| Author | Message | | Alpha | | Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 1:38 pm Post subject: New Book: The Power of Israel in the United States |
| From: "Clarity Press, Inc." <clarity@islandnet.com>
Subject: Book: The Power of Israel in the United States / James Petras Date: 11 Oct 2006 21:13:07 PDT
You are listed as a subscriber to receive book announcements from Clarity Press, Inc.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CAN WE TALK?
Breaching the Wall of Silence on Israeli Power in the United States
The inability of Americans to sustain a debate that addresses the power of Israel in the United States is well known and openly discussed outside America. As the UK Financial Times has noted: "Reflexes that ordinarily spring automatically to the defense of open debate and free enquiry shut down at least among much of America's political elite once the subject turns to Israel." The groundbreaking article on the Israel Lobby by Mearsheimer and Walt even though published in the UK evoked a storm of protest and accusation in the USA. In a further effort to open debate on the issue here in the United States, Clarity Press, Inc. is pleased to announce the publication of The Power of Israel in the United States by James Petras
The Power of Israel in the United States is a chapter-by-chapter rigorous analysis and documentation of the power of Israel via the Israeli, Jewish or Pro-Zionist Lobby on US Middle East policy. It raises serious questions as to the primary beneficiary of US policy, and its destructive results for the United States. The extraordinary extent of US political, economic, military and diplomatic support for the state of Israel is explored, along with the means whereby such support is generated and consolidated. Contending that Zionist power in America ensured unconditional US backing for Israeli colonization of Palestine and its massive uprooting of Palestinians, it views the interests of Israel rather than those of Big Oil as the primary cause of the disastrous US wars against Iraq and threats of war against Iran and Syria. It demonstrates and condemns US imitation of Israeli practice as it relates to conduct of the war on terrorism and torture. It sheds light on the AIPAC spying scandal and other Israeli espionage against America; the fraudulent and complicit role of America's academic "terrorist experts" in furthering criminal government policies, and the orchestration of the Danish cartoons to foment antipathy between Muslims and the West. It questions the inability in America to sustain or even formulate a discourse related to the subject of Israeli influence on the United States. It calls for a review of American Middle East policy with a view to reclaiming US independence of action based upon enlightened self-interest and progressive principles.
Winner of the Life Time Career Award of the American Sociological Association, James Petras is a Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton University, New York. He is the author of 62 books published in 29 languages, and over 560 articles in professional journals, including the American Sociological Review, British Journal of Sociology, Social Research, and Journal of Peasant Studies. He has published over 2000 articles in nonprofessional journals such as the New York Times, Guardian, Nation, Christian Science Monitor, Foreign Policy, New Left Review, Partisan Review, Temps Moderne, Le Monde Diplomatique, and his commentary is widely carried on the internet. He has eminent standing in the progressive/left community, with long involvement in social justice struggles.
Public interest in Israeli influence on the US is immense. On the date of this press release alone, the Google search engine registered over a quarter of a million persons searching for information based on the keywords, “the Israeli lobby”. Yet there are surprisingly few scholarly works addressing the extent of Israeli influence upon American decision-making, and the means and processes whereby this occurs—in testimony to the point at issue.
The catastrophic Israeli assault on Lebanon, the war in Iraq, and threat of deepening US descent into the quagmire by an attack on Iran—with all that this portends for the well being of Americans and the American infrastructure—has heightened public concern at the costs and benefits of US Middle East policy, and its readiness to question received norms. The time is ripe for a re-assessment of American Middle East policy since, as the Financial Times reiterates: "Nothing is more damaging to US interests than the inability to have a proper debate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict". James Petras' The Power of Israel in the United States sets the full parameters.
"James Petras takes us on a fearless truth trip—with lucid style, tough factual blows, commanding research and compelling analysis. This is an eye-opening, must-read book for every advocate of democracy."
Michael Parenti, author of The Culture Wars and Superpatriotism
"An outstanding analysis of the political machinery responsible for so much suffering in the Middle East: the social science equivalent of John Adam´s opera 'Klinghoffer'. Brilliant and substantive."
John Saxe-Fernandez
Professor of Political Science
National Autonomous University of Mexico
and leading world authority on US foreign policy and the oil industry
For additional reviews and Table of Contents, go to
http://www.bookmasters.com/clarity/b0030.htm
Subject: New Book: The Power of Israel in the United States by Jim Petras
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Nothing is more damaging to US interests
than the inability to have a proper debate
about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
Financial Times, Editorial, Saturday, April 01, 2006
The Power of Israel
in the
United States
by James Petras
Price: $16.95
ISBN: 0-932863-51-5 * 192 pp. * 2006
PREPUBLICATION DISCOUNT:
PURCHASE THIS BOOK NOW FOR
ONLY $12.00 plus shipping/handling
Call: 1-888-281-5170
or Tel: 620-229-8979
Fax: 620-229-8270
Email: qpdistribution@skyerock.net
REVIEWS AUTHOR SUMMARY CONTENTS ORDER
REVIEWS
"A provocative analysis of a serious problem that should be discussed and debated widely among the U.S. public, academics, and the policy establishment, this book succeeds in exposing in great detail the enormous power and influence of Israel and the Jewish Lobby in shaping U.S. policy toward the Middle East."
Berch Berberoglu, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology, University of Nevada, Reno
Author of TURMOIL IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
?Once again James Petras takes us on a fearless truth trip?with lucid style, tough factual blows, commanding research, and compelling analysis. This is an eye-opening, must-read book for every advocate of democracy and every opponent of imperialism.?
?Michael Parenti,
author of The Culture Struggle and Superpatriotism
?An outstanding analysis of the political machinery responsible for so much suffering in the Middle East: the social science equivalent of John Adam?s opera ?Klinghoffer?. Brilliant and substantive?.
John Saxe-Fernandez,
Professor and Senior Researcher, Faculty of Political Science National Autonomous
University of Mexico and leading world authority on US foreign policy and the oil industry
?Jim Petras has been one of the few courageous individuals, in or outside of academia, to take a critical view of the pro-Israel lobby and its influence over US Middle East policy and to challenge the ?conventional wisdom? on the part of the Left that Israel acts as a ?cop on the beat? and is simply serving America?s imperial interests.?
Jeff Blankfort,
A leading Jewish authority, writer and critic in the US on the pro-Israel Lobby
?Jim Petras is one of the best informed political scientists of his generation, not given to avoiding difficult issues. Here he addresses one such, which he tackles in a characteristically challenging way.?
