An article in the London Review of Books (23 Mar. 2006) on “The Israel Lobby” by John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Steven Walt, dean of the Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government has caused a great deal of contention from the pro-Israel crowd, and has been described as “anti-Semitic’. A follow-up essay by Michael Massing in The New York Review (June 8, 2006) points out some omissions but on the whole supports “The Israel Lobby”; closing with a statement: “Despite its many flaws, their essay has performed a very useful service in forcing into the open a subject that has for too long remained taboo”.
An essay in the Baltimore Sun (7 May 2006) by Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy entitled “Opening the debate on Israel”. Mr. Solomon, a Jew, quotes the authors of “The Israel Lobby” as saying “that one of the consequences of the Israel Lobby activity is that United States has become de facto enabler of Israel expansion in the occupied territories, making it complicit in the crimes perpetrated against the Palestinians.”. Mr. Solomon suggests that the relationship between Washington and Israel must be debated without “Anti-Semitic” labeling.
The Israel Lobby is a loose coalition of individuals and organizations who actively steer US foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction. It is dominated by the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The World Jewish Congress and the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations also play major roles. The Lobby includes prominent Christian evangelicals like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Gary Bauer, and Tom DeLay, who believe that Israel’s rebirth is necessary for the fulfillment of biblical prophesy. Neo-conservatives such as Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Elliot Abrams, John Bolton, Douglas Feith, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, Richard Perle, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and William Kristol, are also staunch supporters of Israel.
Among the media with very definite pro-Israel bias are the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Sun-Times, Washington Times, The New Republic, The Weekly Standard and The U.S,News and World Report. All have much wealth behind them. Groups within the Lobby have put pressure on particular academics and universities. The use of the term ‘anti-Semitism’ is one of their powerful weapons.
Israel’s immoral and continued encroachment on Palestinian land is the typical acquisitive behavior giving rise to “anti-Semitism” that Jews get so upset about. In fact the forced removal of Palestinians from their own property, which may have been in the family for generations can only be described as theft. One of God’s Ten Commandments directed to Moses states: ”You shall not steal” (Exodus 19:20). The Palestinians were a peaceful agrarian people. They have been transformed into a nation of beggars, refugees, exiles and second-class citizens of Israel who has partitioned off Palestine into ghettoes behind barriers and checkpoints. The people are now without adequate food and medicines. The Prime Mister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, indicates that he is going to unilaterally draw Israel’s border keeping Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.
PALESTINE TO DATE
Arabs and Jews arose from the same primitive desert culture. Israelite tribes entered Palestine before the end of the late Bronze Age. There were in the area a number of Semitic groupings: the Hyksos, Amorites, Canaanites as well as Egyptians of the 12th dynasty. The Israelites’ monotheistic faith and stern code of ethics set them apart from their neighbors. The Mosaic tradition of the covenant between Yahweh and Israel also bound the tribes together. In mid-10th century BC Solomon finished the Temple at Jerusalem and fortified Megiddo.
The trials and tribulations of the Israelites are recorded in the Bible, Roman history and the archeological record.
In 1516 when Palestine came under rule of the Ottoman sultan the population was about 90 per cent Arab, some families having dwelled there for some thirteen hundred years. It remained under Turkish rule for about four centuries. During this period Palestine was opened to Western influences. Christian missionaries established many schools and European powers established consulates in Jerusalem and the port cities. In the 19th century the Ottomans encouraged the development of private property and agricultural production for the world market. There were increased foreign settlements including those by Jews.
In the late 19th century the Palestinian Arabs shared in a general Arab renaissance. Arab newspapers reveal a strong Arab nationalism and opposition to Zionist expansion. The population of Palestine in 1914 was about 690,000 (535,000 Muslims: 60,000 Christians, most of whom were Arabs; and 85,000 Jews). In World War I the Arabs supported the Allied powers against the Ottomans and afterwards sought statehood. However, in 1917 Britain, France and Russia internationalized Palestine and Arthur Balfour, the British secretary of state for foreign affairs, addressed a letter to Lord Rothschild expressing agreement for the establishment in Palestine of a national home for Jews. This is the “Balfour Declaration” which contained a sentence: “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.”
In 1920 the principal Allied Powers approved the Balfour Declaration whereby a part of Palestine was to be the national home for all Jews from throughout the world and Sir Herbert Samuel, a Zionist, was appointed high commissioner. He opened a land registry whereby unsophisticated and ignorant Palestinian farmers were short-changed. Twenty-three Arab villages and huge estates passed into Zionist hands. Later Winston Churchill, as Colonial Secretary, stated that His Majesty’s Government had no aim of creating a Jewish Palestine, just a Jewish Homeland. For twenty-six years Palestine was governed by Great Britain on a mandate from the League of Nations.
In February 1947 Great Britain dumped the problem on the United Nations who partitioned Palestine and in 1948 David Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israel to be an independent state.
There was no major Middle-East crisis before the onslaught of immigration sanctioned by Great Britain during its mandate. Since the 19th century both Zionists and Palestinian Arab nationalists have claimed the territory west of the Jordan River. However, it was the “Arab Revolt of 1936-39” that was the first sustained violent uprising by Palestinian Arabs in more than a century; and it has been worsening ever since.
The violence in Palestine plus US endeavors to force “democracy” throughout the Middle East, in order to safeguard our oil needs, has inflamed Islam and jeopardized not only US security but the security of much of the rest of the world.
