From: "Sandeep Vaidya (LMI)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> U.S.-backed terror hits new level Israel murders Palestinian leaders By Richard Becker Josef Goebbels had nothing on the present-day propagandists for the U.S. government and capitalist media. Goebbels, Nazi Germany's minister of propaganda, developed the Big Lie technique. His credo was make the lie big enough and repeat it often enough and it will be believed. Goebbels specialized in turning reality upside down, portraying the victim as aggressor and vice-versa--all in the service of Hitler's Nazi war machine. Goebbels created a fantasy of "Polish aggression" to justify Germany's 1939 invasion of that country, which started World War II in Europe. Today, top U.S. government officials and their bought media portray the Israeli occupiers of Palestine as beleaguered victims and the oppressed Palestinian people as fanatical aggressors, thereby "justifying" the most ferocious repression by the U.S.-armed Israeli military. Take, for example, the intensifying Israeli campaign of assassination against Palestinian political and military leaders in the West Bank and Gaza. In the first four days of August, at least 10 Palestinians were murdered--most torn to pieces by helicopter-fired missiles, courtesy of the Pentagon. In Nablus, eight people were killed inside a building housing a research center. The most prominent among the dead was Jamil Mansour, the head of the center and a political leader of the Hamas organization. Two young boys were also killed in the missile attack. Other victims lived in the West Bank city of Tulkarem and in Gaza. Marwan Barghouti, the leader of Fatah, the biggest Palestinian party, narrowly escaped death in an attack on the military convoy in which he was traveling. Barghouti is a symbol of resistance and a widely popular figure across the Palestinian political spectrum. The latest assassinations and attempted killings resulted in a sharp upsurge in armed resistance throughout the West Bank and Gaza. Heavy fighting broke out in many areas. In the most dramatic response, Ali Joulani, a Jerusalem housepainter who reportedly was not previously involved politically, attacked the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. He wounded 10 Israeli soldiers before being shot and killed. The Israeli military has reacted by further tightening the blockades of Palestinian cities and villages, creating a severe crisis. The rights group B'Tselem reported on Aug. 6 that 218 Palestinian towns and villages with a population of more than 200,000 lack adequate water supplies in the hottest time of the year as a result of the blockades. U.S. capitalist media support assassinations At least 50 Palestinian organizers have been killed in the assassination campaign since the new Intifada, or uprising, began on Sept. 28 last year. Can anyone imagine the big-business media's panic campaign if the situation were reversed? What if the Palestinians were carrying out an assassination campaign against Israeli political figures? But instead of outrage, the U.S. reaction--official and otherwise--has ranged from the gentlest criticism to outright support for Israel's state policy of murder. Secretary of State Colin Powell termed the Israel assassination campaign "overly aggressive," and called for a return to negotiations. But in an interview with Fox News on Aug. 2, Vice President Richard Cheney expressed his sympathy with the Israeli tactic. He said, "I think there is some justification in their [the Israelis] trying to protect themselves by pre-empting." On the Sunday network talk shows Aug. 5, most of the pundits expressed support for the assassinations. Several criticized Powell's extremely mild diplomatic reproach. George Will and Cokie Roberts, hosting ABC's This Week morning show Aug. 5, agreed that, after all, it was "Israel that is under attack." Never mind that more than four times as many Palestinians as Israelis have died, and 15 times as many Palestinians have been seriously wounded in the Intifida. Never mind that tens of thousands of Palestinian homes have been destroyed or made uninhabitable. Never mind that the Palestinian standard of living, in the broken-up 5 percent of historic Palestine that they hold today, is less than one-tenth that of the Israelis. And, of course, never mind that Israel--thanks to the U.S. government's generous support--today has the fourth most powerful military in the world, while the Palestinians have no planes, helicopters, tanks or ships. Never mind all that. Israel is depicted as the victim, while the Palestinians are the aggressors. Josef Goebbels would have been proud. Split in the administration? The different positions expressed by Powell and Cheney have raised speculation in the world media about a division over Middle East policy in the Bush administration. But, as an unnamed pro-Israel analyst interviewed by the Chicago Tribune put it, any administration criticism of Israel is for "diplomatic consumption," meant to "reassure moderate Arab allies like Jordan and Egypt." Powell's statement reflects no sympathy for the Palestinians, but rather the deep worry in Washington that the intensifying and ruthless Israeli repression against the Palestinians could produce an explosion in the Middle East. Anger toward Washington, seen as Israel's protector and benefactor, is strong and growing throughout the entire strategic region. This is reflected even in the mainstream media. Rajeh Khoury, a columnist for the An Naher newspaper in Lebanon, expressed a widely held response to Cheney's comments: "It is difficult for many people to believe that this kind of remark is made by the vice president of the world's biggest state--a state that never ceases to bombard others with slogans of freedom, democracy and human rights." - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <MAILTO:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <MAILTO:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. Web: <http://www.workers.org/>) ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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