Tom Brass, Editor
The Journal of Peasant Studies
?Jim Petras, a man with vast expertise assembled in Latin America, takes the Leftist anti-imperialist discourse one step further, beyond safe condemnation of American imperialism.He begins where Chomsky and Zunes stop. In this book, Petras turns to the Middle East, where he discovers, through the haze of anti-Muslim polemics, assassinations and tortures, the identity of the decisive factor: that of ?Jewish power shaping US policy in the Middle East against the interest of Big Oil?.
Petras? critique of ?soft Left? with its fear to alienate wealthy and influential Jewish supporters is a breath of fresh air; this critique has to be internalised if the Left wills to regain its place in society.?
Israel Shamir, Jaffa
Leading Russian-Israeli intellectual, writer, translator and journalist
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Petras is a Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton University, New York. He is the author of 62 books published in 29 languages, and over 560 articles in professional journals, including the American Sociological Review, British Journal of Sociology, Social Research, and Journal of Peasant Studies. He has published over 2000 articles in nonprofessional journals such as the New York Times, the Guardian, the Nation, Christian Science Monitor, Foreign Policy, New Left Review, Partisan Review, TempsModerne, Le Monde Diplomatique, and his commentary is widely carried on the internet. His publishers have included Random House, John Wiley, Westview, Routledge, Macmillan, Verso, Zed Books and Pluto Books. He is winner of the Life Time Career Award, Marxist Section, of the American Sociology Association, the Robert Kenny Award for Best Book, 2002, and the Best Dissertation, Western Political Science Association in 1968. His most recent titles include Unmasking Globalization: Imperialism of the Twenty-First Century (2001); co-author The Dynamics of Social Change in Latin America (2000), System in Crisis (2003), co-author Social Movements and State Power (2003), co-author Empire With Imperialism (2005), co-author)Multinationals on Trial (2006).
He has a long history of commitment to social justice, working in particular with the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement for 11 years. In 1973-76 he was a member of the Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Repression in Latin America. He writes a monthly column for the Mexican newspaper, Le Jornada, and previously, for the Spanish daily, El Mundo. He received his B.A. from Boston University and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.
SUMMARY
This book is a chapter-by-chapter analysis and documentation of the power of Israel via the Israeli, Jewish or Pro-Zionist Lobby on US Middle East policy. It raises serious questions as to the primary beneficiary of US policy, and its destructive results for the United States. The extraordinary extent of US political, economic, military and diplomatic support for the state of Israel is explored, along with the means whereby such support is generated and consolidated. Contending that Zionist power in America ensured unconditional US backing for Israeli colonization of Palestine and its massive uprooting of Palestinians, it views the interests of Israel rather than those of Big Oil as the primary cause of the disastrous US wars against Iraq and threats of war against Iran and Syria. It demonstrates and condemns US imitation of Israeli practice as it relates to conduct of the war on terrorism and torture. It sheds light on the AIPAC spying scandal and other Israeli espionage against America; the fraudulent and complicit role of America?s academic ?terrorist experts? in furthering criminal government policies, and the orchestration of the Danish cartoons to foment antipathy between Muslims and the West. It questions the inability in America to sustain or even formulate a discourse related to the subject of Israeli influence on the United States. It calls for a review of American Mid East policy with a view to reclaiming US independence of action based upon enlightened self-interest and progressive principles.
ISBN: 0-932863-51-5 $16.95 2006
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION / 11
PART I: ZIONIST POWER IN AMERICA
Chapter 1.
WHO FABRICATED THE IRAQ WAR THREAT? / 19
The Jewish Lobby, Not Big Oil /21
Chapter 2.
THE US-IRAQ-ISRAEL-ZIONIST CONNECTION / 27
Who Benefited from the Iraq War? / 27
Unanswered Question: September 11 and the Israelis / 35
Theoretical Issues / 36
Who Finances the State of Israel? / 39
Support for Israel from the US Government / 41
Israel Bonds / 43
Accomplices to Genocide / 45
The Zionist Power Configuration in the United States / 46
The ZPC in Action: The Iraq War / 48
Israel and the Right of Free Speech / 54
Chapter 3.
THE LIBBY AFFAIRE AND THE INTERNAL WAR / 61
Chapter 4.
EXPOSING THE EXPOSɺ SEYMOUR HERSH
AND THE MISSING ZIONIST-ISRAELI CONNECTION / 65
The Zionists and Torture in Iraq / 67
A Close Look at Hersh?s Method / 67
Conclusion / 71
Chapter 5.
THE SPY TRIAL: A POLITICAL BOMBSHELL / 73
AIPAC On Trial / 76
PART II. ISRAEL AND MIDDLE EAST WARFARE
Chapter 6.
THE HOUSE OF HORRORS:
TORTURE, ASSASSINATIONS AND GENOCIDE / 82
Empire Building / 82
Imperial Consolidation / 83
Targeted Assassinations / 84
Destruction of Civilian and Military Infrastructure / 86
Conclusion / 90
Chapter 7.
ISRAEL?S FINAL SOLUTION:
THE ASSAULT ON GAZA / 93
Introduction / 94
>From the Present to the Past / 95
The Final Destruction of Six Myths about the Jewish
State and the Lobby / 96
1.Israel and Democracy / 97
2.Israel and Peace / 97
3.Israel and the Possibility of a Two-State Solution / 99
4.Israel and Terror / 99
5.The Jewish Lobby: The Central Issue / 100
6.Israel and Prisoner Exchanges: The Record / 102
Mass Media Propaganda at the Service of Ethnic Cleansing / 104
Epilogue / 107
Chapter 8.
"MAD DOGS"* RAVAGE LEBANON / 110
Epilogue / 117
Chapter 9.
ISRAEL?S WAR WITH IRAN:
THE COMING MIDEAST CONFLAGRATION / 121
Introduction / 121
Israel?s War Preparations / 121
Israel?s War Deadline / 122
US-Israeli Disagreements on an Iran War / 123
Fabrication of Iran?s Nuclear Threat / 128
Conclusion / 131
..
Chapter 10.
THE CARICATURES IN MIDDLE EAST POLITICS / 135
Denmark: Center of Mossad Activity / 137
Flemming (or Flaming) Rose: Journalist with a Cause / 138
Provoking Conflict Between Muslims and the West / 138
Sayanim?Defenders of Western Civilization / 140
Mossad War Propaganda and the ?Cartoon Controversy? / 140
Beyond Religious Blasphemy / 142
Epilogue / 144
PART III. EXPERTS ON TERROR OR TERRORIST EXPERTS?
Chapter 11.
