Tag Archives: Jewish lobby

Israel’s Dominance of Washington, by Philip Giraldi

Posted on December 14, 2021 | Leave a comment

It’s been a long time since Israel has faced any meaningful challenge from anyone in Washington on anything, big or small. From Philip Giraldi at unz.com:

It’s worse than ever but the “apartheid state” is increasingly under pressure

At the end of every year, I like to comment on the progress – and the setbacks – in our struggle to make the United States government understand that it exists to improve lives for Americans rather than working full time to pander to the Israelis and their powerful domestic lobby. One would have thought that it could not get worse than the Donald Trump Administration’s crawling on its knees to satisfy every whim expressed or left unexpressed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, truly one of the most evil men ever to walk the face of the earth. Trump withdrew from the nuclear treaty with Iran, a move which was driven by Israel and its US lobby backed up by inducements from GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson. As Israel is a secret nuclear power, a program developed around technology and uranium stolen from the United States, the Trump move was the ultimate in hypocrisy, enabling what most nations would regard as a rogue state to have the nuclear option vis-à-vis its relatively defenseless neighbors.

Beyond that, and without any real urging by Israel, Trump showered gift after gift on the Jewish state, moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem in violation of the city’s “international” status, recognizing Israel’s annexation of the illegally occupied Syrian Golan Heights, and endorsing Israel’s “right” to deal with the Palestinians on the West Bank as it sees fit. None of those actions were in support of any actual American interests, nor was it even necessary to do them to placate the Israelis. Nor was it an American interest to release from parole convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, the most damaging spy in US history, so he could emigrate to Israel where he received a hero’s welcome. Since Trump’s departure from office, it has been learned that it was Trump’s Jewish and Zionist son-in-law Jared Kushner who was directing much of the policy on Israel-Palestine.

Recently, Trump, for whom the word “delusional” often seems to apply, stated emphatically that Israel has “rightfully” controlled the US Congress but does not do so any more. In an interview with someone named Ari Hoffman, Trump declared that “The biggest change I’ve seen in Congress, Israel literally owned Congress –you understand that?–ten years ago, fifteen years ago. And it was so powerful. It was so powerful. And today, it is almost the opposite. You have, between AOC and Omar and these people that hate Israel with a passion, they’re controlling Congress. Israel is not a force in Congress anymore! It’s amazing. I’ve never seen such a change. And we’re not talking about over a very long period of time, I think you know exactly what I’m saying. They had such power. Israel had such power, and rightfully, over Congress. And now it doesn’t! It’s incredible, actually.”

Continue reading→

Leave a comment

Posted in Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Governments, Media, Politics, Propaganda

Tagged , , ,

The Amen Corner Strikes Again, by Philip Giraldi

Posted on October 5, 2021 | Leave a comment

What the Israeli lobby wants, the Israeli lobby gets, and it makes no bones about pressing its case. From Philip Giraldi at unz.com:

Once upon a time the Israel Lobby destroyed critics of the Jewish state and its behavior by stealth. If a Congressman or Senator were speaking honestly about the lopsided relationship with Israel which required suppressing, it was done by making sure that individual was not reelected. This was normally accomplished by vetting an attractive opposition primary candidate who would do Israel’s bidding, funding him or her generously and providing unfavorable press coverage of the incumbent.

One great victory for Israel using that technique was the 1992 defeat of George H. W. Bush by Bill Clinton. Bush had dared to withhold guarantees on loans sought to fund Israel’s expansion of its settlements, clearly a genuine American interest as the settlements were a violation of international law. Going into the election, he appeared to be the much stronger candidate, but then the captive media starting to write about how the economy was in bad shape, which was not true, and switched over to deeply negative coverage of his campaign. The Lobby also heavily contributed financially to the Clinton campaign. George H.W. subsequently privately blamed the Israel Lobby for his defeat, a lesson his son George W. clearly absorbed in that he took pains to never anger Israel. He went rather the other way, surrounding himself with Jewish neocons as his national security policy team, which in turn produced Afghanistan and, quite plausibly, was the driving force behind the catastrophic attack on Iraq.

Legislators who have been dethroned by Israel using the same technique are Senators Chuck Percy and William Fulbright as well as congressmen Paul Findley, Pete McCloskey, Cynthia McKinney and James Traficant. They all faced credible, well-funded opponents and lost their seats. And the Israel Lobby, behind it all, never even had to complain about their views on Israel. In fact, it was believed to be better to not raise that issue directly.

Continue reading→

Leave a comment

Posted in Cronyism, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Government, Politics

Tagged ,

Israel Wins Big in Washington, by Philip Giraldi

Posted on June 8, 2021 | Leave a comment

Israel is America’s trust fund kid and it’s definitely been spoiled. From Philip Giraldi at unz.com:

$1.2 billion more is on the way!

