“Actually Obama has increased US military aid to Israel; he’s giving Israel so-called missile defense systems; he’s been a real friend of Israel in the past time and [a real friend of] people like [Israeli Minister for Military Affairs Ehud] Barak, who come out and say that he [Obama] is a great friend of Israel,” said London-based political commentator and activist, Chris Bambery in a Sunday interview with Press TV.
On July 27, Obama signed the United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act of 2012 that gives Israel another USD 70 million in military assistance, on top of the USD 3 billion Washington had already pledged to provide to the Israeli military this year.
The piece of legislation which was ratified by the Congress provides more US taxpayer dollars to help Israel expand its Iron Dome short-range rocket defense system.
The analyst went on to say that the “war of words” between [US presidential hopeful Mitt] Romney and Obama an as well as that between Netanyahu and Obama should not be taken too seriously but should only be interpreted as “a question of differences.”
“Their (Obama and Netanyahu’s) differences aren’t so much about what’s happening in Israel, it is more a question about Iran – Netanyahu wants to attack Iran now Obama is essentially saying wait a bit. So it’s only a question of degree here and I think what I have to see behind that is a depressing picture,” Bambery said.
The analyst thus maintained that the results of the upcoming US presidential elections would not make much of a difference regarding US foreign policy and war-mongering.
“If Romney was to be elected, the sort of zombies from the George W. Bush presidency are already in his team. They are going to be back. These are the people who brought us the invasion of Iraq – it’s a frightening prospect,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bambery said that under Obama there had been “not just a continuing war in Afghanistan, but the war in Libya and the ramping up of intervention in Syria and of course the threat to Iran.”
Commenting on the Palestinian plight, Bambery said “the Obama team has done nothing over the question of Palestine,” explaining that Palestine is not of much significance in the American debate because the US claims that their ongoing “so-called war on terror” is a central US foreign policy concern.
“The war on terror has tended to mean that the Palestinian issue has always been relegated to sort of second place as a consequence of that in the eyes of the American establishment.”
“It is a depressing scenario in a sense that there is a consensus in American politics – the rhetoric – we shouldn’t take it too seriously,” Bambery concluded.
(Press TV)
