Dear Israel Lobby, We Give Up

[justdrew]

ahh come on... lay off the shark attack routine people. blood in the water!

Let's just calm down. I don't think there's any concerted effort to sow some abstract or otherwise hatred here. some people's buttons seem a bit pushed. no need to keep pushing. unnecessary responses are unnecessary and only unnecessarily prolong unnecessary unhelpful engagement.



and by the way, if anyone needs any help with anything, PM me.

[AlicetheKurious]

Sheldon Adelson and the End of American Anti-Semitism
Eric Alterman
February 8, 2012 | This article appeared in the February 27, 2012 edition of The Nation.


Las Vegas Sands Chief Executive Officer Sheldon Adelson speaks during a media briefing in Singapore December 21, 2009. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash
 
If a Jew-hater somewhere, inspired perhaps by The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, sought to invent an individual who symbolizes almost all the anti-Semitic clichés that have dogged the Jewish people throughout history, he could hardly come up with a character more perfect than Sheldon Adelson.
 
Think about it. Adelson, who likes to brag, “You know, I am the richest Jew in the world,” is a gambling magnate who is reported to be under criminal investigation for official bribery and has been accused of having widespread ties to organized crime, including the use of prostitution for his business interests. He is openly deploying his $22 billion fortune to pervert our democracy on behalf of what he believes to be the best interests of Israel, which he defines as an endless war by the Jewish state against its adversaries, with America offering its unquestioning support.

When it comes to Israel, Adelson is as hawkish as they come. He told the Jewish Week, “The two-state solution is a stepping stone for the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people.” He withdrew his financial support to then–Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert when the latter became serious about peace negotiations. He even found AIPAC a bit wishy-washy for his taste and cut it off, as well. Significantly, he remains a big supporter of Bibi Netanyahu, and has gone so far as to fund a free Fox News–style Israeli newspaper devoted to cheerleading for his right-wing policies and attacking all who disagree.

In the United States, Adelson owes his recent prominence to the roughly $10 million he and his wife have contributed to Newt Gingrich’s kamikaze presidential campaign. While Adelson no doubt shares some views on domestic policy with Gingrich, including possibly his barely concealed racist hatemongering against the man he calls the “food stamp president,” among others, it is on Middle East policy where the two have really bonded.

During the current campaign, for instance, Gingrich has referred to the Palestinians as an “invented” people who “had a chance to go many places” but presumably preferred a life of military occupation. He has endorsed Israel’s illegal seizure of Palestinian land in Jerusalem and elsewhere—contrary to Netanyahu’s promises to refrain from doing so—and refers to a possible Israeli attack on Iran as “an act of self-defense,” suggesting that the United States should do all it can to help.

Interestingly, as Wayne Barrett has pointed out in the Daily Beast, these positions represent an almost complete reversal of the positions Gingrich held before he began rolling in Adelson’s riches. For instance, in 2005 he wrote an article urging the “Palestinian diaspora” to invest in “their ancestral lands,” and went so far as to propose that Congress “establish a program of economic aid for the Palestinians to match the aid the U.S. government provides Israel.” Gingrich even said that the US government should defend “the Palestinian people’s right to have a decent amount of land” and condemned “the desire of some Israelis to use security as an excuse to grab more Palestinian land.” Such actions, he argued,

should be blocked by Washington even if that requires employing financial or other leverage to compel the Israeli government to behave reasonably on the issue of settlements. It is vital to our credibility in the entire Middle East that we insist on an end to Israeli expansionism. It is vital to our humanitarian duty to the Palestinian people that we protect the weaker party from the stronger power. It is vital that the world sees that our total support for Israeli security is not matched by a one-sided support for more extreme Israeli territorial goals.

It is at least theoretically possible that Gingrich’s 180-degree reversal on Israel/Palestine has nothing to do with the tens of millions of dollars that Adelson might make available to fund his future. Then again, it could hardly have escaped Newt’s notice that without the Adelson millions, he’d have had bubkes in his campaign kitty with which to beat up on Bain Capital.

