CL Sulzberger, who died in 1993, was a legendary insider, a longtime foreign affairs reporter and then columnist for the New York Times, whose publisher during his time was his uncle and then his cousin. Sulzberger lived in Paris and was the intimate of many leaders, and was accused of working for the CIA (and received the Stern Gang’s warning ahead of Bernadotte’s murder).
Last night I was reading his book, An Age of Mediocrity (1973), journals from the 60s and 70s. Sulzberger went frequently to Israel.
Herzliya, May 22, 1971
Stayed up late with Wally Barbour [US Ambassador to Israel from 1961-1973], as able a diplomat as he is devoted, and a balanced, wise man…
Wally feels it is a plain statement of fact that the U.S.A. couldn’t sell Israel down the river or blackmail it, even if it wanted to (which it doesn’t) because of the influence and wealth of its Jewish minority of about 6 million. Nor is there anything shameful in this. Our system has always been based upon minorities and heeding their wishes on major issues.
Last time Barbour saw President Nixon, Wally said to him: “You know Israel may be a small horse but it’s the only horse we are riding that has four sound legs.”
Will you ever see this idea, espoused by two eminent insiders, reflected directly in the New York Times? The newspaper derided Walt and Mearsheimer’s paper and book on the Israel lobby when they came out in 2006 and 2007. Insider Leslie Gelb did the honors. “Why have two such serious students of United States foreign policy written so weak a book and added fuel, inadvertently, to the fires of anti-Semitism?” But influence and wealth surely played a role in Obama’s collapse on settlements and Alice Walker’s disinvitation from the University of Michigan, and myriad other accommodations of the garrison state.
PS. I wonder whether Barbour said, And there’s nothing shameful in that because he worried about the fact that his guest was Jewish. Also, there’s an American school in Israel connected to our State Department named after Barbour.
More gems from Sulzberger to follow.
It’s actually hard to discredit this idea that the Lobby makes it impossible for the US to disconnect itself.
There is a theory that western elites strongly wanted to set up a state there ever since the Crusaders were driven away by the Muslims. The place is right in the middle of the joining of 3 continents, etc. Plus, the US in terms of size and military is many times stronger. So an argument can be made that it was the West’s intention to set up the Isr. State for important philosophical and strategic reasons, and that the US is powerful enough not to worry about leaving.
However, you have the case where Netanyahu said on camera that the U.S. is something easily moved. And Pres. George HW Bush, probably one of the strongest politicians in the US due to his past position as CIA director, complained about thousands of Israeli lobbyists swarming the capitol against “Little Old Me” because he took a position that was less favorable to the Isr. State. Bush then lost re-election.
It’s true that the Lobby apparently preferred Romney and didn’t get it’s way, but they did not fully reject Obama either, and he is upping the yearly money donated to the State. And this is not even getting into the financial power of the State’s supporters.
So all in all, the US would find it very hard to extricate itself from the Isr. State.
Name just one person who supports Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians who is not a racist.
Barbour must have known JFK despised the Israel Lobby and did all he could to reduce its power, including pushing for big change in campaign finance, as well as all he could do to stop Israel from getting the nuke bomb–both efforts going on full tilt when he was murdered. http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=20167
that was in 1971. can someone explain to me how this american demographic has stayed the same? that doesn’t make sense. someone told me once there were many more jewish americans than were reported. i thought, ‘that’s nuts, why would anyone lie about that?’ but this number is very curious. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Jews
Here’s more on Balbour , this time under Johnson’s thumb. The article shows the US Johnson administration, including Balbour, knew Israel was not in any danger in 1967, when it decided to do its turkey shoot, beginning by wiping out the Egyptian air force and Syrian air force nearly as quickly as you can snap your fingers. It also reveals how easily Johnson was manipulated by the Zionists, beginning with Zionist donations to his early career: http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2010/07/06/bibi-back-at-the-white-house/