What Israel lobby?

6.20.2011 Leave a comment

Ambassador of the State of Israel to the Court...

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This quote comes from a Haaretz report:

Israel’s new ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor urged Jewish American leaders on Monday to form a clear and operational plan ahead of the United Nations vote in September regarding unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.

During a closed meeting of the Conference of Presidents of major Jewish American Organizations in New York, Prosor said that talk was not enough at such a crucial time, and that the U.S. Jewish community must prepare a clear operational plan.

The Ambassador continues:

Prosor stressed before the Jewish leaders that they must take advantage of the Jewish community’s connections with decision makers in order to get results.

Prosor also said that regardless of the outcome of the UN vote, a Palestinian state will not be created and added that the UN is not authorized to dictate borders between countries. He stressed that a unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state will bring about another cycle of violence that will only lead to a dead end.

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Hasbara or lunacy at the Washington Times?

6.14.2011 1 Comment

Salon’s Justin Elliot writes:

We thought everything that could be said about Anthony Weiner‘s lewd photo scandal had been said. But Eliana Benador, a former influential neoconservative public relations operative, has proved us wrong.

Writing for the “Communities” section of the Washingtom [sic] Times’ website, Benador argues that the Twitter scandal shows that … the Jewish Weiner might have converted to Islam!

Hasbara is the Hebrew word for Israel-centric and –friendly public diplomacy. Eliana Benador once owned a public relations firm that promoted hawkish neoconservative policies during the George W. Bush administration. She currently works as a “Goodwill Ambassador” for two West Bank settlement communities. Given her resume and politics, I believe we can say with confidence that Benador is capable of promoting nonsense to achieve her political goals.

Is Anthony Weiner a Muslim Fifth Columnist, as Benador suggests? Has he converted to Islam? Is there a “socialist” political agenda driving this marital union? Is his wife, Huma Abedin, someone who the Saudi Arabians sent to the United States to infiltrate the American elite? Is Weiner conspiring against the United States and Israel? Benador’s claims and intimations about Weiner and Abedin appear too outlandish to apply to a man who has shown himself to be a pro-Israel demagogue and an opportunist with designs on the New York City mayor’ office. Why, then, would Benador write her article? What did she hope to accomplish? Did she write her article just to smear a Jewish-American politician who chose to marry a putative enemy of Israel? Is Benador a paranoid crank?

Only a God could tell us the whole and believable truth about this bizarre incident. In any case, the Washington Times has already pulled Benador’s article for review, which I take as a sign indicating the true value of the piece.

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Quote of the day

5.30.2011 Leave a comment

Andrew Levine discusses here the Israel lobby, America’s evangelical Zionists, Jews and the Israeli rightwingers who benefit from this profane collaboration:

Unlike classical anti-Semites, evangelical Zionists generally get along with the Jews with whom they interact, but their commitment to Israel does not stem from fondness for Jews or Judaism. It comes from a belief in a literal End Time in which those who do not accept Christ — Jews especially — will be cast into the torments of Hell for all eternity. How Christian Zionists hold this idea in their heads and still interact amicably with real world Jews I do not know; no doubt, monumental levels of self-deception and ambivalence are involved. That aside, one must wonder whether even the Nazis evinced a greater hatred?

Since 1977, when Menachem Begin became Israel’s Prime Minister, the Israeli Right has been the dominant force in Israeli politics even in the years when it was not directly in power, and it has courted Christian Zionists assiduously. Israel’s founders were secular and comparatively progressive, notwithstanding their overriding commitment to building an ethnically pure Jewish state in as much of Mandate Palestine as the world would allow. Like much of the Israeli Left today, they would have disdained Israel’s evangelical allies, in much the way, and for much the same reason, that sensible people the world over disdain those who believe that the world ended a week ago Saturday. And they would certainly never have been so base as to court those who yearn to see them rot in Hell. But the Israeli Right is shameless, and its cynicism knows no bounds.

A match made in Heaven? Only if the Gods are Crazy!

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Quote of the day

5.29.2011 Leave a comment

Uri Avnery discusses Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent command performance in the United States Congress:

It was all rather disgusting.

There they were, the members of the highest legislative bodies of the world’s only superpower, flying up and down like so many yo-yos, applauding wildly, every few minutes or seconds, the most outrageous lies and distortions of Binyamin Netanyahu.

It was worse than the Syrian parliament during a speech by Bashar Assad, where anyone not applauding could find himself in prison. Or Stalin’s Supreme Soviet, when showing less than sufficient respect could have meant death.

What the American Senators and Congressmen feared was a fate worse than death. Anyone remaining seated or not applauding wildly enough could have been caught on camera — and that amounts to political suicide. It was enough for one single congressman to rise and applaud, and all the others had to follow suit. Who would dare not to?

The sight of these hundreds of parliamentarians jumping up and clapping their hands, again and again and again and again, with the Leader graciously acknowledging with a movement of his hand, was reminiscent of other regimes. Only this time it was not the local dictator who compelled this adulation, but a foreign one.

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