It’s not as if the Adelson/Gingrich relationship has escaped scrutiny in the media or even editorial condemnation. But virtually all the attention has focused on the ability of any wealthy individual to exploit the post–Citizens United landscape for his own agenda. Nobody has noted—at least not in public—that the agenda in question happens to be the one to which Jews accused of “dual loyalty” or of being “Israel-firsters” are alleged to have dedicated themselves. How can it be that the self-proclaimed “richest Jew in the world” can buy the foreign policy of a major party’s potential presidential candidate on behalf of a vision of endless Israeli aggression—up to and including US support for yet another potentially disastrous pre-emptive attack—and the historically abused entity of “the Jews” has somehow escaped the blame?

Don’t get me wrong. While I lack sympathy for pretty much everything Adelson and Gingrich seek to accomplish, I am unabashedly thrilled that the bugaboo of anti-Semitic accusation is almost nowhere to be found. But given the near-complete disappearance of this once wholly respectable American prejudice, one must ask why so many organizations in the American Jewish community—along with their neoconservative allies in the media and policy world—remain so intently focused on this problem. Is it that the past has left them so psychologically invested in a now-discredited discourse that they lack the ability to see reality for what it is and devote themselves to more worthy causes? Or do at least some of them, as I implied in my last column, find the accusation so politically useful against Israel’s critics that they prefer to level this nefarious accusation rather than argue the merits of their position?

Yes.

[Searcher08]

The MSM media in the US has very little bandwidth for any questioning of Israel-centric policies.
... I dont see how more bandwidth for opinions that disagree can be created unless purchased - and the LACK of purchase by, for example the Saudis or Gulf Kingdoms shows where their money lies.

The shifting of MSM 'discourse' to imply that criticism is inherently anti-Semitic, the toleration of hate as long as it is pro-Israeli...
... I think this is changing somewhat, particularly thanks to the alternative media

Candidates of either party who question Israeli policies or the parameters of the US relationship with Israel are bullied and vilified (Ron Paul) or destroyed at re-election (Cynthia McKinney).
...Party members on both sides are purchased via lobbying, with representatives now representing lobbyists, not constituents. They are crackwhores, not servants of the people.


MSM Media is filled with Israeli checkpoints eg Wilf Bluster, which provide filtration of any anti-Israel messages.
... this will not be changed because financial backers will not tolerate it. There is the lobbying equivalent of IsraelFriendlyRatings and if your show falls too low, it isnt going to be around.

At the root of all of this is MONEY.

Just as the Saudis buy the support of their Sunni population by keeping them spoilt and fat, so the zionist lobby spend for results.

I think it REALLY bears repeating that if the above media landscape was populated with 'Russian-Firsters' who had bought the Putin-centric influence of almost all American politicians using money obtained from the Mafiya and were effectively boasting America was 'Russia's bitch' there would be outrage.

I think the broad choices come back to re-engineering the media and financial systems (unlikely as it would actively be against the perceived self-interest in financial terms at any rate)
OR
the active creation of new paradigms of interaction, relationship, resource and information sharing while at the same time pressing for transparency and accountability as much as possible within the existing system.

What do you do if you are living inside a system which has evolved to the point where it's further evolution is impossible?

[American Dream]

It’s not as if the Adelson/Gingrich relationship has escaped scrutiny in the media or even editorial condemnation. But virtually all the attention has focused on the ability of any wealthy individual to exploit the post–Citizens United landscape for his own agenda. Nobody has noted—at least not in public—that the agenda in question happens to be the one to which Jews accused of “dual loyalty” or of being “Israel-firsters” are alleged to have dedicated themselves. How can it be that the self-proclaimed “richest Jew in the world” can buy the foreign policy of a major party’s potential presidential candidate on behalf of a vision of endless Israeli aggression—up to and including US support for yet another potentially disastrous pre-emptive attack—and the historically abused entity of “the Jews” has somehow escaped the blame?

Don’t get me wrong. While I lack sympathy for pretty much everything Adelson and Gingrich seek to accomplish, I am unabashedly thrilled that the bugaboo of anti-Semitic accusation is almost nowhere to be found. But given the near-complete disappearance of this once wholly respectable American prejudice, one must ask why so many organizations in the American Jewish community—along with their neoconservative allies in the media and policy world—remain so intently focused on this problem. Is it that the past has left them so psychologically invested in a now-discredited discourse that they lack the ability to see reality for what it is and devote themselves to more worthy causes? Or do at least some of them, as I implied in my last column, find the accusation so politically useful against Israel’s critics that they prefer to level this nefarious accusation rather than argue the merits of their position?

