Gulf News

US should watch out for the enemy within

From the killing of 34 US Navy personnel on the USS Liberty in 1967, to the arrest of 200 Israelis for spying following 9/11, Israel’s role has been contentiou­s and there are Americans helping the Zionist regime

- By Tariq A. Al Maeena ■ Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentato­r. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Twitter: @talmaeena.

If the rest of the world is at a loss to understand why United States foreign policy towards the Middle East is held hostage by the whims of Israel, then they would have to understand the covert actions that dictate such policies through a series of spying, lobbying and the distributi­on of money to fund policy-makers. These spies are not your undercover foreign agents. These operatives are Americans who publicly proclaim their allegiance to their flag. They could be your next-door neighbours, mowing the lawn on a Saturday morning or throwing a couple of steaks on the barbecue. But deep down, they foster an unbending loyalty to Zionism and Zionism alone.

And they can be found at all levels of the US government. Investigat­ive writer James Bamford, a best-selling author probing America’s most secretive intelligen­ce agencies, contends that Israeli intelligen­ce had infiltrate­d the US communicat­ions network and gained access to sensitive and classified communicat­ions informatio­n.

In his latest book, The Shadow Factory, the Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropp­ing on America, Bamford contends that two companies with suspected ties to Israeli agents routinely gathered classified communicat­ions data. He charges that US telecommun­ications giants, in conjunctio­n with America’s secret National Security Agency (NSA) writs, routinely carried out eavesdropp­ing programmes against the American public, and, in the process, used the services of two hi-tech Israeli firms — Narus and Verint, founded in Israel and long suspected of having close ties to its intelligen­ce services. “What is especially troubling, but little known, is that both companies have extensive ties to a foreign country, Israel, as well as links to that country’s intelligen­ce service — a service with a long history of aggressive spying against the US.”

When one looks back at recent history and American incursion into Mid-East politics, one realises that it has been one fraught with aggression against those countries perceived as a threat to Israel. Remember the US deputy secretary of defence Paul Wolfowitz? He was the loudest proponent on why the US should attack Iraq and take out those illusive “weapons of mass destructio­n”. He was also a enthusiast­ic supporter of Israel.

Subsequent disclosure­s of the false data on Iraq provided to the US president suggest that a prepondera­nce of such misinforma­tion had helped in shaping US foreign policy in this region.

Israeli spying and twisting of US policies have had a long history. From the bombing and killing of 34 US Navy personnel in 1967 on the USS Liberty, followed by a quashed investigat­ion into the tragic incident and continuing with the arrest and subsequent denials by the Israeli government of a mole, an ‘American’ named Jonathan Pollard, deep within the US Naval Intelligen­ce, the Israelis have been very successful at keeping a tight rein on US foreign policy.

Sworn loyalty

The Israelis cannot do it all alone, though. They need Americans for that, Americans whose sworn loyalty is first and foremost to Israel.

Following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US, more than 200 Israelis were arrested for spying. There were reports of an Israeli film crew setting up gear prior to 9/11. But none of these disclosure­s went very far.

When Mordecai Vanunu squealed on Israel’s developmen­t of nuclear weapons, it were ‘Americans’ who tempered the shock of disclosure in their media. When Israel violated countless United Nations resolution­s, and continued with its ethnic cleansing, it were ‘Americans’ who turned the US Department of State into an impotent organ of justice with their countless vetoes. When the Israelis recently declared their state to be an ‘all-Jewish state’, an apartheid state in other words, there was not even a whimper from US lawmakers.

Today, America is the only major country standing in the way of Palestinia­n statehood, and for no justifiabl­e reasons. Their lawmakers have openly threatened the Palestinia­ns with a cut-off in aid if they pursued such a dream. This from a country with the stars and stripes? And the Statue of Liberty?

You don’t have to convince me that Washington’s policy on the Middle East is being dictated by the Israelis. The evidence is all there. But what should begin to worry Americans is the presence of the enemy within. An enemy that walks and talks America’s language, but one that has absolutely no remorse for the shedding of Americans’ blood — all for the sake of Israel.

 ?? Luis Vazquez/©Gulf News ??
Luis Vazquez/©Gulf News

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