By Ali Baghdadi
If you examine the U.S. budget President Barack Hussein Obama is proposing, you may strikingly notice a change! Something most surprising! Something out of the ordinary! No mention of the $2.71 billion of military aid Israel receives annually! No reference to the additional billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayers’ money the most rogue nation on earth uses to maim, kill and destroy Christians and Muslims.

One may justifiably wonder! Is this real? Is the Black U.S. President daring to stand up to the Israeli Jewish lobby at this early stage? Is he actually willing to take a risk that may result in a tragic fate similar to that of Malcolm X and the Rev. Martin Luther King? Since Israel’s illegal creation, no U.S. president has seriously done so.

Is the young and handsome American President, who was born to a Kenyan Muslim father and was raised up in his early childhood in Indonesia at the home of a Muslim stepfather, attempting to deliver a subtle and clear message to Israeli leaders? Is he telling them that enough is enough, and the United States will no longer be an Israeli colony; that when it comes to future U.S. Israeli relations, business in Washington will not be conducted as usual; that a real change in U.S. Middle East policy is taking shape; that Israel must come to its senses and recognize the new realities? Is the new American leader trying to tell the Israeli political and military officials that the holocaust against the Gaza civilians is unacceptable; that the U.S., during his administration, will not tolerate Israeli bombing of homes, apartment buildings, schools, universities, hospitals, clinics, and houses of worship; that the air, sea and land siege of Gaza must cease; and that the crossing-points that allow the Gazans to move and trade with the outside world must be kept open?

I don’t claim to have all the answers. However, regardless of the pro Israeli statements he made during his campaign, the son of Hussein may soon prove to be different. I do know of his convictions and desire for a better and just world. I also know that the visit that Sen. John Kerry, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, as well as the tour that congressional Representatives Brian Baird and Keith Ellison made to Gaza, could not have happened in a vacuum, and without careful planning. The congressmen’s trips which were made immediately in the aftermath of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, the largest open concentration camp the world has ever known, could not have been carried out without the encouragement and blessing of the man who currently resides in the White House.

The two Democratic representatives were struck by “the level of destruction, the scope of it, specifically the civilian targets—schools, hospitals, industry.”
Israel “willfully destroyed any capacity of the Palestinians to rebuild their own infrastructure,” Baird openly and painfully complained.
“The stories about the children affected me the most ... No parent, or anyone who cares for kids, can remain unmoved by what Brian and I saw,” Ellison said.
“The amount of physical destruction and the depth of human suffering here is staggering,” said Baird. “Entire neighborhoods have been destroyed, schools completely leveled, fundamental water, sewer, and electricity facilities hit and relief agencies heavily damaged. The personal stories of children being killed in their homes or schools, entire families wiped out, and relief workers prevented from evacuating the wounded are heart wrenching—what went on here, and what is continuing to go on, is shocking and troubling beyond words.”
Baird has urged his fellow congressmen to examine his first-hand account, and view the photos and video footage he took of physical devastation in Gaza and families living in make-shift shelters. He also stated that he would like to bring in aid and medical workers from Gaza to present the facts and share their stories and experiences.
“If our colleagues had seen what we have seen, I think their understanding of the situation would be significantly impacted,” he said. “They would care about what happened to the Palestinians.”

Baird insisted that the U.S. Congress and the administration would come away with a sense that “the U.S. has a responsibility to insist on a change in the situation in Gaza and the situation in the West Bank.”

Baird was disturbed by the American origin of so much of the Israeli weaponry used against Palestinians, and demanded that the U.S. should reconsider the military aid and weapons it provides to Israel. “We need to use every pressure available to make these needed changes happen,” he emphasized.
Israel does not seem to have gotten the message President Barack Hussein Obama attempted to convey. It does not seem to worry about negative ramifications the Israeli assault on Gaza might have on the new U.S. administration. The response of Tzipora Menache, an Israeli spokeswoman, came loud and clear: