Author Archives: Felson

Walt and Mearsheimer just scratched the surface

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Felson

Are you watching MSNBC?!? Donny Deutsch is hosting (I guess he’s in for the suspended David Shuster) and he’s doing a segment on Israel/Iran. Sole guest: Alan Dershowitz, who calls Israel "the perfect ally" and suggests Obama is another Neville … Continue reading →

Posted in Iran, Israel Lobby | 27 Comments

How to run for President: whatever the ‘people of Israel decide is in their interest’

Posted on February 7, 2010 by Felson

Pretty amazing interview with Indiana congressman Mike Pence (posted by Matt Duss). This guy wants to run for president in ’12 (the reason he decided not to run against Bayh this year — even though polls showed him ahead): I … Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq, Israel Lobby | 54 Comments

A window into the rightwing American mind re Israel/Palestine

Posted on January 29, 2010 by Felson

This is kind of amazing. You’ve seen the story about James O’Keefe, the 24-year-old young Republican prankster who got pinched trying to tamper with Mary Landrieu’s phone system, right? So here’s the first issue of the alternative conservative paper he … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine, US Policy in the Middle East | 69 Comments

U.S. Jewish commitment to civil rights stops at the border

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Felson

Gay marriage may be voted on in the New Jersey state Senate this week. It’s in the Judiciary Committee, and if it passes, it should get an up-down vote in the whole Senate later this week. A guy named Steven … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel Lobby | 9 Comments

Why congresspeople fear to cross the lobby

Posted on November 17, 2009 by Felson

From a website that covers the special Senate election in Massachusetts [Emphasis mine]: Addressing members of Temple Beth Am in Framingham today, U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown criticized U.S. Representative Mike Capuano for his failure to support a 2008 resolution … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel Lobby | 11 Comments

How they do it: Hoenlein brought Limbaugh to Israel and Mossad, many years ago

Posted on July 15, 2009 by Felson

FE Felson writes: Don’t ask me how I ended up on his site at 12:45 AM, but I was just looking through a Rush Limbaugh speech from 10/07 in which he casually mentioned Malcolm Hoenlein how het set up Rush’s…
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Posted in Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine | 4 Comments

Has the U.S. discourse improved on Israel/Palestine? A pessimist says No

Posted on April 29, 2009 by Felson

Our correspondent Felson is pessimistic. He argues that the debate on Israel/Palestine in this country isn’t fundamentally changing: I went back recently and looked at the media’s coverage of the 1982 Lebanon War and realized that, as much as we’d…
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Posted in Beyondoweiss, Gaza, Iraq, Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine, US Politics | Comments Off

Has the U.S. discourse improved on Israel/Palestine? A pessimist says No

Posted on April 29, 2009 by Felson

Our correspondent Felson is pessimistic. He argues that the debate on Israel/Palestine in this country isn’t fundamentally changing: I went back recently and looked at the media’s coverage of the 1982 Lebanon War and realized that, as much as we’d…
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Posted in Beyondoweiss, Gaza, Iraq, Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine, US Politics | 25 Comments

Pelosi enters the picture – new questions raised in Jane Harman scandal

Posted on April 22, 2009 by Felson

Starting around lunch time today, Nancy Pelosi found herself much more embroiled in the unfolding Jane Harman scandal. Two new reports tie Pelosi to the story. The first is that she had been informed about Harman getting caught up in…
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Posted in Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine, US Policy in the Middle East | 38 Comments

Harman backscratching deal is how lobbies work

Posted on April 20, 2009 by Felson

Congresswoman Jane Harman is a stalwart of the Israel lobby, and Ron Kampeas of JTA is working hard to try to show that she’s been smeared by the CQ report that she made a deal in 2005 with a “suspected…
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Posted in Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine | 18 Comments

Jeff Stein gets the Harman deal he revealed slightly wrong

Posted on April 20, 2009 by Felson

Today Jeff Stein of CQ had an online chat over his revelation that Rep. Jane Harman was caught on tape making a deal with a suspected agent of Israel for her own advancement in the House, back in 2005. Felson’s…
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Posted in Beyondoweiss, Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine, US Policy in the Middle East | Comments Off

Jeff Stein gets the Harman deal he revealed slightly wrong

Posted on April 20, 2009 by Felson

Today Jeff Stein of CQ had an online chat over his revelation that Rep. Jane Harman was caught on tape making a deal with a suspected agent of Israel for her own advancement in the House, back in 2005. Felson’s…
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Posted in Beyondoweiss, Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine, US Policy in the Middle East | 4 Comments

Jane Harman had good reason to want Israel lobby backup in ’05

Posted on April 20, 2009 by Felson

Felson writes: I’m seeing “stinks to high heaven” talking points pop up in your comments section re the Jane Harman story, and they are just so demonstrably false. To amplify what I wrote before, here are just a few clips…
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Posted in Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine | 5 Comments

