The hold of the Israeli lobby over American politics is total and absolute. Steny Hoyer and Joe Biden are out there defending commando raids on humanitarian ships in international waters that result in death and injury to civilians. There is only way to redeem themselves and that is to get a peace agreement. Because the world is of one opinion on this, and it isn’t Biden and Hoyer’s opinion. You want to know why people want to kill our civilians? This is why. So, do something big to make the threat go away because you just made the threat a lot worse.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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My prediction is that Bibi has fucked it up with the US Military Lobby and will get a sharp pull on his leash for forgetting what client states are supposed to do when given suggestions.
Kissing his ass isn’t going to topple his government nor convince Israelis to elect a more compliant one.
But isn’t the US the client state in this case?
No. It’s not. It just behaves like it is.
Well, that’s the popular theory, but whenever US MIC requirements have clashed with Israeli ones, the pretense has been tossed.
It’s as useful for American politicians to pretend that they can’t face down the big bad Israeli lobby (in order to, e.g. reduce arms sales and profits for arms manufacturers, something that they otherwise are just dying to do ) just as it is useful for European politicians to pretend to be really concerned about Palestinians (but not concerned enough to do anything).
Excuse me? Does David Petraeus represent the US MIC?
Cuz, he spoke up and nothing happened.
Cuz, he spoke up and nothing happened.
Some folks did speak up. Commentary. NRO. None of the TradMed hopped on board because Petraeus is too saintly to them. They also depend on him(or those close to him) for leaks. So they just ignored it all.
Of course something happened. I very much doubt that the Egyptian blockade of Gaza ended without US support. And I suspect Turkey has been emboldened in this dispute by its belief that the balance has changed. And note that the US endorsed the UN Security Council demands for an impartial investigation (although muddying it with what “impartial” means).
Anyway, we’ll see. But I believe that the Gaza blockade is over and the Obamas are working on a soft landing for Israel.
Egypt had no choice. What they were doing before the commando raid had the support of less than 1% of their population, and that 1% works for Mubarak. To side with Israel on this and keep the blockade? It’s painful enough for Obama. It was inconceivable for Egypt. They didn’t get our blessing. And they wouldn’t have listened if we told them to keep it.
And you know that they didn’t get our blessing because?
Thanks, Booman, for writing that. I would say that, *because* the lobby’s hold over both parties is absolute, there will be no peace deal. Ever. The Israelis have no incetive to make concessions so long as the US works to keep the balance of power so overwhelmingly in their favor.
I do believe, however, that the balance is changing and will continue to change despite the US’ best efforts to stop that. (Powerful Iran, heavily armed Hezbollah, crumbling puppet regime in Egypt, bad economic developments here at home. And finally, an internet that spreads the word.)
Once it becomes impossible for the US to maintain Israel’s superiority, politician’s like Biden might change their tune. Until then…
It’s almost as frustrating as this damn oil leak in the Gulf.
Everybody knows it’s terrible messaging that makes people want to kill us, and yet they feel powerless to do anything else. That’s why this meritless pandering must serve some greater good. And soon.
What piece of evidence suggests that a peace deal is even conceivable at this point? To me it seems that America’s “support” of Israel is made possible by the fig leaf of a “peace process”. America just needs to withdraw from the whole scenario, and that can’t happen until we accept that it’s far far beyond America’s power to broker a peace.
Well, it’s inconceivable if a Democratic administration’s response to murder on the high seas is “what’s the big deal?” I know that’s a little out of context, but the Gaza blockade is barely defensible. The commando raid is not defensible no matter how far you stretch things. And calling for Israel to investigate their own murders? That’s just goddamn insulting. So, they better have a plan to make it all not matter in the end.
I completely agree, BooMan. Outrageous. Embarrassing. And really deadly to our morality on the world stage. It’s hard to believe a country that small has us so by the balls.
Our morality on the world stage was shot long ago. What is at stake is the US looking like a pushover for any small country that plays our Congress through lobbying (and no doubt campaign cash through US lobbying firms on the QT).
Obama should suspend US aid to Israel for 90 days just to get Netanyahu’s attention. Publicly, not privately. And do it soon so that it can be restored prior to the November election.
Didn’t he just blow the best chance he’s had to do something like that?
Exactly.
60 Minutes (5/12/96)
That’s SecState Albright in the Clinton administration.
