        March 17, 2024 at 06:48

        You don’t say what your perceived truth is. To me, Shumer ripping Netanyahu tells me that Antizionism is not Antisemitism.

    • Michael G
      March 17, 2024 at 06:44

      But to grant “plausible deniability” you’d have to accept that Biden hasn’t been a “lifelong Beltway swampmonster”. Caitlan explained this “weird new tactic” with a link to a March 11th article of hers in the first sentence. If I was Biden, I’d just say that lunatic Netanyahu told me if I didn’t give him everything he wanted, he was going to mash on his nuclear button. That would make Biden look fairly Angelic.

  12. Alex Goslar
    March 15, 2024 at 23:05

    There is no excuse for depriving the Palestinians of basic existential needs. And since Israel considers itself to be in command of the region it is morally obliged to ensure the provision of such basic needs.

    • Consortiumnews.com
      March 16, 2024 at 06:52

      and legally as the occupying power according to the Geneva Convention.

      • Voltaria Voltaire
        March 16, 2024 at 17:21

        Exactly! Besides Israel is not really a Democracy. With Jewish Professors being imprisoned for speaking out against the crimes against the Palestinians, and so many others, children included, imprisoned without charge, hope or humanity, the people who KNOW this is wrong are probably TERRIFIED to speak their mind. Who knows who does those polls and what their agenda is. It’s not a democracy. More like a Mafia state. What Naftali said sounded more like a threat. Some say the Zionists played a part in 9-11. Maybe we will never know. Both US and Israel need to seriously re-evaluate what a Democracy really IS and not be supporting so called leaders who talk the talk but can’t walk the walk.

        • Litchfield
          March 18, 2024 at 12:28

          Read Avi Shlaim’s recent memoir, Three Worlds, to get invaluable insights into the reality of Israeli democracy at home in Israel and abroad in Iraq.

          In the lines are clear descriptions of the many forms Ashkenazi bias and even disgust against all other Jews in Israel takes—and of course, all Arabs.

          In between the lines is a great deal of evidence for the basic greediness and mendacity of the Ashkenazi culture and that of many Oriental Jews as well.

          It iw a wonderful read and also informative.

  13. WillD
    March 15, 2024 at 22:30

    A lot of people don’t want Israel to be a nation at all anymore. It has lost any moral authority it might once have had by its relentless slaughter of the Gazans. Few doubt it really is genocide. There is simply far too much evidence to say otherwise.

    Israel, by its murderous actions, is not only dragging itself down into the moral abyss, but its western backers and sponsors as well.

    Once it is all over, it may even not exist as a state, and whatever does exist will be shunned and rejected by the vast majority of the Global Majority that sees it for what it is. A truly evil pariah state that has hijacked and corrupted a religion to its purposes.

    • Larry Gates
      March 16, 2024 at 09:32

      Catlin’s is arguably the best and most insightful armchair nonprofessional geopolitical analyst in the world. Reading her column is like watching a fireworks display.

      • Michael G
        March 17, 2024 at 07:44

        Why the “nonprofessional”? She’s paid for what she does.
        And what is professional? The mainstream scumbags?
        She is one of the very few people that is telling the truth anymore.

  14. DW Bartoo
    March 15, 2024 at 21:34

    I was hoping that Consortium News might scoop up this article.

    Of course, the gyrations of Schumer et al, are but merely kabuki theatrics, sound and fury, signifying nothing at all.

    The genocide will go on, as will Nutty Yahoo, the pier review is just a prop, proposed by Israel and embraced by Joey Genicide to fool as many gullible “folks” as still remain lost in the limbo of media/ academia induced confusion.

    The question is this, might the mighty U$ dare free itself of Zionist Control, or be the Executive and Legislative “branches” so perilously far down the rabid hole as to be beyond redemption and any possibility of control?

    One might well ask the same of the CIA, the FBI, and the Dept. of Justice (!) and 51 “former Intelligence (!) officers … and so on and so forth of more of the lame.

    Is the U$ an “independent” nation or merely Money/Murder Inc.?

    Will the unsinkable … sink?

    Will the indispensable stink?

    Will the silence at U$ institutions of Higher Learning, break, or shall it roar like lyin’ fakes?

    Does the Israeli flag fly proudly over the Capitol, or merely flutter over the White (skinned) House?

    (Did not the “People’s House” look lovely in that lurid Irish! green light, was that not a most thrilling sight?)

