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End Israel lobbies' pervasive and damaging
influence in US politics
By Debbie Menon
Redress, Al-Jazeerah, ccun.org, April 26, 2010
Debbie Menon argues that Washington’s support for Israel is
tragic, immoral and extremely damaging to Americans given that US
“congressional representatives continue to put Israel’s interests before the
interests of Americans”.
In a recent article in the journal Foreign
Policy entitled
“Petraeus wasn’t the first”, Mark Perry describes succinctly the
opposition to US support for Israel, the rationale for this support and how
American publishers cover it up.
The article is extremely valuable
reading, recommends Alison Weir, the executive director of the website
If Americans Knew. “It
corrects misconceptions that so many Americans have on the causation of US
support for Israel, including even some who are otherwise well informed on
Palestine,” she asserts.
Mark Perry is correct in all respects. He
quotes Joe Hoar, who remind him that it’s all old history. “What’s the news
here? Hasn’t this been said before?” and hasn’t it all been done before?
Indeed, have humans ever learned from history? I think it says something
about the nature of our species when you reflect that Albert Einstein once
said that “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over
again and expecting different results.”
Key elements of the US
government have always opposed the concept of a Zionist Israel, ever since
the state and defence departments advised President Harry Truman not to sign
up to the Zionist project, which he nevertheless did but with reservations,
qualifications and conditions that were immediately ignored.
But none
of these key elements of governance has influence over the
Zionist-controlled US corporate press, entertainment, academic and public (mis)information
media (and the corporate and business advertising budgets that drive them)
where the roots of American public opinion are planted and from which the
blissfully ignorant American masses take the cues for their views and
feelings. Nor do they control the free-spending lobbies that buy and sell
legislators and politicians on Capitol Hill with the same ease with which
they trade banks and corporations on the stock market.
While this is
well documented, the sad thing is that today many editors, journalists,
analysts and publishers, even in the so-called progressive American media,
either still do not know these facts or have chosen not to inform the public
about them.
Recent “hate speech” legislation in the US Congress has
already eviscerated the freedom of speech guarantees of the First Amendment.
Try to persuade me that abuse and vilification of Islam and Christianity
will get you the same treatment in the courts that open and objective
political criticism of Israel will. The fact that it will almost certainly
not is a perfect example of the power of lobbies in controlling the law of,
and restricting free speech in, the USA.
The recent 300-36 vote by
the US House Representatives
rejecting the UN-sponsored Goldstone Report, and the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)-initiated letter
“Reaffirming the US-Israel Alliance”, which was signed by 76 senators
and pressed the US president not to put pressure on Israel – and repeated
the “unbreakable bond” mantra – is the best evidence of who controls US
Middle East policy and how powerless the US president is to serve his own
country’s interest. Barack Obama would do well to heed George Washington’s
advise, when he warned in his
farewell address against “passionate attachment” to an ally. (Also see
Anthony Lawson’s video,
“Treason by Members of the United States Congress”.)
Yes, it is
about this ally’s powerful lobbying and its pervasive influence on American
politics, policy and institutions that these and other
writers have long written valuable books, revealing facts about the
extent of the stranglehold of the Israel lobby over the US Congress and the
US administration.
It’s long past time to end one of the most
damaging and pervasive cover-ups in the US today, and time for people and
institutions to confront Israel’s lobbies. Paul Findley,
They Dare to Speak Out
Edgar Tivnan,
The Lobby: Jewish Political Power and American Foreign Policy
Donald Neff Fallen Pillars,
US Policy Towards Palestine and Israel Since 1945
George W. Ball
and Douglas B. Ball,
The Passionate Attachment: America’s Involvement With Israel, 1947 to the
Present
John Mulhall,
America and the Founding of Israel: An Investigation of the Morality of
America’s Role
James Petras,
The Power of Israel in the United States
John Mearsheimer and
Stephen Walt,
The
Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy
Jeff Gates, Guilt by
Association:
How Deception and Self-Deceit Took America to War (2008) – his first
release in the Criminal State series Debbie Menon is a freelance writer
based in Dubai. Her articles have been published widely in print and online.
She can be reached at
debbiemenon@gmail.com. For more of her work, visit
My Catbird Seat.
A version of
this article was first published in
Salem-News.Com.
http://www.redress.cc/stooges/dmenon20100423
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