U.S. has moral responsibility as superpower

Many expect injustice from an invading vengeful state that not only continued to occupy Palestine and parts of South Lebanon but also has been violating Lebanese sovereignty by air, sea and land. A state that has been waging a full-fledged war against defenseless population killing scores of civilian men, women and children.
I make a clear distinction between Jews and the State of Israel. I, along with millions of Muslims have no issues with Jews, as evident in the fact that tens of thousand Jews live in Muslim countries in peace and tranquility. It is also evident in the fact that thousands of Jews are opposed to the ongoing massacre of innocent Palestinians and Lebanese. Further, my Jewish friends know what I stand for, and I have publicly denounced the killing of civilians who are Jews and I will speak up when Muslims are affected as well.

When a society accepts the killing of innocent civilians, including women, children, elderly and the disabled, in retaliation for individual acts, then we have lost our morals and the very basic consciousness that makes us humans. We know that the United Nations, the European Union and almost every country � except for the U.S.� have termed the ongoing aggression as "disproportionate," "excessive" and "pointless." What this administration did instead was to veto a resolution that called on Israel to end the bombing and to rush a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel as reported by The New York Times.

Israel has demonstrated through violent actions that it is attacking civilian targets in Lebanon to achieve a political goal. This is the very definition of state sanctioned terrorism. Producing a humanitarian crisis of massive proportions, bombing the area's only power plant, causing hospitals to only take emergency cases, causing ordinary civilians to sell everything they own just to buy scarce food supplies, destroying bridges and residential neighborhoods � aren't all these acts considered terrorism?

The uppermost duty of any U.S. president is to protect the lives of Americans, therefore I wonder why our government has adopted an unjust, one-sided policy and has sided with Israel, which in turn put us citizens in increased danger and isolation from the rest of the world, endangers the safety of our troops in Iraq and offers the best recruitment for extremists who thrive on such actions. Is the Israeli lobby that powerful?

America's image and interests worldwide are being harmed by its unbalanced Middle East foreign policy, one that is driven by Israeli interests and not American interests. The American thing to do is to stand with the frail and the oppressed and not the invading force and its military that is clearly engaging in acts of terrorism.

Our nation cannot maintain credibility in condemning acts of terror carried out by individuals or groups while offering diplomatic cover and material support to a state that is engaged in a brutal campaign against an entire civilian population. Of course, kidnapping three soldiers is wrong, but that does not give them the right to retaliate by bombing infrastructure and civilians. All this to keep a land that was illegally occupied, ignoring countless U.N. resolutions.

The moderates we're trying to win over are seeing American-made bombs falling by the dozens on innocent people. Many expect injustice from an invading vengeful state that not only continued to occupy Palestine and parts of South Lebanon but also has been violating Lebanese sovereignty by air, sea and land. A state that has been waging a full-fledged war against defenseless population killing scores of civilian men, women and children.

However, no one expects it from America, a country that prides itself in helping the weak and stopping injustices. The U.S. should demand a ceasefire and immediate stop to the ongoing acts to terror. After all, Israel owes us at least that for the billions of our taxes that our government pays them each year.

It is important that we don't allow Israeli propaganda to present an image of balance between the two sides: There is no equilibrium between the two sides in this conflict. Not only in terms of Israeli military superiority, but also in terms of massive killings by Israel of largely innocent civilians. In the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, this Israeli aggression will go down as a watershed; it will have an impact on the course of the conflict and also on the stability of the very regimes that the U.S. spends money and weapons to prop up.

Now that we reached a human catastrophe in Palestine and Lebanon, isn't it time for America to take a moral stand toward the Palestinian and Lebanese people, put an end to the Palestinian suffering and bear its responsibility as a world superpower? I love this country, and it is because of this love that I want our country to do better. To those who God has given much, much is expected. Our country has been truly blessed � this blessing comes with great responsibility.

Forget what religion you practice and what country you belong to. Let's look at this as a human issue. Wouldn't you want justice to be done and your family to be safe? Wouldn't you want to have food and shelter and not be forced to become a refugee? And wouldn't you want to be able to you take your children to the hospital when they're sick? I'm certain you would, and so do the Palestinian and the Lebanese people. They feel the same way about their families and homes. They bleed the same way we do.

Hakim Ouansafi is chairman of the Muslim Association of Hawai'i. He wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.