    Consider that should there be a Trumpian return, he might play a Jacksonian role, and that spittoons might reappear in the Oval orifice.

    Are these not most heady times to be alive, conscious, and whys?

    • Michael G
      March 17, 2024 at 07:52

      “U$ dare free itself of Zionist Control”?
      Zionism is a racist, antisemitic and reactionary tool of Imperialism.
      We are the Imperialists.
      The tail is not wagging the dog.

      • DW Bartoo
        March 18, 2024 at 13:31

        However, Michael G, do even the fleas know, for sure?

        Yet, do those fleas know who owns the Dog?

        (Perhaps, the letters, in that last word, might have gotten reversed?)

        Israel will continue with genocide, and the U$ will continue to enable genocide.

        Apparently, their aim coincides.

        Both nations, both cultures, and much of both societies believe that “those people” deserve whatever they get. Is this not Traditonal Policy, in both Israel and the U$?

        The apparent AIPAC ownership of the Executive and Legislative “branches” may well be matched by a compliant, complacent Judiciary.

        Basically, we witness the Divine Right of Money in action .

        That is where most of loyalty lies.

  15. gcw919
    March 15, 2024 at 21:12

    I, for one, would very much like having our tax dollars support universal health care (which Israel has), free higher education, and a massive commitment to address climate change, among other things. We could certainly use the $3.8 billion we send to Israel each year as a starting point. This Israeli indignation about the US interfering in their policies is laughable, if it wasn’t for all the suffering they are causing in Gaza presently. So let’s stop “interfering,” beginning with halting all financial and military aid immediately.

  16. TDillon
    March 15, 2024 at 20:41

    America is the banana republic of the Zionist financial rulers, and Israel is their pet project, supported by America’s dumb muscle. Schumer is the chief Zionist honcho in the US Senate, and his move is, as Caitlin says, purely a PR attempt to counter the sudden global awareness of Israel’s deeply criminal agenda.

    Next up, Israel’s American Secretary of State Antony Blinken will assure us that Israel has a humanitarian plan to slaughter the rest of the Palestinians.

    The world is realizing the “Zionist project” is a colossal disaster, and it’s time to pull the plug.

  17. Refat Rabadi
    March 15, 2024 at 18:03

    Biden said Well, the truth of the matter is, if there weren’t an Israel, we’d have to invent one.…

  18. Michael G
    March 15, 2024 at 16:48

    Great article, again.
    It’s just “good cop, bad cop” at the state level.
    Nothing will change.

  19. bardamu
    March 15, 2024 at 16:41

    Israel knows it is favored by the US empire because it supplies deniability that is treated as plausible.

    To stop the genocide, we have to get the terrorists out of office. Otherwise, they’ll keep shooting until the ship goes under water.

  20. Susan Siens
    March 15, 2024 at 16:27

    Chucky the Shoe did as he was bid. Since his allegiance is to Israel and not the United States — he declared this on the Senate floor — one must assume that Israel told him what to say. And all the objections are just so much smoke and mirrors.

    • Michael G
      March 17, 2024 at 18:19

      I agree with everything in your comment except “one must assume that Israel told him what to say”.
      There is no operational difference between the US and Israel on this genocide. The objective proof is the continuing support by way of military aid, and diplomatic cover. That’s all we know.

  21. Mike
    March 15, 2024 at 16:22

    I think Netanyanu may be right, Israel is not a Banana Republic, but that’s because it doesn’t rise to that level. Rather it’s a rouge operation that uses terrorism against anyone who if perceives to be crossing it. They have always used highly-assymetric revenge directed at civilians as their primary deterrence and now in Gaza they are showing how they do it on a scale not yet seen before.

    But not only are they not a Banana Republic that the US can dictate to, but they cannot even be considered an ally of the US. Israel acts in its own self interests, often when those self-interests are not at all in the best interests of the US. They have also directly worked against the US in the past including the Suez Canal incident, USS Liberty, and the Pollard case to name a few. In the Pollard case, the critical information he stole from the US was sold by Israel to the Russians and they used it to out our spies. This isn’t a country you should even call a US ally. Dragging the US into a genocide, and using its lobby to manipulate the US government and press, is certainly not in the national security interests of the US. It’s time to wake up to who we are dealing with.

  22. herm
    March 15, 2024 at 15:59

    All good points, but it’s also the case if Israel “strongly opposes external political intervention in Israel’s internal affairs” then they should butt out of the US’s internal affairs as well. The moment AIPAC evaporates I’d be willing to entertain such an argument, but of course that’s nah gonna happen, so what a joke.

