Ron Paul: Gaza crisis is blowback for past US interventions
01/09/2009 @ 11:42 am
Filed by David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Rep.
Ron Paul (R-TX) spoke on Friday in opposition to a non-binding House
resolution (pdf) expressing "strong support for Israel" in its
invasion of Gaza and decrying Hamas as a terrorist organization that has
put "hundreds of thousands of Israelis in danger."
"I rise in opposition to this resolution, not because I am taking sides
and picking who the bad guys are and who the good guys are." Paul stated.
"I'm looking at this more from the angle of being a United States
citizen, an American, and I think resolutions like this really do us
great harm."
"The weapons being used to kill so many Palestinians are American
weapons, and American funds, essentially, are being used for this,"
continued Paul. "There's a political liability, which I think is
something that we fail to look at, because too often there's so much
blowback from our intervention in areas that we shouldn't be involved in."
Paul pointed out that if Hamas now has too much power, it is the fault
of past actions by Israel and the United States. "We first, indirectly
and directly through Israel, help establish Hamas," he noted, "then we
have an election [in Gaza], then Hamas becomes dominant -- so we have to
kill them. It just doesn't make sense."
"There's a lot of reasons why we should oppose this resolution," Paul
concluded emphatically. "It is not in the interests of the United
States. It's not in the interests of Israel, either."
Paul's statement was consistent with his past positions. Last March, he
was the
sole member of Congress to vote against a one-sided condemnation of
Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli civilians.
Paul
stated on that occasion, "I believe it is appalling that
Palestinians are firing rockets that harm innocent Israelis, just as I
believe it is appalling that Israel fires missiles into Palestinian
areas where children and other non-combatants are killed and injured.
Unfortunately, legislation such as this is more likely to perpetuate
violence in the Middle East than contribute to its abatement. ... I
strongly believe that we must cease making proclamations involving
conflicts that have nothing to do with the United States. We incur the
wrath of those who feel slighted while doing very little to slow or stop
the violence."
This video is from C-SPAN, broadcast Jan. 9, 2009.
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