THE article ‘US-Iran relations’ (July 27) by Owen Bennett-Jones seems fair except that it has one serious error. It describes Israel as any ally of the US.

The fact that Israel is the occupying power which exercises as much control over Washington DC as it does on the Palestinian territory. How else could one explain continuing US subservience to Israel despite the following incidents:

1) Meek acceptance by US president Lyndon B. Johnson of a small compensation package for Israel’s unprovoked and deliberate combined air/sea assault on the USS Liberty, which killed 34 Americans and wounded another 171. Even this amount must have been reimbursed to Israel through increased aid.

2) Shameless acceptance by US President George Bush of needless provocation by Israeli Prime Minister Olmert who openly boasted about how he ridiculed Bush by interrupting him in the middle of a public speech and forcing him to come down the podium to ring the US delegation at the UN and to tell them to abstain on a UN resolution which the Condi Rice delegation had helped draft.

3) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got invited to address the US Congress without first notifying the Obama administration.

Also, Netanyahu contemptuously rejected Obama’s pleas to ‘agree to settlement freeze for our sake’ to help re-start the peace negotiations. And we know Netanyahu openly canvassed for Obama’s opponent for the second term election. Despite all this, Barack Obama was forced to cough up an even greater aid package for Israel for the next 10 years.

4) The use by the US of its soldiers as cannon fodder to destroy strong opponents of Israel like Iraq, Libya and Syria, throwing over two trillion US dollars down the drain and with 4,500 soldiers dead. Now the US is warming up against Iran in the same spirit. Also, US General David Petraeus complained that the US policy in respect of Israel creates problems in the Middle East.

5) Of course, between allies, favours flow both ways unlike US-Israel relations where Israel receives the favours and the US gets rebukes, humiliations and even kicks at times.

Syed R.H. Hashmi

Karachi

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2017