"Why AIPAC Is Dangerous For Jews" (and America)...
Lobbying for Racism:
Why AIPAC is Dangerous for Jews
By ALICE ROTHCHILD
(FYI: Not a Muslim, or a Tea Party member)
May 18, 2011
counterpunch.org
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is holding its
annual conference May 22-24, where Congress people and many
of our national leaders will rush headlong into the committee's
open arms and bountiful coffers.
In an increasingly bizarre time warp they will congratulate
each other and kvell about Israel's special relationship with
the US, our strategic partnership, and Israel's commitment to
democratic ideals in a "sea of dictatorships" (to quote the
website).
What they will not talk about is reality. US Jews are
increasingly uncomfortable with a lobby that claims to
represent us, but is deeply committed to the militaristic
and rightwing policies of successive Israeli governments.
Jews in the US tend to be politically progressive, but we are
being asked to suspend our liberal beliefs when it comes to
Israel.
While maintaining a steady dream beat for war
against Iran and a world view that, "Israel continues
to fulfill its ancient obligation as a "light unto the nations,"
AIPAC lobbyists with their Christian Zionist allies
guarantee billions of dollars in military aid for Israel each year.
(SOTB: And you wonder why Israel gives Lear Jets as private
gifts to Millionaire Christian-Zionist Pulpit-Puppets?!?!)
Much of this goes towards buying US military weapons and
machinery, cementing the massive, interconnected, and
lucrative military-industrial-security complex that now
exists between our two countries.
Not only has this made a brutal 43 year military occupation
possible, but it also provides military and political support
to the current Netanyahu government.
Let's be clear.
Netanyahu is committed to building Jewish settlements in the
West Bank and East Jerusalem, undermining any possibility for
a two-state solution.
He is building Jewish settler-only roads and roads for
Palestinians funded by USAID.
Palestinian Workers Herded Like Cattle in The Apartheid State of Israel
zimbio.com
He tightly controls Palestinian movement through checkpoints
(SOTB: Can you say DHS deja vu?), permits, and the
Separation Wall which has stolen thousands of acres of
Palestinian land and destroyed the lives and livelihoods of
people whose families have lived in the region for centuries.
His idea of Palestinian statehood, (should he still have one),
is a scattering of weak enclaves surrounded by Israeli military.
The recently released Palestine Papers painfully documented
the degree to which Palestinian negotiators were willing to
sell their souls while Israeli negotiators refused to accept
any concessions.
The US was revealed twisting the arms of Palestinian diplomats
to give up basic demands and the massive security coordination
between the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority was exposed.
(SOTB: How 'bout a little Deja vu all over again...
Within Israel, there is a rightwing crackdown on human rights,
activists, and laws brewing in the Knesset that will criminalize:
1. Nonviolent protests (in Israel and internationally) that
advocate boycotts, divestments, and sanctions.
2. Providing information that could lead to Israeli war crime charges.
3. Any activity against Israeli soldiers or State symbols
including nonviolent legitimate resistance to the occupation.
4. Commemorations of the Nakba, the Palestinian experience of 1948.
At the same time there are over 20 laws that maintain the
second class status for Palestinians with Israeli citizenship.
While Israeli activists worry about rising fascism in Israeli
society, Palestinians are celebrating the Arab Spring that is
blossoming in the region and Fatah and Hamas are gingerly
talking about unity and democratic elections.
Arabs from Tunisia to Yemen are putting their lives on the
line for equality and freedom of speech. This breathtaking
political moment is changing the political discourse in the
Middle East and the US Congress needs to take notice and
shake itself free of the world view that is promoted by AIPAC
lobbyists.
Fear of anti-Semitism and the traumas of the Holocaust do not
justify Israeli exceptionalism, militarism, racism towards
Arabs, or a belief in permanent Jewish victimization.
Peace in the Middle East is more urgent than ever, but it
needs to be based on international law, human rights, and
UN resolutions. AIPAC and its supporters are deluding
themselves, promoting a perpetual state of war and hostility,
living in a world that does not match reality.
At the same time, over 100 peace organizations will be
meeting in Washington. Under the call: Move Over AIPAC:
Building a New US Middle East Policy, they will explore the
impacts of US military aid and political cover, the demand
to end the Israeli occupation, and the building of a solution
that respects the rights and dignity of everyone in the region.
There will be no big donors there, but Congress would do well to listen.
Alice Rothchild is a physician, activist, and author of:
"Broken Promises, Broken Dreams: Stories of Jewish Trauma
and Resilience."
Her website is www.alicerothchild.com.
Take action by attending Move Over AIPAC, a gathering in
Washington DC from May 21-24, 2011, to expose AIPAC and build
the vision for a new US foreign policy in the Middle East!
More information can be found at www.MoveOverAIPAC.org.
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As schools in America are being closed, as police officers
and firemen are being laid off, as public services are being
cut, as your retirement age is being raised, and as your jobs
and industry continue to be offshored and outsourced...
Giant multi-nationals like General Electric, Goldman Sachs
and Exxon are given billions in corporate welfare and massive
tax loopholes (hand written by THEIR lobbyists) where THEY
pay little, or no income tax at all...
While YOU are being told your taxes must go up, that you must
make "hard sacrifices," and that you must patriotically accept
the moneychangers forced austerity.
And if you don't peacefully submit to having your 1st, 2nd
and 4th amendment rights eliminated, then the Southern Poverty
Law Center, the ADL and their neo-Bolshevik NKVD/DHS will label
you as a "domestic terrorist," and put you on a watch list.
After all, anyone who wouldn't glady give up all rights to
privacy, free speech, travel and political dissent...
and willing submit to being tracked, traced, data based,
herded and groped (just like Palestinians) through Zio-Con
checkpoints, is obviously a racist, antisemtic, domestic
terrorist.
Meanwhile, billions of your tax dollars are given to Israel.
Hundreds of billions of your tax dollars are handed to the
Trotskyite, Marxist, NeoCon war-machine.
While at the very top of the pyramid, trillions of dollars
of your money is being stolen in broad daylight, right under
your nose by the international central banking cartel.
And in just in case you haven't figured it out yet...
They aren't Muslims, and it isn't "Sharia" Law that you need
to be worrying about.
Baaaaaaah~
SOT "V" B |
