Any realistic discussion of Iran’s nuclear program ought to include the glaring fact that Israel has 90 nukes, according to experts. But our officials and media always leave Israel’s nukes out. Because acknowledging as much would trigger US laws against giving foreign aid to a country with unauthorized weapons.
Trump says Israel used him to attack Iran, and Netanyahu was “willing to fight Iran to the last American soldier.” That ought to be big news– especially as Israel’s defense minister gets unrivaled access in Washington and pushes war to block the Iran deal. But only the leftwing press is focused on Israel’s efforts to spark another war.
Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken: “The product of Zionism, the State of Israel, is not a Jewish and democratic state, but has instead become an apartheid state, plain and simple.”
Israel advocates are pushing a new front. They say that progressive are antisemitic when they characterize Jews as privileged, and don’t acknowledge history and “the unique collective Jewish vulnerability.” So the anti-Zionist understanding that Israel is a powerful settler-colonial state is antisemitic because that leaves out the origins of Zionism in Jewish persecution in Europe, according to Jonathan Greenblatt of ADL and the Reut Group of Tel Aviv.
The growing list of those who say Israel practices “apartheid” in occupied territories and west of the Green Line is joined by Michael Benyair, a former Israeli attorney general. But US advocates maintain a taboo on that word in the U.S. discourse, enforced by Jonathan Greenblatt of the ADL and Rep. Ted Deutch.
Israel’s threat to attack Iran has been made so many times that it has lost much of its danger to shock — but it would be a huge mistake to dismiss the Israelis’ statements. Even if Bennett is bluffing again, the supercharged atmosphere in the region raises the danger of a terrible accident. What’s more, Israel continues its violent sabotage program against Iran.
The Israeli government “fully supports and assists” the recent spike in settler violence against Palestinians. Because “Continuous, systemic violence meted out by settlers is part of Israel’s official policy, driving massive takeover of Palestinian” lands, B’Tselem says in a groundbreaking report. But the Washington Post’s recent article on settler violence suggests that the Israeli government is taking it on vigorously.
Yair Rosenberg has routinely described Palestinian leaders as terrorists and antisemites and characterized Palestinian resistance to occupation as stemming from ancient historical hatred of Jews. He is now ensconced at the Atlantic spreading his misunderstanding of the world into American opinion, for years to come.
It is “uncouth” in mainstream media to say that the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Republican funder Miriam Adelson are devoted to the pro-Israel cause. Even as FDD told the IRS that it was founded to promote Israel’s image in America, and Adelson has begun conducting the “Adelson primary,” in which possible Republican candidates for president show off their love of Israel in order to get campaign funds.
Right after Israel’s foreign minister derided social media portrayal of Israel at an ADL conference, two New York Times staffers came on to criticize social media for spreading antisemitism and conspiracy theories. Their appearance was an implicit endorsement of the Israel lobby group, with the imprimatur of the New York Times.