the government attacks PART 3

In part 1 I had the words of Sarah Smith, in part 2 I had the words (actually my paraphrase) of her lawyer, Michael Deutsch about the grand jury process.

Now I'm going to depart from my guideline of linking and using the words of others and will ask you to consider the question: Why would the FBI be going after Palestinian activists and their supporters?

Yes, you might hear lots of talk about the fight against terror but during the last few years the Palestinian efforts that have sparked such a response around the world have been non-violent.

But consider this - Israel is highly embarrassed by what it is doing in the occupied territories. Israel doesn't want reports in the world news of tear-gas projectiles killing non-violent protesters. It doesn't even want the subject of the occupied territories to be in the minds of anyone beyond the IDF soldiers who conduct the oppression and the settlers who steal land.

Many "internationals" are going to the occupied territories to stand with the Palestinians. So are some Israelis who detest what their government is doing. These people cannot be labeled "terrorists" as are all Palestinians by the powerful in Israel, nor can their testimony be easily dismissed.

So what is an occupying country to do? Wouldn't it be great if it could get the United States to stop Americans from going to the occupied territories? Wouldn't it be great if this could be disguised under a "made in the USA" operation that would shield Israel from anything indicating it was involved?

This makes sense to me. We know from the days of neo-con control of the administration of G.W. Bush that there are more than a few zealous Zionists in Washington, Americans all, who will do anything in support of Israel. Administrations want votes and so-called threats to national security brings support.

The grand jury threat that I described in part 2 is a beautiful tool for stopping people from making a trip to the occupied territories. Would you want to risk a subpoena from the Justice Department, possible prison time and a large legal bill to go to a tiny place on the other side of the world?

So Israel can have it's cake (seeing fewer Americans where it doesn't want them to be) and eat it too (being able to say the grand jury thing is an American operation that it doesn't know anything about).

The word for it is BINGO!