Now let me get this straight. A nation bullies and harasses a much smaller neighbor which eventually leads that neighbor to strike back with largely home-made weapons. The larger and more powerful country, armed with state of the art killing machines, attacks its basically unarmed opponent and kills hundreds of civilians, including a large number of children. It also destroys billions of dollars of infrastructure in the poorer and weaker neighbor. Almost immediately after the fighting stops, senior legislators from a third nation that had nothing to do with the war apart from supplying the larger nation with weapons appeared on the scene and promoted the lie that the larger nation had actually been the victim of an unprovoked attack by the “terrorists” running the small nation. They did so publicly while meeting with and endorsing the actions of the government officials from the large nation, which, it would seem, is about to be investigated by an international body for war crimes. They were joined by an ex-officio former foreign minister of the third nation who likewise echoed the propaganda being put out by the large nation. Several of them also promised to provide military assistance worth $1 billion so the large nation could rearm itself.

Of course, I am writing about how Republican Senators Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz and Bill Hagerty traveled to Israel over the Memorial Day weekend and bowed and scraped before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and company. During his meeting with Bibi, Graham even held up a sign reading “More for Israel.” They were joined in Jerusalem by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who was in town visiting with his old friend Yossi Cohen, head of the Israeli Intelligence service Mossad, who is retiring soon.

Continue reading→

Leave a comment

Posted in Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Governments, History, Politics, Propaganda

Tagged , ,

Who Wags the Dog? Israel’s Friends in Washington Mean Constant War in the Middle East, by Philip Giraldi

Posted on April 23, 2021 | Leave a comment

Israel and the Jewish lobby in this country exercise far more influence over US foreign policy than any other nation. From Philip Giraldi at strategic-culture.org:

Biden, like presidents before him, is caught in the trap between an extremist-dominated Israel and the all-powerful domestic Israel Lobby.

Donald Trump, who was elected President of the United States in 2016, may have won due to voters attracted by his pledge to end many of the “stupid” wars that the American military was involved in worldwide. In the event, however, he ended no wars in spite of several attempts to withdraw from Afghanistan and Syria, and almost started new conflicts with cruise missile attacks and the assassination of an Iranian general. Trump was consistently outmaneuvered by his “experts” on the National Security Council and at the Pentagon, who insisted that it was too early to disengage from the Middle East and Central Asia, that America’s own national security would be threatened.

Trump did not have either the experience or the grit necessary to override his generals and national security team, so he deferred to their judgement. And as has been well documented he was under constant pressure to do Israel’s bidding in the region, which mandated a continued substantial US military presence to protect the Jewish state and to provide cover for the regular attacks staged by the Israelis against several of their neighbors. Motivated by the substantial political donations coming from multi-billionaires like casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, Trump conceded more to Israel than any previous president, recognizing Jerusalem as the country’s capital as well as Israeli annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights while also giving the green light to settlement expansion and eventual incorporation of all of the occupied West Bank into Greater Israel.

Continue reading→

Leave a comment

Posted in Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Governments, History, Intelligence, Politics, Propaganda

Tagged , ,

New Ambassador Attracts the Usual Enemies: Doug Macgregor Feels the Wrath of the Jewish Lobby, by Philip Giraldi

Posted on September 18, 2020 | Leave a comment

Trump’s pick as ambassador to Germany looks like he has a lot going for him. However, he may not have toed the Jewish line quite enough to win an endorsement from the Jewish lobby. From Philip Giraldi at strategic-culture.org:

There is an old saying that allegedly came out of the French Revolution, that revolution, like the god Saturn, devours its own children. It was reportedly uttered by Georges Danton at the trial that preceded his execution and could be applied equally to the demise of Trotsky after the Russian Revolution. It meant that the leaders that drove the dramatic political developments frequently get a taste of power and become resistant to any further change. They often end up turning on their own former followers who have different ideas on how to run the country.

Nearly all the top-level political appointees that have served the Donald Trump administration would describe themselves as conservatives but genuine conservatives as they would have been configured during the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower have actually been quite thin on the ground. One recalls how Ike publicly denounced the developing “Military Industrial Complex,” explaining how “We pay for a single fighter plane with a half-million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is not a way of life at all. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.” That was real conservatism speaking. These days, when genuine conservatives cast in that mold do turn up, there is frequently a concerted effort to make them go away.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Governments, History, Politics

Tagged , ,

Time To Put Americans Back In Charge Of America, by Chuck Baldwin

Posted on February 23, 2020 | 1 comment

The only people who can say anything critical of Israel and the Jewish lobby are those in the alternative media who receive nothing from those sources and thus have nothing to lose. From Chuck Baldwin at chuckbaldwinlive.com:

Members of the “right” and “alt-right” love to use terms such as “the establishment,” “Deep State,” “globalists,” etc., in describing freedom’s political enemies. And, yes, I often use those terms too. For the sake of brevity, I will refer to the above as simply “the ruling class.”

