"AIPAC
hasn't hesitated to scold the White House, reproaching its leaders for
statements made about the contempt Israel showed toward its vice president. In
a country where simplistic patriotism appears at every turn, AIPAC feels strong
enough to attack the U.S. government over its disputes with a foreign one."
An
"influence group." It is with this timid euphemism, that one European
news agency refers to AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee), the
all-powerful Israel lobby in Washington. While the American press doesn't hesitate
to speak of the Israel lobby, this astonishing restraint shows how the reverent
fear inspired by this pressure group paralyzes the "free" press - to
the point of pushing a news agency into circumlocutions that are at the very
least ridiculous, in order to avoid the term "lobby," which is quite
ordinary in the United States. But it's true that with AIPAC, it's not a
question of the Broccoli Producer Defense League, but of an organization that exerts
constant pressure on political actors and overtly serves interests that are external
to those of the United States.
Two
American academics, John
Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, have dared to demonstrate that the
"Israel lobby" exerts incomparable pressure and manages to constrain
the world's greatest power from being able to conduct a Middle East foreign
policy contrary to its own interests. Not surprisingly, the two were subjected
to the automatic accusation of anti-Semitism. Early in his term, President
Barack Obama discovered the omnipotence of the "lobby" that goes
unnamed. Under a barrage from prominent members of AIPAC, he had to renounce
the appointment of Ambassador Charles W. Freeman
as chairman of the National
Intelligence Council.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
Released
by the Obama Administration, Ambassador Freeman disqualified himself from the
post by denouncing
the role of a lobby, whose strategies "plumb the depths of dishonor
and indecency" and whose goal is "control of the policy process
through the exercise of a veto over the appointment of people who dispute the
wisdom of its views, the substitution of political correctness for analysis,
and the exclusion of any and all options for decision by Americans and our
government other than those that it favors." The Freeman affair was a cartoon
illustration of the merits of the arguments of John Mearsheimer and Stephen
Walt. Particularly since in his letter, Freeman didn't hesitate to emphasize
that the lobby has managed to prevent the American public and government of the
United States, "from considering any option for U.S. policy in the Middle
East opposed to the faction in power in Israel E"
After
the Israeli government decided to humiliate Vice President Joe Biden, a
long-standing philo-Zionist, the lobby no one names expressed itself on the
subject of "tension" - not "crisis" - between Washington
and Tel Aviv. In fact, AIPAC hasn't hesitated to scold the U.S. administration,
reproaching its leaders for statements made about the contempt Israel showed
the vice president of the United States. In a country where simplistic
patriotism appears at every turn, AIPAC feels strong enough to attack the U.S.
government over its disputes with a foreign one. The effect was felt
immediately: Hillary Clinton has repented for her sins. There remain only a few
Arab leaders - including poor Mahmoud Abbas - who think the U.S. government can
rebalance its politics. This is part of the illusion that the "Arab
allies" strain to cultivate, even if Washington doesn't even pretend to
believe them.