What will the Russians think if we support murder on the high seas?
I can’t imagine why you think the SoS saying something is “unacceptable” is “no big deal”.
New settlements in East Jerusalem were also ‘unacceptable.’ A lot of things are ‘unacceptable’ until we we prevent the UN from condemning them.
http://palestinenote.com/cs/blogs/blogs/archive/2010/06/02/elliott-abrams-to-maariv-obama-s-policies
-bad-for-israel-prospects-for-peace-slim.aspx
There are a lot of things I thought were inconceivable Ina democratic administration…
Short and devastating. I pasted it into whitehouse.gov’s comment section.
The Israeli lobby’s power is overstated. They don’t have nearly as much power as the military, nor as much power as war contractors/oil men. Most of it is solid poker playing and bluffing.
Not to mention that I think a lot of people simply vote for what they believe and are shelled cash to continue believing it. We have a bunch of old men who can’t see the changing landscape on this front any better than the 10% unemployment right now.
Did you follow my link? Because if you followed my link and your response is that I am overstating the influence of the Israeli lobby on American politicians, then I’m stumped.
Like I said, I think a lot of politicians fear it, but they don’t fear what it is in reality. Their power is overstated because the politicians are continuously falling for their bluffs.
Put it this way, when it comes to AIPAC, I’m more in agreement with Chomsky than most on the left:
http://www.zcommunications.org/the-israel-lobby-by-noam-chomsky
that’s a thoughtful essay with a lot of truth to it, but he’s discussing relative power. It’s basically irrelevant. This administration feels the exact same way about what Israel did that the UK government feels, the Italian government feels, the Greek government feels, and the Turkish government feels. But they won’t say it because they don’t want to deal with the shitstorm. You could call them a bunch of pussies but they have too much company for that. They’re smart to be afraid. And that’s the problem.
Do oil companies have that kind of power? Does the Pentagon? Well, hell yes they do. But that doesn’t seem to really matter for the purposes of this conversation.
Booman why do you suppose that the Italian and Greek government statements about what they feel bears any relationship to what they feel?
If Italy was truly offended by the Gaza blockade, they could simply send ships to Gaza from one of their many ports on the Med.
If Greece were to intervene on Turkey’s side, but let’s stop there.
Because every normal human being has the same reaction to people being murdered for no reason other than they object to the human suffering of other people. The only people who feel differently about this is a small subsection of people who actually enjoy watching senseless violence and some fraction of Israelis who have been driven mad by years of conflict.
States are not normal human beings. Neither the Greek nor the Italian government is in the business of worrying about human suffering – certainly Berlusconi is no humanitarian.
Again: if those states actually believed what they say, they both have expensive and powerful navies and could send boats full of supplies to Gaza.
Talking about human rights, being trampled by another state is no big deal. The Italian government didn’t do a damn thing when people were being massacred just over its border in Croatia.
States are not human beings, which is precisely why some states (actually, just one) have difficulty expressing their true feelings regarding this matter.
Oh come on. You keep avoiding the point that if the “honest” states really felt the way they claim to, they have actions to take. The disjunction between their strongly worded complaints and their lack of activities indicates that they are just propagandizing.
Which European states have volunteered to accept Gazan refugees? Part of what really gets to me here, is that the European powers are offering the Gazans their traditional humanitarian sympathies: the same ones the people of Sbrenica and Rwanda and the European jews and gypsies received. And it’s pretty nauseating. Forgive me for not applauding their empty words.
Gaza has been starving just a hop skip and a jump away from Athens and not too far from Genoa or Marseilles, and the European governments have done zip and plan to do zip.
Maybe if Hamas discovers some oil, someone will scrape up a humanitarian mission.
Ok, here we go: one European country taking some action and getting immediate results. When France, Italy, and Greece go from concern to action, something will happen.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/new-gaza-bound-aid-ship-may-agree-to-dock-and-unload-in-as
hdod-1.293855
So, any nation that is unwilling to unilaterally defy Israel’s blockade of Gaza actually agrees with the policy to the degree that that they support killing anyone who tries to defy it. Got it. That’s brilliant.
No. Any nation that actually wants to change Israel’s policy and has the means to do so, but does not, is expressing a low level of actual interest in the plight of the Gazans, no matter what they say.
That’s the crassest bullshit. This isn’t, strictly speaking, about the Gazans, but about killing people in international waters for no other reason than that they want to help the Gazans.