EXPERTS ON TERROR:
LOOKING IN THE MIRROR / 146
The Terror Expert Genre / 147
Interrogation: Questions for the Terror Experts / 149
Bibliography / 156
Chapter 12.
SUICIDE BOMBERS:
THE SACRED AND THE PROFANE / 157
Introduction / 157
Total War: Content and Consequences / 158
Total War and the Resistance / 159
Degradation: The Logic of Total War / 159
The Technique of Degradation: The Larger Meaning / 160
Political Consequences of Defiling the Sacred / 161
Suicide Bombers: A Response to the Desecraters / 162
Conclusion / 163
PART IV: DEBATES
Chapter 13.
NOAM CHOMSKY AND THE PRO-ISRAEL LOBBY:
FIFTEEN ERRONEOUS THESES / 166
Introduction / 166
Chomsky?s Fifteen Theses / 168
Conclusion / 178
Chapter 14.
CONFRONTING ZIONISM AND
RECLAIMING AMERICAN MIDDLE EAST POLICY / 180
INDEX / 186
* ?Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother.?
General Moshe Dayan, Former Israeli Defense Minister
ORDER INFORMATION
To order directly from Clarity Press, Inc.
or Distributors
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Power of Israel in the United States:
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15494.htm
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Jeffrey Blankfort"
Date: Sat, 04 Nov 2006 22:13:56 -0800
Subject: [IntelligentMinds] Hear Jim Petras on The Power of Israel in the US Dear Readers,
On Wednesday, November 1, I interviewed James Petras, author of the
recently published The Power of Israel in the United States (Clarity
Press) and we spoke about the effect that Israel and the Jewish Zionist
lobby's control over the Democratic Party will have if the Democrats
regain the House, the role of the lobby in fomenting the Iraq war and
the unwillingness of Left pundits such as Noam Chomsky and Michael Klare
to acknowledge that reality and the lobby's influence. That and more,
and you can listen to it by clicking on
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=20412
Jeff
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Lobby and the Israeli Invasion of Lebanon :
Their Facts and Ours
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Aug06/Petras29.htm
audio/video link for excellent interview with James Petras about the power/influence of the pro-Israel lobby in the USA :
http://easylink.playstream.com/currentissues/petras.wvx
Israeli-US Strategy: Lebanon and Iran
By James Petras
Even as the bricks were still smoldering from 9/11, Israeli ideological point men, Senator Lieberman and Undersecretary for Defense Wolfowitz urged Washington to attack Iran by launching either simultaneous or sequential wars.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14862.htm
The Next Phase of the Middle East War
By Michel Chossudovsky
Confirmed by official statements and military documents, the US in close coordination with Britain (and in consultation with its NATO partners), is planning to launch a war directed against Iran and Syria.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14860.htm
Last edited by Alpha on Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:23 am; edited 6 times in total | |  | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2006 8:42 pm Post subject: Rosa Brooks: Criticize Israel? You're an Anti-Semite! |
| http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/la-oe-brooks1sep01,0,4657959.column?coll=la-util-opinion-sunday
ROSA BROOKS
Rosa Brooks: Criticize Israel? You're an Anti-Semite!
How can we have a real discussion about Mideast peace if speaking honestly about Israel is out of bounds?
Rosa Brooks
September 1, 2006
EVER WONDER what it's like to be a pariah?
Publish something sharply critical of Israeli government policies and you'll find out. If you're lucky, you'll merely discover that you've been uninvited to some dinner parties. If you're less lucky, you'll be the subject of an all-out attack by neoconservative pundits and accused of rabid anti-Semitism.
This, at least, is what happened to Ken Roth. Roth — whose father fled Nazi Germany — is executive director of Human Rights Watch, America's largest and most respected human rights organization. (Disclosure: I have worked in the past as a paid consultant for the group.) In July, after the Israeli offensive in Lebanon began, Human Rights Watch did the same thing it has done in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia, East Timor, Sierra Leone, Congo, Uganda and countless other conflict zones around the globe: It sent researchers to monitor the conflict and report on any abuses committed by either side.
It found plenty. On July 18, Human Rights Watch condemned Hezbollah rocket strikes on civilian areas within Israel, calling the strikes "serious violations of international humanitarian law and probable war crimes." So far, so good. You can't lose when you criticize a terrorist organization.
But Roth and Human Rights Watch didn't stop there. As the conflict's death toll spiraled — with most of the casualties Lebanese civilians — Human Rights Watch also criticized Israel for indiscriminate attacks on civilians. Roth noted that the Israeli military appeared to be "treating southern Lebanon as a free-fire zone," and he observed that the failure to take appropriate measures to distinguish between civilians and combatants constitutes a war crime.
The backlash was prompt. Roth and Human Rights Watch soon found themselves accused of unethical behavior, giving aid and comfort to terrorists and anti-Semitism. The conservative New York Sun attacked Roth (who is Jewish) for having a "clear pro-Hezbollah and anti-Israel bias" and accused him of engaging in "the de-legitimization of Judaism, the basis of much anti-Semitism." Neocon commentator David Horowitz called Roth a "reflexive Israel-basher … who, in his zest to pillory Israel at every turn, is little more than an ally of the barbarians." The New Republic piled on, as did Alan Dershowitz, who claimed Human Rights Watch "cooks the books" to make Israel look bad. And writing in the Jewish Exponent, Jonathan Rosenblum accused Roth of resorting to a "slur about primitive Jewish bloodlust."
Anyone familiar with Human Rights Watch — or with Roth — knows this to be lunacy. Human Rights Watch is nonpartisan — it doesn't "take sides" in conflicts. And the notion that Roth is anti-Semitic verges on the insane.
But what's most troubling about the vitriol directed at Roth and his organization isn't that it's savage, unfounded and fantastical. What's most troubling is that it's typical. Typical, that is, of what anyone rash enough to criticize Israel can expect to encounter. In the United States today, it just isn't possible to have a civil debate about Israel, because any serious criticism of its policies is instantly countered with charges of anti-Semitism. Think Israel's tactics against Hezbollah were too heavy-handed, or that Israel hasn't always been wholly fair to the Palestinians, or that the United States should reconsider its unquestioning financial and military support for Israel? Shhh: Don't voice those sentiments unless you want to be called an anti-Semite — and probably a terrorist sympathizer to boot.
How did adopting a reflexively pro-Israel stance come to be a mandatory aspect of American Jewish identity? Skepticism — a willingness to ask tough questions, a refusal to embrace dogma — has always been central to the Jewish intellectual tradition. Ironically, this tradition remains alive in Israel, where respected public figures routinely criticize the government in far harsher terms than those used by Human Rights Watch.
