To: Crimson Ghost who wrote (75246 ) 10/1/2000 5:04:02 PM From: Zeev Hed Read Replies (2) | Respond to George, I think that the "Israeli Lobby" is as strong with the Republicans as it is with the Democrats. It was Nixon, I believe, that shipped emergency armaments to the Israeli during the Yom Kippur war. Maybe this is simply because that region used to be a battle ground between the East and the West since 1948. And Israel was on the side of the west (from 1956-Suez). In 1948, the Soviets were the first to recognize the new state "De Jure" (Truman directed its UN rep to recognize Israel "De Facto"), in the hope that with their then socialist type government, the new state would come under the East's influence. The global strategy was very simple, plant instability at the sources of energy of the West. You know of course, that during the 1948 war, the only free flow of arms to that struggling new born nation came from the East (specifically Chechoslovakia), we had a "neutral embargo"). Britain actually trained and led the Arab Legion of Jordan, the best fighting force in the region at the time. But somehow, immediately after that war, the Israeli, despite their "leftist" leaning, did not want any part of the East block. Guess what, the Soviets, still bent on fomenting unrest in the region started a string of revolutions and arms shipments, converting Egypt, Syria and Irak (and some lesser nations like Yemen) to pseudo soviet block satellites. They tried to get Iran on board as well by getting Mousadek to the helm, but somehow the CIA managed to reinstate the Shah. Well, by 1956, Nasser was "ready" to hit at the heart of the oil supply to the West by nationalizing the Suez canal, the life blood of Europe's oil. When the French and Brits reacted with an armed conflict (and got the Israeli involved as well), Bulganin sent a nuclear ultimatum, and Eisenhauer backed down, not supporting its allies (as a result, France decided to create its own nuclear umbrella, the Brits were already half way there. By the way, I strongly believe that Kennedy had to eat the fruits of this Eisenhauer backing down and had to face the Cuban missile crisis, Chruchtchev would not have gambled if he knew that the American would stand firm and not bow, but that is a conjecture). So we have a series of historical events that tie the Istaelis and Americans in that region, almost despite themselves. If you'll ask at the state department, their motto is still as it was in 1948, "their are 100 times more Arabs and they got the oil, dump those Israelis", but somehow, the fact that Israel, for a very long time, was the only democratic nation in the region, almost forced us to ally with it, independently of whether the White house was Democratic or Republican.