    • Michael G
      March 17, 2024 at 10:11

      “Israeli violence is not distant from Israel; they are fully united. Israel is not distant from Netanyahu; they are not meaningfully distinct. Netanyahu is not distant from Biden; they are partners in every way that matters. Liberals only try to compartmentalize these things away from each other to stave off the cognitive dissonance inherent in their contradiction-soaked worldview.”

      Caitlin Johnstone “Liberals Are Always Trying To Distance Biden From
      Netanyahu, And Netanyahu From Israel”
      (The “weird new tactic” link above)

  23. March 15, 2024 at 15:34

    James Bamford, regarding the 1967 attack on the USS Liberty: “It is a very delicate topic. Nobody wants to touch Israel. Nobody wants to criticize Israel.”

    Senator Chuck Schumer: “When something horrible like this happens, whether it was an accident—uh, even though it was an accident—certainly, uh, having new facts before us would be worthwhile.”

    Source:
    “In the Name of Liberty,” WB 11 (WPIX-TV), June 10, 2001 – Mary Murphy, Reporter; Caesar Darias, Segment Producer; Patricia Ivers, Producer (available on YouTube)

    “I have never believed that the attack on the USS Liberty was a case of mistaken identity. That is ridiculous. I have flown over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, thousands of hours, searching for ships and identifying all types of ships at sea.

    The Liberty was the ugliest, strangest looking ship in the U.S. Navy.

    […]

    Israel knew perfectly well that the ship was American. After all, the Liberty’s American flag and markings were in full view in perfect visibility for the Israeli aircraft that overflew the ship eight times over a period of nearly eight hours prior to the attack.”

    Source:
    Admiral Thomas H. Moorer (1967-70 Chief of Naval Operations; 1970-74 Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and arch-neoconservative board member of the American Security Council and Western Goals Foundation, with ties to Le Cercle), “Memorandum to AMEU,” June 8, 1997 (la.utexas.edu/users/chenry/usme/moorer.html)

    “[A]nger has been stoked by the declassification of government documents and the recollections of former military personnel, including some quoted in this article for the first time, which strengthen doubts about the U.S. National Security Agency’s position that it never intercepted the communications of the attacking Israeli pilots — communications, according to those who remember seeing them, that showed the Israelis knew they were attacking an American naval vessel.”

    Source:
    “New Revelations in Attack on American Spy Ship,” The Chicago Tribune, October 2, 2007 (archive.is/wgJRI)

    • Teleman
      March 18, 2024 at 09:14

      The USS Pueblo was seized by North Korea in ’68. I wonder where they NK’s got that idea?
      As a former Navy Radioman, I know which gear was compromised and the steps taken to secure communications.
      Attacking the Liberty and the Pueblo were not the acts of allies.

  24. Realist
    March 15, 2024 at 14:54

    Nethanyahoo is, of course, as guilty as sin on all counts itemized by Ms. Johnstone and a whole helluva lot more. The entire governmental infrastructure of Israel, the US, the EU has been functioning 24/7 to keep Bibi alive like the theoretical terminal patient that Caitlin describes. The outcome, however, has been predictably futile and the moment has come for the Israeli PM to be sacrificed as would befall any big honcho in organised crime. I don’t know if Bibi realises this or not, but he has become as expendable as Jeffry Epstein was to the obscene Israeli cause, as dispensable at Gislain Maxwell and her father were to the genocidal Israeli mission. It’s easy to predict that now, after the most outrageous acts in the “defense” of this racist monstrosity have been tried and failed, leaving half a million or more innocent Palestinian civilians–mostly women and children–lying dead (and another 1.5 million homeless, sick and starving) without so much as having raised a finger in their own defense, that Netanyahoo’s time has come. This preposterous mobilisation of money, arms, and extreme genocide, which was implemented mainly to save Bibi’s worthless hide should be at an end. Bibi will pay the ultimate price whether he consents or not. Then the other main sell-out to decency and sanity–the American leader who voluntarily (nay, eagerly) grafted himself to Bibi’s febrile corpse, supporting the SOB’s every mad atrocity, the asshole otherwise known as Joe Biden, must be judged, found wanting and cast to the curb by the American people. He should be impeached, extricated from all political powers, and should consider himself lucky not to be incarcerated for the short time left to his dishonorable life span.

  25. Chris N
    March 15, 2024 at 14:35

    Caitlin nails it again

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