In a climate in which good-faith criticism of Israel is automatically denounced as anti-Semitic, everyone loses. Israeli policies are a major source of discord in the Islamic world, and anger at Israel usually spills over into anger at the U.S., Israel's biggest backer.
With resentment of Israeli policies fueling terrorism and instability both in the Middle East and around the globe, it's past time for Americans to have a serious national debate about how to bring a just peace to the Middle East. But if criticism of Israel is out of bounds, that debate can't occur — and we'll all pay the price.
Back to Human Rights Watch's critics. Why waste time denouncing imaginary anti-Semitism when there's no shortage of the real thing? From politically motivated arrests of Jews in Iran to assaults on Jewish children in Ukraine, there's plenty of genuine anti-Semitism out there — and Human Rights Watch is usually taking the lead in condemning it. So if you're bothered by anti-Semitism — if you're bothered by ideologies that insist that some human lives have less value than others — you could do a whole lot worse than send a check to Human Rights Watch.
rbrooks@latimescolumnists.com | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2006 7:56 am Post subject: Challenging the Power of the Jewish Lobby |
| http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept06/Petras28.htm
Challenging the Power of the Jewish Lobby:
What Should Be Done?
by James Petras
www.dissidentvoice. org
September 28, 2006
A number of writers have recently written critical articles or reviews about the power of the pro-Israel or Jewish Lobby and its influence on US policy in the Middle East . Most of these writings emphasize the power of the lobby over Congress, the two major parties (especially the Democrats) and the Executive branch. Some even describe the pro-Israel lobbies and the allied Jewish federations, the numerous propaganda institutes described as ‘think tanks’, publications as well as their influence or control over the mass media, from Hollywood, the print media, television to corporate “public” radio. However these critics and analysts paint themselves into a corner, attributing to the Jewish lobby so much power as to virtually incapacitate any effort to counter its influence and change the direction of US policy. The image of a near-omniscient and omnipotent Jewish lobby overlooks its vulnerability and significant issues around which an opposition or counter-hegemonic movement can be organized in the United States .
A starting point for building such a movement in some cases already exists in single issue campaigns; in other instances, some of the critical reports on the actions and behavior of the Lobby can become rallying points for organizing and pressing for new legislation and improving legislative restraints on Lobby activities.
What Should be Done: 18 Points of Action
1) Pressure can be exerted to force the Pro-Israel lobby to register as an agent of a foreign power. There is an abundance of evidence based on public documents, observation, testimony, interviews which demonstrate that the leaders of the Lobby take orders from the Israeli government, serve as transmission belts of Israeli policies into the US, formulate the legislation for the US Congress based on Israeli priorities, coordinate and transmit information from the US government to the Israeli government and have even engaged in espionage in the US for the Israeli secret police (Mossad). If for example AIPAC is obligated to register as an agent of a foreign power, it can be expected that a substantial number of its members/supporters will resign or withdraw, and big contributors will hold back funding, weakening the activist and financial base of the Lobby. Secondly, other members of the pro-Israel coalition will balk at allying with an agency of a foreign power. Thirdly, elected and appointed officials will be more hesitant to follow the lead or share the platform of an organization identified with a foreign government because of the possible legal implications or at least unfavorable publicity.
2) Organize a campaign to withdraw investments in US companies that supply the Israeli regime with weapons of mass destruction, construction equipment to extend Israeli colonization of Palestine . The boycott should include targeting military industries which contribute to Lobby controlled “think tanks,” State and Union pension funds which invest in Israeli Bonds should be pressured to reallocate to productive industries and social services which create jobs and health benefits for Americans.
3) Create a data bank on all the key political officials who have long-standing, pri mary commitments to the state of Israel and who have collaborated with the pro-Israeli lobby. This data bank can focus on the role of the Zionist power configuration engaged in harnessing US policy to Israel ’s expansionist policies. The data bank can list all the major pieces of legislation fashioned by the Lobby for Israel; the total sum of US grants, and guaranteed loans, technological transfers secured for Israel through the Lobby; the number of junkets and visits organized by the Lobby for policymakers. In addition, information should be collected on all levels of “consultation” between key lobby leaders, religious notables, and international Zionist organizations and the Israeli state. The “information bank” can provide the bases for demonstrating how the Lobby serves Israeli foreign policy, distorts US domestic and overseas priorities and contributes to silencing and undermining internal democratic debate. In other words, the anti-Lobby campaign can be an important part of the battle of ideas, and engage in the struggle to throw off foreign tutelage, and regain our freedom to openly discuss the role of Israel and the Lobby in US politics.
4) Support the worldwide boycott against scholarly and academic exchanges with Israeli counterparts and institutes that uphold and participate in the colonization and repression of the Palestinians. In particular, psychologists and psychiatrists should pressure their association to reject all Israeli counterparts who engage in interrogation (usually accompanied by torture) of political prisoners.
5) Legislation should be passed barring individuals who hold dual-citizenship (Israeli-US) , especially those connected with the military-intelligen ce networks from holding sensitive positions in the government or controlling the political party nomination process, as is now the case of the Democratic Party. Numerous cases have emerged of Israeli-US citizens in the high tech field who have direct access to software affecting US national security, as well as high Pentagon officials with ‘dual citizenship’ promoting policies favorable to Israel at great cost in lives and money to the US.
6) Organize to eliminate Israel ’s special privileges in tax exemption, trade, technology, and citizenship which burdens US taxpayers, increases Israeli competitiveness at the expense of US producers and facilitates Israeli emigration at the expense of other groups. Above all, demand the elimination or drastic reduction of Israel ’s $3 billion plus foreign aid and $10 billion in guaranteed loans a country with a $21,000 per capita income. The funds which cover over 40% of the total US foreign aid packages, should be spent in covering health care for the 45 million US citizens who lack coverage, or at least allocated to countries in Africa, Latin America, and Asia whose per capita income is below $1000 dollars a year.
7) Support efforts to end the US embargo on goods, services and financial assistance to Palestine , recognize the democratically elected Hamas government. Join with European Parliamentarians, Lebanese and most Middle Eastern governments and the great majority of the Third World in recognizing Hezbollah as a legitimate electoral party and social movement in Lebanon . Here as in many other issues, the Lobby and its supporters are a small minority in the international community of nations and world public opinion. Through their dominance of US policy on Lebanon and Palestine , the Lobby has contributed to the isolation of the US , provoked the ire of all the mainline humanitarian groups and given credence to the world communities’ belief that Washington is a handmaiden of Israeli policymakers.
