What Does It Profit a Congressman to Retain His Office but Suffer the Loss of His Soul?

A Visual Homily

by William A. Cook

Two months from now Americans will be subjected to the humiliating spectacle of their Representatives and Senators crawling down AIPAC’s plush red carpet to the podium at its annual conference where they will obsequiously laud this bloody organization with words of praise, outdoing each other in pitiful patronizing phrases, in unquestioning obedience to their masters.

The question is not does AIPAC control our Congress, one need only check their record of support:

• 410-8 supported Israel’s illegal invasion of Lebanon in 2006;
• 390-5 supported Israel’s devastation of Gaza in 2008/09;
• 344-36 supported silencing the Goldstone Report that condemned Israel’s crimes against humanity for that monstrous massacre;
• and following Israel’s violent attack against the unarmed humanitarian aid ship the Mavi Marmara on May 31, 329 Representatives signed and sent a letter to the President asking him to support a resolution exonerating Israel of any wrongdoing while their colleagues in the Senate voted 100 to none finding Israel innocent in that attack despite world-wide condemnation of its actions.

The question is not does Israel own our Congress, the question is WHY? 

The answer is simple: they are cowards protecting themselves against intimidation, coercion and fear.

One would think, as the majority is vocally solid Christians and devote Jews, that some attention would be paid to the Biblical admonishment alluded to in the title of this piece: “For what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world but suffer the loss of his soul?” Consideration might be given, one would think, to AIPAC’s purpose and to Israel’s actions. Are these in alignment with Christ’s teachings and do they represent the compassion that rested at the heart of Judaism prior to Zionism? I think not.

I also think, should they care to spend an hour and a half in rapt meditation witnessing the reality of the slaughter they supported in Israel’s invasion of Gaza, even their gold plated hearts would melt at the brutality, the ruthlessness, the absolute mercilessness of the state they support with such sanctimonious sentiments when they slither up the carpet to seek their favor and forget the consequences to their immortal souls. May they and all Americans who view this memorial to the dead of Gaza, prepared by one born in Palestine many years ago, now a resident of these United States, give serious thought to what we have wrought in our undeviating support for the Zionist mind, because that mind suffers from no remorse, bears no responsibility for its acts, and willfully uses even our representatives as fools to gain their ends.

This memorial is a monument to the people of Gaza, a testament to them from one who cares. Perhaps in this new world of cyberspace, stone monuments may give way to visuals that are available to all anywhere in this world. There is no monument like it anywhere; it is the victims’ tale of fear and suffering caught in the act of betrayal by those who have renounced their humanness. It is, therefore, a cry to all peoples everywhere that our civilized world of the 21^st century has accomplished what no other barbaric horde of times past could achieve…a requiem for those who died conveyed through the weeping eyes and torn faces of those who witnessed this testament to inhumanity delivered by a nation that reverted back to tribal indifference of others and hate for others  and vengeance to others.

How blessed to remember the lost lives whose voices now sing in silence through their pictures, through the arms wrapped about their bodies carried by a mother, a father, a friend , a stranger, where fright and pain ring together through the suffering eyes and cries caught in the absolute quiet of the frame, a silent testament snapped in time, a moment never to be lost where reflection rises instantaneously in the heart allowing these poor victims a moment of victory in their death to convey to each viewer the oneness we must all feel when we see horror inflicted on our brothers and sisters.

May this requiem force the Israelis and all who view this testament to share the suffering and the pain of the Palestinian people with all the compassion the souls of humans everywhere should feel for one another.

“The Israeli Operation Cast Lead Massacre And Utter Devastation of the Gaza Strip, A War Crime and Crime against Humanity” Power Point Presentation

This visual has been created by Dr. Arthur Billy with help from Gilad Atzmon and myself.

TO ACCESS: Simply click on one of the two ‘yousendit’ links here or here:

– Then click on the Download button.

– Then click on Save File.

– Then click on the PowerPoint Icon for the PowerPoint presentation to open and start playing a long and terrible testament to Israeli horror.

About the writer: William A. Cook is a Professor of English at the University of La Verne in southern California. His most recent book, The Plight of the Palestinians, was published this past summer by Macmillan. He can be reached at www.drwilliamacook.com or [email protected].

Related post:

• More Than 50% of U.S. Senate to Attend AIPAC POLICY CONFERENCE Celebrating Sending U.S. Taxpayer Billions Out of the Country

• Tel Aviv On The Potomac

• WILLIAM COOK: “We the Forgotten People of the United States…”

 

Prof. William A. Cook

William A. Cook is a professor of English at the University of La Verne in southern California and author of Age of Fools, The Rape Of Palestine: Hope Destroyed, Justice Denied, Tracking Deception: Bush Mid-East Policy and The Chronicles Of Nefaria. He is the editor of MWCNEWS.

The Plight of the Palestinians: a Long History of Destruction by Dr. William A. Cook is out now, available to order from Palgrave Macmillan!