Powerful Israeli lobby threatens U.S. security: US paper

Powerful Israeli lobby threatens U.S. security: US paper

Published on Friday, May 25, 2007

By AUZIE BLEVINS and VINCE LARSEN

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has gone on unresolved for almost half a century, leaving angry Palestinians in the West Bank besieged and occupied by Israeli forces. Facing Palestinian resistance, Israelis have imposed an iron-fisted occupation policy while persisting in the construction of scores of illegal Jewish settlements throughout the West Bank. The settlement policy especially puts the lie to Israel's stated objectives of peace and is the source of widespread anger in the Muslim world.

Jimmy Carter, in his recent book "Palestine - Peace Not Apartheid," lists Israeli abuses and says Americans are ignorant about what is going on. He labels Israeli policy as apartheid and says Palestinians are treated worse than blacks were in South Africa. More than 9,000 Palestinians are in Israeli jails. Why does America continue to support Israel and its harsh policies? Why does it matter?

The short answer lies in the power and influence of the Israeli lobby. It matters because it undercuts our Middle East policy and makes the war on terror unwinnable.

The Israeli lobby is a loose but disciplined coalition of individuals and organizations who work to influence U.S. policy in Israel's favor. A major player is the hard-line America-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). With a $50 million budget, AIPAC is the second-most-powerful lobby in America, behind only the AARP. The lobby also includes several prominent Christian evangelicals, leading Republicans and Democrats in Congress, and neoconservatives such as Vice President Dick Cheney, John Bolton, Donald Rumsfeld and Scooter Libby. All support the Iraq war and a pro-Israel, anti-Iran, anti-Syria agenda...

source

Auzie Blevins of Billings is a geographer and retired federal employee. Vince Larsen is a petroleum geologist in Billings. Their sources include: "The Israeli Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy" by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, www.lrb.co.uk; "The Looming Tower: Al-Queda and the Road to 9/11," by Lawrence Wright; "Second Chance," by Zbigniew Brzezinski; and "On Israel, American & AIPAC," New York Review of Books, April 7, by George Soros.