By Jeffrey Marck
In reference to “U.S. Blocks Security Council Censure of Israeli Settlements”, NYT Friday 18 February, I am reminded of Ecclesiastes 1:9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.
On the other hand, I was wandering the environs of Liberation Square in Cairo on that day, and – as a foreigner – politely staying at least 500 yards away. But even well far from the epicenter of the celebrations, I was rubbing shoulders with the hundreds of thousands or perhaps some million or two Egyptians in the environs. There were parents with small children too young to remember, later in life, that they were there that day, the parents’ cameras capturing the evidence for them that they were.
Then I came home to Pyramids suburb where, after a long winter’s nap, I woke up to the news of Obama’s veto of the UN Security Council settlements resolution.
The senses have had a certain acuity during the dangers and exhilaration of the Egyptian Revolution and on the heels of that I suppose I shall never forget the contrast, today, in what the Egyptians have done with their Day in the Sun and what Obama has done with his.
Downtown I was uplifted. With word of the settlements veto I was revolted.
As I was when I left America for good in 2004, I am still of the opinion that the greatest threat to American decency and security is Israel and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
The contrast between what America was doing with my tax money and what the new government of Egypt will be doing with it brings a certain sense of solace.
