Now It's AIPAC's War
Writing in Ha'aretz today, Gideon Levy predicts that ultimately the Netanyahu government will pay a heavy price for the atrocities being inflicted on the people of Gaza. He writes:
I’m no fan of Hamas, quite the contrary. But Israel’s attempt to put all the blame
on Hamas is outrageous. The international community will soon judge this war’s
atrocities. Hamas may be reprimanded, deservedly, but Israel will be condemned
and ostracized far more. And then Israelis will say, ‘It’s Hamas’ fault. And
the world will laugh.
I don't agree. I don't see that happening for one obvious reason: the power of
the Israel lobby.
Think about it. When it comes to Israel, the United States is the ball game. It
provides Israel with the money, the weapons, and the United Nations' vetoes
that enable both the occupation and its multiple wars (like this one) to
preserve it. And that shows no sign of changing.
Watch the television coverage. For three weeks the killing of children and other
innocents in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli military has dominated the news.
We see the bombs dropping. We see the destroyed schools, hospitals and mosques.
We see the parents wailing over the deaths of their children and children
wailing at the deaths of their parents and siblings.
But it makes no difference to the United States government which can stop the slaughter with a
few words. (Five of those words are "your $3.5 billion aid package.)
That doesn't happen. Instead we hear that President Obama exchanged angry words with Prime Minister Netanyahu on a phone
call, followed by the denial that he is angry and then by the announcement that
we are sending more weapons to Israel to help replenish its coffers, diminished
by all that bombing of Gaza.
I have no doubt about what the president really thinks mainly because he is a decent man which means that he is appalled
by the mass killing of children, no matter what the justification. (Yes,
Obama's drones kill children too. As the indispensable Andrew Sullivanpoints out
176 kids over eight years compared to Israel's 250 in three
weeks.)
For me to believe that the president really supports Netanyahu's war requires me to believe that he is not a good and
decent man. I'd rather believe he is just afraid of the power of the lobby. And
of Congress, which is its wholly owned subsidiary.
I watched a wonderful Member of Congress on MSNBC yesterday. He spoke out against the
Israeli onslaught. He called for a ceasefire and the end of Israel's blockade.
He was open and frank in his horror at Israel's behavior.
But then the moderator asked him to explain why it is that "only a tiny handful" have spoken
out as he has. What,are they afraid of?
The Congressman refused to answer. He simply acknowledged that it was true that Congress is united in
support of this war. And he pledged to talk to as many of his colleagues as he
can to change that. But he would not refer to the lobby.
Trust me, he would have loved to say "AIPAC. It's AIPAC." Because that is what he knows, and what the moderator knows, but there is only so far he can go.
No, AIPAC cannot defeat him. But it can (and would) make his life
miserable. So he punted. But he did go farther in criticizing Netanyahu's war
than any other legislator. Just not so far that war advocates Howard Kohr of
AIPAC, Rabbi David Saperstein (Reform synagogues), Abe Foxman (Anti Defamation
League), David Harris (American Jewish Committe), Steve Gutow (Jewish Council
on Public Affairs) and the other guardians of Israel's right to "defend itself"
would direct the congressman's donors to threaten him.
That is how it works. I know that from my four years at AIPAC (1982-1986) where I shared an
office with its then political director. I watched and heard him directing the
donors to crush a straying senator. I worked in the House and Senate for 15
years and personally experienced the pressure tactics that terrorize any
Congressman who even thinks of criticizing Israel. I watched AIPAC write the
foreign aid package and then simply hand it to the chairman of the
Appropriations Committees for immediate passage; and then I watched AIPAC
micromanage its implementation, for instance, literally holding up humanitarian
assistance because a playground in Ramallah was named after someone AIPAC
deemed a terrorist.
This was the most telling moment. During the George
W. Bush administration, the White House and the Israeli government agreed on an
$86 million assistance program for the Palestinian Authority to help it
withstand the growing power of Hamas. Israel sent the Deputy Defense Minister
Ephraim Sneh to Washington to lobby for it alongside the White House lobbying
team. But then came the word that the Democratic chairwoman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on
Foreign Operations had decided to cut the aid packagein half. How could
she? She knew that it was Israel's Defense Ministry that crafted the package
and that our president was demanding its passage.
Confronted by a supporter of the aid package she was asked how she could cut Palestinian aid
being pushed by the Israeli and American governments. She said that the AIPAC
lobbyist had told her to cut it and "I trust her." She offered no other reason
although she came up with various ones for the media.
I have seen
it all first hand and I can tell you this. AIPAC and its satellites constitute
the sole reason this war goes on. Otherwise, the images of the dead children
would prevail and America would use its clout to negotiate the simultaneous end
of the bombing and the lifting of the blockade of Gaza (monitored by the United
States to ensure no weapons get in.)
But it won't happen. AIPAC rules. It's the Jewish community's National Rifle Association, which also uses its
clout against children. To be fair, it is not the Jewish community that AIPAC
represents but the organized Jewish community, a small minority of Jews. I still believe that most American Jews,
always progressive and humanitarian, have not abandoned 3000 years of Jewish
history and tradition to support this barbarism.
Just as I still believe in the courage and goodness of the Israeli left (you know, the people who
created Israel) who come out night after night, demonstrating against what is
being done in their names. Yes, they are a small minority, but far larger than
the percentage of Americans who demonstrated against the Bush-Cheney Iraq war
which, with its newest legacy, ISIS, continues its endless destruction.
Let me conclude with this video of Senator Cory Booker enthusiastically reading from AIPAC's script on the Senate
floor this week. This is how it works.
