27.1.07

How The Israel Lobby Operates in the US: A Practical Example

I found this link on Angry Arab this morning. I was just telling my husband over a breakfast made of Chocolat chaud aztèque and Lebanese pastries (Maamoul)* that one thing is puzzling me in the Bush presidency: not once the citizens of the US or their representatives asked this man what has he done for his country and for its citizens during his six year presidency ? The answer is Nothing. Nada.

But when I read this article I understood a little better why Bush has done nothing for his country. The Bush presidency, more than any other, and because of the influence of the Neocons, was dedicated to Israel and its colonialist hegemonic policies in the ME at the expense of the citizens of the US. It has always been like that but Bush really forgot that there are citizens after all in the country he presides over, except when it comes to sending troops to attack a country that never posed any threat to the US. I was dismayed to read how the Israel lobby operates inside washington in ways not even accessible to US citizens, except big money of course.

I mean how could elected representatives sell themselves to a foreign power and feed its greed on the expense of their own citizens ?

''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.''

*Not a breakfast recommended for dieting but it is minus 18 here in Canada, felt as minus 27 with the windshill, it gives some extra calories to go outside.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Someone jealous here???
no my sister, they support israel because you proof them with your behavior time after time that you hate them and don't want to get their support...they support israel because after 11/9 they saw in Tel-Aviv tears, and in beirut celebration...they support israel because the israeli don't bomb themself on them when they come to help their country keep on cease-fire, and kill 100 soldiers of them...they support israel because they don't need to come rescue their "democracy" every 15 years...you have a lot of money, you have oils, gold give me one rational economic reason not to support you? but still they don't...the most rationals people understood a long time ago, who is their enemy and who is their ally...and all your excuses look stupid, because you can't understand why your countries so faild...so you try to find explanations.
of course- "the jews control the world", is the most obvious explanation...

if the jews realy control in U.S.A I don't think that the holocaust was happend...U.S.A knew about what happen in europ during this time, the U.S jews knew about it also, but why they didn't fuck germany to pieces already in 41??? haa the jews want thier brothers in europ burned and than they will build israel...haahhaa yees...this is one part of the "big plain", to control the world...ohhh...there is more parts, get ready to it...in 2100 all of the people in the world will wear head-cover on their heads, your childern too...beware.

Unknown said...

hey, i just wanted to show some support and love.i read all your posts..god bless Lebanon..

Razan

Texas Bankruptcy Nerd said...

Does that actually pass for "hasbara" in Israel?

Go recheck your megaphone software.

Kel said...

Alon,

One doesn't have to believe nonsense like "Jews control the world" to see that the war in Iraq was a war for Israel, just as any future war with Iran will be essentially a war for Israel.

Nor have the main players ever really disguised their wish to see Israel as a regional superpower. The main problem for someone with your beliefs is that the neo-cons wrote down what they believed in various documents for right wing think tanks. And in all of them Israeli dominance of the Middle East imposed by American military muscle is clearly the game plan.

The hardly hidden charge of anti-Semitism that you appear to be trying to play here is beneath you. Give it up.

Anonymous said...

Kel, "the jews controll the world" was the last paragraph that I wrote if you didn't nontice this, and it was cynical... I don't "play the anti-semitisem card" like you said, I only show here that you, the arabs, hate all of the world and than you suprise why the world hate you...you burned their flags and shout from distance "death to america", you kindape their reporter, and when someone say on your religon bad stuff in some outlying newspaper you go and burn churches... and every time you wonder why the west don't believe to your "true" and go with the lier zionists...you never look on yourslef and think wait a minute this situation is my fault too, not only the other side...like in last summer, you expect that every body pity on you, and help you, and when they didn't, they are "blindly israeli supporter", you haven't stop for a minute and try to understand why the other side attack you like this, and what is your part in this situation, you only blame every one and wonder why nobody support you...so you try to find explanation on this, like "the war of iraq was for israel"...where have you heard on this fact? can you give me the source? actully most of the jews in U.S oppose to the war in iraq, this is a fact,sharon warned bush not to stayed in iraq this is a fact also...but of course it is easy to blame the baby of the most haterd country in the world for her mistakes, and to blame the jews for the war in iraq, without any proof yes I think is Anti-Semitism.
you can't accept the facts that most of the americans hate you not because israel, but because what you did to them, and not only the "stupid rapublicans" but also most of the democrats...yes there is plenty surveys which show this...why? you need t ask yourslef why,


another thing, the hate in Eeurop for israel is not because what it did to you, but because other things and this is too long to write here, I'm sure that if this war last summer was happend between syria and jorden, most of the people wouldn't heard on it.

Naj said...

Hi Sophia,
thanks for this post. I made a link about it as well.

It's been a while I hadn't heard the "jealousy" word, refreshing! ;)

My philosophy is that it takes a Jealous to know a Jealous. So maybe alon can think of the "baby of the most hatred country" in the world as a little spoiled brat who cannot see daddy like anyone else or establish a relationship with any other semetic siebling, and thus throws any tantrum possible to distract the "most hated daddy"!!

Oh wait a sec, I thought it were the Arabs who were the most hated because of their bad bad bad behavior! hmm, wonder what this most hated parent of baby Israel has done to deserve being the "most hated". So who is hated by everyone alon? Arabs or Papa Sam?

Anne Rettenberg LCSW said...

It's true that Iraq wasn't the preferred Israeli target--that's Iran. Which the U.S. is about to bomb.

Kel said...

Alon,

You have wrongly assumed that I am an Arab so the majority of your post makes little sense.

And, as for the Israeli link to the war, the evidence is volumnous:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,999737,00.html

"The OSP was an open and largely unfiltered conduit to the White House not only for the Iraqi opposition. It also forged close ties to a parallel, ad hoc intelligence operation inside Ariel Sharon's office in Israel specifically to bypass Mossad and provide the Bush administration with more alarmist reports on Saddam's Iraq than Mossad was prepared to authorise.

"None of the Israelis who came were cleared into the Pentagon through normal channels," said one source familiar with the visits. Instead, they were waved in on Mr Feith's authority without having to fill in the usual forms.

The exchange of information continued a long-standing relationship Mr Feith and other Washington neo-conservatives had with Israel's Likud party.

In 1996, he and Richard Perle - now an influential Pentagon figure - served as advisers to the then Likud leader, Binyamin Netanyahu. In a policy paper they wrote, entitled A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm, the two advisers said that Saddam would have to be destroyed, and Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Iran would have to be overthrown or destabilised, for Israel to be truly safe.

The Israeli influence was revealed most clearly by a story floated by unnamed senior US officials in the American press, suggesting the reason that no banned weapons had been found in Iraq was that they had been smuggled into Syria. Intelligence sources say that the story came from the office of the Israeli prime minister."

Whe Perle and others came to power it is impossible to believe that they were not aware that in attacking Iraq they were carrying out the advice that they had prepared for Netanyahu "to make Israel truly safe".

Sophia said...

Kel,

THank you very much for all the information and evidence you lay out in your comments.

 
Since March 29th 2006