Howard Berman, chairman of House Foreign Affairs, has issued the following defiant statement about the fresh news of negotiations between Hamas and Fatah to form a unity government:
any Palestinian national unity government that fails unequivocally to
recognize Israel, to reject terrorism and all forms of violence, and to
accept all previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements. In addition, it
should be a government of unquestioned integrity, and fully committed
to fiscal responsibility and transparency.”
This is the voice of the Israel lobby; Berman got on to Foreign Affairs because of Israel, he told a Sherman Oaks, California, audience last year. (And Tom Hayden has said that Berman's brother the political operative Michael Berman once told him that "I represent the Israeli Defense Forces" in the U.S.) In his Sherman Oaks appearance, Berman said that the purpose of Congress was to act as a "brake" on the White House pursuing alternative policies in the Middle East–which is to say, when the White House demands that Israel end its expansion into the West Bank, Congress holds the line for rightwing Israeli governments.
This is the significance of Berman's statement: he is trying to stop the unification of the Palestinians, or impose conditions on this important process, when it could actually make a difference in the peace negotiations.
As Mustapha Tlili of the NYU Center for Dialogues told me earlier today, Gaza has deeply radicalized the Palestinian people. The Obama Administration recognizes this. The issue of equivocally or unequivocally recognizing Israel can always be finessed in negotiations (just as Israel's non-recognition of the Palestinians was finessed in 1977 under Jimmy Carter as he went forward with those negotiations). The central question, as even Andrew Sullivan is saying, is whether the U.S. will put pressure on Israel to pull out of the West Bank now. If not, we go back to the drawing board.
It's hard to imagine anything getting better in the Middle East when, for so many American politicians, the only thing they care about is what's best for Israel. I just wish for once, when one of these politicians publicly vows to fight to the last breath for Israel, that his constituents would rise up and demand to know when he's going to start fighting for America.
Your quote of Berman makes sense to me, and does NOT resemble your headline.
@Duscany
Well said. 'Cept I'm not sure those people knows what is best for Israel. For over 40 years they have sabotaged every attempt to find a peace solution on behest of the settler movement. A true friend of Israel would'nt do that, just as a good friend would deny to hand over the keys to the car if you were drunk.
Berman said that the purpose of Congress was to act as a "brake" on the White House pursuing alternative policies in the Middle East–i.e., demanding that Israel end its expansion into the West Bank.
That's the purpose of the Congress of the United States of America in Berman's eyes. There are no words to describe the depth of arrogance and supremacy that this man represents.
Duscy, those people know that when a congressman stands up for Israle, he is standing up for American ideals. When you stand up, people know it is for you to wipe your ass.
Duscany, I think support for colonial 'gun' Zionism is very low in Congress. Few support violent colonization. Most are afraid that AIPAC will organize massive influxes of money to their opponents in their next elections if they do not toe the line. The door to an open debate on what comprises the American interest has just opened a crack. We will see how many actual friends the Lobby has made when it stands wide open. I haven't tried it before, but somehow I don't think arrogant and entitled blackmail works too well in cultivating affection.
American ideals: one man – one vote, equal justice before the law, separation of church and state
Colin, you're right that colonialism itself isn't a very attractive brand, but "defense" (ie militarism) on the other hand is very much an American value. No one gets into Congress saying that the Pentagon budget needs to shrink, that the U.S. is guilty of war crimes, etc.
My conception of the Zio-lobby is that while Israel may be its raison d'etre, its function to the American ruling class is to use its watchdog and data-collecting apparati to homogenize Congressional opinion on war-making.
The Lobby thesis of M&W misses the angle that, even aside from the arms industry itself, war is in the interests of American dollar hegemony AND irregular Zionist expansionism.
A robust debate in Congress on the important issues that face us is an essential underpinning of our constitutional system of government. They were debating whether to permit interstate traffic in primates the other day, Jon Stewart showed us, but they somehow see themselves as not allowed to express widely different views on issues touching Israel. In politics, as in the schoolyard, bullying works, until some hero is willing to stand up and be defiant, and gets away with it. The appointment of Charles Freeman this week as NIC Chair was an important development. No one listened to the bullies on that one, although Congress didn't actually have to act. There was some lobbying of the Senate Intelligence committee going on.