JTA says Jane Harman had no political motive for intrigue. Bollocks

Posted on April 20, 2009 by Felson

This morning Ron Kampeas of JTA tried to pooh-pooh the latest Israel lobby scandal by saying that the leaks of a taped conversation of Congresswoman Jane Harman from four years ago “smell to high heaven.” Here is undercover Mondo correspondent…
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Posted in Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine | 10 Comments

NYT fails to tell readers that Freeman’s antagonist was indicted for espionage

Posted on March 12, 2009 by Felson

Felson writes: I was actually exasperated reading the NYT story. I guess it’s good that they acknowledge it was about Israel, but Mazzetti and Cooper seem to take every opportunity to paint Freeman as an unhinged fringe figure, without providing…
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Posted in Beyondoweiss, Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine, US Policy in the Middle East, US Politics | 37 Comments

Congressman Kirk’s takedown of Freeman recalls an ugly chapter of LBJ’s rise

Posted on March 11, 2009 by Felson

Felson writes: Illinois Congressman Mark Kirk’s championing of Chas Freeman’s demise, in motive and method, calls to mind one of the uglier chapters in Lyndon Johnson’s political career. It was also a revealing chapter, both in terms of Johnson and…
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Posted in Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine, US Policy in the Middle East, US Politics | 11 Comments

Why is Illinois congressman point man on Freeman attack?

Posted on March 10, 2009 by Felson

Felson writes: This leapt out at me in Ben Smith’s coverage of Freeman’s withdrawal: But Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), one of Freeman’s leading critics, said the appointee could have “withstood” the attacks on policy grounds, but ultimately was torpedoed by…
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Posted in Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine, Neocons, US Policy in the Middle East, US Politics | 18 Comments

‘Times’ sympathizes with Israeli athlete hurt by international politics, but not the 100s of Palestinian athletes in a similar situation

Posted on February 16, 2009 by Felson

Felson writes: Harvey Araton used his New York Times sports column today to document the plight of Shahar Peer, an Israeli tennis player who was denied a visa by the United Arab Emirates that would have allowed her to compete…
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Posted in BDS, Beyondoweiss, Israel/Palestine, US Policy in the Middle East | 7 Comments

Zakaria double-teams Barghouti with two Talking-Points-Zionists

Posted on February 15, 2009 by Felson

Felson reports: I am right now watching Fareed Zakaria’s show on CNN. Did you catch it? It’s good that they put Mustafa Barghouti on, but they double-teamed him with two pro-Israel guys — Yossi Halevi and Yoram Peri. Barghouti did…
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Posted in Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine, US Policy in the Middle East, US Politics | 25 Comments

More on violent/non-violent means of resistance

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Felson

Felson offers a further comment on the controversy he started on this site about nonviolent resistance: Jimmy Carter writes briefly about this in his new book, recounting his visit with Hamas leaders in ’08: “We pursued the concept of nonviolent…
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Posted in Israel/Palestine, US Policy in the Middle East, US Politics | 15 Comments

Israeli Arabs should reenact Selma

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Felson

Felson on the Arab minority in Israel getting dealt out of the electoral process: It occurs to me that we’re approaching a critical moment, with the patience and frustration of Israeli Arabs expiring (and with many of their fellow Israelis…
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Posted in Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, US Politics | 39 Comments

Netanyahu will educate Americans about Israel’s true character. But at what cost?

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Felson

F.E. Felson writes: For the past year, I’ve dreaded the inevitable election of a Netanyahu-led government, which, despite Kadima’s tiny plurality, it looks like we’re going to get. But the more I think about it, Bibi returning as P.M. might…
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Posted in Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, US Politics | Comments Off

Many Americans see Israel as the good guy out of ‘emotional inertia’

Posted on February 3, 2009 by Felson

Phil Weiss: Yesterday I wrote to the pseudonymous journalist FE Felson: I’m thankful for your contributions to this site. A true joy I’ve had in the last couple years is meeting people who are smart, Not Crazy (which a lot…
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Posted in American Jewish Community, Beyondoweiss, Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine, US Policy in the Middle East | 50 Comments

Is there a sea change in American opinion re Israel/Palestine? Debate

Posted on February 2, 2009 by Felson

Phil Weiss: Many of us have been excited by the accounts by pseudonymous F.E. Felson on this site, describing the power of the Israel lobby in New Jersey local politics and Congress. Felson is an accomplished journalist who woke up…
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Posted in Beyondoweiss, Israel/Palestine, US Politics | 49 Comments

‘Informal, vague, unspoken–and immense’ (the Israel lobby)

Posted on January 31, 2009 by Felson

We have been running a series of posts from an anonymous journalist that began with a previously- unpublished story about how the Israel lobby flexed its muscle to destroy the candidacy of a Lebanese-American politician in New Jersey. After that…
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Posted in Beyondoweiss, Israel/Palestine, US Policy in the Middle East | 50 Comments