- After reading the article of "The
Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," by Prof. John Mearsheimer of
the University of Chicago and Prof. Stephen Walt Dean of Harvard's Kennedy
School of Government,
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- What does it take for the people or public
to realize that America (depending on and according to its administration)
is ruled from Israel....(The French would call it, a partir d'Israel)
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- I say ruled only to be polite, because
after reading the article below, my suspicions were asserted to be true,
and confirmed categorically, that America and Israel are involved in, what
one can call, a sexual relationship where Israel is playing the role and
part of the man.
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- Start:
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- Forum: 'The Israel Lobby' - Of course
Israel has a lobby EDWARD PECK: 'The dangerous, unacceptable result of
this lobbying, however, is the stifling of public debate'
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- Sunday, April 09, 2006
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- Editor's note: A recent work by two American
academics took on a long-running debate: the extent of the Israeli government's
influence on the United States. "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign
Policy," by John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen
Walt of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, appeared last month as
a paper at the Kennedy School.
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- An edited version in the London Review
of Books (available at www.lrb.co.uk) brought the work to wider public
attention -- and elicited strong response from critics and supporters alike.
An accompanying commentary by Eliot A. Cohen attacks the article. "Forum:
'The Israel Lobby' -- Yes, it's anti-Semitic"
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- The London Review of Books recently published
an article, by professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, on the Israel
lobby's negative impact on U.S. domestic and international interests. The
expected tsunami of rabid responses condemned the report, vilified its
authors and denied there is such a lobby -- validating both the lobby's
existence and aggressive, pervasive presence and obliging Harvard to remove
its name.
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- _____
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- Edward Peck is a former U.S. ambassador
to Iraq and Mauritania. He is an advisory board member for the Center on
Peace and Liberty at the Independent Institute in Oakland, Calif. (www.independent.org).
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- START
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- All democracies have lobbies. Shrill
insistence that no groups promote Israel is ludicrous. Opinions differ
on the long-term costs and benefits for both nations, but the lobby's views
of Israel's interests have become the basis of U.S. Middle East policies.
That this influence largely results from the efforts of people determined
to exercise their democratic prerogatives is not open to question -- or
to challenge.
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- The dangerous, unacceptable result of
that lobbying, however, is the stifling of public debate.
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- Knowing the fiercely negative reactions
to accurate, detailed reporting of controversies surrounding Israel, the
media fail to cover Israel's violations of every principle for which the
United States -- and Israel -- loudly proclaim they stand. There is only
rare, skimpy coverage of the ongoing Israeli mass punishments, house demolitions,
illegal settlements, assassinations, settler brutality, curfews and beatings.
On the other hand, the blind Palestinian rage generated by decades of receiving
humiliating, savage suppression in their homeland is reported in lurid,
bloody detail.
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- The lobby's effectiveness at control
was illustrated two years ago. Both government and media condemned China
when it arrested, and accused of espionage, a Chinese citizen green-card
holder visiting from the United States.
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- Neither the U.S. government nor media
has ever protested -- has never even mentioned -- Israel's years-long multiple
arrests and protracted detentions of American citizens, without charge
or trial. In September 2000, CNN interviewed four Americans who had been
tortured, the only report on this compelling story, and the network has
since been forced to refuse selling recordings of that news segment, "Americans
Mistreated in Israeli Jails." America would have been fully informed
had any other country committed these acts.
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- The lobby also recently blocked the New
York staging of a play, following its successful London run, based on the
words of American peace activist Rachel Corrie ("My Name is Rachel
Corrie"). She was crushed by an armored Caterpillar bulldozer in 2003
while attempting to prevent the Israeli demolition of a Palestinian home
in Gaza. The driver failed to notice her blaze orange vest, yellow hard
hat and bullhorn.
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- No rational American wants anything bad
to happen to Israelis or Palestinians or Americans. But they have happened,
are happening, will continue to happen. Israel's actions often involve
violations of human rights, international law and U.N. resolutions, undertaken
at the expense of a helpless, brutalized Palestine, thus denying Israel
peace, security and international support. Worse, they also lead to violent
reactions, which are often recognized under the U.N. Charter as legitimate
resistance to occupation.
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- Israeli actions also generate anti-Semitism,
the very label the lobby uses to bludgeon into silence anyone in America
who questions relations with Israel and its expansionist policies. This
effectively blocks broad public understanding that Israel's interests and
America's, sometimes in agreement, are sometimes sharply divergent. Of
greater and entirely justifiable concern, the lobby has succeeded in pressuring
successive administrations into actions and statements blatantly contrary
to announced American principles and the advancement of U.S. objectives.
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- As the only nation unstintingly providing
Israel with vast amounts of money, arms and unhesitating political protection,
the United States is perceived as the key facilitator of 40 years of occupation
and oppression. The massive, growing political, economic and human costs
of continuing that close relationship merit public knowledge, discussion
and debate.
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- The Israel lobby prevents it, as Mr.
Mearsheimer and Mr. Walt have carefully documented.
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