It's really hard to be a friend of America these days

WORLDVIEW: It says a lot about the depth to which Israel - or rather the current Israeli government - has sunk when, in an apparent purple-faced rage, it pronounces itself "sickened" by critical comments from Brian Cowen.

Cowen, acting in his capacity as foreign minister spokesman for the European Union, had earlier rebuked Israel for its murderous rampaging around the Gaza Strip. And so the Israeli government, timid thing that it is, was "sickened".

Not sickened by the effects of firing a tank shell into a crowd of unarmed protesters. Not sickened by the consequent - and utterly predictable - butchering of people. Not sickened by the questionable, if not illegal, demolition of dozens of homes. But sickened by a verbal rebuke from a politician speaking on behalf of 25 European nations.

Let's be clear about what Israel did this week in Rafah. Its armed forces entered a place which Israel already occupies illegally, an illegality defined by the United Nations, an organisation about which Israel has shown it doesn't give two hoots.

Israeli Defence Force tanks and men trundled through the Gaza Strip to its southern end, to Rafah. There, they began to demolish buildings - apartment block homes - along the frontier with Egypt to create an open space buffer strip along the border. The reason for this, they said, was because infiltrators had built tunnels under the border through which they were smuggling weapons to be used against Israel.

All of which may well be true. But, as Cowen pointed out, the Israeli action was disproportionate to the threat. When Palestinians protested against this activity, the situation escalated to the point where a tank commander fired a round at or near a crowd of people (it doesn't really matter which), with the result that around 10 people, many of them children, were killed and many more wounded.

Despite risible posturing by a spokesman for the Israeli army on Morning Ireland, there is as yet no credible evidence to support his assertion of armed men among the crowd, and even if there was, blasting off a tank shell is hardly an appropriate military response.

Israel has long pursued a policy of collective punishment of Palestinians, contrary to the Geneva Conventions, but very similar to the approach adopted by Hamas. The leaders of the extremist Islamist movement are only delighted when a suicide bomber manages to stroll into a Jerusalem restaurant and flick the switch.

Whoosh! Up go a bunch of Jews - any Jews, doesn't really matter who they are, what their names are, or what they do. They're Israelis, they're Jews, they all do military service, they're all to blame. All legitimate targets, as we say here.

And so next day, the Israeli army goes to the home of the bomber (whose family may not have had a clue what their son or daughter was up to) and demolishes it, usually with just a few minutes' warning.

Amnesty International reckons Israel has destroyed some 3,000 homes and laid waste vast swathes of Palestinian farm land in the past 3½ years.

George Bush, who could impose restraint on Israel if he wished (tut-tutting and abstaining at the UN wouldn't put the frighteners on anyone, let alone Ariel Sharon), was instead full of praise for it this week. Israel and the United States of America have much in common, he told a gathering in Washington of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Tuesday morning.

"We're both relatively young nations, born of struggle and sacrifice. We're both founded by immigrants escaping religious persecution in other lands. We have both built vibrant democracies, built on the rule of law and market economies. And we're both countries founded on certain basic beliefs: that God watches over the affairs of men, and values every life."

The rule of law? Value every life? Some words and noble, laudable principles simply lose their meaning when spoken by a man of George Bush's record.

What value was placed on the life of Manadel al-Jamadi? He's the dead Iraqi leered over by Specialist Charles Graner and Specialist Sabrina Harmon in photographs in yesterday's paper. Specialist at what? Al-Jamadi entered Abu Ghraib alive and left it wrapped in plastic and with his eyes bandaged shut.

Al-Jamadi may well have been Saddam's torturer numero uno, or perhaps the brains behind his illegal weapons programme. But we'll never know because he won't stand trial, he can't tell his story. He was beaten to death while in US custody.

It's really, really hard to be a friend of America these days.

Here's more of what Bush said to the AIPAC gathering:

"The peace we seek depends on defeating the violent. Yet we also have a larger mission in the world. In the long term, we must end terrorist violence at its source by undermining the terrorist ideology of hatred and fear.

"Terrorists find influence and recruits in societies where bitterness and resentment are common, and hope and opportunity are rare. The world's best hope for lasting security and stability across the Middle East is the establishment of just and free societies.

"And so across that vital region, America is standing for the expansion of human liberty. This historic task is not easy in a part of the world that has known so much oppression and stagnation and violence. It's hard work. Yet we must be strong in our firm belief that every human heart desires to be free. We must be strong in our belief that free societies are hopeful societies and peaceful societies."

There's virtually nothing to disagree with in those sentiments. The problem is they are spoken by a leader who has created a climate within which very many of those acting on his behalf have lost all sense of morality.

Sabrina and Lynndie and the rest of them did the abuse, took the pix and are all in the frame, that's for sure. But ultimate responsibility rests with America's political leaders for creating the climate within which they operated. That level of responsibility can legitimately be applied collectively across the entire Bush administration.