24 sept 2019
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A political analyst says the Tel Aviv regime uses the enormous influence it wields within the United States and certain other Western countries to “get away with” the crimes it perpetrates against Palestinians.
Jim W. Dean, the managing editor of Veterans Today from Atlanta, told Press TV’s The Debate program that the US does not benefit from its unwavering support for Israel. “It basically makes the US a cosponsor of Israeli terrorism against its own citizens, including its neighbors,” the commentator said. He slammed the Tel Aviv regime for trampling on the legitimate rights of |
Palestinians, saying that “millions of Palestinians have been relegated ethnically to a lower class.”
Dean said certain Western countries are complicit in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians.
“Israel is able to get away with this not only by the political influence in the US but Britain and European countries and their intelligence agencies are also involved in this,” Dean added.
The political analyst described AIPAC as “a prime example of someone that I would want to have for my intelligence operation.”
He said that the American authorities are trying to criminalize any political speech or disagreement over Israel.
In the US, “You can disagree about anybody or any country on any issue except for Israel,” the commentator said.
“The Americans twisted the hate crime laws ..to say that any criticism of Israel can only be motivated by hate and therefore, anybody that criticizes would be exposed to old hate crime legislation,” he said.
‘Israel-US alliance stems from shared Mideast views’
In turn, Founder of American Institute for Foreign Policy, Michael Lane, who was also taking part in the debate, highlighted the influence of AIPAC as the largest pro-Israeli lobby within the US’s political system.
“There is no doubt that the AIPAC is a very influential organization. They have been around for a while. They are good at what they do. They are skilled.
They are influential and they have the ear of a lot of people, policy-makers in government both in Capital Hill and in the administration,” said Lane.
He described the relationship between Washington and the Tel Aviv regime as “historical” and said Israel was “a military and economic ally of the United States.”
The political commentator further said that the main reason behind the US’s financial and military support for Israel is that the Tel Aviv regime and Washington share common views in the Middle East region.
“Israel, at times, was very isolated and, in current times, has a number of friends in the area. Basically, our policy is developed and our friendship and our alliances are developed in concern with allies that have in mind the same vision for the region that the United States has. And that’s the primary reason why the United States and Israel get along so well.”
He admitted to the hostile policy pursued by the US towards other countries in the region, including Iran and Syria, and said “those are the countries that have a different view” regarding the developments in the region. “That's why the relationships tend to become more adversarial than alliance-type relationships.”
Since taking office in 2017, US President Donald Trump has been showering Israel with political gifts, including recognizing Jerusalem al-Quds as its “capital” and moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied city as well as cutting aid to the Palestinians and closing the Palestine Liberation Organization’s office in Washington.
Trump has also signed a decree recognizing Israeli “sovereignty” over Syria’s occupied Golan Heights.
Emboldened by the US president’s all-out support, the Tel Aviv regime has in recent months stepped up its settlement construction activities in the occupied lands in defiance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334.
Dean said certain Western countries are complicit in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians.
“Israel is able to get away with this not only by the political influence in the US but Britain and European countries and their intelligence agencies are also involved in this,” Dean added.
The political analyst described AIPAC as “a prime example of someone that I would want to have for my intelligence operation.”
He said that the American authorities are trying to criminalize any political speech or disagreement over Israel.
In the US, “You can disagree about anybody or any country on any issue except for Israel,” the commentator said.
“The Americans twisted the hate crime laws ..to say that any criticism of Israel can only be motivated by hate and therefore, anybody that criticizes would be exposed to old hate crime legislation,” he said.
‘Israel-US alliance stems from shared Mideast views’
In turn, Founder of American Institute for Foreign Policy, Michael Lane, who was also taking part in the debate, highlighted the influence of AIPAC as the largest pro-Israeli lobby within the US’s political system.
“There is no doubt that the AIPAC is a very influential organization. They have been around for a while. They are good at what they do. They are skilled.
They are influential and they have the ear of a lot of people, policy-makers in government both in Capital Hill and in the administration,” said Lane.
He described the relationship between Washington and the Tel Aviv regime as “historical” and said Israel was “a military and economic ally of the United States.”
The political commentator further said that the main reason behind the US’s financial and military support for Israel is that the Tel Aviv regime and Washington share common views in the Middle East region.
“Israel, at times, was very isolated and, in current times, has a number of friends in the area. Basically, our policy is developed and our friendship and our alliances are developed in concern with allies that have in mind the same vision for the region that the United States has. And that’s the primary reason why the United States and Israel get along so well.”
He admitted to the hostile policy pursued by the US towards other countries in the region, including Iran and Syria, and said “those are the countries that have a different view” regarding the developments in the region. “That's why the relationships tend to become more adversarial than alliance-type relationships.”