8) Raise the issues of bringing Israeli officials to the International War Crimes Tribunal, or to criminal courts on charges of violating the Geneva Conventions and the protocols of the Nuremberg Tribunal. By having criminal charges in various courts of justice, Israeli military and civilian war criminals will be reluctant to travel abroad for fear of arrest. Likewise civil suits can be initiated to impound Israeli bank accounts and assets to pay war reparations to Lebanese civilians for the 15,000 homes destroyed and for damages exceeding $10 billion dollars. Families of assassinated civilian victims and UN peace keepers should be encouraged to seek compensation in the United States as well as in their own national courts.
9) Convert the issue of the US-Israeli claim of nuclear dangers resulting from Iranian uranium enrichment into a more consequential and general demand to turn the entire Middle East into a nuclear free zone. Thus highlights the fact that Israeli possession of at least 300 nuclear bombs is the outstanding threat to nuclear war in the Middle East and elsewhere. The Lobby’s campaign against Iran is directed toward maintaining Israeli’s monopoly of nuclear weapons as an instrument to intimidate any challenges to its expansionist goals.
10) Call for the International Atomic Energy Commission and other UN nuclear inspection organizations to investigate charges that Israel is manufacturing and storing nuclear bombs, and chemical and biological weapons contrary to the non-proliferation agreement. The Lobby will clearly be on the defensive, having to defend Israel ’s deception and secrecy regarding weapons of mass destruction.
11) Organize boycotts and campaigns to demand that local, regional, and national mass media outlets report and interview Israeli critics as well as its spokespeople. Propose debates, round tables, and forums that include Israeli critics as well as its spokespeople; file legal suits against Jewish lobbyists making libelous accusations of “anti-Semitism” against informed critics who suffer loss of career appointments or promotions. Organize legal teams to challenge the impunity of the vicious slanderers and perpetrators of hate crimes among pro-Israel ideologues.
12) Demand that newscasters, analysts, and commentators dealing with Middle Eastern issues have their organizational and political affiliations clearly identified. This will help focus the public on the extraordinary one-sided pro-Israeli bias in the media and weaken a key propaganda arm of the Lobby.
13) Legislation should be supported which bars individuals with dual citizenship and therefore dual loyalties from holding executive or legislative positions in the government. As we have seen, numerous top policymakers with a strong commitment to Israeli interests lead our country to disastrous Middle Eastern wars.
14) Support legislation revoking the citizenship of individuals who enlist or engage in military activity for a foreign government. The Lobby sends thousands of US Jews to Israel to engage in civilian and “security” activities alongside and integrated with IDF soldiers, creating “returnees” fully indoctrinated into Israel ’s militarist worldview.
15) One of the vehicles used by the Lobby to influence or buy the loyalty of legislators and US officials are paid junkets to Israel , where they are indoctrinated and propagandized by a bevy of Israeli politicians, and advocates of the Zionist state. Legislation to outlaw paid propaganda and vote buying junkets came before Congress but was stopped largely through the efforts of the Jewish Lobby. Clearly this is an area where corruption and foreign control over our foreign policy converge and is strongly susceptible to a campaign to moralize public policy.
16) Since 9/11, hundreds of suspected Israeli spies have been deported, and several Lobbyists, US military and government officials have been charged with spying for Israel . Yet no public statements or media exposure has resulted. Campaigns should demand equal treatment and publicity of Israeli spies with non-Israeli operatives. Israeli handlers operating out of their Embassy should be named and arrested, instead of allowing easy exits, as is currently practiced.
17) Legislation should be presented and veterans’ groups of all wars should be mobilized to demand Congressional hearings on the Israeli bombing of the US surveillance ship Liberty with prime witnesses among our naval survivors. The Commission should investigate the subsequent cover up by the Johnson Administration and the role of the Lobby.
18) Support political parties and candidates who oppose Israel ’s occupation of Palestine , its $3 billion dollar annual aid package and the Lobby’s pro-war Mid East agenda. Support a pro-American policy of anti-colonialism, conversion of Israeli billion dollar handouts into rebuilding de-industrialized regions in the US and eschewing military intervention in the Middle East either for Israeli or imperial interests.
Conclusion
Can we stop the Lobby’s efforts to force Americas ’ hand and pressure our government into sending more of our soldiers to the Middle East to die for Greater Israel? Yes -- but it most obviously won’t be easy because of the big money that flows into the Congressional troughs, the terrible mass media bias and the cowardice of many of our political opinion-makers. But a start has been made. Leading military officials, active and retired, have opposed the Zioncon policymakers in the Pentagon, State Department and Congress. Leading religious institutes like the Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Church of Christ , as well as high Church officials in the Greek Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant Church have forcefully criticized Israel ’s human rights record and have supported various types of boycotts.
Major trade unions in Canada (public sector union in Ontario -- CUPE), South Africa , and in the European Union and Middle East have expressed opposition to Israeli ethnic cleansing and militarism. University teachers, led by British and Irish educators, are supporting a boycott of Israeli scholars and institutes collaborating with the Israeli regime. Even within the United States , despite the Lobby’s propaganda campaigns, a majority of US citizens did not support Israel ’s bombing of Lebanon and no longer support the Lobby engineered US war in Iraq .
Opposition and collaboration with the Israel Lobby cuts across the ideological spectrum. Opponents of the Lobby’s dominant role in shaping US-Mid East policy in favor of Israel have provoked the ire of numerous traditional conservative writers, politicians and military officials as well as a substantial number of democrats, pacifists, leftists, Greens, mainline Christian churches, and grassroots Democrats. Support for the Lobby includes the leadership of both major parties, all the mainstream Jewish organization and religious bodies, most liberal Jews, and non-Jews, as well as the neo-conservatives, media moguls, and fundamentalist Christian Zionists.
Two momentous issues out in what is a major test of forces: war or peace in the Middle East and the question of who rules America ? The Lobby, in and out of the Executive branch and Congress, was instrumental in pushing us into the Iraq war. They are the leading pressure group propelling us into a war with Iran -- a war which will ignite major confrontation throughout the Middle East and military attacks in the West, putting our security in jeopardy and provoking a major oil and energy crisis, that will likely lead to a major recession.
The Lobby’s war-making powers exceed those of any elected body as they are constituted today because of the terrible fear that elected officials and opinion makers have of the Lobby’s retaliatory, political thuggery.
