US Internal Politics and Isreal [Zionist] LobbyIsrael and Palestine
Most agree that the US is key to resolving the conflict but what are the US internal political ramifications? Is the US held hostage to its own internal politics and religious pressures? Recent discussion has brought the "Israel Lobby" more clearly into focus ...
Saturday, January 16, 2010
The Creek
Spurred by AIPAC, US House Denounces Goldstone Report on Israeli War Crimes in Gaza
When the Israel Lobby goes on red alert, it becomes the Jewish Lobby
By Wayne Madsen
Two votes this month show that when backed to the wall, the powerful Israel Lobby can become even more powerful when it marshals the resources of the worldwide Jewish Lobby. The two lobbies went into red alert status over the UN report of well-respected South African judge Richard Goldstone, who is Jewish, a self-described Zionist, and trustee of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The report recommends an independent investigation into Israeli actions in what the report stated amounted to “war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity.” Israel’s invasion of Gaza, code named “Cast Lead,” resulted in the deaths of over 1400 Palestinians, many of them children and women.
The reaction of the “twin lobby” to the Goldstone report was quick and fierce. On cue, the Anti-Defamation League’s whiny Abe Foxman let loose with a barrage of criticism of Goldstone. From other quarters, Goldstone was accused of being “anti-Semitic” and a “self-hating Jew.” The same sort of vitriolic name-calling had been meted out by the Lobby to Mary Robinson, the former Irish President, who served as UN Human Rights Commissioner.
The Israel Lobby, whose political backbone comes from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), had introduced into the House of Representatives resolution H.R. 867, which called on the Obama administration not only to reject the Goldstone report, also known as “Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict,” but block any further consideration of it by the United Nations. On November 3, the House resolution passed by a lopsided 344-36 vote.
AIPAC was supported in its last-minute blitzkrieg of the House by like-minded organizations, including the American Jewish Committee, Jewish Federations of North America, Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), and the Zionist Organization of America.
AIPAC, through its power over campaign donations from wealthy Jews in the United States, can ram any legislation through Congress at a moment’s notice. And H.R. 867 was time-sensitive. AIPAC and its allies had to send a message to the Obama administration that it and The Lobby expected strong American opposition to the upcoming UN General Assembly vote on accepting the Goldstone report. The UN vote took place two days later and passed 114 to 18, with 44 abstentions and 16 nations not voting.
With the power of the World Jewish Congress, the European Jewish Congress, and other pressure groups arrayed against them, many small countries dependent on World Bank and International Monetary Fund (both controlled by pro-Israelis, Robert Zoellick and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, respectively), were forced to vote against Goldstone, abstain, or simply not vote at all. Israel proclaimed that the 18 nations that voted against Goldstone represented a “moral majority.” Israel, headed up by an expansionist and xenophobic government, in which avowed racist and gangster Avigdor Lieberman serves as Foreign Minister, received a seal of approval not only from the Obama administration but US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, mentored by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and Alejandro Daniel Wolff, Rice’s deputy, reportedly cajoled various UN delegations to either vote no on Goldstone, abstain, or miss the vote entirely.
However, some countries, like some members of the House, stood up to the immense twin Lobby to vote for Goldstone and reject the threats made by the Lobbies’ arm twisters and thumb breakers. ...
Spurred by AIPAC, US House Denounces Goldstone Report on Israeli War Crimes in Gaza
When the Israel Lobby goes on red alert, it becomes the Jewish Lobby
By Wayne Madsen
Two votes this month show that when backed to the wall, the powerful Israel Lobby can become even more powerful when it marshals the resources of the worldwide Jewish Lobby. The two lobbies went into red alert status over the UN report of well-respected South African judge Richard Goldstone, who is Jewish, a self-described Zionist, and trustee of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The report recommends an independent investigation into Israeli actions in what the report stated amounted to “war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity.” Israel’s invasion of Gaza, code named “Cast Lead,” resulted in the deaths of over 1400 Palestinians, many of them children and women.
The reaction of the “twin lobby” to the Goldstone report was quick and fierce. On cue, the Anti-Defamation League’s whiny Abe Foxman let loose with a barrage of criticism of Goldstone. From other quarters, Goldstone was accused of being “anti-Semitic” and a “self-hating Jew.” The same sort of vitriolic name-calling had been meted out by the Lobby to Mary Robinson, the former Irish President, who served as UN Human Rights Commissioner.
The Israel Lobby, whose political backbone comes from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), had introduced into the House of Representatives resolution H.R. 867, which called on the Obama administration not only to reject the Goldstone report, also known as “Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict,” but block any further consideration of it by the United Nations. On November 3, the House resolution passed by a lopsided 344-36 vote.
AIPAC was supported in its last-minute blitzkrieg of the House by like-minded organizations, including the American Jewish Committee, Jewish Federations of North America, Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), and the Zionist Organization of America.
AIPAC, through its power over campaign donations from wealthy Jews in the United States, can ram any legislation through Congress at a moment’s notice. And H.R. 867 was time-sensitive. AIPAC and its allies had to send a message to the Obama administration that it and The Lobby expected strong American opposition to the upcoming UN General Assembly vote on accepting the Goldstone report. The UN vote took place two days later and passed 114 to 18, with 44 abstentions and 16 nations not voting.
With the power of the World Jewish Congress, the European Jewish Congress, and other pressure groups arrayed against them, many small countries dependent on World Bank and International Monetary Fund (both controlled by pro-Israelis, Robert Zoellick and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, respectively), were forced to vote against Goldstone, abstain, or simply not vote at all. Israel proclaimed that the 18 nations that voted against Goldstone represented a “moral majority.” Israel, headed up by an expansionist and xenophobic government, in which avowed racist and gangster Avigdor Lieberman serves as Foreign Minister, received a seal of approval not only from the Obama administration but US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, mentored by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and Alejandro Daniel Wolff, Rice’s deputy, reportedly cajoled various UN delegations to either vote no on Goldstone, abstain, or miss the vote entirely.
However, some countries, like some members of the House, stood up to the immense twin Lobby to vote for Goldstone and reject the threats made by the Lobbies’ arm twisters and thumb breakers. ...