Since taking office in 2017, US President Donald Trump has been showering Israel with political gifts, including recognizing Jerusalem al-Quds as its “capital” and moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied city as well as cutting aid to the Palestinians and closing the Palestine Liberation Organization’s office in Washington.
Trump has also signed a decree recognizing Israeli “sovereignty” over Syria’s occupied Golan Heights.
Emboldened by the US president’s all-out support, the Tel Aviv regime has in recent months stepped up its settlement construction activities in the occupied lands in defiance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334.
3 aug 2019
US-based pro-Israel advocacy organization, the Israel Project (TIP), has reportedly been forced to close its Israel office in anticipation of a complete shutdown due to a sharp decline in support.
According to the TIP’s managers, the group "simply ran out of money” after losing a large proportion of its annual funds and donations due to the increased “polarized political climate in the United States”, Haaretz reported on Thursday.
The pro-Israel group was a proponent of “hasbara”, an Israeli concept seeking to legitimize Israel in the eyes of world public opinion through disseminating propaganda.
The TIP formed in 2002, at the height of the second Palestinian Intifada, and sought to influence journalists and their coverage of Israel.
TIP activities gradually grew to cover multiple languages and countries, as well as conducting influence operations on social media.
The group has been known for its hard-hitting stance against Iran and even Islam, going as far as promoting Islamophobia and conducting marketing research on how to “sell military action against Iran to the American public”.
‘We attacked the Iran deal’
The group prides itself in having lobbied extensively against the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, a key polarizing factor which also led to the group’s sharp decline.
TIP’s vice president and head of its Israel office Lior Weintraub, a former Israeli diplomat in Washington, described why the group gradually lost support among its donors.
“We attacked the Iran deal; because Israel became part of the internal American political debate;...because support for Israel became too complicated for some of them in these times,” he said.
Critics believe that the pro-Israel advocacy group became too closely aligned with the regime of Israeli prime minister Netanyahu, specifically in its bid to torpedo the Iran nuclear deal, alienating many American supporters across the political spectrum.
Consequently starting from 2015, TIP lost a large number of its donations, and is currently on the verge of shutting down all together.
Last month, TIP CEO Josh Block, a former spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee resigned from the organization, issuing a statement citing “the polarized political climate in the US, both in the wider body politic and inside the Jewish community,” as the reason for TIP’s downfall.
Despite US President Donald Trump’s strongly pro-Israel foreign policy, the fall of the leading pro-Israel propaganda firm marks one of the latest signals of increasing negative public opinion regarding Israel in the US.
Trump’s strong stance regarding Israel has pushed t Tel Aviv into the center of American political discussion, resulting in increased debate about Washington’s support.
A recent Gallup poll found that American support for Israel has fallen to its lowest level in the past decade.
The decline was seen among both Democrats and Republicans. Followers of Trump’s own party posted the sharpest decrease, however.
According to the TIP’s managers, the group "simply ran out of money” after losing a large proportion of its annual funds and donations due to the increased “polarized political climate in the United States”, Haaretz reported on Thursday.
The pro-Israel group was a proponent of “hasbara”, an Israeli concept seeking to legitimize Israel in the eyes of world public opinion through disseminating propaganda.
The TIP formed in 2002, at the height of the second Palestinian Intifada, and sought to influence journalists and their coverage of Israel.
TIP activities gradually grew to cover multiple languages and countries, as well as conducting influence operations on social media.
The group has been known for its hard-hitting stance against Iran and even Islam, going as far as promoting Islamophobia and conducting marketing research on how to “sell military action against Iran to the American public”.
‘We attacked the Iran deal’
The group prides itself in having lobbied extensively against the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, a key polarizing factor which also led to the group’s sharp decline.
TIP’s vice president and head of its Israel office Lior Weintraub, a former Israeli diplomat in Washington, described why the group gradually lost support among its donors.
“We attacked the Iran deal; because Israel became part of the internal American political debate;...because support for Israel became too complicated for some of them in these times,” he said.
Critics believe that the pro-Israel advocacy group became too closely aligned with the regime of Israeli prime minister Netanyahu, specifically in its bid to torpedo the Iran nuclear deal, alienating many American supporters across the political spectrum.
Consequently starting from 2015, TIP lost a large number of its donations, and is currently on the verge of shutting down all together.
Last month, TIP CEO Josh Block, a former spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee resigned from the organization, issuing a statement citing “the polarized political climate in the US, both in the wider body politic and inside the Jewish community,” as the reason for TIP’s downfall.