Not much point in pursuing this, I guess. Enjoy your narrative and the deeply concerned humanism of Silvio Berlusconi.
amen brother
It is getting harder and harder to support Israel.
Israel continues to be a victim of its unprecedented success. Every challenge it has faced – it has overcome. Usually – spectacularly better than could have been expected. These successes have left them where they are today. Truly – the Lord of all they survey.
What that looks like in the real world is this: they now own two concentration camps – one which they bomb when it fires rockets into the desert and the other (for not firing rockets into the desert) they just steal the land from – acre by acre, day by day. On the other hand they pay orthodox members of their religion to stay home – study their Invisible Monsters Shopping List Book and breed. Because of this they now have a seriously numerous bat-shit crazy minority that has a significant say in the affairs of the state.
The real charm of “Jews” was that so many of them were secular or cultural Jews – these people were progressive, intelligent, and an absolute wonderful addition to any culture or country they found themselves in. Israel’s growing numbers of bat-shit crazy fundys are not much to my liking – and I would hazard the guess that they are not much to the liking of anyone – including most secular or cultural Jews.
So here sits Israel – a victim of its successes with a growing portion of the population thinking they are on a mission from their self-confessed, multiple-occasion, mass-murdering manic in whose embrace they wish to spend eternity. Ouch.
I see no good coming from any of this – I despair for my Israeli friends – if not already, they will soon be alone – with only their gods and demons. Pity – seriously – a horrible pity.
A quick solution.
It`s not about stupid Democrats, it`s about stupid humans.
The only remaining superpower in the world, who some say should revert back to an isolationist stance & not try to police the world, should put their money where their mouth is & withhold it from Israel, Egypt & Jordan.
With all the military supplies & equipment being staged for withdrawal/retreat from Iraq, there should be a plan to route their retreat, through Gaza, where the US military, their doctors & equipment, slated for reconstruction in Iraq, could restore a viable life for all the people in Gaza.
This detour could easily be paid for, by rescinding all military aid funds to Israel, & to Egypt, in the interests of peace.
Once this plan is in place & working, all mercenary armies should be brought back to protect the sands of the American beaches from oil rather than protect the oil under the sands of the middle east.
Sure I`m a dreamer, (you say) but the other option is the continuing nightmare with no awakening in sight, simply the continuation of a “Peace in the Middle East” that has been shouted from the minarets, to the temples, to the reborn altars of hypocrisy.
There is another solution also. We could take the state of Israel, or the walled & blockaded Palestine, & plunk them in central Europe & see how that works for, let`s say, 62 years.
It`s quite obvious after my little inconsequential rantings that no one wants to have stability in the middle east, so why bother.
Well, I do bother, & I`m really sick of the fact that a country that has 700 plus bases on the globe, policeman to the world, the military budget more than the combined rest of the countries on the globe, can`t solve a problem between two of the smallest back yards in the world.
Everyone on the tubes are so scared of I/P diaries, but as of lately, I P on all of them.
Enough is Enough.
My whole sense of who I am, I learned from Meyer Ryshpan, an elder Jewish artist, with who I spent 15 years learning, & Hamed Shribati, an elder Arab from Damascus who taught me about peace.
Now pick up a mop please.
Not an Obama mop, a let`s clean up our world mop.
And it just starts with the street you live on.
An American citizen is among the dead:
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/06/03/american-reportedly-killed-gaza-flotilla-raid/
The comments are worse than over at Breitbart.
I guess the defense of this is, “He’s not a REAL American.”
Any one who accepts, parrots bloodyisrael’s propanganda abt. what happen, yet AGAIN!!! is totally mad!!! O-bought-ma is BOUGHT by AIPAC/WALLSTREETGANGSTAs, as are most of the BOUGHT congrsscritters. $$$$$$$$$/propaganda from israel are identical to the corrupt politicians. Barney Frank had to guts to say, ‘As a Jew, I am ashamed!!!! I will be voting out any incumbent unless a Grayson, Franken, Kucinich,
this is short and brutal and true, BooMan.
thanks.
I don’t think it’s an accident that my servers have been sporadically under attack ever since I began writing about the Israeli commando raid. Real mature.
.
taking an afternoon nap in previous hour?
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."yup. They checked the server. No mechanical problems but corrupted software that they had to reset by hand.