The second major issue we as American citizens face is the loss of control over our own political process; the power of the Lobby is at the unconditional service of the Israeli state; what Israel dictates the Lobby pursues through its network of several hundred thousand activists and hundreds of millions in cash flow. Those of us who stand up for Americans’ right to decide its own policies in the Middle East free of Israeli-Lobby intervention, are faced with the challenge of taking back our freedom to choose. The freedom to choose who and what we support in the Middle East without facing political, financial, or social retribution, slander or public ostracism. We, the strongest military and economic power, have been politically and culturally colonized. Like other national liberation movements, we must struggle to free ourselves from the tyranny of Israel over our politics in the Middle East . In the 1950’s we faced McCarthyite anti-communism as a ruse to propel us into World War Three. Today we face the slander of Zionist anti-Semitism as a ruse to propel us into a new world war against Islamic nations and states who oppose Israeli expansion.
Just as a broad coalition from the left to the Secretary of the Army defeated McCarthyism in the 1950s and led to détente in the 1970s so too a similar coalition today can defeat the Israeli Lobby’s war policies and lead to our self-determination and national dignity in pursuit of a democratic foreign policy.
Gird your loans, empty your bladder, this is going to be one hell of a fight -- no holds barred.
James Petras, a former Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University , New York , owns a 50-year membership in the class struggle, is an adviser to the landless and jobless in Brazil and Argentina , and is co-author of Globalization Unmasked (Zed Books). His latest book is, The Power of Israel in the United States (Clarity Press, 2006). He can be reached at: jpetras@binghamton.edu.
Last edited by Alpha on Sun Nov 05, 2006 7:41 am; edited 2 times in total | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2006 7:36 am Post subject: |
| From: "Jeffrey Blankfort"
Date: Sat, 04 Nov 2006 22:13:56 -0800
Subject: [IntelligentMinds] Hear Jim Petras on The Power of Israel in the US
Dear Readers,
On Wednesday, November 1, I interviewed James Petras, author of the
recently published The Power of Israel in the United States (Clarity
Press) and we spoke about the effect that Israel and the Jewish Zionist
lobby's control over the Democratic Party will have if the Democrats
regain the House, the role of the lobby in fomenting the Iraq war and
the unwillingness of Left pundits such as Noam Chomsky and Michael Klare
to acknowledge that reality and the lobby's influence. That and more,
and you can listen to it by clicking on
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=20412
Jeff
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nowarforisrael.com
Last edited by Alpha on Sat Jan 27, 2007 8:03 am; edited 1 time in total | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 12:38 am Post subject: |
| US Support for Israel PRIMARY MOTIVATION for tragic attacks on the World Trade Center:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism/2005/08/05/the-gorilla-in-the-room-is-us-support-for-israel.php
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Full-Page NY Times Ad: "Congress is in Thrall to the Israel Lobby"
November 2, 2006 (Washington, DC) - The Council for the National Interest Foundation argues in a full-page New York Times ad ( http://www.cnionline.org/nyt4.pdf ) scheduled to run this Sunday, November 5th, two days before the 2006 midterm elections, that the U.S. Congress is in thrall to the Israel lobby. The lobby's negative effects on U.S. Middle East policy, the ad argues, are demonstrated by the growing possibility that the U.S. will use its military might to curtail Iran's nuclear program, by the U.S. refusal to call for a ceasefire during the 34-day Israeli bombardment of Lebanon over the summer, and by the continuing chaos, isolation and bloodshed in the occupied Palestinian territories. The advertisement, titled "Who is Holding Peace Hostage?", will run nationwide opposite the editorial page in the "Week in Review" section of the Times. (The ad is also available as a JPEG - http://www.cnionline.org/nyt4.jpg - or as HTML - http://www.cnionline.org/pubs/ads/holding_peace_hostage.htm )
In a section titled "The Israel Lobby is Trying to Sell Another War," the ad points out that a recent Zogby International poll commissioned by the CNI Foundation found that 39 percent of American likely voters believe that "the work of the Israel lobby on Congress and the Bush administration has been a key factor for going to war in Iraq and now confronting Iran." As a solution to the present impasse over Iran's nuclear program, the ad suggests that the U.S. use its power to renegotiate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to encompass all nations, including Israel, which is not a signatory of the present NPT and has an estimated 250 to 300 nuclear weapons.
The Israel lobby, the ad says, was able to defeat a recent amendment to the defense appropriations bill introduced by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) that would ban the export of cluster bombs to countries that use such weapons in civilian areas, including Israel's use of U.S.-made cluster weapons in Lebanon. As evidence, the ad points to the amount of money that several opponents of the amendment received from pro-Israel political action committees (PACs) over their career and in the current election cycle. Total donations to Congressional candidates, Republican and Democrat, from pro-Israel PACs was more than $2.4 million in the current election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The ad concludes: "Why are [members of Congress] selling their vote and undermining peace for Israel and her neighbors?"
The ad also promotes a DVD made and distributed by the CNI Foundation that includes a recent debate organized by the London Review of Books in New York City between Prof. John Mearsheimer, Amb. Dennis Ross, and Amb. Martin Indyk, among others, as well as an appearance at the National Press Club by Profs. Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, the authors of the recent academic paper "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy." Mearsheimer and Walt are currently working on a book commissioned by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, a major publisher.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To make a tax-deductible contribution to the Council for the National Interest Foundation click here:
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=220435196&url_num=6&url=https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=2836
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Council for the National Interest Foundation
1250 4th Street SW, Suite WG-1
Washington, District of Columbia 20024
202-863-2951
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=220435196&url_num=7&url=http://www.cnionline.org/
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=220435196&url_num=8&url=http://www.rescuemideastpolicy.com/
To unsubscribe, please click here: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=220435196&url_num=9&url=http://democracyinaction.org/cnif/unsubscribe.jsp
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iran: The Next War (for Israel):
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism/2006/07/28/iran-the-next-war-for-israel.php | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 10:35 am Post subject: |
| http://signs-of-the-times.org/signs/chains/signs20061204_TheLobbythatdoesn27texist.php
The Lobby (that doesn't exist)
The following letter was sent to Jewish-American journalist Jeff Blankfort from James Abourezk, former US Senator from South Dakota
3 December 2006
The following letter was sent to me today by James Abourezk, former US Senator from South Dakota, and he readily complied when I asked that I be allowed to forward it to my list because what he had to say is of the utmost importance, given last month's election and all the new faces in Congress, and the immediate previous posting to you and James Petras's article earlier in the day..
START:
Dear Jeff:
I just finished reading your critique of Noam Chomsky's positions in an e mail sent to me by Tony Saidy.
I had never paid much attention to Chomsky's writings, as I had all along assumed that he was correct and proper in his position on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
But now, upon learning that his first assumption is that Israel is simply doing what the imperial leaders in the U.S. wants them to do, I concur with you that this assumption is completely wrong.
