Elite lobbyists and the Jews they don't represent

In this posting, the principal article is by Stanley Kutler, placed third after two short items about the Senate bill on Iran and nuclear weapons which he discusses, and the keypoints of AIPAC’s lobbying intervention. Photos and Notes and links emphasise the (dangerous) hostility to Jews in politics that the crude, overreaching and overmighty AIPAC has provoked.

Avraham Burg, one-time Speaker of Knesset and ‘renegade political royalty’ – but barred from speaking at Harvard by the governing body [see last item].  He created “A party that will sail far beyond the paradigms of classic Zionism, which to this day ignores the place of Israel’s Arabs. A party that will demand full equality for all Israel’s citizens, the kind of equality we demand for the Jews in the Diaspora wherever they live.…Those who vote for [Shivyon Yisrael] and its candidates will accept the definition of Israel as ‘a state whose regime is democratic and egalitarian, and which belongs to all its citizens and communities. The state in which the Jewish people have chosen to renew their sovereignty and where they realize their right to self-determination’.” (jewschool.com)

On Iran, senators defy White House, threaten new sanctions

By Joby Warrick and Karen DeYoung, Washington Post, December 20 2013

EXCERPT

A bipartisan group of 26 senators introduced legislation Thursday that threatened new sanctions against Iran, dismissing warnings from the White House that such a move could scuttle efforts to peacefully resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.

The bill, called the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013, drew a rebuke from the Obama administration and highlighted deep divisions among Senate Democrats on whether to heap new pressures on Tehran’s government while sensitive diplomacy is underway.

Hours after the bill’s introduction, a separate group of senior Democrats revealed in a letter that U.S. intelligence agencies had cautioned lawmakers in private briefings about the consequences of new sanctions. A Dec. 10 intelligence assessment had concluded that new punitive measures would “undermine the prospects for a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran,” according to the letter, signed by 10 Democrats.

AJC Supports Bipartisan Senate Bill on Iran Sanctions

NEW YORK, Dec. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — AJC applauded Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Charles Schumer (D-NY), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for spearheading a new bipartisan Senate bill on Iran. AJC is urging Senators to move expeditiously to adopt the measure, the Nuclear Free Iran Act of 2013, introduced today with 26 Senators co-sponsoring.

“Until there are tangible, verifiable deeds by Iran to permanently end its quest for nuclear-weapons capability, Congress is doing the right thing, sending a strong message to Iran that it will pay a heavy price if a permanent agreement on its nuclear program is not achieved,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris. AJC earlier this month sent a letter to all Senators urging them to support the preparation of new sanctions.

AJC has conveyed appreciation for the efforts of the Administration and the other P5+1 governments negotiating with Iran. At the same time, Harris emphasized that the new sanctions should be held in reserve to “underscore the seriousness of America’s determination — and the consequences of an Iranian failure to act in good faith.”

“AJC has long believed in a diplomatic, not a military, solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis, and has advocated for the toughest possible economic measures to persuade Iran to desist from its nuclear-weapons quest,” said Harris.

“Sanctions work,” said Harris. “What prompted Iran to come to the negotiations in Geneva with the P5+1 nations – the increasing toll of sanctions — remains essential for ensuring that Tehran is committed to negotiating a final agreement to end its nuclear-weapons program.”

Numerous questions have arisen since the Geneva deal announced on November 23, and at least one P5+1 country, France, has expressed serious doubts about the Iranian commitment to reach a final deal.

“Iran’s charge that Congress will cause the collapse of the interim deal is a diversionary tactic,” said Harris. “If Iran is serious about a deal, then Iran has nothing whatsoever to fear from the bipartisan Senate initiative.”

The Senate measure includes a provision for President Obama to waive sanctions if the Administration can certify that Iran is complying with the Geneva deal and negotiating in good faith on a final agreement.

America Must Stand with Israel.

By AIPAC

Key Points

The United States must prevent a nuclear weapon capable Iran.

1: Iran must not be allowed to achieve a nuclear breakout capability in which it could rapidly develop nuclear arms. A nuclear Iran would likely signal the death knell of the global non-proliferation regime, embolden Tehran and destabilize the Middle East.

