WASHINGTON, 27 March 2004 — Andy Martin is a Florida US Senate candidate and foreign policy analyst who believes “there isn’t a senator in Washington with any knowledge of the Middle East” and demands “President Bush suspend diplomatic relations with Israel.”
Martin, who is running for the Republican seat, told Arab News he is comfortable with his criticism, “because you have to have free speech in Washington in order to have free speech in Baghdad.”
“Israel is trying to embroil the US in a ‘holy war’ in the Middle East, and the Bush administration is flaccidly going along.”
The Bush Middle East policy “is dishonoring America,” says Martin. “Receiving Israeli murderers at the White House, while the blood they spilled was still warm in Gaza, is outrageous. Bush failed to condemn Israeli state terrorism, thereby making the US complicit in Israeli atrocities.”
Martin also blames Bush for “dynamiting” what Republicans stand for. “Bush has tried to out-do Democrats when it comes to his pro-Israel policies.”
He says the Republican Party has traditionally been the home of politicians who favor sensible, sane policies — including the Mideast foreign policy, when asked why he’s running for the Republican Senate seat.
“Israeli leaders are endangering every American by suggesting that we support Israeli tactics,” said Martin. By claiming that Israel is going to ‘coordinate our future moves with the American administration’ the Israeli foreign minister was trying to suggest we will be complicit in and endorse future terror, murder and theft of land.”
The irony, says Martin, is that Americans seem to have forgotten historical fact in the Mideast. “Palestinians were invaded by Israel, no Palestinian army has ever invaded Israel or occupied any Israeli town. Palestinians are fighting for their freedom and their homeland, both fundamental human rights. However much we may decry Palestinian tactics, they have no relationship to international terrorism such as Al-Qaeda.”
Bush must withdraw the US ambassador from Israel, said Martin; and “suspend all military and economic aid, and tell Israelis to get out of the West Bank and Gaza and retreat to the 1967 Green Line, immediately.”
“Ariel Sharon’s plan to ‘withdraw’ while stealing half of Palestine is a prescription for perpetual war. It is insane,” says Martin, who doesn’t increase his chances of winning the Republican Party seat in Florida in May by these declarations.
Martin, an editor on the “Out2.com” website, is also critical of the tactics of US war on terrorism at home: “We must fight and eliminate terrorism, but we cannot do so at the price of destroying our own freedoms and undermining the system by surrendering too much freedom to government. Both Republicans and Democrats have extended the powers of the federal government into every nook and cranny of our local, daily lives.”
Additionally, Martin wants an international boycott against McDonald’s in response to “McDonald’s Israeli management’s move to discriminate against Arab-speaking workers.”
“MacDonald’s is an example of how innocent business people can unwittingly be enlisted in racism. I’m not suggesting that MacDonald’s Corporation have maligned interests in the world, but local employees are enforcing extremely racist policies.
“American businesses around the world should not take the sides of local political issues,” he said. “Provided the customer gets their hamburger and fries, they should be able to speak the language they want, especially as Arabic is a legal language there.”