Despite US President Donald Trump’s strongly pro-Israel foreign policy, the fall of the leading pro-Israel propaganda firm marks one of the latest signals of increasing negative public opinion regarding Israel in the US.
Trump’s strong stance regarding Israel has pushed t Tel Aviv into the center of American political discussion, resulting in increased debate about Washington’s support.
A recent Gallup poll found that American support for Israel has fallen to its lowest level in the past decade.
The decline was seen among both Democrats and Republicans. Followers of Trump’s own party posted the sharpest decrease, however.
21 jan 2019
The Israeli-US war declared on the Palestinian boycott movement is coming to a head, culminating in a well-orchestrated effort aimed at suffocating any form of tangible protest of the ongoing Israeli colonization of Palestine.
But an Israeli ‘victory’, even with blind US government support, is still too elusive if at all guaranteed. Killing unarmed protesters at the fence separating besieged Gaza from Israel is often whitewashed as Israel ‘defending itself’. However, legislating unconstitutional laws against the rights of ordinary people to boycott a state that practices war crimes might not be an easy endeavor.
The fact that 26 US states have already passed legislation or some form of condemnation of the civil act of boycott, as championed in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) should, in fact, raise more awareness of the iniquitous Israeli influence on the United States, rather than actually thwarting BDS.
The US Senate first bill of 2019 (S.B.1) titled: “Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act of 2019” called on state and local governments to withhold contracts from any individual or business entity that boycotts Israel.
The bill was defeated, which is a promising sign. However, it must be noted as profound, if not altogether outrageous, that a country that is subsisting in a government shutdown and political crisis would find it both compelling and necessary to push for such a law in defense of a foreign country.
The bill will reappear again, of course. Alas, Americans should now get used to the idea that Israel’s priorities, however skewed and irrational in defense of its illegal military occupation of Palestine, will become the main rally cry for the US government for years to come.
While such a notion has proved true in the past, never before did ordinary Americans find themselves the main target in the political agenda of the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Even the mere protest of this agenda is being shunned. Iconic US civil rights activist, Angela Davis, 74, deservingly celebrated for her contribution to American society for decades, was denied an award by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute because of her defense of Palestinians and support of BDS.
This witch-hunt, which has now reached the most admired intellectuals of American society is affecting ordinary citizens everywhere as well, which is an alarming development in Israel’s unchecked power in the United States.
But how did Israel and its supporters acquire such disproportionate influence over the US government and society as a whole?
In short, the Lobby.
Cheered on by American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other pro-Israel lobbies, the US Congress is now leading the Israeli war on Palestinians and their supporters. In the process, they are attempting to demolish the very core of American democratic values.
The build-up to this particular battle, which will certainly be accentuated in 2019, began when AIPAC declared in its “2017 Lobbying Agenda” (PDF) that criminalizing the boycott of Israel is a top priority.
The US Congress, which has historically proven subservient to the Israeli government and its lobbies, enthusiastically embraced AIPAC’s efforts. This resulted in the Senate Bill S.720, also known as the “Anti-Israel Boycott Act”, which aimed to ban the boycott of Israel and its illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank.
The bill almost immediately gained the support of 48 Senators and 234 House members. Unsurprisingly, it was drafted mostly by AIPAC itself.
Punishment for those who violate the proposed law ranged from $250,000 to $1 million and 10 years imprisonment.
Anti-Palestinian measures in the US are nothing new. In fact, ardent support for Israel and the complete disregard for Palestinians is the only aspect which Democrats and Republicans have in common. It will remain to be seen if the inclusion of progressive and Muslim women in this current House lineup will change or at least challenge that reality.
For now, the sad truth is that the very individuals who were meant to guard the Constitution are the ones openly violating it. The First Amendment to the US Constitution has been the pillar in defense of the people’s right to free speech, freedom of the press, “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”.
This right has, however, often been curtailed when it applies to Israel. The Center for Constitutional Rights refers to this fact as “The Palestine Exception“.
Dire as it may seem, there is something positive in this. For many years, it has been wrongly perceived that Israel’s solicitation of American support against Palestinians and Arabs is by no means a foreign country meddling or interfering in the US political system or undermining US democracy.
However, the “Israel Anti-Boycott Act” is the most egregious of such interventions, for it strikes down the First Amendment, the very foundation of American democracy, by using America’s own legislators as its executors.
But none of this will succeed because simply put, noble ideas cannot be defeated.
Moreover, for Israel, this is a new kind of battle, one which it is foolishly attempting to fight using the traditional tactics of threats and intimidation and backed by blind US support.
The more the lobby tries to defeat BDS the more it exposes itself and its stranglehold on the American government and media.
Israel is no student of history. It has learned nothing from the experience of the anti-Apartheid struggle in South Africa. It is no surprise that Israel remained the last supporter of the Apartheid regime in that country before it fell.
