Where are you Mister Obama ?

When Israel began bombing Gaza, your reaction (conveyed by a spokesperson) was that you were “closely monitoring events”. It made sense. That was the least you could do!

Then when the situation became more tragic and people wanted to know your position, your spokesperson said that you were “closely monitoring events” and that it was not opportune for you to speak about it, since there was only one president at a time. That was an amusing answer, but also a bit phony, because you were at the same time expressing your opinions on a lot of other problems – like the economy – depending on the one president in charge. Your silence was surprising.

Then, when the number of victims -- including a large number of women and children – kept escalating, and when a dire humanitarian crisis had developed in Gaza and when almost everyone in the world were calling for a cease-fire, you kept simply “closely monitoring events”. At that point your silence had become very embarrassing for anyone who had place hope in you for the future of the free world.

Lastly, when Israel, after bombing mosques full of civilians at prayer yesterday and destroying all the buildings belonging to the civilian infrastructure of Gaza, began the ground invasion, and the whole world (with the sole exception of the Bush administration) was calling for a cease-fire, you kept “closely monitoring events”. It was no longer a joke.

At that point, Mister Obama, it was obvious that your silence was a tacit approval of what Israel was doing – and the Israeli government clearly said that it interpreted it that way.

At that point, Mister Obama, your silence was no longer simply embarrassing. To my mind your silence had become criminal, because very clearly condoning a crime against humanity

Armand VEILLEUX

January 4, 2009