Diplomacy must be backed by the threat of new sanctions

2: Negotiations with Iran must be backed by the threat of additional sanctions and existing sanctions must be fully enforced.

America must stand with Israel

3: The United States must back Israel if it feels compelled in its own legitimate self-defense to take military action against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.

‘Israel Can Do No Wrong’: Jewish Dissent, Jewish Repression

By Stanley Kutler, Truthdig
December 30, 2013

American Jews are expected by the Israeli government and by its American lobbying arms, such as AIPAC, to unequivocally support Israel against its very real enemies, but also against any criticism whether from abroad or within the American Jewish community. The prevailing mode is “Israel can do no wrong,” and AIPAC demands American Jews march in lockstep. But Israeli policies of the moment can and do betray values held by a large swath of American Jewry, including their independence of mind and the right to dissent, whether as Americans or as Jews.

The moment is difficult. Benjamin Netanyahu’s embarrassing, intemperate outbursts after the interim agreement between the United States and its allies and Iran further isolated Israel diplomatically. But the Israeli prime minister continues to work the back door as he recently announced that he had dispatched a delegation of Israeli military and intelligence experts to “advise” their American counterparts regarding Iran. We can be certain that he did not send any prominent and numerous Israeli experts who have courageously opposed his adventurism.

Now comes a “bipartisan” group of U.S. senators determined to join Israel in isolation. They are motivated by little else than electoral fears and campaign contributions. They have offered legislation imposing new, more severe sanctions on Iran at a most inopportune time, and a pledge of American diplomatic and military support if the Israelis attack Iran. Talk about blank checks. Israeli lobby groups such as AIPAC actively support the measure, meaning so does the Israeli government. It seemed inconceivable that anything could surpass Netanyahu’s audacity and obtuseness. Maybe Congress dysfunctional is better than it is functional.

Since Barack Obama emerged on the national political scene, there has been a sub-current of belief that he was “bad for the Jews,” and would undermine the Israelis. Given Obama’s circle of Jewish friends, financial backers and ardent supporters, this was absurd on its face. But the underlying motivation is obvious—start with racism and the belief that Obama is a covert Muslim. Such whispered sentiments became commonplace in influential Israeli circles—the governing Likud party, religious parties and settlers. The proposed congressional action is intended to embrace an Israeli alliance as never before, and, added bonus, embarrass the president of the United States, which makes for good spin in Israel.

By Gabriel Matthew Schivone [above] on joining the 2011 flotilla to Gaza: ” I am one of a growing number of young American Jews who are determined to shake off an assumed – and largely imposed – association with Israel. Prominent advocacy organizations, such as the American Jewish Committee, which proudly proclaim their unconditional support of Israel, for several years have been declaring their “serious concern” over the increasing “distancing” of young American Jews from the state.” Photo  by Bud Korotzer

American Jews do not support such knee-jerk reactions. Polls consistently show backing for Obama at a very high level; further, they reject (albeit passively) the Israeli maintenance of the occupation and oppose an Israeli airstrike against Iran. It is not rocket science to see the downside for both Israelis and Americans if Iran is attacked. Would it destroy Iran’s future capability to develop nuclear weapons? Would it destroy Iran’s peaceful nuclear development—to which it has every right, notwithstanding Israel’s singular objections? And then what of Israel’s place in the international community—let alone the United States’ pre-eminent role in international leadership?

Fortunately, a counterweight of 10 other senators, significantly including the heads of the Senate Banking, Intelligence, Armed Services, Appropriations, Judiciary and Energy committees, warned that additional sanctions now would only “play into the hands of those in Iran who are most eager to see negotiations fail.” Only fear and possibly politeness prevented them from saying that it also played into the hands of Israeli elements who oppose any settlement with Iran. Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Carl Levin, D-Mich.—and not insignificantly, they are Jewish—only delicately criticized their bellicose colleagues, as did the administration’s chief spokesman, Secretary of State John Kerry.

Beyond the international flap, American Jews ought to be concerned about how controversial Israeli positions and statements are causing significant cleavages within our own Jewish community. An undeservedly little-known website, MuzzleWatch, which is devoted to tracking the stifling of open debate about American-Israeli foreign policy, is most instructive.

