George Bush’s gentle criticism of the Israelis over the settlements today brings closer the moment when a national news show does a report on the Israel lobby and interviews John Mearsheimer and Dan Fleshler and Michael Lerner about what effect American Jews have had on the brutal conditions experienced by the Palestinians… It’s coming, baby. Don’t know when.
Meantime, why doesn’t Bush do something about all the money flowing from this country to support the settlements? Why can’t we stop this now? Where is Congressman Elliot (Syria Accountability Act) Engel now that we need him? These suckers aren’t hiding. Last month the illegal and vicious Hebron settlers held a fundraiser at the Grand Hyatt in New York of all places. 42d Street! Matt Duss did a fine report on it in the American Prospect. Further evidence that the media are beginning to soften.
One elderly woman told me she was at the fundraiser because she
believed that Jews should be free to live anywhere in the land of
Israel.Such blithe assertions of entitlement ignore the massive human cost
incurred by the Hebron settlement. Hundreds of thousands of dollars
flow annually into this community from private donors in the United
States like the Hebron Fund, causing thousands of Hebron’s Palestinians
to live a nightmare [emphasis mine] so a few hundred Israeli religious extremists can
live out their biblical historical fantasies.
Biblical fantasies. Well put. Shut down the money now, Mr. President…