Yes.

So herein lies a key concern: making clear the bogus "anti-Semitism" charges of rank opportunists like the ADL, Phyllis Chesler et al is clearly seen as different from the very real anti-Semitism of Stxrmfrxnt, Willis Carto, and maybe even...David Icke...

[Searcher08]

It’s not as if the Adelson/Gingrich relationship has escaped scrutiny in the media or even editorial condemnation. But virtually all the attention has focused on the ability of any wealthy individual to exploit the post–Citizens United landscape for his own agenda. Nobody has noted—at least not in public—that the agenda in question happens to be the one to which Jews accused of “dual loyalty” or of being “Israel-firsters” are alleged to have dedicated themselves. How can it be that the self-proclaimed “richest Jew in the world” can buy the foreign policy of a major party’s potential presidential candidate on behalf of a vision of endless Israeli aggression—up to and including US support for yet another potentially disastrous pre-emptive attack—and the historically abused entity of “the Jews” has somehow escaped the blame?

Don’t get me wrong. While I lack sympathy for pretty much everything Adelson and Gingrich seek to accomplish, I am unabashedly thrilled that the bugaboo of anti-Semitic accusation is almost nowhere to be found. But given the near-complete disappearance of this once wholly respectable American prejudice, one must ask why so many organizations in the American Jewish community—along with their neoconservative allies in the media and policy world—remain so intently focused on this problem. Is it that the past has left them so psychologically invested in a now-discredited discourse that they lack the ability to see reality for what it is and devote themselves to more worthy causes? Or do at least some of them, as I implied in my last column, find the accusation so politically useful against Israel’s critics that they prefer to level this nefarious accusation rather than argue the merits of their position?

Yes.

So herein lies a key concern: making clear the bogus "anti-Semitism" charges of rank opportunists like the ADL, Phyllis Chesler et al is clearly seen as different from the very real anti-Semitism of Stxrmfrxnt, Willis Carto, and maybe even...David Icke...

Do you really think the activities of David Icke are as significant as a potential nuclear war, BOUGHT by a possible crime boss?

Heres the thing - that is an UTTERLY bogus comparison. To equate sturmfrent or the entire far right with the same degree of influence as zionist media is demonstrably pants. Utterly nonsense logic. Argumentation from False Equivalence.

You also lump together Icke and the Far Right which is bollocks, even Wikipedia doesnt see truth in that.

I wondered how long it would be before you brought David Icke into the picture... why not start a thread about him and post the Vampire post about the Annunaki... for the sixth time.

Going back to the OP AGAIN
the article misses the Russian-Firster argument. This is about something which isnt JUST about money power buying whores of influence.

It seems strange how these threads about Israel always always start bogging down in the swamp of fascists and anti-semitism and David frikkin Icke.

[JackRiddler]

Do you really think the activities of David Icke are as significant as a potential nuclear war, BOUGHT by a possible crime boss?

No. Do you really think choosing to break your own leg is the right way to win a boxing match? The point is, David Icke shouldn't even be in this discussion. The point is, fuck David Icke. Anyone quoting him as though he's any different from Scientology or any of 38 two-bit conspiratainment merchant whores is no enemy of the potential nuclear war, they're just a small quantum of contribution to the confusionist atmosphere that leaves people helpless and raises the chances of disaster. David Icke is less important to the world than his spiritual cousin, the pitch-man for mail-order junk on late night TV. But you're not talking about that guy here, are you, even though his relevance is the same? So those who reflexively defend Icke and grant him significance really have to ask themselves what the fuck their problem is, that they bother. Fuck David Icke. Forget David Icke. Get over him. Leave this embarrassing clown behind you. Otherwise, accept that when you get shit about David Icke in the middle of more important discussions, you are the one who stuck "David Icke" on your own forehead.

.

[Searcher08]

Do you really think the activities of David Icke are as significant as a potential nuclear war, BOUGHT by a possible crime boss?


No. Do you really think choosing to break your own leg is the right way to win a boxing match? The point is, David Icke shouldn't even be in this discussion.

... So stop bringing him in.


The point is, fuck David Icke.

