Yes Virginia, there is an Israel lobby. Greg Sargent reports:
In a major foreign policy speech this afternoon, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will take direct aim at Arab states for not doing their part towards securing Mideast peace, demanding that “all sides” do more to crack down on the “cultures of hate, intolerance and disrespect that perpetuate conflict,” according to an advance excerpt I’ve obtained.
“Nobody spoke in favor of Judea and Samaria as rightful places of
Jewish settlement,” said Jason Isaacson, Washington director for the
American Jewish Committee. “The concerns that were expressed were
concerns about the way he has expressed himself on these issues, in
ways that will not necessarily advance peace.”…Instead of criticizing the substance of administration policies, the
strongest critics at Monday’s meeting complained that the president is
too willing to express disagreements with Israel in public, which they
say gives the Palestinians and the other Arab states a free pass and
undermines support for U.S. policy within Israel.Obama
vigorously defended that policy, saying that a public airing of
differences between close friends can only bolster their friendship.“What
we heard from the administration is that the president believes he has
an ability to open up to the world in a way that his predecessors
didn’t,” said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation
League. “He argues that by reaching out and showing a different
approach, we can bring peace and security — he used the word
‘normalization’ — to Israel and the Arabs.”Foxman pressed Obama
to keep policy disputes between the two governments private, arguing
that perceived differences between the two allies can be exploited by
Palestinian leaders not interested in making compromises.The president did not back down an inch, he said.
“He
spelled out that he has a strategy — and the strategy is to tell it
like it is. Tell your friends the truth. The problem is, some of us
feel he is not telling the truth in a fair way."
