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Monday, November 10, 2008

Who Is The President Elect - Obama or AIPAC?

by Sarah Meyer
Index Research

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Updated 19 July 2009

I know that when I visit AIPAC I am among friends. Barack Obama.

"Color does not matter when you are in the service of White racist leadership." Jafar Syed .

It is important that President Obama hear well-reasoned, fact-based viewpoints which differ from main-line views. There has been no progress under Bush on so many issues because he disliked discussion and dissent. There will be no progress on Israel/Palestine, for example, if no-one outside of the umbra of AIPAC advises Obama. Peter Beaumont.

1. Rahm Emanuel
2. Dennis Ross
3. Meanwhile, No Change
4. Updates (Summers, Clinton, VP Biden, Pelosi, C. Freeman)
5. References

Too much hope, expectations that are too high, are both pathological and produce their shadow pathology - disappointment. We saw this earlier after the congressional elections; we are now seeing it again.

1. RAHM EMANUEL

Benjamin M. Emanuel, (Wikipedia)

Irgun (Wikipedia)

Rahm Emanuel (Wikipedia)

The Enforcer
20.10.08. J. Green, Rolling Stone. Friends and enemies agree that the key to Emanuel's success is his legendary intensity. There's the story about the time he sent a rotting fish to a pollster who had angered him. There's the story about how his right middle finger was blown off by a Syrian tank when he was in the Israeli army. And there's the story of how, the night after Clinton was elected, Emanuel was so angry at the president's enemies that he stood up at a celebratory dinner with colleagues from the campaign, grabbed a steak knife and began rattling off a list of betrayers, shouting "Dead! . . . Dead! . . . Dead!" and plunging the knife into the table after every name. "When he was done, the table looked like a lunar landscape," one campaign veteran recalls. "It was like something out of The Godfather. But that's Rahm for you."

Hail to the Chief of Staff
7-9.11.08. Patrick Cockburn, Counterpunch. The first trumpet blast of change ushers in Rahm Emanuel as Obamas chief of staff and gate keeper. This is the man who arranges his schedule, staffs out the agenda, includes, excludes. Its certainly as sinister an appointment as, say, Carters installation of arch cold-warrior Zbigniev Brzezinski as his National Security Advisor at the dawn of his change is here administration in 1977.

rahm israel emanuel & north american mossad
07.11.08. bodyonthe line. The Wayne Madsen Report. Obama faced with security problem at outset of transition process. WMR has learned from informed U.S. intelligence sources that prospective Barack Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has an active FBI counter-intelligence file maintained on him. Emanuels rise to the Chief of Staff position may pose a significant security problem for President-elect Obama if the FBI insists on conducting the full background security investigation normally required for senior White House officials. Questions about Emanuels links to the Israeli intelligence service, the Mossad, were allegedly so great that President Bill Clinton was forced to dismiss Emanuel from the White House staff in 1998.

Forget the Honeymoon
07.11.08. Justin Raimondo, anti-war. When the House Democratic majority passed a military appropriations bill slated for Iraq, a clause that would have prohibited an attack on Iran without a vote in Congress was deleted at the instigation of Emanuel and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. [Both Pelosi and Emanuel have the nickname, Pitbull} More on JANE HARMON (ambition is matched only by her recklessness) - and AIPAC.

Does Emanuel Appointment Signal Obama Pro-Israel Tilt?
08.11.08. Richard Silverstein, Huff Post. There seems to be a semi-conspiratorial meme developing in the left blogosphere that Rahm Emanuel's appointment as Obama chief of staff (along with Dennis Ross' potential role at State possibly dealing with Iran or Israel-Palestine negotiations) involves a sort of "pro-Israel fix" in which Aipac guarantees itself both access and an administration fully supportive of Israeli interests. I don't buy it.

Rahm Emanuel: Chief of Staff, All-Around Thug
08.11.08. Dark Wraith, uncaptitalist. President-elect Obama promised during his campaign for the presidency to be a consensus-builder; upon winning the election, he said during his victory speech on the night of November 4, "I will listen to you, especially when we disagree." These words appear to ring hollow now that he has put between him and those who would address him a gatekeeper like Rahm Emanuel, who has no tolerance for disagreement and who has crafted a well-earned reputation for intolerance with troubling tendencies for violent expression of his desire to get his own way. Indeed, Rahm Emanuel has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is "from good Irgun stock."