For true champions of human rights, regardless of their race, religion or citizenship, this is their moment as no meaningful change ever occurs without people being united in struggle and sacrifice.
– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle. Baroud has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter and is a Non-Resident Scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, University of California Santa Barbara.
But an Israeli ‘victory’, even with blind US government support, is still too elusive if at all guaranteed. Killing unarmed protesters at the fence separating besieged Gaza from Israel is often whitewashed as Israel ‘defending itself’. However, legislating unconstitutional laws against the rights of ordinary people to boycott a state that practices war crimes might not be an easy endeavor.
The fact that 26 US states have already passed legislation or some form of condemnation of the civil act of boycott, as championed in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) should, in fact, raise more awareness of the iniquitous Israeli influence on the United States, rather than actually thwarting BDS.
The US Senate first bill of 2019 (S.B.1) titled: “Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act of 2019” called on state and local governments to withhold contracts from any individual or business entity that boycotts Israel.
The bill was defeated, which is a promising sign. However, it must be noted as profound, if not altogether outrageous, that a country that is subsisting in a government shutdown and political crisis would find it both compelling and necessary to push for such a law in defense of a foreign country.
The bill will reappear again, of course. Alas, Americans should now get used to the idea that Israel’s priorities, however skewed and irrational in defense of its illegal military occupation of Palestine, will become the main rally cry for the US government for years to come.
While such a notion has proved true in the past, never before did ordinary Americans find themselves the main target in the political agenda of the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Even the mere protest of this agenda is being shunned. Iconic US civil rights activist, Angela Davis, 74, deservingly celebrated for her contribution to American society for decades, was denied an award by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute because of her defense of Palestinians and support of BDS.
This witch-hunt, which has now reached the most admired intellectuals of American society is affecting ordinary citizens everywhere as well, which is an alarming development in Israel’s unchecked power in the United States.
But how did Israel and its supporters acquire such disproportionate influence over the US government and society as a whole?
In short, the Lobby.
Cheered on by American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other pro-Israel lobbies, the US Congress is now leading the Israeli war on Palestinians and their supporters. In the process, they are attempting to demolish the very core of American democratic values.
The build-up to this particular battle, which will certainly be accentuated in 2019, began when AIPAC declared in its “2017 Lobbying Agenda” (PDF) that criminalizing the boycott of Israel is a top priority.
The US Congress, which has historically proven subservient to the Israeli government and its lobbies, enthusiastically embraced AIPAC’s efforts. This resulted in the Senate Bill S.720, also known as the “Anti-Israel Boycott Act”, which aimed to ban the boycott of Israel and its illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank.
The bill almost immediately gained the support of 48 Senators and 234 House members. Unsurprisingly, it was drafted mostly by AIPAC itself.
Punishment for those who violate the proposed law ranged from $250,000 to $1 million and 10 years imprisonment.
Anti-Palestinian measures in the US are nothing new. In fact, ardent support for Israel and the complete disregard for Palestinians is the only aspect which Democrats and Republicans have in common. It will remain to be seen if the inclusion of progressive and Muslim women in this current House lineup will change or at least challenge that reality.
For now, the sad truth is that the very individuals who were meant to guard the Constitution are the ones openly violating it. The First Amendment to the US Constitution has been the pillar in defense of the people’s right to free speech, freedom of the press, “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”.
This right has, however, often been curtailed when it applies to Israel. The Center for Constitutional Rights refers to this fact as “The Palestine Exception“.
Dire as it may seem, there is something positive in this. For many years, it has been wrongly perceived that Israel’s solicitation of American support against Palestinians and Arabs is by no means a foreign country meddling or interfering in the US political system or undermining US democracy.
However, the “Israel Anti-Boycott Act” is the most egregious of such interventions, for it strikes down the First Amendment, the very foundation of American democracy, by using America’s own legislators as its executors.
But none of this will succeed because simply put, noble ideas cannot be defeated.
Moreover, for Israel, this is a new kind of battle, one which it is foolishly attempting to fight using the traditional tactics of threats and intimidation and backed by blind US support.
The more the lobby tries to defeat BDS the more it exposes itself and its stranglehold on the American government and media.
Israel is no student of history. It has learned nothing from the experience of the anti-Apartheid struggle in South Africa. It is no surprise that Israel remained the last supporter of the Apartheid regime in that country before it fell.
For true champions of human rights, regardless of their race, religion or citizenship, this is their moment as no meaningful change ever occurs without people being united in struggle and sacrifice.
– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle. Baroud has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter and is a Non-Resident Scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, University of California Santa Barbara.
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