The Israel lobby is entering the realm of American mainstream media fact. Note the crucial political influence ascribed to the lobby in Anna Palmer’s report at Politico saying the lobby has been silent on a Syrian intervention, and that’s a problem for Obama as he jawbones for action:
As President Barack Obama moves closer to calling for military action against Syria, a powerful ally that could help him win over skeptics is staying quiet.
The Israel lobby, including the high-profile American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other Jewish groups, isn’t pushing for intervention even as evidence emerged this week that the Assad regime used chemical weapons against its citizens.
The silence could be a problem for Obama, since the Jewish groups are connected across the political spectrum, wielding influence from the far right to liberal Democrats on issues critical to the Middle East — especially when it comes to the use of military force.
I’ve always said here that the Israel lobby transcends political party and that it played a crucial role in the disastrous American decision to invade Iraq. Pretty much what Walt and Mearsheimer said too, and were tarred as anti-Semites for doing so. Well now Politico has endorsed both political principles.
As Ali Gharib noted, when he tweeted the piece:
Some of the things pro-Israel activists say on here can get you called an anti-Semite by pro-Israel activists
Palmer points out the broad Jewish organizational endorsement of the Iraq war (even as US Jews opposed the war in political polling). Jewish groups felt blamed for that one, she writes.
Behind the scenes, several veteran pro-Israel lobbyists also said they don’t want a repeat of the Iraq War, when the vast majority of groups and Jewish leaders supported taking out Saddam Hussein. Afterward, many felt they were left with the blame when the war became deeply unpopular with the American public…
“They don’t want this to be seen as a Jewish or an Israel war,” said one veteran pro-Israel activist.
Yes, the neocons even felt persecuted because they’d pushed the war. They didn’t want to be held accountable.
Note that in the Politico story, the Jewish orgs defer to Israel, as if they are foreign agents. Former Israeli diplomat Dan Arbel is quoted, then AIPAC is characterized:
[Arbel] “Israel is also cautious about this… realizing that Israel itself cannot intervene. I think the Jewish organizations are looking at also the Israeli position.”
There are multiple reasons AIPAC might not feel the need to take a more public posture — it appears the Obama administration is going to move in the direction they would like and they are also looking to Israel for leadership.
Gharib notes that the ADL has called for a strike on Syria. Abe Foxman:
The world failed to act during the Holocaust and stood by through the genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda. It is a moral imperative that the international community act now to prevent further atrocities in Syria.
the title, “Israel lobby silent on Syria” is a lie. the israel lobby wants to be perceived as silent while they pressure obama to take action. they do not want us to talk about the pressure they exert and therefor we get propaganda claiming they are not exerting it.
“The world failed to act during the Holocaust and stood by through the genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda. It is a moral imperative that the international community act now to prevent further atrocities in Syria.”
I bet Foxman has a mobile phone featuring war cobalt from the Congo basin.
But he doesn’t ever want to save those villagers.
And he never says anything about Global climate breakdown. It’ll put the Shoah in the shade.
The new improved night flower. AIPAC’s “silence” on Syria reminds me of their similar silence on the Hagel nomination. “Look what we can make America do with no hands.” If it’s a dirty war, the Neocons are behind it, appealing to emotion rather than realism, “righteous outrage” that delay is argued for to get the facts straight, lots of bought and paid for “authority figures and experts” announcing that there can be no doubt, when there is doubt, our surveillance state chiming in with “undeniable” intelligence, as if we can trust anything they tell us, unidentified senior administration officials leading the administration by the nose before the MSM. The Likudniks are like gamblers at the casino who keep doubling down. Time for an intervention.
”Arbel] “Israel is also cautious about this… realizing that Israel itself cannot intervene. I think the Jewish organizations are looking at also the Israeli situtation.”
I wish could find one of those little icon things, one with a exploding head, to insert in my comments when I read outrght lies like this.
Israel has bombed Syria weapons depots ‘inside’ Syria 4 times now—thats not interfering? That is actually an ‘act of war’.
The Lobby is keeping it’s head down—-only reason for that I can imagine is they feel they’ve had ‘too much public exposure’. The public has learned too much about them. But I am sure they are having ‘private’ communications with their agents in congress on Syria.
From the news around the world Israel is being very loud about demanding the US interfer now that it can be under the guise of human concerns and chemical gassing.
Couldnt have worked out better for their propaganda purposes and cya if they had done the gassing as a false flag themselves.
Israeli intelligence ‘intercepted Syrian regime talk about chemical attack’
Information passed to US by Israeli Defence Forces’s 8200 unit, former official tells magazine
The 8200 unit of the Israeli Defence Forces, which specialises in electronic surveillance, intercepted a conversation between Syrian officials regarding the use of chemical weapons, an unnamed former Mossad official told Focus. The content of the conversation was relayed to the US, the ex-official said.
The 8200 unit collects and analyses electronic data, including wiretapped telephone calls and emails. It is the largest unit in the IDF.
Israel has invested in intelligence assets in Syria for decades, according to a senior government official. “We have an historic intelligence effort in the field, for obvious reasons,” he said.
Israel and the US had a “close and co-operative relationship in the intelligence field”, he added, but declined to comment specifically on the Focus report.