Seldom, however, do conservatives identify who actually comprises the ruling class. Typically when using those terms, conservatives are attacking Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and liberal Democrats in general.

While it is doubtlessly true that many liberal Democrats are pawns of the ruling class, so are many conservative Republicans. The ruling class monopolizes the philosophies, priorities and policies of both major parties in Washington, D.C.

The ruling class has mastered the phony left-right paradigm to perfection. The entire political debate in America centers on the left-right paradigm. If you are a Republican, Democrats are the enemy; if you are a Democrat, Republicans are the enemy. The entire political world revolves around this notion.

It’s all a game, a façade, a hoax.

Here’s how it works: When the ruling class wants to focus on building a socialist Welfare state, dismantling traditional cultural and religious norms and enacting gun control, it puts liberal Democrats in power. And when it wants to focus on building the Warfare State and creating foreign enemies for the purpose of expanding the “war on terror” and a global surveillance state, it puts conservative Republicans in charge.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Government, Intelligence, Military, Politics

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Breaking Our Biggest Taboo, by Eric S. Margolis

Posted on March 9, 2019 | 1 comment

In Washington polite society you simply don’t talk about the influence of the Israel lobby and its money unless you want to get labelled an anti-Semite. From Eric S. Margolis at lewrockwell.com:

“Tell me who you cannot criticize and I will tell you who is your master”. Attributed to Voltaire.

Saying anything negative about Israel has long been the third rail of US politics and media.  Israel is our nation’s most sacred cow.  Any questioning of its behavior brings furious charges of anti-Semitism and professional oblivion.

I keep in my bookcase a cautionary book, ‘They Dared Speak Out’ written by US senators and congressmen who all lost their positions after rebuking Israel for its mistreatment of Palestinians or daring to suggest that Israel had far too much influence in the US.

Journalists learn this first commandment very early.  Criticize, or even question, Israel at your own peril.   Until recently, we journalists were not even allowed to write there was an ‘Israel lobby.’  It was widely considered Washington’s most powerful lobby group but, until lately, mentioning its name was seriously verboten.

Now, young Democratic stars Tulsi Gabbard, Kamala Harris, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a feisty congresswoman from Minnesota, Ilhan Omar, have suddenly broken the taboo and said what dared not be said: there is too much rightwing Israeli influence and there must be justice for Palestine.

Presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have come to the defense of Ilhan Omar against the usual charges that she is anti-Semitic.  So have black groups and smaller liberal Jewish groups.  The Democratic Party, that once received half its financial support from Jewish sources, is badly split over the Palestine crisis.  Its old guard is retreating and does not know what to do beyond issuing fiery denunciations of the heretical Miss Omar.  The Democrat Party split comes just at a time when it is trying to bring down President Donald Trump.

Many people seem unaware that Islam is now America’s third largest religion and may soon surpass the number of Jews.  In Canada, Muslims are already the second religion.

Ilhan is not anti-Semitic.  I grew up in New York and New England where vicious anti-Semitism abounded.  I know real anti-Semitism when I see it.  But she is quite right in charging that vast amounts of pro-Israel money have bought Congress and the media.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Foreign Policy, Government, History, Politics

Tagged ,

This Jew Tells Speaker Pelosi: “You May Well Prove Ilhan Omar Correct”, by Jeff Cohen

Posted on March 8, 2019 | 2 comments

It’s supposedly anti-Semitic to say that the Israel lobby has an inordinate amount of influence in Washington and spreads around a lot of money. However, it happens to be the truth and the reflexive “anti-Semitism” is a smear. From Jeff Cohen at counterpunch.org:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is reportedly still considering a symbolic “show vote” in Congress on an anti-Semitism and “hate” resolution – which would offer all the authenticity and honesty of a Soviet show trial. If Pelosi proceeds, it will prove Rep. Ilhan Omar’s point about the inordinate influence wielded over Congress by the “Israel-right or-wrong”/AIPAC lobby and its power to stifle criticism of Israel.

The anti-Omar resolution, whether mentioning Omar or not, was originated by two Democrats who are among Congress’s most longstanding pro-Israel diehards: Eliot Engel and Nita Lowey. Both endorsed Bush’s Iraq invasion. Both opposed Obama’s Iran nuke deal. Both supported Trump’s move of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

I’m a proud Jew raised in a liberal family that supported civil rights and human rights. My experience growing up during the 1950s and 1960s was typical of many Jewish Americans. Like many Jews with this background, I’ve grown increasingly ashamed of Israel.