The Promised Land? Obama, Emanuel and Israel
08.11.08. John V. Whitbeck, Counterpunch / global research. That was always likely. Obama repeatedly pledged unconditional allegiance to Israel during his campaign, most memorably in an address to the AIPAC national convention which Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery characterized as "a speech that broke all records for obsequiousness and fawning", and America's electing a black president has always been more easily imagined than any American president's declaring his country's independence from Israeli domination. / The profound loathing and hatred of the Muslim world toward the United States, which has always had its roots for America's unconditional support for the injustices inflicted and still being inflicted on the Palestinians, can fairly be considered the core of the primary foreign policy and "national security" problems confronting the United States in recent years. Why would Obama, a man of unquested brilliance, have chosen to send such a contemptuous message to the Muslim world with his first major appointment? Why would he wish to disabuse the Muslim world of its hopes (however modest) and slap it across the face at the ealiest opportunity?

Conned Again
09.11.08. Paul Craig Roberts, ICH. Indeed, Obamas selection of Rahm Israel Emanuel as White House chief of staff is a signal that change ended with Obamas election. Rahm Israel Emanuel is a supporter of Bushs invasion of Iraq. Emanuel rose to prominence in the Democratic Party as a result of his fundraising connections to AIPAC. / My despondent friends in the Israeli peace movement ask, What is this man doing in Obamas administration? .. / Obamas advisers are drawn from the same gang of Washington thugs and Wall Street banksters. .. / DENNIS ROSS has long associations with the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. .. Ross is chairman of a new Jerusalem-based think tank, the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, funded and founded by the Jewish Agency. .. Clearly, this is not a group of advisors that is going to halt Americas wars against Israels enemies or force the Israeli government to accept the necessary conditions for a real peace in the Middle East. If Obama were to reach outside the usual crowd, anyone suspected of being a bringer of change could not get confirmed by the Senate. Powerful interest groups--AIPAC, the military-security complex, Wall Street--use their political influence to block unacceptable appointments.

Obama Mideast Watch: Rahm Emanuel
09.11.08. Scott MacLeod, Time. After hearing of Emanuel's appointment, the paper headlined its next editorial "Don't pin much hope on Obama." Arab expectations, the paper [Arab News] warned, "are likely to be dashed, generating a great deal of pain and resentment...The new team may turn out to be as pro-Israeli as the one it is replacing." / Arab disappointment aside, there's enough in Emanuel's background to raise a fair question of whether the key appointment of such a demonstratively pro-Israel figure is going to help or hurt the prospects for Obama's avowed plans to play an effective role in brokering Middle East peace.

VIDEO INTERVIEW: Obama and Emanuel (with Robert Parry)

Lessons that should be learned
17.11.08. Dr. James Zogby. Defends Emanuel. Now read rebuttal to Zogby article here .

Is Rahm Emanuel the New Cheney?

2. DENNIS ROSS

Obama's Neocon in Residence
04.11.08. Philip Giraldi, anti-war. The grip that the Israeli lobby has over both political parties means that any real shift in U.S. Middle Eastern policy is unlikely, whoever is elected president today. Discussion on Fox News commentator and WINEPs Ross. Ross reportedly has been helping the Obama campaign formulate positions that AIPAC would be comfortable with.

"The hawkish Hillary Clintons naming of veteran Israel supporter Dennis Ross as her special adviser on Iran and the Gulf suggest she is more interested in building future domestic political support than securing balanced advice." Eric Margolis, Here We Go Again With the Iranian Nuclear Scare [09.03.09]

3. MEANWHILE: NO CHANGE

Obama Camp to US: Curb Your Enthusiasm
09.11.08. anti-war.

Obama Stifles Hope of Change on Iran Relations
09.11.08. anti-war

Pakistans Protests Against US Strikes Fall on Deaf Ears
09.11.08. anti-war
U.S. Military Aid to
Israel
06.03.09. Kathleen and Bill Christison, Counterpunch / ICH. U.S. military aid to Israel is doled out in annual increments of billions of dollars but remains virtually unchallenged while other fiscal outlays are drastically cut.

Obama and Israel's Military: Still Arm-in-Arm
08.03.09. Stephen Zunes, z mag / uruknet. ...Currently, Obama is on record supporting sending up to $30 billion in unconditional military aid to Israel over the next 10 years.

U.S. official: Obama won't cut military aid to Israel
11.03.09. Haaretz. U.S. President Barack Obama will not cut the billions of dollars in military aid promised to Israel, a senior U.S. administration official said Wednesday. / The $30 billion in aid promised to Israel over the next decade will not be harmed by the world financial crisis, the official told Israel Radio. He spoke on condition of anonymity.

US-Israel manufacture consent for war in Iran BUT

U.S. spills the beans on Israel nukes
09.03.09. tehran times. A document approved for publication in late 2008 by the U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) has termed Israel “a nuclear power” on a par with Russia, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea, Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported Sunday. / JFCOM is one of ten combatant commands in the United States Department of Defense, the only command focused on the transformation of U.S. military capabilities.