It is Netanyahu's war. And Hamas's war. But, so far as the United States government is concerned, it is
AIPAC's war and it will only stop when the lobby (after consultation with Netanyahu) decides to stop it.
I’m no fan of Hamas, quite the contrary. But Israel’s attempt to put all the blame
on Hamas is outrageous. The international community will soon judge this war’s
atrocities. Hamas may be reprimanded, deservedly, but Israel will be condemned
and ostracized far more. And then Israelis will say, ‘It’s Hamas’ fault. And
the world will laugh.
I don't agree. I don't see that happening for one obvious reason: the power of
the Israel lobby.
Think about it. When it comes to Israel, the United States is the ball game. It
provides Israel with the money, the weapons, and the United Nations' vetoes
that enable both the occupation and its multiple wars (like this one) to
preserve it. And that shows no sign of changing.
Watch the television coverage. For three weeks the killing of children and other
innocents in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli military has dominated the news.
We see the bombs dropping. We see the destroyed schools, hospitals and mosques.
We see the parents wailing over the deaths of their children and children
wailing at the deaths of their parents and siblings.
But it makes no difference to the United States government which can stop the slaughter with a
few words. (Five of those words are "your $3.5 billion aid package.)
That doesn't happen. Instead we hear that President Obama exchanged angry words with Prime Minister Netanyahu on a phone
call, followed by the denial that he is angry and then by the announcement that
we are sending more weapons to Israel to help replenish its coffers, diminished
by all that bombing of Gaza.
I have no doubt about what the president really thinks mainly because he is a decent man which means that he is appalled
by the mass killing of children, no matter what the justification. (Yes,
Obama's drones kill children too. As the indispensable Andrew Sullivanpoints out
176 kids over eight years compared to Israel's 250 in three
weeks.)
For me to believe that the president really supports Netanyahu's war requires me to believe that he is not a good and
decent man. I'd rather believe he is just afraid of the power of the lobby. And
of Congress, which is its wholly owned subsidiary.
I watched a wonderful Member of Congress on MSNBC yesterday. He spoke out against the
Israeli onslaught. He called for a ceasefire and the end of Israel's blockade.
He was open and frank in his horror at Israel's behavior.
But then the moderator asked him to explain why it is that "only a tiny handful" have spoken
out as he has. What,are they afraid of?
The Congressman refused to answer. He simply acknowledged that it was true that Congress is united in
support of this war. And he pledged to talk to as many of his colleagues as he
can to change that. But he would not refer to the lobby.
Trust me, he would have loved to say "AIPAC. It's AIPAC." Because that is what he knows, and what the moderator knows, but there is only so far he can go.
No, AIPAC cannot defeat him. But it can (and would) make his life
miserable. So he punted. But he did go farther in criticizing Netanyahu's war
than any other legislator. Just not so far that war advocates Howard Kohr of
AIPAC, Rabbi David Saperstein (Reform synagogues), Abe Foxman (Anti Defamation
League), David Harris (American Jewish Committe), Steve Gutow (Jewish Council
on Public Affairs) and the other guardians of Israel's right to "defend itself"
would direct the congressman's donors to threaten him.
That is how it works. I know that from my four years at AIPAC (1982-1986) where I shared an
office with its then political director. I watched and heard him directing the
donors to crush a straying senator. I worked in the House and Senate for 15
years and personally experienced the pressure tactics that terrorize any
Congressman who even thinks of criticizing Israel. I watched AIPAC write the
foreign aid package and then simply hand it to the chairman of the
Appropriations Committees for immediate passage; and then I watched AIPAC
micromanage its implementation, for instance, literally holding up humanitarian
assistance because a playground in Ramallah was named after someone AIPAC
deemed a terrorist.
This was the most telling moment. During the George
W. Bush administration, the White House and the Israeli government agreed on an
$86 million assistance program for the Palestinian Authority to help it
withstand the growing power of Hamas. Israel sent the Deputy Defense Minister
Ephraim Sneh to Washington to lobby for it alongside the White House lobbying
team. But then came the word that the Democratic chairwoman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on
Foreign Operations had decided to cut the aid packagein half. How could
she? She knew that it was Israel's Defense Ministry that crafted the package
and that our president was demanding its passage.
Confronted by a supporter of the aid package she was asked how she could cut Palestinian aid
being pushed by the Israeli and American governments. She said that the AIPAC
lobbyist had told her to cut it and "I trust her." She offered no other reason
although she came up with various ones for the media.
I have seen
it all first hand and I can tell you this. AIPAC and its satellites constitute
the sole reason this war goes on. Otherwise, the images of the dead children
would prevail and America would use its clout to negotiate the simultaneous end
of the bombing and the lifting of the blockade of Gaza (monitored by the United
States to ensure no weapons get in.)
But it won't happen. AIPAC rules. It's the Jewish community's National Rifle Association, which also uses its
clout against children. To be fair, it is not the Jewish community that AIPAC
represents but the organized Jewish community, a small minority of Jews. I still believe that most American Jews,
always progressive and humanitarian, have not abandoned 3000 years of Jewish
history and tradition to support this barbarism.
Just as I still believe in the courage and goodness of the Israeli left (you know, the people who
created Israel) who come out night after night, demonstrating against what is
being done in their names. Yes, they are a small minority, but far larger than
the percentage of Americans who demonstrated against the Bush-Cheney Iraq war
which, with its newest legacy, ISIS, continues its endless destruction.
Let me conclude with this video of Senator Cory Booker enthusiastically reading from AIPAC's script on the Senate
floor this week. This is how it works.
It is Netanyahu's war. And Hamas's war. But, so far as the United States government is concerned, it is
AIPAC's war and it will only stop when the lobby (after consultation with Netanyahu) decides to stop it.