Sirhan Sirhan assassinated Robert Kennedy on the anniversary of the 6 Day War because he was a strong supporter of Israel. Hence, if a Palestinian would consider a similar despicable act, he would not focus on Barack Obama, the man endorsed by Hamas but on the man who could be trusted to stand up to Hamas and it’s puppet masters, John McCain.

But wasn’t Robert Kennedy an antiwar advocate? And, therefore, wasn’t the CIA the real culprit, as conspiracy theorists advocates would like to argue?

The simple answer is no. Robert Kennedy (and Eugene McCarthy for that matter) was a Vietnam dove but a Middle East hawk. The Johnson administration liked to refer to them as “Dawks and Hoves.” Indeed, when captured, Sirhan Sirhan was carrying an newspaper article describing Kennedy as such. Kennedy believed that American forces could not hold the containment line both in Southeast Asia and that the Middle East was the more important one. That translated into support for Israel and more specifically, into support for the sale of Phantom Jets to the Jewish state.

Lyndon Johnson promised to supply the jets but he delayed acting on that promise. His envoys, Averell Harriman and Llewelyn Thompson were negotiating with the Vietnamese in Paris and they hoped they can get a better deal for South Vietnam with Israeli concessions to the Arabs. American officials, including Johnson, emphasized that the Arabs had “a unique opportunity” to deal with a president who was “beyond the domestic pressure of the Jewish vote” and who delayed action on the promised Phantom sale irrespective of the JCS analysts’ conclusion that Israel was “in an inferior military position.” The media was filled with speculations of an imminent package deal.

It should be remembered that the Israeli air force was decimated by the 6 Day War and that the USSR was engaged in a massive rearmament of Egypt and Syria. Thus, the refusal to supply Israel with Phantoms became equated with a willingness to sacrifice Israel for a better deal in Vietnam. On May 9, 1968 both Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy called for Phantom sales.

Hubert Humphrey stood by Johnson who mounted a full frontal attack on Israel by arguing that “American hopes for a reduction of world tensions and results in the Paris peace talks” depended on Israel withdrawal from the territories without a peace agreement.

When asked about the assassination of Robert Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson insisted that he did not know the reasons for the attack on the Senator. “We cannot permit a wave of anti-Arab sentiment among the American public at a time when we are trying to restore good relations with our friends in the Arab world, explained a “top official” to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reporter.

By the way, Palestinians definitely considered Sirhan Sirhan one of them as is evident from the following report:

 

When Yasser Arafat’s Black September terrorist stormed the Saudi Embassy in Khartoum in March of 1973 and took US Ambassador Cleo Noel, Charge d’Affaires George Curtis Moore, and others hostage, Sirhan’s release was one of their main demands.

On March 2, 1973, after Nixon rejected that demand, Arafat was overheard and recorded by Israeli intelligence and the U.S. National Security Agency giving the code words for the execution of Noel, Moore, and Belgian diplomat Guy Eid, who were shot to death.

To sum up, appeaser Obama is not in danger. Robert Kennedy was not an appeaser. That was the reason he was assassinated. Of course, appeasers, then and not, try to cover up the crime.

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