The Israel Lobby Redux
Colin Powell Disagrees With David Gergen’s Claim
That There Is No Israel "Lobby"
http://www.selvesandothers.org/article13772.html
This article linked from: antiwar.com
(as are many posts seen in this NG)
by Ira Glunts 8th April 2006
Two Israeli prominent journalists wrote that Colin
Powell understood and feared the power of the lobby.
In an op-ed column critical of his Harvard colleagues,
ludicrously titled "There Is No Israel 'Lobby'" the
well-known political consultant David Gergen
proclaimed, "Over the course of four tours in the
White House, I never once saw a decision in the
Oval Office to tilt U.S. foreign policy in favor of
Israel at the expense of America's interest."
[1] America's massive financial support of Israel's
territorial expansion in the West Bank is very much
contrary to its own interests, his two colleagues
would respond. Gergen's blanket denial is one of
the most preposterous statements in the ongoing
media reporting that impugn the motivations of
Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, two academics
who recently published the "Israel Lobby." Their
essay described what the writers understand to be
the many deleterious effects of pro-Israel activists
upon the formulation of American foreign policy.
[2] In his critique of the essay, Gergen displays a
level of chutzpah which would astound even the most
blindly loyal devotee of the Israeli cause, when he
excoriates Walt and Mearsheimer for "impugn[ing] the
unstinting service to America's national security by
public figures like Dennis Ross, Martin Indyk ...."
The truth is that Ross and Indyk are two government
officials that best illustrate the presence of
pro-Israel advocates in the US government. Ross,
who was the lead negotiator at the Camp David Peace
talks, was publicly criticized for his lack of
objectivity by his own deputy Aaron Miller. Miller
in a Washington Post op-ed called "Israel's Lawyer"
wrote that during the negotiations Ross and his team,
instead of facilitating compromise, which would have
been in America's best interest, chose to act as an
advocate for the Israelis.
[3] Dennis Ross is currently the director of the
Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP),
a pro-Israel think-tank which is funded by the
American Israel Policy Action Committee (AIPAC).
Martin Indyk, who founded WINEP and served as its
first executive director, was later both US
Ambassador to Israel and Assistant Secretary of
State for Near Eastern Affairs. He is a long time
uncritical supporter of Israeli government policy.
In their recent best-selling book, Boomerang: The
Failure of Leadership In the Second Intifada,
presently only available in Hebrew, Raviv Drucker
and Ofer Shelah, two respected Israeli journalists,
described a meeting between the then Secretary of
State Colin Powell, who the lobby considered to be
the "weak link" in the chain of more Israel- friendly
Bush Administration officials, and Abraham Foxman,
head of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith,
who is a prominent member of what in Israel is
called the Jewish lobby. The following selection
indicates in a dramatic way that Gergen's view of
the influence of the Israel lobby may not be shared
by all ex-government officials.
In his [Powell's] own State Department there was a
keen awareness of the strength of the Jewish
lobbyists. Secretaries of State did not usually meet
with lobbyists, but both Jewish officials and Jews
that did not officially represent specific groups
from Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League to
Ronald Lauder, could meet with Powell on short
notice.... At the State Department, Foxman had an
aura of omnipotence. He was held responsible for
the appointment of Indyk as Undersecretary of State
under Clinton, and was thought to have played a role
in the appointments of Secretaries of State
Christopher and Albright. Powell related to Foxman
almost as if he were someone to whom he must
capitulate. Once Foxman told one of his deputies
that Powell was the weak link. When the Secretary of
State heard this he began to worry. He knew that in
Washington a confrontation with the Jewish lobby
would make his life difficult. Once he arranged a
meeting with Foxman, but the busy Foxman postponed
the meeting three times. When they eventually met,
the head of the Anti-Defamation League apologized
to the Secretary of State [for the postponements].
"You call, we come," replied Powell, paraphrasing a
well known advertisement for a freight company. That
statement had much more meaning than just a humorous
polite reply.
[4]Unfortunately, the American press has thus far
been largely complicit in the unwarranted attacks
on two professors who have written a generally
well-argued essay on the disadvantages of the
current American/Israeli relationship. Most press
accounts of the article feature the negative
criticism, but tend to ignore or downplay positive
comment. In the present political climate it is not
a surprise that there is not a groundswell of
support for the two embattled scholars. Abe Foxman
called the essay "a classic conspiratorial
anti-Semitic analysis invoking the canards of
Jewish power and Jewish control."
[5] I, as a Jew, agree with the Jewish editor,
Mary-Kay Wilmers, who published the article. She
feels, as paraphrased in The Observer, "that the
most angry denunciations of anti-Semitism - while
designed to serve the purpose of censorship by
those attempting to forestall criticism of
Israel - may actually encourage anti-Semitism in
the long run."
[6]The American media does no favor to the many
American Jews and Israelis who are critical of
Israel’s self-defeating expansionism and its
suppression of the Palestinian right of
self-determination. The Israel lobby in the United
States does not represent the opinions of many
American Jews. The pressure it exerts on government
officials to blindly and unconditionally support
present Israeli policies, in the end will help
neither the United States nor Israel itself.
***************************
Ira Glunts first visited the Middle East in 1972,
where he taught English and physical education in a
small rural community in Israel. He was a volunteer
in the Israeli Defense Forces in 1992. Mr. Glunts
lives in Madison, New York where he operates a used
and rare book business.
http://www.selvesandothers.org/article13772.html
This article linked from: antiwar.com
(as are many posts seen in this NG)
NOTES :
[1]
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/402910p-341257c.html
[2] http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html
[3]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/22/AR2005052200883.html
[4] Drucker, Raviv and Shelah, Ofer, Boomerang...,
Keter, 2005, pps. 132-133. Translation and text
emphasized or enclosed in brackets, mine.
[5] http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...
[6]
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1744960,00.html?gusrc=rss
--
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
John J. Mearsheimer
University of Chicago - Department of Political Science
Stephen M. Walt
Harvard University - John F. Kennedy School of Government
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP06-011
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