Mearsheimer Versus Foxman -- the Israel Lobby?
While we were watching the Republican presidential debate last night John Mearsheimer, co-author with John Walt of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Israel_Lobby_and_U.S._Foreign_Policy
and Anti-Defamation League Chair and Director, Abraham Foxman, author of The Deadliest Lies: The Israeli Lobby and the Myth of Control:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3446128,00.html
faced off on Lehrer's PBS program running simultaneously with the debate. I happened to catch the npr re-run of that segment later that evening.
It is certainly true that at least some political figures in Israel, particularly Benjamin Netanyahu, urged the military removal of Hussein. Iraq presented a direct threat to Israel. Israel had destroyed Iraq's nuclear plant with a bombing raid in 1981. Hussein had fired rockets at Israel (only partially blocked) during the first Gulf War. Hussein was offering financial rewards to the families of suicide bombers in Israel (about $10,000 not always delivered). The Israeli Lobby supported an attack on Iraq at least as early as 1996, as illustrated by publicly reported deliberations between Israel's Netanyahu and Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle, later key defense advisors to Rumsfeld leading up to the Iraq war.
The Israel lobby clearly supported our attack on Hussein. But more American Jews than our general population _opposed_ this illegal war. This last point is most important to disconnect the Israel lobby from anti-Semitic aspersions which have been claimed to be the result of the identification of the Israeli lobby with negative influences on American foreign policy.
And it is manifestly clear that Israel alone could not have dictated American policy. The neocons are not an Israeli cabal -- our oil interests, exemplified by Cheney, were manifestly the driving force behind shock and awe.
It is absolutely critical that we recognize that Israel, as the United States, is divided between its hawks and doves with the mass of our publics caught in the crossfire. Most of us -- Israelis and Americans -- simply want peace so that we can get on with our lives.
The same applies to most Muslim nations around the world. All of us have our extremists which includes some of our wannabe political leaders who in an era of potential weapons of mass destruction would still resort to military solutions for conflict problems that require negotiations and peace-making. Iraq is the case in point today.
Iran is our latest threat to world peace. Perle is now on record for attacking Iran (as are some of our Republican presidential candidates per their 'kill them' statements in the debate last night). We must understand the anxiety that Israelis feel about a possible nuclear attack on Tel Aviv. During the Cold War we New Yorkers felt the same about our city. But we did not call for a war on the Soviet Union. We were attacked by 19 (mainly Saudi) extremists on 9/11.
If we cab stop threatening them with military attacks, we stand a good chance of persuading the Iranians, as we may have the North Koreans, that it is not in their best interest to develop nuclear weapons. There are increasing reports of discontent among the younger Iranians with the economic failures and strictures imposed upon their lives by their current political leaders. Iran is being scanned by the UN's IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). It would be the height of madness at some future date for Iran to attack Israel with anything -- given Israel's capacity to retaliate massively with nuclear weapons.
A far greater nuclear threat to Israel lies with Pakistan currently in political turmoil -- and a vital reason for Israel to make peace all around!
Today the website of the Anti-Defamation League: http://www.adl.org/
features Foxman's book and a "No Nuclear Iran" appeal, "Ahmadinejad's Ideology of Hate," Dafur, UN Reform, the Klu Klux Klan revival -- but no mention of Israel's festering wound -- its occupation and abuses of the Palestinians.
The key to making peace in the Middle East lies in ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine and U.S. military occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan -- along with a return to political negotiations instead of the current modes of military threat and confrontation.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 212-665-8535 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AcademicFreedom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FindingHumaneJobs
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Israel_Lobby_and_U.S._Foreign_Policy
and Anti-Defamation League Chair and Director, Abraham Foxman, author of The Deadliest Lies: The Israeli Lobby and the Myth of Control:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3446128,00.html
faced off on Lehrer's PBS program running simultaneously with the debate. I happened to catch the npr re-run of that segment later that evening.
It is certainly true that at least some political figures in Israel, particularly Benjamin Netanyahu, urged the military removal of Hussein. Iraq presented a direct threat to Israel. Israel had destroyed Iraq's nuclear plant with a bombing raid in 1981. Hussein had fired rockets at Israel (only partially blocked) during the first Gulf War. Hussein was offering financial rewards to the families of suicide bombers in Israel (about $10,000 not always delivered). The Israeli Lobby supported an attack on Iraq at least as early as 1996, as illustrated by publicly reported deliberations between Israel's Netanyahu and Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle, later key defense advisors to Rumsfeld leading up to the Iraq war.
The Israel lobby clearly supported our attack on Hussein. But more American Jews than our general population _opposed_ this illegal war. This last point is most important to disconnect the Israel lobby from anti-Semitic aspersions which have been claimed to be the result of the identification of the Israeli lobby with negative influences on American foreign policy.
And it is manifestly clear that Israel alone could not have dictated American policy. The neocons are not an Israeli cabal -- our oil interests, exemplified by Cheney, were manifestly the driving force behind shock and awe.
It is absolutely critical that we recognize that Israel, as the United States, is divided between its hawks and doves with the mass of our publics caught in the crossfire. Most of us -- Israelis and Americans -- simply want peace so that we can get on with our lives.
The same applies to most Muslim nations around the world. All of us have our extremists which includes some of our wannabe political leaders who in an era of potential weapons of mass destruction would still resort to military solutions for conflict problems that require negotiations and peace-making. Iraq is the case in point today.
Iran is our latest threat to world peace. Perle is now on record for attacking Iran (as are some of our Republican presidential candidates per their 'kill them' statements in the debate last night). We must understand the anxiety that Israelis feel about a possible nuclear attack on Tel Aviv. During the Cold War we New Yorkers felt the same about our city. But we did not call for a war on the Soviet Union. We were attacked by 19 (mainly Saudi) extremists on 9/11.
If we cab stop threatening them with military attacks, we stand a good chance of persuading the Iranians, as we may have the North Koreans, that it is not in their best interest to develop nuclear weapons. There are increasing reports of discontent among the younger Iranians with the economic failures and strictures imposed upon their lives by their current political leaders. Iran is being scanned by the UN's IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). It would be the height of madness at some future date for Iran to attack Israel with anything -- given Israel's capacity to retaliate massively with nuclear weapons.
A far greater nuclear threat to Israel lies with Pakistan currently in political turmoil -- and a vital reason for Israel to make peace all around!
Today the website of the Anti-Defamation League: http://www.adl.org/
features Foxman's book and a "No Nuclear Iran" appeal, "Ahmadinejad's Ideology of Hate," Dafur, UN Reform, the Klu Klux Klan revival -- but no mention of Israel's festering wound -- its occupation and abuses of the Palestinians.
The key to making peace in the Middle East lies in ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine and U.S. military occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan -- along with a return to political negotiations instead of the current modes of military threat and confrontation.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 212-665-8535 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AcademicFreedom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FindingHumaneJobs
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
posted by Ed Kent at 9:50 AM
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