Saturday, September 30, 2006

Challenging the Power of the Jewish Lobby: What Should Be Done? by James Petras

A number of writers have recently written critical articles or reviews about the power of the pro-Israel or Jewish Lobby and its influence on US policy in the Middle East. Most of these writings emphasize the power of the lobby over Congress, the two major parties (especially the Democrats) and the Executive branch. Some even describe the pro-Israel lobbies and the allied Jewish federations, the numerous propaganda institutes described as ‘think tanks’, publications as well as their influence or control over the mass media, from Hollywood, the print media, television to corporate “public” radio. However these critics and analysts paint themselves into a corner, attributing to the Jewish lobby so much power as to virtually incapacitate any effort to counter its influence and change the direction of US policy. The image of a near-omniscient and omnipotent Jewish lobby overlooks its vulnerability and significant issues around which an opposition or counter-hegemonic movement can be organized in the United States.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As an East European Ethnic I think I have something to contribute to this discussion. Of course, except for the Polish and Hungarian ethnic communities, the rest of us were not that strong a lobby. But, as an anti-Communist entity we, all together, had a bit more clout. Yet, our self-inhibition was always popping in front of us: Ah, but is it good for America?.... We are, after all Americans now and think America first!

This you can see even in post-Cold War East Euro ethnics support for Bush against what Rumsfeld calls "Old Europe."

For American Jews it is far, far ,far more complicated. They stayed quiet when FDR would not accept Jewish refugees from Europe, making them accomplices in the massacre of Europe's Jews. This has produced an American Jewish guilt burden that is passed to generations. Ben Gurion-- who had said that if he had to choose between saving 100,000 Jews by getting them safely to England and getting 5000 Jewish kids that he can mold into Kibbutzniks, he would have no hesitation in picking the latter. He smelled the guilt trip of American Jews and worked even to making them violate the law and eventually betraying America for Israel. But the guilt trip does not change the "I am an American" commitment of 99% of Jews. They passively pay in "blood money" to Zionism and march on call to assuage that guilt, but would not betray America for Israel. It's just that practicing Judaism will not atone because the secular Zionists got to them first so they squeeze them repeatedly to even crossing the line out of guilt sometime, but most refuse.

There is a group of one time Godless, Communist internationalists who drifted to the right from Communism ever since Stalin refused to trust them because they are "Jews." But one can hardly consider them Jews, given their formative years as Leninists. In the 50s and 60s they were sought after by the CIA as operatives and organizers for its domestic anti-New Left and Euro Left operations. They got lots of mullah for that. Recalling Lenin's admonition that if someone offers you something, politely refuse and then when he's not looking steal it because only through practice, practice, practice can you become good "professional revolutionaries," they became masters of deceit; and also recalling Stalin's United Front "from above" tactics, they-- having become secular Zionist extremists rather than religious Jews, made a coalition with the Christian Right. To the latter, Jews are God's chosen people and the dominance of the Mideast by Israel is supposed to anticipate the return of Jesus. So the ties seemed ideal for the Likud agenda. The neocon call for bringing "democracy" to the Arabs is meant in the same way as bringing "democracy" was meant by Stalin, Mao and the Soviets: it means domination, as explicitly stated in a proposal they made to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The neocons also are well off and that couldn't be on writing for and publishing journals no one reads. It comes from influence peddling for the war industries; that's why they keep calling for World War IV!

But there is also a group that can be called "professional Jews." These are the basis of the Holocaust Industry. Instead of working the guilt of American Jews, they work the fear that what happened in Germany could also happen in the US. So they squeeze fear-cash out of American Jews claiming to be the watch dogs and early nippers-in-the bud of anti-Semitism. Actually, they don't exist to promote assimilation of Jews safely in America. As head of the ADL, said at a Zionist conference in Jerusalem, his group failed to fight the anti-Zionists in the US, "because we were so busy fighting against assimilation." In other words, they work to make a wall around American Jews-- a sort of mental ghetto-- so Jews don't dissolve freely into goyim American society.

But in fact, though heavily subsidized from abroad, these groups are a very tiny minority of Jews. They don't ASK for money, they SQUEEZE it through guilt and/or fear out of American Jews. And they seem to create major operations with that. But in fact, it's all an illusion. Most Jews are like most East Euro American, loyal Americans who, if forced to choose, would stand with their homeland America. So, if you're going to get AIPAC, in my view, get it as non-representative of American Jews foreign agent whose only "many" is dollars, not Jews supporting its activities.

DE Teodoru

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