Jafar Ramini

    I listened with interest to Mr. Obama’s State of The Union address. If you’re not an American citizen or living and working in America it has nothing to offer you.

    On the other hand, if you are a citizen of the world, or in particular, if you are a Palestinian it spells disaster. Just read this one paragraph and you will see what I mean.

    “ As we speak, American diplomacy is supporting Israelis and Palestinians as they engage in the difficult but necessary task to end the conflict there; to achieve dignity and an independent state for the Palestinians and lasting peace and security for the State of Israel – a Jewish state that knows America will always be at their side.”

    In this one paragraph Mr. Obama, ‘the peacemaker’, has endorsed Israel’s apartheid system that denies 1.2 million Palestinians who live in Israel and carry an Israeli citizenship equal rights simply because they are not Jewish. Furthermore, this one sentence has obliterated for us, the Palestinians who live in the Diaspora the right of return to our ancestral home, simply because we are not Jewish. AIPAC wins again.

    My friends, the battle to prove who rules over America will begin in earnest this morning.

    Congress is tabling an AIPAC-backed sanctions bill that would sabotage diplomatic efforts with Iran and lead America down the road to war. Again. However, President Obama reiterated in his State of the Union address that he would veto this bill.
    The frightening reality is that the U.S. Senate is just eight votes short of passing a bill that would be veto-proof.

    The American people must speak now or the Israel lobby will win on this one. Yet again.
    Never has Voltaire been more accurate than when he said:
    “ If you want to know who rules over you look around and found out who you’re not allowed to criticize.”
    Over to you, America.