Will Israel Play Proxy in Iran? (updated 10.03.09)

Iran: No Change in Obama's Diplomacy? (updated 09.03.09)

Obama's Rhetoric vs. Damning Evidence on Guantanamo, Rendition, Torture (updated 10.03.09)

4. UPDATES

LAWRENCE SUMMERS

LAWRENCE SUMMERS: He made a financial mess of Russia; but the US is already in a financial mess. For mess in Russia, see Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine. Chapters 11) Bonfire of a Young Democracy: Russia Chooses "The Pinochet Option"' 12) The Capitalist ID: Russia ad the New Era of the Boor Market; and 21) Losing the Peace Initiative, Israel as Warning.

TEXT: TREASURY SECRETARY SUMMERS' REMARKS AT AIPAC CONFERENCE (22.05.00)

Meersheimer, Walt and Summers.

Keep Larry Summers as Far as Possible from the U.S. Treasury
12.11.08. Mark Ames, The Nation / alternet. In light of all of the corruption and cronyism that have marked the career of Lawrence Summers, why is Obama considering him for treasury secretary?

HILLARY CLINTON

Hillary Clinton

Hillary Rodham Clinton birthday Sunday; in Chicago for AIPAC speech
26.10.08. suntimes.

Hillary Clinton to accept Obama's offer of secretary of state job
17.11.08. Ewen MacAskill, Guardian.

The Irresponsibility of Appointing Hillary Clinton Secretary of State
18.11.08. Bill and Kathleen Christison, Counterpunch / ICH. In 2005 Hillary Clinton stood in Palestine and praised the apartheid wall that the government of Israel was building with large amounts of U.S. aid in furtherance of the Zionist goal of destroying one of the world's peoples -- the Palestinians.

Some in Arab World Wary of Clinton
23.11.08. Washington Post. There is possibly no person President-elect Barack Obama considered for secretary of state who is more reliably pro-Israel than Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), the woman to whom he appears likely to give the job sometime after Thanksgiving.

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN

VP Biden: "I am a Zionist"

You have been warned

This is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama's White House
10.11.08. Jeremy Scahill, AlterNet. A who's who guide to the people poised to shape Obama's foreign policy.

THE PELOSI-AIPAC CONNECTION IS NOT HELPFUL, EITHER

PHOTO rense.com

The Internet intifada
14.11.08. B. Hartman, Haaretz. This is the realm of the "virtual intifada," digital combat played out in cyberspace by intensely partisan pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli activists-cum-hackers, or in the vernacular of the Information Age, "hacktivists." One incarnation of this online political activism has hitched its battlewagon to the stars of social networking, taking advantage of the runaway popularity of sites like Facebook and MySpace. ... / At the forefront of pro-Israel hacktivists are the shock troops organized as the Jewish Internet Defense Force, a group best known for its activities against anti-Israel groups on Facebook. ... / JIDF members also edit content on Wikipedia entries and monitor YouTube and Google Earth. ... / Early on, anti-Israel hackers landed blows against the Web sites of the Foreign Ministry, the Israel Defense Forces and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbying group. AIPAC's site was compromised in November 2000 by a Pakistani hacker who published the personal details and credit card numbers of hundreds of AIPAC supporters. / Pro-Israel hackers returned fire, striking a number of anti-Israel sites, including two sites run by Hezbollah, whose servers crashed after they were overloaded by millions of hits. Sites run by Hamas met a similar fate.

J Street
J Street is the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement. We seek to change the direction of American policy in the Middle East and to broaden the public and policy debate in the U.S. about the Middle East. We support strong American leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli conflicts peacefully and diplomatically.

"if you are not with us ... "

Charles Freeman

The Tactics Of the Israel Lobby
11.03.09. Charles Freeman, WSJ / ICH. I have concluded that the barrage of libelous distortions of my record would not cease upon my entry into office. The effort to smear me and to destroy my credibility would instead continue. I do not believe the National Intelligence Council could function effectively while its chair was under constant attack by unscrupulous people with a passionate attachment to the views of a political faction in a foreign country. I agreed to chair the NIC to strengthen it and protect it against politicization, not to introduce it to efforts by a special interest group to assert control over it through a protracted political campaign. ... I am saddened by what the controversy and the manner in which the public vitriol of those who devoted themselves to sustaining it have revealed about the state of our civil society. It is apparent that we Americans cannot any longer conduct a serious public discussion or exercise independent judgment about matters of great importance to our country as well as to our allies and friends. ...

The libels on me and their easily traceable email trails show conclusively that there is a powerful lobby determined to prevent any view other than its own from being aired, still less to factor in American understanding of trends and events in the Middle East. The tactics of the Israel Lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assassination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods, and an utter disregard for the truth. The aim of this Lobby is control of the policy process through the exercise of a veto over the appointment of people who dispute the wisdom of its views, the substitution of political correctness for analysis, and the exclusion of any and all options for decision by Americans and our government other than those that it favors. ...