... No the point is stop bringing him in if he isnt fucking relevant.

Anyone quoting him as though he's any different from Scientology or any of 38 two-bit conspiratainment merchant whores is no enemy of the potential nuclear war, they're just a small quantum of contribution to the confusionist atmosphere that leaves people helpless and raises the chances of disaster.

... I think the evidence would point to Adelson as having a pretty direct causality regarding WW3 rather than my quoting David Icke. What the fuck is a 'confusionist atmosphere that leaves people helpless'? That is just so EASY, saying "WAAAH Everything is just so CONFUSING, so IM DISEMPOWERED." What a cop out against actually thinking for yourself. Perhaps you can point out where I have even used him in an argument? Or have you been so fucking brainwashed by AD's Icke monomania that you cant see my avatar without thinking 'Ooooo S08 thinks we are surrounded by 4D reptiles'.

David Icke is less important to the world than his spiritual cousin, the pitch-man for mail-order junk on late night TV. But you're not talking about that guy here, are you, even though his relevance is the same?

... Why are you addressing this to me? I'm not the person who brought him up. I was trying to get back to the OP and YOU brought him up as well.

So those who reflexively defend Icke and grant him significance really have to ask themselves what the fuck their problem is, that they bother.

... My fucking problem isnt David Icke, it is people derailing every fucking thread about Israel or the middle east with David Icke cartoons and fucking Annunaki articles. A fucking problem which you dont have, obviously. My fucking problem is EVERY SINGLE ISRAEL RELATED ISSUE being put through a "OOooo We haver to be very CAREFUL here, there are fascists that think the same, its all P O I S O N and we'll be C O N T A M I N A T E D!!!". I dont appreciate being told what is acceptable or not to think about. I dont have a frikken desire for a DANGER! DANGER!! WILL ROBINSON!!! SIX DEGREES OF FASCISM game.


Fuck David Icke. Forget David Icke. Get over him. Leave this embarrassing clown behind you. Otherwise, accept that when you get shit about David Icke in the middle of more important discussions, you are the one who stuck "David Icke" on your own forehead.

... Really? Maybe it's just more about OTHER people attempting to tattoo that label on my forehead, and me telling them every so sweetly and politely to go fuck themselves? I have no issue whatsoever with people telling me they disagree passionately with everything I say, but I do have an issue with people who think they have some sort of authority over my thinking autonomy. I also have an issue with trying to establish facts rather than dealing in theory and RI is a place where is someone is engaging in persistent misrepresentation, no matter what it is, someone somewhere will object.
This post bring up difficult issues that deserve noise free attention IMHO.


Back to the OP....
Does this actually show that America's foreign policy has now been purchased by a foreign state for it's own benefit?












.[/quote]

[American Dream]

Does this actually show that America's foreign policy has now been purchased by a foreign state for it's own benefit?

I don't think it's necessarily true or useful to present things in such absolute terms- the evidence supports a picture that is much, much more complex than that.

Let's not forget that the Global Hegemon is involved in a complex set of relationships with: client-states. junior partners and others, all around the planet.

The machinations of Adelson, the ongoing aggression against Iran and etcetera are all clearly very bad; the bigger question about what it all means will never fit easily into any sort of simple model...

[sunny]

My fucking problem isnt David Icke, it is people derailing every fucking thread about Israel or the middle east with David Icke cartoons and fucking Annunaki articles. A fucking problem which you dont have, obviously. My fucking problem is EVERY SINGLE ISRAEL RELATED ISSUE being put through a "OOooo We haver to be very CAREFUL here, there are fascists that think the same, its all P O I S O N and we'll be C O N T A M I N A T E D!!!". I dont appreciate being told what is acceptable or not to think about. I dont have a frikken desire for a DANGER! DANGER!! WILL ROBINSON!!! SIX DEGREES OF FASCISM game.

to all of it but especially the bolded.

I suppose if we let them, and if they really really wanted to, fascists could contaminate every issue progressives and leftists care about. Then we can sit back and complain how we can't do anything about anything because the fascists might show up.

Fuck the fascists.

[AlicetheKurious]

Does this actually show that America's foreign policy has now been purchased by a foreign state for it's own benefit?