For 40 years, Israel has been ruled mostly by a series of right-wing governments – more and more openly racist and abusive of Palestinian rights. It’s not the land of tree-planting, kibbutzim and “a country treating its Arab minority nicely” that we were sold as youngsters.

That’s why a large number of proud Jewish Americans – raised to believe in civil liberties and open discussion – are appalled by the campaign to muzzle Rep. Ilhan Omar, as well as Speaker Pelosi’s role in it. We’re also appalled that human-rights-abusing Israel is virtually off-limits to debate.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Government, Politics

Tagged , ,

The House Democrats’ “Rebuke” of Rep. Ilhan Omar Is a Fraud for Many Reasons, Including Its Wild Distortion of Her Comments, by Glenn Greenwald

Posted on March 6, 2019 | Leave a comment

Look at what much condemned Rep. Ilhan Omar has actually said about Israel and the Jewish lobby and there’s not much with which to argue. Does anyone really believe they do not have enormous clout in US politics, that they do not spread a lot of money around, and that Israel does not have a unique and special place in US foreign policy? From Glenn Greenwald at theintercept.com:

GOP CONGRESSMAN STEVE KING has served in the U.S. House of Representatives for sixteen years, yet Democrats – who controlled the House for four of those years and now control it again – never formally rebuked or condemned him until last month (they did so at the same time that Republicans removed him from his Committee assignments due to a long history of white supremacist remarks).

By extremely stark contrast, Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar – the first black Muslim woman ever elected to the Congress – has served in the House for a little more than two months, and House Democratic leaders have already formally condemned her once and are preparing to so again, this time even more harshly and officially, on Wednesday.

On February 11, the House Democratic leadership, responding to statements made by Omar about large donors and AIPAC driving pro-Israel policies, issued a joint statement condemning Omar for what they called her “use of anti-Semitic tropes,” adding that her “prejudicial accusations about Israel’s defenders” are “deeply offensive.” They then demanded: “We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments.”

Omar then issued a statement of her own in which she “unequivocally apologized” for unintentionally invoking “anti-Semitic tropes,” but made crystal clear that “the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics” – whether it be AIPAC, as well as the NRA or the fossil fuel industry – was one she would continue to aggressively address and combat.

Continue reading→

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Government, Politics

Tagged , ,

The Future of the Jews: More of the Past? by Fred Reed

Posted on March 7, 2018 | Leave a comment

Fred Reed looks at the Jews, antisemitism, and prospects for the future with a surprisingly objective look at topics that are either shunned or are not treated objectively. From Reed at theburningplatform.com:

It is strange: Jews have been disliked everywhere and in all times. The dislike  appears in odd places. I was astonished to find that my Nepalese trekking guides were intensely hostile to Jews. They said that Jews (actually Israelis in most cases I think, but the Nepalese do not seem to make the distinction) were loud, demanding, and always trying to force down the guides’ fees. Historically the hostility has often been powerful and, not infrequently, murderous.  Jews have been expelled from country after country, excluded from polite society, subjected to quotas,and required to live in certain regions. Why?

How much anti-Jewish hostility is there today in America? . A lot? A little? Is it negligible? Potentially explosive? It is hard to tell because disliking Jews is often a firing offense, and a controlled press makes discussion impossible. A clue can perhaps be found in the  comments sections of political websites  whee, protected by anonymity, commenters are often bitterly anti-Jewish. But then, these comments may, or may not, be the work of a  few cranks.

Today there  appear news stories about growing hostility on campuses, that Jews are fleeing Paris because of increased or more openly expressed dislike, or that the German Right, never fond of Jews, gains strength.

Since the dislike has existed for at least two thousand years, there must be some enduring reason or reasons. What?

One I think is the Space Alien Effect. It is human nature to dislike people different from oneself. This fact runs against today’s cult of diversity, which accounts for the disastrous reality of American life, but a glance around the world reveals that diversity causes most of the planet’s troubles: Sunni and Shia, Jew and Muslim, Tutsi and Hutu, black, white and brown in America, Tamil and Sinhalese; Turks and Kurds; Turks and Armenians; Thais and Muslims, Germans and Jews. Protestants and Catholics in Ireland, on and on for a very long list of religious, ethnic, and racial differences. Diversity is nobody’s strength.

Diversity often disappears through assimilation. Today people named O’Toole and Libertini may be proud of their ancestry, but they think of themselves as American, not as Irish and Italian. So do others. Thus hostility to them, once intense, has vanished.

To continue reading: The Future of the Jews: More of the Past?

Leave a comment

Posted in Civil Liberties, Governments, Politics

Tagged , ,