The Israel Lobby Redux
Arash
April 8, 2006
The Israel Lobby Redux
Colin Powell Disagrees With David Gergen’s Claim That There Is No Israel “Lobby”
Two Israeli prominent journalists wrote that Colin Powell understood and feared the
power of the lobby.
By Ira Glunts
iglunts[AT]usadatanet.net
In an op-ed column critical of his Harvard colleagues, ludicrously titled “There Is
No Israel ’Lobby’” the well-known political consultant David Gergen proclaimed, “Over
the course of four tours in the White House, I never once saw a decision in the Oval
Office to tilt U.S. foreign policy in favor of Israel at the expense of America’s
interest”. [1]
America’s massive financial support of Israel’s territorial expansion in the West
Bank is very much contrary to its own interests, his two colleagues would respond.
David Gergen’s blanket denial is one of the most preposterous statements in the
ongoing media reporting that impugn the motivations of Stephen Walt and John
Mearsheimer, two academics who recently published the “Israel Lobby”. Their essay
described what the writers understand to be the many deleterious effects of
pro-Israel activists upon the formulation of American foreign policy. [2]
In his critique of the essay, David Gergen displays a level of chutzpah which would
astound even the most blindly loyal devotee of the Israeli cause, when he excoriates
Walt and Mearsheimer for “impugning the unstinting service to America’s national
security by public figures like Dennis Ross, Martin Indyk ....”
The truth is that Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk are two government officials that best
illustrate the presence of pro-Israel advocates in the US government. Ross, who was
the lead negotiator at the Camp David Peace talks, was publicly criticized for his
lack of objectivity by his own deputy Aaron Miller. Miller in a Washington Post op-ed
called “Israel’s Lawyer” wrote that during the negotiations Dennis Ross and his team,
instead of facilitating compromise, which would have been in America’s best interest,
chose to act as an advocate for the Israelis. [3]
Dennis Ross is currently the director of the Jewish-Washington Institute for Near
East Policy (WINEP), a pro-Israel think-tank which is funded by the American Israel
Policy Action Committee (AIPAC). Martin Indyk, who founded WINEP and served as its
first executive director, was later both U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Assistant
Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. He is a long time uncritical supporter
of Israeli government policy.
In their recent best-selling book, "Boomerang: The Failure of Leadership In the
Second Intifada", presently only available in Hebrew, Raviv Drucker and Ofer Shelah,
two respected Israeli journalists, described a meeting between the then Secretary of
State Colin Powell, who the Lobby considered to be the “weak link” in the chain of
more Israel- friendly Bush Administration officials, and Abraham Foxman, head of the
Anti-Defamation [Defecation] League of B’nai Brith, who is a prominent member of what
in Israel is called the Jewish lobby.
The following selection indicates in a dramatic way that David Gergen’s view of the
influence of the Israel lobby may not be shared by all ex-government officials.
In his [Powell’s] own State Department there was a keen awareness of the
strength of the Jewish lobbyists. Secretaries of State did not usually meet with
lobbyists, but both Jewish officials and Jews that did not officially represent
specific groups from Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League to Ronald Lauder, could
meet with Powell on short notice.... At the State Department, Foxman had an aura of
omnipotence. He was held responsible for the appointment of Indyk as Undersecretary
of State under Clinton, and was thought to have played a role in the appointments of
Secretaries of State Christopher and Albright. Powell related to Foxman almost as if
he were someone to whom he must capitulate. Once Foxman told one of his deputies that
Powell was the weak link. When the Secretary of State heard this he began to worry.
He knew that in Washington a confrontation with the Jewish lobby would make his life
difficult. Once he arranged a meeting with Foxman, but the busy Foxman postponed the
meeting three times. When they eventually met, the head of the Anti-Defamation League
apologized to the Secretary of State [for the postponements]. “You call, we come,”
replied Powell, paraphrasing a well known advertisement for a freight company. That
statement had much more meaning than just a humorous polite reply. [4]
Unfortunately, the American press has thus far been largely complicit in the
unwarranted attacks on two professors who have written a generally well-argued essay
on the disadvantages of the current American/Israeli relationship.
Most press accounts of the article feature the negative criticism, but tend to ignore
or downplay positive comment. In the present political climate it is not a surprise
that there is not a groundswell of support for the two embattled scholars.
Abe Foxman called the essay “a classic conspiratorial anti-Semitic analysis invoking
the canards of Jewish power and Jewish control”. [5]
I, as a Jew, agree with the Jewish editor, Mary-Kay Wilmers, who published the
article. She feels, as paraphrased in The Observer, “that the most angry
denunciations of anti-Semitism - while designed to serve the purpose of censorship by
those attempting to forestall criticism of Israel - may actually encourage
anti-Semitism in the long run”. [6]
The American media does no favor to the many American Jews and Israelis who are
critical of Israel’s self-defeating expansionism and its suppression of the
Palestinian right of self-determination. The Israel lobby in the United States does
not represent the opinions of many American Jews. The pressure it exerts on
government officials to blindly and unconditionally support present Israeli policies,
in the end will help neither the United States nor Israel itself.
* Ira Glunts first visited the Middle East in 1972, where he taught English and
physical education in a small rural community in Israel. He was a volunteer in the
Israeli Defense Forces in 1992. Mr. Glunts lives in Madison, New York where he
operates a used and rare book business. http://www.selvesandothers.org/view3631.html
Notes:
---------
[1] http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/402910p-341257c.html
[2] http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html
[3]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/22/AR2005052200883.html
[4] Drucker, Raviv and Shelah, Ofer, Boomerang..., Keter, 2005, pps. 132-133.
Translation and text emphasized or enclosed in brackets, mine.
[5]
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0604060188apr06,1,7426220.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
[6] http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1744960,00.html?gusrc=rss
http://www.selvesandothers.org/article13772.html
Links
--------
John J. Mearsheimer
http://political-science.uchicago.edu/faculty/mearsheimer.html
http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people2/Mearsheimer/mearsheimer-con0.html
Stephen M. Walt
http://ksgfaculty.harvard.edu/Stephen_Walt
http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people5/Walt/walt-con0.html
"The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy"
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP06-011/$File/rwp_06_011_walt.pdf
[PDF -1.2MB]
"The Israel Lobby"
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html
The Lobby: why is U.S. policy skewed in favor of Israel?
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=8730
Keeping It Quiet: The Israel Lobby's crushing of dissent
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/dd467987b30a53eb
CIA official: Does Israel conduct covert action in America? You bet it does
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/d30b0748559f30a3
The significance of 'Walt-Mearsheimer Study' can not be ignored
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/58bfbd5635390f52
Israel: The Dead Roach in America's Salad
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/e200b0498ff89ed9