Yeah, with a twist: the foreign state doesn't spend a penny of its own money, or pay in any other way!!! The American people pay for all of it, in blood and money and even freedom! And, as if that weren't enough, they're forced to BORROW to pay for it!

What we're talking about is a big, fat scam being perpetrated in broad daylight, that a child could see through if it weren't for all the shrill warnings, wailing sirens and flashing "danger" signs ordering you not to go there.

Because the problem is YOU, get it? Still undeterred? Now it's you who will be accused of all kinds of terrible things: Nazism, White Supremacism, Ickean conspiracy theorism, Right-winger, etc., and, naturally, you'll try to defend yourself. By this time, it's become all about YOU, and everybody's finding it hard to remember what the original topic was, being discussed.

If none of the mud-balls stick to you, that's when the pompous, self-righteous, self-described "activist" will then condescendingly lecture you on how "complex" and inscrutable it all is, far beyond your little pea-brain's capacity to comprehend. Sometimes he'll even start pontificating in gibberish and throw impenetrably vague terms around like "Global Hegemon", etc., to prove it.

Finally, you've either backed down or are banging your head against a wall in frustration, but there's a good chance you'll think twice before opening up that can of worms again.

Or at least, that's how it used to work.

[American Dream]

I suppose if we let them, and if they really really wanted to, fascists could contaminate every issue progressives and leftists care about. Then we can sit back and complain how we can't do anything about anything because the fascists might show up.

Fuck the fascists.

Yes, exactly. It's very, very important to keep an eye out for the very real racists and fascists out there who clearly do have plans to target not only conspiracy circles but also Palestinian solidarity work.

The next question then concerns: where we do draw the line in order to keep such negative forces at bay, so that the real work, the vitally important work, can be as effective as possible in fulfilling its crucially important mission.

If you think all of this has little or nothing to do with the conspiracy community, or the movement in support of human rights for Palestinians, then think again...

[Searcher08]

Does this actually show that America's foreign policy has now been purchased by a foreign state for it's own benefit?

I don't think it's necessarily true or useful to pose things in such absolute terms- the evidence is much, much more complex than that.

Let's not forget that the Global Hegemon is involved in a complex set of relationships with client-states. junior partners and others, around the planet.

That said, Adelson, the aggression against Iran and etcetera are all clearly very bad; te bigger question about what it all means will never fit well into a simple model...

I am not positing a model here however I think YOU YOURSELF ARE, a model which involves concepts such as 'Global Hegemon', 'client states', 'junior partners' on a global basis.

My context is looking at 'who is buying what'. What it looks like to me is that a Los Vegas gambling casino billionaire, with publicly discussed mafia connections, will be buying political candidates to ensure alignment of their policies with a foreign country.

If it was just money buying US foreign policy influence, then we would expect to see a spread of influence - as different foreign factions competed with cash on the table. A diversity of money sources would lead to a diversity of foreign policy alignments regarding each country, including Israel - however this is not the case with Israel, AFAICS.

[sunny]

If you have vitally important work that is crucially important then I think where you draw the line is letting other people define your motivations for you. You just fucking do the work and let your actions speak for themselves. If some supercilious fruitcakes wants to believe I'm contaminated because I believe in an issue a fascist had his sticky fingers on for utterly different reasons, that is the problem of the supercilious fruitcakes not mine.

[American Dream]

I am not positing a model here however I think YOU YOURSELF ARE, a model which involves concepts such as 'Global Hegemon', 'client states', 'junior partners' on a global basis.

Sure I am- this is what's called having a point of view.

My critique of you was more about having an overly simplistic model, and then squeezing what should be a very complex set of data to fit within a model that veers to close to a binary to really encompass what is going on.

[American Dream]

If you have vitally important work that is crucially important then I think where you draw the line is letting other people define your motivations for you. You just fucking do the work and let your actions speak for themselves. If some supercilious fruitcakes wants to believe I'm contaminated because I believe in an issue a fascist had his sticky fingers on for utterly different reasons, that is the problem of the supercilious fruitcakes not mine.

Problem is, that work for social change is generally not just a question of the individual. We need movements also.

Given the use of opportunistic charges of "anti-Semitism" as an all-purpose weapon, then clearly we do want to differentiate between the Far Right with its reactionaries, racists and fascists and a more legitimate movement for Social Justice.

How could this not make sense?