I can tell you from personal experience that, at least in the Congress, the support Israel has in that body is based completely on political fear--fear of defeat by anyone who does not do what Israel wants done. I can also tell you that very few members of Congress--at lleast when I served there--have any affection for Israel or for its Lobby. What they have is contempt, but it is silenced by fear of being found out exactly how they feel. I've heard too many cloakroom conversations in which members of the Senate will voice their bitter feelings about how they're pushed around by the Lobby to think otherwise. In private one hears the dislike of Israel and the tactics of the Lobby, but not one of them is willing to risk the Lobby's animosity by making their feelings public.
Thus, I see no desire on the part of Members of Congress to further any U.S. imperial dreams by using Israel as their pit bull. The only exceptions to that rule are the feelings of Jewish members, whom, I believe, are sincere in their efforts to keep U.S. money flowing to Israel. But that minority does not a U.S. imperial policy make.
Secondly, the Lobby is quite clear in its efforts to suppress any congressional dissent from the policy of complete support for Israel which might hurt annual appropriations. Even one voice is attacked, as I was, on grounds that if Congress is completely silent on the issue, the press will have no one to quote, which effectively silences the press as well. Any journalists or editors who step out of line are quickly brought under control by well organized economic pressure against the newspaper caught sinning.
I once made a trip through the Middle East, taking with me a reporter friend who wrote for Knight-Ridder newspapers. He was writing honestly about what he saw with respect to the Palestinians and other countries bordering on Israel. The St. Paul Pioneer press executives received threats from several of their large advertisers that their advertising would be terminated if they continued publishing the journalist's articles. It's a lesson quickly learned by those who controlled the paper.
With respect to the positions of several administrations on the question of Israel, there are two things that bring them into line: One is pressure from members of Congress who bring that pressure resulting in the demands of AIPAC, and the other is the desire on the part of the President and his advisers to keep their respective political parties from crumbling under that pressure. I do not recall a single instance where any administration saw the need for Israel's military power to advance U.S. Imperial interests. In fact, as we saw in the Gulf War, Israel's involvement was detrimental to what Bush, Sr. wanted to accomplish in that war. They had, as you might remember, to suppress any Israeli assistance so that the coalition would not be destroyed by their involvement.
So far as the argument that we need to use Israel as a base for U.S. operations, I'm not aware of any U.S. bases there of any kind. The U.S. has enough military bases, and fleets, in the area to be able to handle any kind of military needs without using Israel. In fact I can't think of an instance where the U.S. would want to involve Israel militarily for fear of upsetting the current allies the U.S. has, i.e., Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. The public in those countries would not allow the monarchies to continue their alliance with the U.S. should Israel become involved.
I suppose one could argue that Bush's encouragement of Israel in the Lebanon war this summer was the result of some imperial urge, but it was merely an extension of the U.S. policy of helping Israel because of the Lobby's continual pressure. In fact, I heard not one voice of opposition to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon this summer (except Chuck Hagel). Lebanon always has been a "throw away" country so far as the congress is concerned, that is, what happens there has no effect on U.S. interests. There is no Lebanon Lobby. The same was true in 1982, when the Congress fell completely silent over the invasion that year.
I think in the heart of hearts of both members of congress and of the administrations they would prefer not to have Israel fouling things up for U.S. foreign policy, which is to keep oil flowing to the Western world to prevent an economic depression. But what our policy makers do is to juggle the Lobby's pressure on them to support Israel with keeping the oil countries from cutting off oil to the western nations. So far they've been able to do that. With the exception of King Feisal and his oil embargo, there hasn't been a Saudi leader able to stand up to U.S. policy.
So I believe that divestment, and especially cutting off U.S. aid to Israel would immediately result in Israel's giving up the West Bank and leaving the Gaza to the Palestinians. Such pressure would work, I think, because the Israeli public would be able to determine what is causing their misery and would demand that an immediate peace agreement be made with the Palestinians. It would work because of the democracy there, unlike sanctions against a dictatorship where the public could do little about changing their leaders' minds. One need only look at the objectives of the Israeli Lobby to determine how to best change their minds. The Lobby's principal objectives are to keep money flowing from the U.S. treasury to Israel, requiring a docile congress and a compliant administration. As Willie Sutton once said, "That's where the money is."
Jim Abourezk | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 8:02 am Post subject: |
| Former U.S. Senator: Support for Israel in Congress is Based on Fear
By James Abourezk
December 11, 2006
I can tell you from personal experience that the support Israel has in the Congress is based completely on political fear -- fear of defeat by anyone who does not do what Israel wants done. I can also tell you that very few members of Congress -- at least when I served there -- have any affection for Israel or for its Lobby. What they have is contempt, but it is silenced by fear of being found out exactly how they feel. I've heard too many cloakroom conversations in which members of the Senate will voice their bitter feelings about how they're pushed around by the Lobby to think otherwise. In private one hears the dislike of Israel and the tactics of the Lobby, but not one of them is willing to risk the Lobby's animosity by making their feelings public.
Thus, I see no desire on the part of Members of Congress to further any U.S. imperial dreams by using Israel as their pit bull. The only exceptions to that rule are the feelings of Jewish members, whom, I believe, are sincere in their efforts to keep U.S. money flowing to Israel. But that minority does not a U.S. imperial policy make.
Secondly, the Lobby is quite clear in its efforts to suppress any congressional dissent from the policy of complete support for Israel which might hurt annual appropriations. Even one voice is attacked, as I was, on grounds that if Congress is completely silent on the issue, the press will have no one to quote, which effectively silences the press as well. Any journalists or editors who step out of line are quickly brought under control by well organized economic pressure against the newspaper caught sinning.
I once made a trip through the Middle East, taking with me a reporter friend who wrote for Knight-Ridder newspapers. He was writing honestly about what he saw with respect to the Palestinians and other countries bordering on Israel. The St. Paul Pioneer press executives received threats from several of their large advertisers that their advertising would be terminated if they continued publishing the journalist's articles. It's a lesson quickly learned by those who controlled the paper.
With respect to the positions of several administrations on the question of Israel, there are two things that bring them into line: One is pressure from members of Congress who bring that pressure resulting in the demands of AIPAC, and the other is the desire on the part of the President and his advisers to keep their respective political parties from crumbling under that pressure. I do not recall a single instance where any administration saw the need for Israel's military power to advance U.S. Imperial interests. In fact, as we saw in the Gulf War, Israel's involvement was detrimental to what Bush, Sr. wanted to accomplish in that war. The U.S. had to suppress any Israeli assistance so that the coalition would not be destroyed by their involvement.
