Vanguard News Network

by JERRY GHINELLI

NEW YORK — The government of Israel today launched a massive air assault on suspected terrorist targets along coastal cities of the United States of America.

Termed “Operation Just Reward II,” hundreds of Israeli fighter jets streamed across the Atlantic in precise formation and fired surgical air strikes at alleged terrorist strongholds in the heavily Muslim populations of Jersey City and North Bergen, New Jersey. The jets then continued south into Elizabeth and Newark, inflicting massive destruction in the densely populated northeastern U.S. state.

Reaction to the attacks was swift. President Bush asked for restraint, but stated emphatically that “Israel had the right to defend itself.”

The president, who took an oath to defend the U.S. and to preserve, protect and defend it against all foreign and domestic enemies, said that the fight against suspected terrorist sites and alleged al-Qaeda involvement, coupled with our close relationship with Israel, requires special sacrifices by the American people and special exceptions to both U.S. and international law.

Earlier in the day, the U.S. Congress passed a unanimous resolution in both houses, backing the Jewish state. Even New Jersey Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez voted with the 98 other U.S. Senators, backing Israel’s right to self-defense.

Claiming there were terrorists in New Jersey who had links to al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as other radical Islamic groups, New York Senators Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer appeared at a UN rally just across the river from the Israeli incursion and pledged their unwavering support for Israel. “We are all Israelis now,” Senator Clinton proudly proclaimed.

Most Americans continue with summer vacations

The attacks were the first on American soil by a foreign country since the December 7, 1941, assault by the empire of Japan.

The American public was mainly upset and worried about what this would mean for the price of gasoline. New Jersey has several refineries just south of the suspected safe houses.

Across the country, most Americans continued their summer vacations, unconcerned with the developments in foreign countries but quite concerned about how this might impact the Dow.

Critics called the Israeli self-defense incursion an attack on the U.S., declaring that anyone supporting the Israeli invasion of the United States as traitors. They were immediately dismissed as anti-Semites and soft on terrorism.

The MSNBC studios in Secaucus, N.J., just a few miles north of the attack, lost power after the air strikes knocked out the local PSE&G power plant, but stayed on the air with emergency backup generators, as news readers marveled at the pinpoint accuracy of the strikes. They praised the Israeli air force for valuing American First Amendment rights to such an extent that they left the studio intact, so ongoing developments could be broadcast to the American people.

Newly installed MSNBC president Dan Abrams, a loyal supporter of Israel, sent a telegram to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, thanking him for his restraint. Former Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, then appeared on MSNBC’s “Hardball” with Chris Matthews in the damaged studios, and defended the Israeli strikes against the suspected terrorist safe houses just a few miles away.

No safe houses in Terror War

“There are no safe houses anywhere in the world when it comes to fighting the war on terror,” said Netanyahu, as the whir of the backup electrical generators could be heard in the background. Matthews stated emphatically, “That’s right.”

The regrettable death toll and collateral damage to the citizens of those stricken cities is expected to be in the hundreds or even thousands, but still below the deaths that occurred on 9/11; this demonstrated the compassion of the Israeli pilots versus the ruthless Muslim terrorists, said an obviously agitated Netanyahu.

“We abhor the death of innocent Americans killed in the air strikes, but you have to lay the blame on the terrorists who are hiding in these crowded neighborhoods,” he said.

Netanyahu’s justification for the incursion relied heavily on U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney’s “1%” doctrine, which treats suspicions of terrorist involvement with a likelihood even as low as 1% as a certainty. “We think therefore, there are,” he remarked philosophically.

The European Union, and Canada’s newly elected Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, also supported the Israeli incursion against the U.S. Both deeply regretted the loss of innocent American lives.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the Israeli incursion just and proportionate. President Bush phoned Blair and thanked him for his support during this difficult time, and for the sweater Blair had given him on his 60th birthday.

Jewish leaders remain steadfast in defense of Israel

John Bolton, the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, noted that American casualties from the Israeli raids were not equal to those killed in terrorist attacks, such as those that occurred here on 9/11. “There is no moral equivalence between those killed by a democratically elected government like Israel and those killed by Muslim terrorists,” Bolton emphasized.

UN General Secretary Kofi Annan also refused to criticize the Israeli actions, but suggested he mediate a cease-fire. According to those close to Annan, he offered to end all of this “s—” with a simple phone call to New Jersey
Governor Jon Corzine.

The newly elected New Jersey Governor was harshly criticized by both the Israeli government and the Bush administration for not doing enough to rein in suspected terrorist guerillas in his state. With tears in his eyes Corzine, the former U.S. Senator and former top executive of Goldman Sachs, took responsibility for neglecting to investigate potential terrorist activities in his state.

Despite damage to several synagogues in the bombardment, traditionally liberal American Jewish leaders remained steadfast in their defense of Israel, out of solidarity with and loyalty to the Jewish state. Many of them are former opponents to the war in Vietnam war and former marchers with Dr. Martin Luther King during the American civil rights struggle.

Critics of the incursion contend that the Muslims are protected by American and international law, and the strikes against the U.S. should be construed as war crimes.

U.S. vetoes French resolution condemning attack

But U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez stated emphatically that the war on terror supersedes all constitutional guarantees, and international law does not apply to those suspected of terrorism or links to Al-Qaeda, Hamas or Hezbollah.

In the UN, a Security Council resolution introduced by France, condemning the Israeli attacks on the U.S., was vetoed by the United States.

Local hospitals overflowed with victims of the Israeli strikes. One of the victims is an Israeli pilot, badly injured after he bravely steered his stricken F-16 fighter jet away from a populated area and crash-landed in New York’s Central Park, so as not to endanger innocent civilians.

The NY Times ran his heroic story on the front page, and New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, is expected to present him with the key to the city after, as his expected recovery. His co-pilot parachuted and was kidnapped by a group of local citizens.

The government of Israel and the Bush administration have joined in demanding the the immediate release of the abducted pilot. Bush promised Olmert he would send troops and do whatever is necessary to aid in rescue of the pilot.

Meanwhile, victims of the Israeli self-defense air strikes, many of whom are less than 10 miles away from where the Manhattan site, where the World Trade Twin Towers once stood, are now starting to ask not “why do they hate us?”, but rather “why do we love them?”

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