Mearsheimer and Walt contend that the centerpiece of US Middle Eastern policy has been its support of Israel’s expanded illegal settlements on Palestinian territory which makes the US complicit in the crimes perpetrated against the Palestinians. For no good reason the United States has subsidized Israel from early on. Since 1973 Israel has received military and economic support of over $140 billion in US tax-payer’s funds. The Congress is for the most part composed of shallow persons not concerned about the philosophical aspects of their behavior as long as they get their money for reelection. They have also turned a blind eye to Israel’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. By adopting Israel as a favored nation we have antagonized the Muslim world and exacerbated our terrorist problem.
Actually Islam does not have a deep hatred for the US except for our continuing endeavors to westernize their customs. As for example in 1953 when the US supported the Shah of Iran’s forces and abetted the overthrow of Mosaddeq, the Premier. The Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was brutally forcing western ways upon Iran was finally ousted in 1979 in a revolution led by Ruhollah Khomeini. America’s relations with Iran were at an all-time low and have not improved since. It was at this time that the American Embassy staff were held hostage. The US has had no diplomatic relations with Iran since then.
At present the Bush Administration, at the behest of Israel, considers Iran to be a threat to world peace, but more important, a threat to Israel and to our oil supply. This is because Iran appears to be interested in becoming a nuclear power like its neighbor Israel. Actually, Iran has waged no war of aggression for over a century unlike China and North Korea who are also are developing atomic weaponry. Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made noises about how Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth, which is more or less is the wish of most Muslim countries. He also has expressed concern at the US support of unrest by minority ethnic separatist groups who account for about half of the country’s 68 million population. Such covert activity has been acknowledged by the Pentagon as preparation for a possible preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The US again very openly seeks a regime change to one that is more in accord with our needs.
Backing Israel has complicated America’s relations with the Arab world as shown by the unmitigated hatred displayed by a large portion of occupied Iraq as well as Islam throughout the world. Israel is not of strategic value since their airbase facilities are not available to us, nor is it a loyal ally. According to the General Accounting Office Israel conducts the most aggressive espionage activities against the US of any ally.
Today Israel is the strongest military power in the Middle East.
With US backing Israel has become the dominant power in the region. Israeli settlements proliferated throughout the land, taking over the homes and farms that had been in Palestinian families for centuries. Whereas the Israelis were well armed with tanks and bulldozers, thanks to US taxpayers, the Palestinians only had stones and explosives for suicide attacks. The Israeli militia were provided with truncheons to break the arms of youths throwing stones.
Life magazine (September 29,1967) states that since the founding of Israel, two million Arabs have been displaced from Palestine to live in squalor in fifty-four refugee camps. It also states: “There can be no peace settlement between Israel and the Arab countries until the plight of the refugees has been solved.” Nearly 40 years later, the situation has only changed for the worse.
See also The Tragedy of Zionism by Bernard Avishai (1985), Arab and Jew by David K. Shipler (1986), and Baylis Thomas’ How Israel Was Won. A Concise History of the Arab-Israel Conflict (1999), A History of Modern Palestine; One Land, Two Peoplesby Ilan Pappe (2004).
Mearsheimer and Walt indicate that Palestinians resort to terrorism because they have no other way of fighting for their land. It should be remembered that in the twenties and thirties Zionists were also terrorists. (The Stern gang comes to mind.) Ehud Barak, former Israeli prime minister, once admitted, that had he been born a Palestinian, he ‘would have joined a terrorist organization’.
Critics of Israel are also accused of questioning Israel’s right to exist. This is a very good question indeed since the land was appropriated without Palestinian consent. However, most Zionists and Christian evangelicals actually believe that God promised the land to Abraham and his descendents some 3000 years ago (Gen. 12:7) to have forever. Those that do not really believe in such nonsense use it as an excuse for Israel’s expansionist behavior.
It continues to amaze me that so many people, not just Jews, believe that some three thousand years ago God promised the “holy land” to the Jews, his “chosen people”. To those who accept the Bible as the literal word of God, try reading “The Revelation” (John’s Vision of Christ) in the New Saint James Version of the Holy Bible. It is fantasy about dragons and beasts and rivers of blood and God with a sharp sword coming out of his mouth (Rev19:15). The “New Jerusalem” is described: her light like a precious stone and her construction of solid gold. It requires a lot of faith to believe such nonsense is the literal word of God and not just unintelligible metaphor, as is taught by Evangelicals like Jerry Falwell and his Liberty University. Even more amazing is its acceptance by over sixty percent of Americans including, not surprisingly, our obviously mentally impaired President.
Mearsheimer and Walt describe steps leading to our involvement in Iraq, which they suggest was at the behest of Israel, just as the Israel Lobby and Neoconservatives are currently advocating a surprise nuclear attack on Iran. This should never be an option, because as they point out neither Israel nor the US could be blackmailed by a neighbor of Israel having nuclear armament as the blackmailer could not carry out the threat without suffering overwhelming retaliation. The same holds true for other nations with nuclear weapons. Consider the fact that US has lived with a nuclear Soviet Union when we were bitter enemies since the mid-forties. Also Israel, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea have nuclear weaponry which we have learned to live with.
Mearsheimer and Walt assert: “Thanks to the Lobby, the United States has become the de facto enabler of Israeli expansion in the Occupied Territories, making it complicit in the crimes perpetrated against the Palestinians. This situation undercuts Washington’s efforts to promote democracy abroad and is hypocritical when it presses other states to respect human rights. US efforts to limit nuclear proliferation appear equally hypocritical given its willingness to accept Israel’s nuclear arsenal, which only encourages Iran and others to seek a similar capability”.
Ehud Olmert, the current Israeli prime minister, addressed a joint session of Congress on May 24th and spoke of a “dark and gathering storm casting its shadow over the world”, comparing Iran’s nuclear ambitions with slavery and the Soviet gulags. He described Iran as an existential threat. On numerous occasions he received standing ovations from our enthusiastic Congress.