So far as the argument that we need to use Israel as a base for U.S. operations, I'm not aware of any U.S. bases there of any kind. The U.S. has enough military bases, and fleets, in the area to be able to handle any kind of military needs without using Israel. In fact I can't think of an instance where the U.S. would want to involve Israel militarily for fear of upsetting the current allies the U.S. has, i.e., Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. The public in those countries would not allow the monarchies to continue their alliance with the U.S. should Israel become involved.
I suppose one could argue that Bush's encouragement of Israel in the Lebanon war this summer was the result of some imperial urge, but it was merely an extension of the U.S. policy of helping Israel because of the Lobby's continual pressure. In fact, I heard not one voice of opposition to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon this summer (except Chuck Hagel). Lebanon always has been a "throw away" country so far as the congress is concerned, that is, what happens there has no effect on U.S. interests. There is no Lebanon Lobby. The same was true in 1982, when the Congress fell completely silent over the invasion that year.
I think in the heart of hearts of both members of congress and of the administrations they would prefer not to have Israel fouling things up for U.S. foreign policy, which is to keep oil flowing to the Western world to prevent an economic depression. But what our policy makers do is to juggle the Lobby's pressure on them to support Israel with keeping the oil countries from cutting off oil to the western nations. So far they've been able to do that. With the exception of King Feisal and his oil embargo, there hasn't been a Saudi leader able to stand up to U.S. policy.
So I believe that divestment, and especially cutting off U.S. aid to Israel would immediately result in Israel's giving up the West Bank and leaving the Gaza to the Palestinians. Such pressure would work, I think, because the Israeli public would be able to determine what is causing their misery and would demand that an immediate peace agreement be made with the Palestinians. It would work because of the democracy there, unlike sanctions against a dictatorship where the public could do little about changing their leaders' minds. One need only look at the objectives of the Israeli Lobby to determine how to best change their minds. The Lobby's principal objectives are to keep money flowing from the U.S. treasury to Israel, requiring a docile congress and a compliant administration. As Willie Sutton once said, "That's where the money is."
James Abourezk was a U.S. Senator, the first Arab-American to serve in the Senate, from South Dakota from 1973 to 1979. He is the vice chairman of the Council for the National Interest.
________________________________________
Council for the National Interest Foundation
1250 4th Street SW, Suite WG-1
Washington, District of Columbia 20024
http://www.cnionline.org/
http://www.rescuemideastpolicy.com/
Phone: 202-863-2951
Fax: 202-863-2952 | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 8:10 am Post subject: |
| January 26, 2007
Subject: Op-ed by former Senator Jim Abourezk
The hidden cost of free congressional trips to Israel
Branded as 'educational’, these trips offer Israeli propagandists an
opportunity to expose members of Congress to only their side of the story.
by Senator Jim Abourezk
Christian Science Monitor
26 January 2007
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0126/p09s01-coop.html
SIOUX FALL, S.D. - Democrats in Congress have moved quickly - and
commendably - to strengthen ethics rules. But truly groundbreaking reform
was prevented, in part, because of the efforts of the pro-Israel lobby to
preserve one of its most critical functions: taking members of Congress on
free "educational" trips to Israel.
The pro-Israel lobby does most of its work without publicity. But every
member of Congress and every would-be candidate for Congress comes to
quickly understand a basic lesson. Money needed to run for office can come
with great ease from supporters of Israel, provided that the candidate makes
certain promises, in writing, to vote favorably on issues considered
important to Israel. What drives much of congressional support for Israel is
fear - fear that the pro-Israel lobby will either withhold campaign
contributions or give money to one's opponent.
In my own experience as a US senator in the 1970s, I saw how the lobby tries
to humiliate or embarrass members who do not toe the line.
Pro-Israel groups worked vigorously to ensure that the new reforms would
allow them to keep hosting members of Congress on trips to Israel. According
to the Jewish Daily Forward newspaper, congressional filings show Israel as
the top foreign destination for privately sponsored trips. Nearly 10 percent
of overseas congressional trips taken between 2000 and 2005 were to Israel.
Most are paid for by the American Israel Education Foundation, a sister
organization of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the major
pro-Israel lobby group.
New rules require all trips to be pre-approved by the House Ethics
Committee, but Rep. Barney Frank (D) of Massachusetts says this setup will
guarantee that tours of Israel continue. Ron Kampeas of the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency reported consensus among Jewish groups that "the new
legislation would be an inconvenience, but wouldn't seriously hamper the
trips to Israel that are considered a critical component of congressional
support for Israel."
These trips are defended as "educational." In reality, as I know from my
many colleagues in the House and Senate who participated in them, they offer
Israeli propagandists an opportunity to expose members of Congress to only
their side of the story. The Israeli narrative of how the nation was
created, and Israeli justifications for its brutal policies omit important
truths about the Israeli takeover and occupation of the Palestinian
territories.
What the pro-Israel lobby reaps for its investment in these tours is
congressional support for Israeli desires. For years, Israel has relied on
billions of dollars in US taxpayer money. Shutting off this government
funding would seriously impair Israel's harsh occupation.
One wonders what policies Congress might support toward Israel and the
Palestinians absent the distorting influence of these Israel trips - or if
more members toured Palestinian lands. America sent troops to Europe to
prevent the killing of civilians in the former Yugoslavia. But when it comes
to flagrant human rights violations committed by Israel, the US sends more
money and shields Israel from criticism.
Congress regularly passes resolutions lauding Israel, even when its actions
are deplorable, providing it political cover. Meanwhile, polls suggest most
Americans want the Bush administration to steer a middle course in working
for peace between Israelis and the Palestinians.
Consider, too, how the Israel lobby twists US foreign policy into a
dangerous double standard regarding nuclear issues. The US rattles its
sabers at Iran for its nuclear energy ambitions - and alleged pursuit of
nuclear arms - while remaining silent about Israel's nuclear-weapons
arsenal.
Members of Congress may not be aware just how damaging their automatic
support for Israel is to America's interest. At a minimum, US policies
toward Israel have cost it valuable allies in the Middle East and other
parts of the Muslim world.
If Congress is serious about ethics reform, it should not protect the Israel
lobby from the consequences. A totally taxpayer-funded travel budget for
members to take foreign fact-finding trips, with authorization to be made by
committee heads, would be an important first step toward a foreign policy
that genuinely serves America.
____________________________________________________
Jim Abourezk is a former Democratic senator from South Dakota. | | | | | ©2002-2009 WarWithoutEnd.co.uk |
