United States plays along with Israel, sends warships to Mediterranean

By LUIS MIRANDA | THE REAL AGENDA | NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Even though it is obvious that Israel’s goal is to use the military intervention in Gaza as a ploy to delay or postpone elections, the United States has decided to play the same game that the Israeli leadership started last week. The U.S. has now sent warships to the Middle East region in case it is necessary to evacuate people before and during an eventual attack from Gaza.

The Pentagon has ordered three of its warships in the Mediterranean to head for Israel in case people need to be evacuated. Those people include U.S. citizens, of course, who would be in danger should an escalation of violence occurred in the next few days. Although such escalation is unlikely to begin from the Palestinian side, Israel is acting as if the rocket launchers posted in Gaza pose a tantamount threat to the security of the country, when it is quite the opposite. Since the exchange of fire began last week, more a 100 Palestinians have died as a result of Israeli bombing on Gaza, and some 600 people were injured. Meanwhile, on the Israeli side, the number of dead did not reach a dozen.

Official U.S. sources said that the need to evacuate U.S. nationals is still “remote” and that the decision to send warships to the region was a ”precautionary measure”. “It is better to be prepared if there is a need,” said the source, who insisted that the ships would be used only to help Americans and would have no combat role.

Currently, citizens who want to leave the region still can using commercial airlines, although this action demonstrates the increasing concern about the length that the conflict between Israel and Gaza may have. Egypt has volunteered to work as mediator and called both sides to be careful in the use of force, however, Egypt has already thrown its support behind the Palestinian people and Hamas, the terrorist organization fighting from within Gaza.

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on how to curb the escalating conflict in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, which has caused over a hundred deaths.

Repositioned vessels – the USS Iwo Jima, USS New York and USS Gunston Hall, were located west of the Straits of Gibraltar last week before being ordered by the Pentagon to change the course in the direction to the eastern Mediterranean, where they will remain for now.

Besides Egypt, Turkey and Iran have also spoken openly about their support for the Palestinian people. Both regimes have called Israel the “usual aggressor” and have said they will not stand calm if Israel launches full attacks or invades Gaza. The current conflict between Jews and Arabs began early last week, after Israel murdered one of Hamas’ leaders and threatened to take out all the other heads of the terrorist organization. The Israeli strike came in anticipation of the United Nations vote to allow Palestine to become an observer state in the organization, which the Israeli leadership opposes vehemently.

The Real Agenda encourages the sharing of its original content ONLY through the tools provided at the bottom of every article. Please DON’T copy articles from The Real Agenda and redistribute by email or post to the web.