The Israel Lobby is Not a Conspiracy Theory

Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappe have a new book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict called Gaza in Crisis, that deals with the horrible conditions in which the Palestinian people are forced to live.

They attempt to detail the reasons for the conflict and the bias shown Israel by many Western nations, especially the United States and now Canada.

They mention a thought-provoking article, published by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt (now a book), based on extended research, that discusses the power of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Israeli lobby in Washington, in shaping American policy in the Middle East in general and toward Israel in particular.

And while Chomsky and Pappe are careful not to suggest a Jewish conspiracy, which this is not, they do reveal how the country called Israel, manipulates public opinion and coerces governments into giving them unheard of freedoms to do what they want. And they do this because of AIPAC. Citing Mearsheimer and Walt:

Their basic argument was that the lobby directs American policy in a way that undermines the United States' national interest. Not since the 1960s would one have come across such a harsh criticism of either Zionism or U.S. policy from within the heart of American academia or the media.

The role of the lobby in shaping U.S. policy in the Middle East is undoubtedly crucial. But American policy in the Middle East, like any regional policy of a great power in the past, is the outcome of more than one factor. For those, like myself, for whom the analysis of such a policy is not just academic but a matter of life and death, an expanded analysis is called for, not only for the sake of understanding that policy more clearly, but also as a way of coping with its dangerous outcomes. (1)

The Israel Lobby and Foreign Policy

Mearsheimer and Walt begin by establishing the fact that Israel has been the centrepiece of US Middle Eastern policy for several decades, enjoying unwavering support, in an attempt to use the only democratic country in the region to spread ‘democracy’ to their neighbours. At least that is the conventional wisdom.

However, this unwavering support has instead achieved the opposite:

Throughout the region [it] has inflamed Arab and Islamic opinion and jeopardised not only US security but that of much of the rest of the world. This situation has no equal in American political history. Why has the US been willing to set aside its own security and that of many of its allies in order to advance the interests of another state? One might assume that the bond between the two countries was based on shared strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives, but neither explanation can account for the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the US provides.

Other special-interest groups have managed to skew foreign policy, but no lobby has managed to divert it as far from what the national interest would suggest, while simultaneously convincing Americans that US interests and those of the other country – in this case, Israel – are essentially identical. (2)

And the level of support is enormous:

Israel receives about $3 billion in direct assistance each year, roughly one-fifth of the foreign aid budget, and worth about $500 a year for every Israeli. This largesse is especially striking since Israel is now a wealthy industrial state with a per capita income roughly equal to that of South Korea or Spain. Other recipients get their money in quarterly installments, but Israel receives its entire appropriation at the beginning of each fiscal year and can thus earn interest on it. Most recipients of aid given for military purposes are required to spend all of it in the US, but Israel is allowed use roughly 25 per cent of its allocation to subsidise its own defence industry.

It is the only recipient that does not have to account for how the aid is spent, which makes it virtually impossible to prevent the money from being used for purposes the US opposes, such as building settlements on the West Bank. Moreover, the US has provided Israel with nearly $3 billion to develop weapons systems, and given it access to such top-drawer weaponry as Blackhawk helicopters and F-16 jets. Finally, the US gives Israel access to intelligence it denies to its Nato allies and has turned a blind eye to Israel’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. (2)

Washington also provides Israel with consistent diplomatic support, vetoing 32 Security Council resolutions critical of Israel, and has blocked the efforts of Arab states to put Israel’s nuclear arsenal on the IAEA’s agenda.

Canada and Our Shift in Foreign Policy

In 2006, CTV conducted a poll asking Canadians who we should support in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

“When asked who Canada should support, a majority, 77 per cent, said we should be neutral. Sixteen per cent said Canada should support Israel, while only one per cent said Hezbollah.” (3)

And yet the Harper government became "unapologetic supporters of Israel" in direct conflict of our interests. And they did this with an aggressive campaign and some powerful allies. The Zionist group: Christians United For Israel and the American Neoconservative heavyweights, represented by Jason Kenney's director of communications, Alykhan Velsi.

