Dangerous US-Israel duo

The ideological bond between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was evident when praise was heaped on the former for his intention to build a wall on the Mexican border. However, that bond is not only a right-wing racist link, but also a financial boon, illustrated by the boost in the shares of Yehud, an Israel-based group that is expected to build the wall. This was the same company that built Israel’s separation/apartheid wall, which was declared illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004.

What Trump ignores is that Israel, in violation of international law, constructed about 85% of the wall’s route inside occupied Palestinian territory and justified it in the name of “security”. This annexation accounts for nearly 10% of the West Bank and includes prime agricultural land and strategic water reserves.

If Trump delves into history, he may be surprised to learn that the expansionist-minded US annexed one-third of Mexico’s territory, including California. There is therefore much more in common with Netanyahu’s Zionist project of annexing Palestine’s West Bank.

Is it possible that the Israeli tail is wagging the US dog, including the ban on Muslims entering the US? Israel has, again violating international law, forbidden the return of indigenous Muslims and Christians to their homes since 1948.

The ban on Muslims from seven countries, all of them bombed by the US and none of their citizens guilty of “terrorism”, will only fuel anger against the US. A conservative estimate by an investigative journalist suggests between 4-million and 8-million Muslims have been killed since September 11 2001.

And Trump, like Netanyahu, is not averse to using torture and indiscriminately killing civilians. The new US president sees nothing wrong with waterboarding, and will in all likelihood fill the dungeons with innocent victims exposed to “enhanced interrogation” at “black sites” under the guise of “security”.

With Netanyahu stoking the flames of Islamophobia for decades, the Trump presidency is primed to plunge the world into an inferno.

Dr Firoz Osman

Media Review Network