OBAMA AND THE ISRAEL LOBBY
To be accused of anti Semitism, given the history of the last hundred years, is probably the most heinous of accusations and yet if you point to the role the pro Israel, often called the Jewish, lobby plays in distorting American foreign policy you leave yourself open to just such an accusation. However I do not intend to undertake an extensive period of throat clearing to establish my bona fide, nor make a secret of the fact that I am no great fan of the state of Israel as it is currently formed and in particular of its current political trajectory.
We are subjected to the spectacle of Barrack Obama the President of the most powerful state in the world being publicly humiliated by Benjamin Netanyahu the Israeli prime minister whilst visiting the white house. President Obama makes the unremarkable statement that the borders of a future Palestinian state should follow the line breached by Israel in 1967. No, says Mr Netanyahu, this is not possible, there are now ‘facts on the ground, a new demographic’, i.e the settlements that, in defiance of international law, Israel has built on the territories it has occupied. The President can only look on, mute and impotent in the face of Netanyahu’s defiance. Israel a country dependent on US aid to the tune, on current estimates of 3 billion dollars per year. How is this possible?
In just over a weeks time Obama will be addressing AIPAC, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, an organisation not short on self promotion, which openly proclaims the role it plays in dictating American policy in the Middle East.
‘President Barack Obama has confirmed that he will speak at AIPAC Policy Conference 2011, which will be held on May 22-24 in Washington, D.C. The upcoming conference - the largest in AIPAC history - will include more than 10,000 delegates, from all 50 states. View the Policy Conference program. Among the attendees will be more than 1,500 students from 400 college campuses, including 215 student government presidents. Except for the State of the Union address, the AIPAC Policy Conference is the largest annual bipartisan gathering of U.S. senators, representatives, administration officials, diplomats and foreign ambassadors. ‘*
For once the bombast does not fall short of the reality, you would be hard pressed to find a more powerful lobby group anywhere in the world. With an election coming up next year Obama can only ignore AIPAC at the risk of seriously damaging his prospects for re-election. Yet with the Arab spring and the changing political scene in the whole of the region continuing uncritical support for Israel seriously threatens American interests. We are presented with a strangely grotesque animal, a nation state actively following a foreign policy that is against its own best interests because of an internal political lobby. Moreover the longer this no strings attached support goes on the greater the disservice not only to American interests but to the state of Israel itself, keeping Israel cocooned in a state of denial, as if it represented the 51st state of the union. Until the bluff of the American Israel lobby is called Israel will not wake up to the fact of its geographical reality and its need to engage realistically, not only with the Palastinians, but with its other Arab nieghbours.
The EU also has a role to play in this process, as Israel’s greatest trading partner it can also bring a great deal of pressure to bear.
* http://www.aipac.org/
We are subjected to the spectacle of Barrack Obama the President of the most powerful state in the world being publicly humiliated by Benjamin Netanyahu the Israeli prime minister whilst visiting the white house. President Obama makes the unremarkable statement that the borders of a future Palestinian state should follow the line breached by Israel in 1967. No, says Mr Netanyahu, this is not possible, there are now ‘facts on the ground, a new demographic’, i.e the settlements that, in defiance of international law, Israel has built on the territories it has occupied. The President can only look on, mute and impotent in the face of Netanyahu’s defiance. Israel a country dependent on US aid to the tune, on current estimates of 3 billion dollars per year. How is this possible?
In just over a weeks time Obama will be addressing AIPAC, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, an organisation not short on self promotion, which openly proclaims the role it plays in dictating American policy in the Middle East.
‘President Barack Obama has confirmed that he will speak at AIPAC Policy Conference 2011, which will be held on May 22-24 in Washington, D.C. The upcoming conference - the largest in AIPAC history - will include more than 10,000 delegates, from all 50 states. View the Policy Conference program. Among the attendees will be more than 1,500 students from 400 college campuses, including 215 student government presidents. Except for the State of the Union address, the AIPAC Policy Conference is the largest annual bipartisan gathering of U.S. senators, representatives, administration officials, diplomats and foreign ambassadors. ‘*
For once the bombast does not fall short of the reality, you would be hard pressed to find a more powerful lobby group anywhere in the world. With an election coming up next year Obama can only ignore AIPAC at the risk of seriously damaging his prospects for re-election. Yet with the Arab spring and the changing political scene in the whole of the region continuing uncritical support for Israel seriously threatens American interests. We are presented with a strangely grotesque animal, a nation state actively following a foreign policy that is against its own best interests because of an internal political lobby. Moreover the longer this no strings attached support goes on the greater the disservice not only to American interests but to the state of Israel itself, keeping Israel cocooned in a state of denial, as if it represented the 51st state of the union. Until the bluff of the American Israel lobby is called Israel will not wake up to the fact of its geographical reality and its need to engage realistically, not only with the Palastinians, but with its other Arab nieghbours.
The EU also has a role to play in this process, as Israel’s greatest trading partner it can also bring a great deal of pressure to bear.
* http://www.aipac.org/
