Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Lobbywhipped

Next year will be the 10th anniversary of the publication of one of the most important works ever written on American foreign policy, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's The Israel Lobby & US Foreign Policy.

At the time, these two fearless, truth-telling American political scientists were accused of "gross exaggeration of the power of the 'lobby'," and of reviving "elements of classic anti-Jewish conspiracy theories... [namely] that Jews have excessive, overarching power..." (An anti-Jewish screed in scholarly guise, adl.org, 24/3/06)

In the meantime, the hold of the Israel lobby over Congress has only grown, with gobsmacking results like this: 

"The American Israel Education Foundation (AIEF), the educational wing of hardline right-wing pro-Israel lobbying organization the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), is taking all but 3 freshmen US lawmakers on a tour of Israel, in hopes of turning them against the Iran nuclear deal... Congress has 60 days to review the Iran deal. AIEF/AIPAC is hoping to persuade US congresspeople to undermine and vote against the deal, although Obama has vowed to veto any attempt by the legislature to do so. Congress would need a two-thirds majority in order to override the president's veto." (AIPAC taking all but 3 freshmen Congresspeople to Israel in effort to sabotage Iran deal, Ben Norton, mondoweiss.net, 3/8/15)

So 57 out of 60 of recently elected US legislators simply haven't got what it takes to say no when the Israel lobby snaps its fingers.

God help America.

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