MuzzleWatch reported an incident at Harvard in November, when the university’s Hillel student organization barred Avraham Burg, the former speaker of the Israeli Knesset, from giving a speech in its building. The governing body, not the students, complained that the talk was co-sponsored by the Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee, as well as several Jewish pro-peace groups. (Burg instead spoke at a dorm.) A Harvard student appropriately responded that this was “an attack on free speech in its most naked form.” “I’m not sure what they were afraid of—people with all kinds of political views had a very constructive conversation with Mr. Burg,” she added. Are we to believe that nearly 8 million Israeli Jews think alike?

Burg is a well-known Israeli political figure; his father was the longtime minister for religious affairs in Israel’s founding decades. Views such as his apparently are dangerous for the tender minds of Harvard students. In 2003, he published an article in, of all places, Israel Today, a right-wing Israeli newspaper owned by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, in which Burg observed: “Israel, having ceased to care about the children of the Palestinians, should not be surprised when they come washed in hatred and blow themselves up in the centers of Israeli escapism.”

Burg is reviled in Israel for breaking the country’s long-standing “nuclear ambiguity” and denounced as a self-hating Jew because of his criticism of the religious establishment and the occupation, among other deviations from the now-prevailing nationalist, right-wing Israeli ideology. Commentary magazine denounced his attempt to define a post-Zionist Israeli state as an exercise in “despising Israeli democracy.”

Swarthmore College’s Hillel chapter also tried to have a balanced discussion of the Palestinian question, but the governing body prevented it. Later, apropos of nothing, the chapter was vigorously denounced by the notoriously intemperate John Podhoretz, the hereditary editor of Commentary.

John Podhoretz, inherited the editorship and the push to the Right of Commentary, from his father Norman Podhoretz

Parenthetically, the latter affair illustrates only too sadly what the media choose to report. Politico described a public panel discussion as strictly a personality clash between some well-known names in the Jewish community over snubs and insults, real or alleged. MuzzleWatch, however, noted that the outburst was over the very real repression at Swarthmore.

The Swarthmore Hillel student board’s reaction to the clumsy attempt at censorship undoubtedly triggered Podhoretz’s outburst. Hillel International’s declared policy prohibits student groups from partnering with organizations or hosting speakers who deny Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, or who “[d]elegitimize, demonize, or apply a double standard to Israel,” or who support any boycott of, divestment from or sanctions against Israel.

The students responded with a direct attack on the barring of speakers such as Burg. Such policies, they declared, insulted the memory of their namesake, Rabbi Hillel, “who was famed for encouraging debate.” They attacked attempts to present “a monolithic face pertaining to Zionism that does not accurately reflect the diverse opinions of young American Jews.” The Swarthmore chapter then declared itself to be an “Open Hillel,” one that would encourage “dialogue within the diverse and pluralistic Jewish student body”—meaning that it would host a partner or any speaker at its own discretion and retain “the values of open debate and discourse espoused by Rabbi Hillel.”

Beyond AIPAC’s destructive—and let us hope, self-defeating—lobbying efforts, American Jews should be concerned with what is happening in their own communities. AIPAC and its like-minded allies in the United States can praise Israeli democracy, but first they must respect American democracy. The Israeli government and the various lobby groups in the United States would do well to heed the stark reality of polls revealing ever-declining support for Israel among younger American Jews.

The sponsors of the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act, 2013

Senators Menendez (D-NJ), Kirk, Schumer (D-NY), Graham, Cardin (D-MD), McCain, Casey (D-PA), Rubio, Coons (D-DE), Cornyn, Blumenthal (D-CT), Ayotte, Begich D-AK, Corker, Pryor (D-AR), Collins, Landrieu (D-LA), Moran, Gillibrand (D-NY), Roberts, Warner (D-Va), Johanns, Hagan (D-NC), Cruz, Donnelly (D-IN), Blunt and Booker (D-NJ)

Muzzlewatch

Tracking efforts to stifle open debate about US-Israeli foreign policy.

Hostility to AIPAC

The efforts of AIPAC to secure unconditional support and money for Israel from the US have prompted an increasing number of hostile reactions, including the campaign Expose AIPAC. The unintended consequence of AIPAC’s slavish and costly efforts is that it feeds antisemitic beliefs in Jewish money and conspiratorial political control.