horrible situation which will have ramifications way beyond Israel and the middle east. People in the US should be aware that the US is doing everything possible to tie israel's hands to prevent them from defending themselves and that this has been US doctrine since 1973,

first of all i will copy a part of Washington's Farewell Address 1796 :

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations, has been the victim.

So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils. Such an attachment of a small or weak towards a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.

after reading this part, now lets read another article:

I will just post an article by James J. David who is a retired Brigadier General and a graduate of the U.S. Army's Command and General Staff College, and the National Security Course, National Defense University, Washington DC. He served as a Company Commander with the 101st Airborne Division in the Republic of Vietnam in 1969 and 1970 and also served nearly 3 years of Army active duty in and around the Middle East from 1967-1969.

Passionate attachment to Israel:

by James J. David

Is there any criminal act that Israel can do without being protected from criticism from the United States? If there is I haven't seen it. And I haven't seen it from the Bush Administration or from the Clinton Administration or from any administration before them. But when you consider the influence of Israel's lobby and its political action committees and the more than $41 million they've given to Congress and the White House, is it any wonder Israel is shielded from any shame?

For more than 54 years the Israelis have committed acts that no other nation would dare get away with. But even here in America, where it is not yet illegal to publicly ask the wrong questions, any public figure that does so is subjected to smears, intimidation, and the attempted destruction of his career and reputation by Jewish organizations and by the very cooperative news media.

A few examples of these criminal acts committed by Israel include the treacherous attack on the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, killing 34 American sailors and wounding another 171. There can now be no disputing that Israel knew its identity, and that the ship was in international waters and clearly marked as a US Naval vessel. What was most treacherous though was not the perfidy of Israel but that of President Johnson ordering the recall of the sixth fleet when he found out that the attackers were not the Arabs but the Israelis. The treasonous compliance continues today as corrupt politicians refuse to take any action against Israel and continue their efforts in hushing-up the whole affair although there seems to be a strong campaign by the Liberty survivors and other brave patriotic Americans in exposing the Israelis of their criminal attack.

Another example of Israel's callous disregard for its supposed "ally" America was the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983, which killed over 200 US servicemen. According to former Israeli Mossad agent, Victor Ostrovsky, Israeli intelligence knew of the plan by Arab terrorists to bomb the building in plenty of time to warn the innocent men, but cynically refused to say anything.

In April 1996 the Israelis attacked an U.N. refugee camp in Qana, Lebanon and killed 103 innocent men, women, and especially children. A U.N. investigation determined the attack was intentional and stated that " while the possibility cannot be ruled out completely, the pattern of impacts in the Qana area makes it unlikely that the shelling of the United Nations compound was the result of technical and/or procedural errors." Shortly after this report the U.N. Security Council voted to condemn Israel for the attack and all nations with the exception of the U.S. voted in favor of the resolution. In other words, intentionally slaughtering 103 civilians was not sufficient for the United States to condemn Israel. Yet, when Hezbollah attacks Israel's illegal occupation of southern Lebanon and results in the deaths of two Israeli soldiers the U.S. is first to condemn this legal resistance.

During the past 27 months the Palestinian resistance from the brutal and illegal Israeli occupation has resulted in more than 2000 Palestinians and 670 Israelis killed. When Israelis are killed or injured by Palestinian suicide bombers the White House wastes not a second to harshly condemn these brutal acts, and it does so in an understandable manner. But when Israelis drop a one-ton bomb in the center of a Gaza City apartment complex and kills 15 innocent Palestinians including 9 small children the U.S. issues a diplomatic statement criticizing the attack only as using "excessive force." Other times when Palestinian children are slaughtered for throwing stones at tanks the United States remains silent.

These are just a few of the criminal acts committed by the Israeli government and shielded from criticism by U.S. politicians or even reported by the controlled media.

Although September 11th brought the fight on terrorism to the front burner, it seems that the United States protects Israel from any criticism here too. An Israeli instant-messaging firm Odigo confirmed that two employees received text messages warning of an attack on the World Trade Center two hours before terrorists crashed planes into the New York landmarks. (Ha'aretz, December 20, 2002.) Is it possible that Israel had foreknowledge of the attack? Could this be the answer why the Israeli employees at the World Trade Center never showed up for work that tragic September morning? If this is the case then the fact that Israel's government had prior knowledge of the pending attack and not warned the Americans makes them as guilty as our enemy. Whatever the case, our government must make a complete and thorough investigation without any threats from Jewish and Israeli interest groups.