For the potential heroes out there, one tactic might be to attack the effort to silence, to defend the right to debate, to revile those who would stifle debate through intimidation. Dershowitz and Berman preening themselves over their effectiveness in lobbying for the Israeli rightwing is then shown to be the bully belly laughing as the latest victim lowers his eyes and walks away.
MJ talks about the neocons being after him… but it's you that honestly addresses the 'liberal' obstructionists that will be furiously attacking Chas Freeman and Hillary [behind the scenes].
I remember all too well the last round of defiant interventionism from the pro-Israel 'Dem' lobby congressman and women when there was talk of aid going to the Palestinians:
Washington – Two congressional letters strongly supported by the pro-Israel lobby have attracted a great deal of support in recent days.
Seventy-nine senators signed a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urging the Bush administration to maintain its policy of denying financial aid and refusing to meet with the Palestinian government until it recognizes Israel, renounces terrorism and accepts past agreements with Jerusalem. A similar letter to the European Union’s high representative, Javier Solana, was signed by more than half the members of the House of Representatives.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee pressed lawmakers in the House and Senate to sign the letters. Thousands of delegates to the Aipac convention in Washington two weeks ago raised the issue in meetings with congressmen.
The House letter was written by two Jewish Democrats, Robert Wexler of Florida and Gary Ackerman of New York, and by two Republicans, Elton Gallegly of California and Mike Pence of Indiana…
http://www.forward.com/articles/10429/
Wexler [current chair of the House Foreign Subcommittee on Europe] and Ackerman [current chair of the House Foreign Subcomittee of The Middle East and South Asia]
However, when there's talk of the US trying to "cut loan guarantees for Israel as it presses Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to alter construction of a security fence in the West Bank that just happens to expand into YET MORE Palestianian terrority — oh no… that can't happen! Same old names appear…
http://www.e-guana.net/organizations.php3?action=printContentItem&orgid=54&typeID=81&itemID=5301&User_Session=77f21a7a61b36ddaa7a407f8525f1759
The Hypocrisy is astounding.
MJ talks about the neocons being after him… but it's you that honestly addresses the 'liberal' obstructionists that will be furiously attacking Chas Freeman and Hillary [behind the scenes].
I remember all too well the last round of defiant interventionism from the pro-Israel 'Dem' lobby congressman and women when there was talk of aid going to the Palestinians:
Washington – Two congressional letters strongly supported by the pro-Israel lobby have attracted a great deal of support in recent days.
Seventy-nine senators signed a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urging the Bush administration to maintain its policy of denying financial aid and refusing to meet with the Palestinian government until it recognizes Israel, renounces terrorism and accepts past agreements with Jerusalem. A similar letter to the European Union’s high representative, Javier Solana, was signed by more than half the members of the House of Representatives.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee pressed lawmakers in the House and Senate to sign the letters. Thousands of delegates to the Aipac convention in Washington two weeks ago raised the issue in meetings with congressmen.
The House letter was written by two Jewish Democrats, Robert Wexler of Florida and Gary Ackerman of New York, and by two Republicans, Elton Gallegly of California and Mike Pence of Indiana…
http://www.forward.com/articles/10429/
Wexler [current chair of the House Foreign Subcommittee on Europe] and Ackerman [current chair of the House Foreign Subcomittee of The Middle East and South Asia]
However, when there's talk of the US trying to "cut loan guarantees for Israel as it presses Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to alter construction of a security fence in the West Bank that just happens to expand into YET MORE Palestianian terrority — oh no… that can't happen! Same old names appear…
http://www.e-guana.net/organizations.php3?action=printContentItem&orgid=54&typeID=81&itemID=5301&User_Session=77f21a7a61b36ddaa7a407f8525f1759
The Hypocrisy is astounding.
When you stand up, people know it is for you to wipe your ass. Posted by: chris berel | February 28, 2009 at 06:59 AM
Obviously there is no point in complaining to typepad about obscene comments going unmonitored. They must be neoliberals.
berel: "Duscy, those people know that when a congressman stands up for Israle, he is standing up for American ideals."
American ideals don't include shelling kids with white phosphorous shells. If an American politician wants to stand up for American ideas he can do it directly and leave Israel out of it entirely.
In any case, I have never understood what a country like Israel, which was started by Russian and eastern European socialists and communists, has in common with our founding fathers. If Israel feels it needs to bomb Iran to maintain it's Middle East nuclear monopoly it should go ahead and do it, as long as it doesn't compromise America in the process and draw us into another one of Israel's never-ending wars.