Some moderate

Former US Ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk – described by many as a “moderate” and compared to Genghis Khan, they’re probably right – appeared on last night’s ABC Lateline.

An Australian who has worked for Washington’s most insidious pro-Israel think-tank, AIPAC, Indyk proved once again why he is the voice of the establishment with little or no thought for Iraqis or Palestinians. Interviewer Maxine McKew – does she get paid to be so innocuous? – dared not ask him anything too confronting.

Israel was “possibly” nuclear, Indyk said. Sorry? Perhaps he was trying to continue the Jewish state’s deliberate policy of nuclear ambiguity, but the facts are very clear. Israel is armed and very dangerous.

He talked about the rising US casualties in Iraq and didn’t once discuss the far greater Iraqi deaths. American prestige is all that matters, no matter the human cost.

He described Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza as a gift to the Palestinians. “They will be able to breathe more easily, move more easily. The Israeli army will be out of their lives”, he said. Nonsense. Israel will continue to control the air, sea and land borders as well as water and gas reserves. Besides, Israel reserves the right to re-enter Gaza whenever it wants, under the guise of finding “terrorists.” “Gaza will be free of Israelis and liberated, as it were, for the first time”, he continued.

Indyk is the kind of individual the media sees as a Washington insider. He works for the conservative Brookings Institute, home to the infamous Kenneth Pollack. Pollack, it should be remembered, was a leading supporter of the Iraq invasion – his predictions of WMD and “liberation” have been hopelessly mistaken – and he is now looking towards Tehran. Indyk is in esteemed company.

Finally, McKew’s introduction showed the ABC’s increasing deference to US power. “The dream of President George W. Bush of a re-making of the region is still very much in the balance”, she said. The only people who don’t know the answer to that question these days are the Blair, Bush and Howard regimes and a handful of clueless journalists.

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