Shielding Israel from criticism and supporting the Jewish state no matter what crimes she commits has caused the United States the loss of respect around the world. In addition, Israel has cost American taxpayers more than $120 billion in the past 40 years. Our one-sided unbalanced Middle East policy has created the hatred of millions and the primary cause of terrorism that has landed on our own soil.

Criticizing our government's dangerous policies and its submissions to the Jewish lobby doesn't make anyone less patriotic or any less of an American. George Washington said it best when he stated that "passionate attachment to another nation produces a variety of evils…the illusion of common interests where no real common interests exist; adopting the enmities of the other; and participation in the quarrels and wars of the other without any justification. Still another evil is that such a passionate attachment gives to ambitious, corrupted or deluded citizens the facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country."

The brute statistics of war point to an Israeli victory. The Arabs lost 5 aircraft for every 1 Israeli. They lost 5.6 tanks for every 1 Israeli, nearly 10 killed soldiers for every 1 Israeli. 19-34 Arab naval vessels were sunk without a single Israeli loss. The Israelis also captured nearly 10,000 POWs (mostly Egyptian). Israel captured 500 Sq Km from Syrian and 1,600 Sq. Km. from Egypt. Israel's west bank salient more than made up for any territorial loss on the east bank.

Some Egyptians still pathetically cling to a fantasy of victory but this is no more than a revisionist wet dream and the statistics of war prove otherwise. There are four reasons for this erroneous Egyptian belief.

1. Expectations: Israel's victory over the Arabs in the 6-Day War was so devastating and the Arab loss so complete, that anything short of a total rout in the next round would seem like a defeat. Israeli expectations were extremely high and Arab expectations were extremely low. However looking at the war objectively without comparing it through the prism of the 6-Day War, there can be no doubt that Israel emerged victorious.

2. Perceptions: Arab perceptions of victory are different than Western perceptions. In the West, victory means winning on the battlefield and accomplishing your objectives and doing so at the lowest possible cost. By this standard the Israelis clearly won. There battlefield victory was complete and when the cease-fire went into effect, the Arabs were at a tactical disadvantage. It was their capitals that were threatened, not Israel's. However, to Arabs, the concept of honor is paramount. Just by initiating a fight and holding territory for a few days meant that a measure of honor was restored. It didn't matter that they were ultimately defeated. Foe Arabs, the view that dominates are those first 2-4 days.

Media Censorship: Whereas Israel a democracy with a vibrant, free press, Arab governments stifle press freedoms. Thus, when the war began going badly for them, the Arabs simply continued on with false propaganda claims of phantom Arab victories and ficticious Israeli losses. The most stunning example of this is the way Egypt dealt with its former army Chief of Staff, Saad Shazly. Following the war, he published a book about the war that portrayed the Egyptian army and its high command in a less than stellar light. For that indiscretion, he was arrested and his book was banned in Egypt. By contrast, Israel was open and honest about the war and a commision was established to deal with shortcomings.

Arab make-believe: Arabs have a tendency to create for themselves a euphoric word of make-believe that is simply divorced from reality. We've seen this time and again. In 1948, Egypt falsely claimed that its forces were on the outskirts of Tel-Aviv, when they couldn't even get passed the small settlements that blocked their path. In 1956, Egypt claimed victory when its forces were routed from Sinai with horrible lossed. In 1967, Egypt claimed that it destroyed the Israeli Air Force when in fact, the opposite was true. When the Egyptians were finally forced to face reality, they blamed their loss on the Americans and British, claiming absurdely that Anglo planes participated in the battle. Sadat played the same card during the 73 War, blaming his bad fortunes on America and claiming that he could no longer "fight the Americans." The latest example of this absurdity is the 2009 Gaza war where Hamas lost 709 fighters for the loss of 9 Israeli soldiers (4 of whom were killed by friendly fire) and yet Hamas declared "victory."

It is truly sad that the Arabs can not accept reality and continue to create for themselves a bubble of delusional fantasy. Their claims of victory are about as genuine as their desire for "peace."