Velshi is a player in the American neoconservative movement, and includes among his colleagues, the late Irving Kristol, Andrew C. McCarthy, Lynn and Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, etc. He also belongs to the controversial American Enterprise Institute and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Continuation:

1. Has Israel Been a Blessing or a Burden?

2. Israel Engages in Espionage and Treachery Against Her Allies

3. We Can't Ignore the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. But Who is the Underdog?

Sources:

1. Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians, By Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappe, 2010, Haymarket Books, ISBN: 978-1608460-97-7, Pg. 19

2. The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, By: John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, London Review of Books, March 23, 2006

3. CTV, August 1, 2006

Has Israel Been a Blessing or a Burden?

John Mearsheimer and Stephen Watt in their book The Israel Lobby, question whether Israel has really been as strong an ally as many believe. Is the enormous generosity justified? And again, this is not about religion, but the foreign country of Israel.

One might argue that Israel was an asset during the Cold War. By serving as America’s proxy after 1967, it helped contain Soviet expansion in the region and inflicted humiliating defeats on Soviet clients like Egypt and Syria. It occasionally helped protect other US allies (like King Hussein of Jordan) and its military prowess forced Moscow to spend more on backing its own client states. It also provided useful intelligence about Soviet capabilities. (1)

However, backing Israel has come at a price.

The October War or Yom Kippur War , that began with a surprise attack by an Arab coalition on Israel, led to a near-confrontation between the two nuclear superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. The U.S. provided $2.2 billion in military aid to Israel, while the Soviets backed Egypt and Syria.

The U.S. support of Israel, triggered an OPEC oil embargo creating the 1973 Energy Crisis, which inflicted considerable damage on Western economies. And while Arab Nations ignited this war, it was in response to Israeli aggression.

And when the Americans needed them, Israel did not deliver.

The US could not, for example, rely on Israel when the Iranian Revolution in 1979 raised concerns about the security of oil supplies, and had to create its own Rapid Deployment Force instead.

The first Gulf War revealed the extent to which Israel was becoming a strategic burden. The US could not use Israeli bases without rupturing the anti-Iraq coalition, and had to divert resources (e.g. Patriot missile batteries) to prevent Tel Aviv doing anything that might harm the alliance against Saddam Hussein. History repeated itself in 2003: although Israel was eager for the US to attack Iraq, Bush could not ask it to help without triggering Arab opposition. So Israel stayed on the sidelines once again. (1)

Allies in the War on Terror

Since the War on Terror is becoming a war between the United States and Arab Nations, or terrorist groups originating in the Arab World, many believe that Washington should then give Israel a free hand in dealing with the Palestinians and not press it to make concessions until all Palestinian terrorists are imprisoned or dead. They also feel that the US should go after countries like Iran and Syria, as shared enemies of Israel.

Israel is thus seen as a crucial ally in the war on terror, because its enemies are America’s enemies. In fact, Israel is a liability in the war on terror and the broader effort to deal with rogue states. ‘Terrorism’ is not a single adversary, but a tactic employed by a wide array of political groups. The terrorist organisations that threaten Israel do not threaten the United States, except when it intervenes against them (as in Lebanon in 1982). Moreover, Palestinian terrorism is not random violence directed against Israel or ‘the West’; it is largely a response to Israel’s prolonged campaign to colonise the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

More important, saying that Israel and the US are united by a shared terrorist threat has the causal relationship backwards: the US has a terrorism problem in good part because it is so closely allied with Israel, not the other way around. Support for Israel is not the only source of anti-American terrorism, but it is an important one, and it makes winning the war on terror more difficult. [and] Israel’s nuclear arsenal is one reason some of its neighbours want nuclear weapons, and threatening them with regime change merely increases that desire. (1)

Being "unapologetic supporters of Israel" is not in Canada's best interest. We have to look at the big picture. Suggesting that any enemy of Israel is an enemy of ours, is a dangerous precedent to set. It might help the Harper government politically, but what could it mean for us?

Sources:

1. The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, By: John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, London Review of Books, March 23, 2006