With an ally like this … : As a lobby, it is considered more powerful than the AARP and the National Rifle Association. It wields incredible power in the halls of Congress and is so firmly entrenched in the U.S. government that its individual lobbying groups write position papers and even speeches for elected officials.
It’s the “Israel Lobby,” a group of powerful organizations whose sole purpose is to see to it that Israel remains the United States’ biggest recipeint of foreign aid and political protection — at the expense of our relations with Arab nations and the ongoing destablilization of the Middle East. So goes the argument of academics John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt in their just-published paper, “The Israel Lobby,” which begins with this overview:
For the past several decades, and especially since the Six-Day War in 1967, the centrepiece of U.S. Middle Eastern policy has been its relationship with Israel. The combination of unwavering support for Israel and the related effort to spread “democracy” throughout the region has inflamed Arab and Islamic opinion and jeopardised not only U.S. security but that of much of the rest of the world. This situation has no equal in American political history. Why has the U.S. been willing to set aside its own security and that of many of its allies in order to advance the interests of another state? One might assume that the bond between the two countries was based on shared strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives, but neither explanation can account for the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the U.S. provides.
The professors argue very persuasively that Israel is not of strategic importance, is in no danger of being overrun by Arab states, behaves like a terrorist state and spies relentlessly on the United States, the source of $3 billion per year in foreign aid — that’s $500 per Israeli per annum.
Read the short version on the London Review of Books or download the full PDF version.
Not only does the Israel lobby jeapordize America’s interests in the Mideast but, by intimidating those who speak out against Israel, it puts American Jews at risk. That’s because non-Jewish Americans come to believe that the Israel lobby speaks for all Jews and that one best not say anything derogatory about Israel, lest one be accused of being anti-Semitic. The reality, of course, is quite different with a significant number of Jewish-Americans either indifferent to or unfavorably inclined towards Israel. Which sets Jewish-Americans up for show-down time when folks begin asking,
“What the heck are we doing in Iraq, anyway? It’s not our war. Who got us into this?” And guess who’ll get blamed? The Israel lobby, of course, and with it, the five million American Jews, as there could be a resurgence of anti-Semitism such as this country has never seen before. Meanwhile, Israel’s Christian supporters, such as Pat Robertson and Tome DeLay, will squirm out of trouble (scott-free) by claiming that they were only getting ready for Armegeddon with its infamous “End Times” flyaway number.
But would the Israel lobby actually do in its very own? Well, they (The American and the International Isreal lobbies) did just that during WW II when they turned down opportunities to literally snatch Polish and Hungarian Jews out of the ovens of Nazi concentration camps and bringi them to safe havens in England and other western countries. Indeed, in America, the Israel lobby fought hard to keep Europe’s endangered Jews from our shores. The choice for old world’s Jews was to be either Palestine (if they could somehow get there) or Hitler’s crematoria. Actually, in a public mea culpa fifteen or so years ago the major Jewish organizxations in America admitted they didn’t do everything that they could have to save Europe’s Jewry. What an undwrstatement that was!
Fortunately, there can be a happy ending to this story, if only more and more Americans (Jewish-Americans especially) will speak out (actually outshout the Israel lobbyists) against the Israeli occupation of Palestine and for the rights of the Palestinian people. This will not only be in the best interest of the American people, but will promote peace on earth and goodwill to all women and men. So Jews and gentiles alike, now’s the time to speak-out loud and clear about justice in the Holy Land and don’t be intimidated by the Israel lobby.
I understand danger to Jewish-Americans as a whole, but there is no stopping the Lobby. The most probable scenario where they will be put in their rightful place as a foreign agent will be in a serious overstep or scandal.
I don’t understand your point about the Lobby’s actions during WWII since Israel had yet to be founded and therefore no Lobby exists. Maybe you are refering to WJC or AJC, but they are not really lobbies.
Wronmg on the facts. Egypt and Saudi Arabia have each received direct aid from the American government equalling our aid to Israel. And they are considerably less grateful to us than the Israelis are. This is just another attempt to rationalize hatred for the ONLY democracy in the Middle East – a figleaf to cover a form of mental illness called anti-Semitism.
It’s the whole Old Testament meets Revelations syndrome. Pat Robertson meets Likud.
well well davey!! so you say egypt and the saudi’s get equal aid as does israel? What world are you living in? oops, maybe that of FOx News or what not…America has outfitted Israel’s military from head to toe, Israel gets trade-economy benefits with American companies, and most of all, they get foreign aid more than that of any other nation. They are a developed nation yet we keep senidng them aid while countries like ethiopia could use it. well its real nice to see the “right” facts from you…and ahemm..anti-semtism you say?, just like anonymous said, whenever you say something against israel, anti-semitism is painted all over it. NO!, anti-zionism is what it is, and zionism is the white man’s Al Qaeda!!!
I did notice, with some sadness, that certain vehemently anti-Cheney blogs “swallowed the whistle” when he visited AIPAC HQ a week or so ago, to great applause from AIPAC members.
And that truly saddens me. More than agering, just really feeling let down and cheated by those I always felt were “on mmy side.”
Not any more. No More.