There is a special irony in having been accused of improper regard for the opinions of foreign governments and societies by a group so clearly intent on enforcing adherence to the policies of a foreign government – in this case, the government of Israel. I believe that the inability of the American public to discuss, or the government to consider, any option for US policies in the Middle East opposed by the ruling faction in Israeli politics has allowed that faction to adopt and sustain policies that ultimately threaten the existence of the state of Israel. It is not permitted for anyone in the United States to say so. This is not just a tragedy for Israelis and their neighbors in the Middle East; it is doing widening damage to the national security of the United States.

Obama pick quits over Israel lobby
11.03.09. al jazeera. The candidate for a leading US intelligence post has withdrawn his nomination after accusing the country's Israel lobby of plumbing "the depths of dishonour and indecency" to assassinate his character. Charles "Chas" Freeman, a former US ambassador who is now president of the Middle East Policy Council think-tank, had initially agreed to chair the US National Intelligence Council that produces assessments of security issues. But on Tuesday he withdrew his nomination following what he called a "barrage of libellous distortions" of his record by the Israel lobby in the US.

Freeman Withdrawal Marks Victory for Israel Lobby
11.03.09. Daniel Luban and Jim Lobe, anti-war. mb. Chas Freeman withdrew from consideration for a top intelligence post in the Obama administration on Tuesday, following a vitriolic battle that pitted Republican lawmakers and pro-Israel hardliners opposed to his appointment against liberals and members of the intelligence and diplomatic communities who had come to his defense. Freeman's withdrawal came as a surprise to many in Washington, particularly since it came only hours after Adm. Dennis Blair, the administration's director of national intelligence (DNI) who made the appointment, issued a strong defense of Freeman during his testimony before the U.S. Senate.

Timidity Derails Obama Intel Choice
11.03.09. Ray McGovern, consortium. On Tuesday morning, Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair, employed the indicative mood in describing the high value that Chas Freeman, his appointee to head the National Intelligence Council (NIC), will bring to the job — “his long experience and inventive mind,” for example. / By five o’clock that afternoon, Freeman announced that he had asked that his selection “not proceed.”/ Borrowing from George Washington’s Farewell Address the pointed warning against developing a “passionate attachment” to the strategic goals of another nation, Freeman made it clear that he was withdrawing his “previous acceptance” of Blair’s invitation to chair the NIC because of the character assassination of him orchestrated by the Israel Lobby

The Israel lobby's Lexington and Concord
11.03.09. Richard Silverstein, Guardian. Chas Freeman's resignation is the first skirmish in what will be a long war between the Obama administration and the Israel lobby. / This is a very sad day for anyone who really wishes for Israeli-Palestinian peace and a vigorous American role in achieving it.

Israel Stance Was Undoing of Nominee for Intelligence Post
11.03.09. NY Times. Some of Mr. Freeman’s defenders say his views on Israel are extreme only when seen through the lens of American political life, and they asked whether it was possible to question American support for Israel without being either muzzled or marginalized. / “The reality of Washington is that our political landscape finds it difficult to assimilate any criticism of any segment of the Israeli leadership,” said Robert W. Jordan, who was ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 2001 to 2003. . ,,, Five days after Mr. Rosen’s blog item appeared, Senator Schumer telephoned Rahm Emanuel [see above], the White House chief of staff, to ensure that the White House was aware of Mr. Freeman’s past comments about Israel. According to Senator Schumer, his staff then sent the White House copies of the statements.

Israel Lobby Knocks Out Freeman
12.03.09. Melvin A. Goodman, Consortium / anti-war. The forced withdrawal of former U.S. Ambassador Charles “Chas” Freeman as chairman of the National Intelligence Council, which oversees the intelligence community’s assessment of threats to the United States, marks an important defeat for the Obama administration over how far it can go in pursuing Middle East peace. / Washington’s powerful neoconservative establishment led the successful assault against Freeman because of his past criticism of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, as former senior CIA analyst Melvin A. Goodman notes in this guest essay:

Behind the Headlines
13.03.09. Justin Raimondo, anti-war. Forced to withdraw, he took the Israel lobby down with him . Charles "Chas" Freeman from a post as head of the National Intelligence Council is not, as is commonly averred, a victory for the Israel lobby. It is, instead, a Pyrrhic victory – that is, a victory so costly that it really amounts to a defeat for them. Sure, they managed to keep out a trenchant critic of their Israel-centric and grossly distorted view of a proper American foreign policy, and, yes, they managed to smear him and put others on notice that someone with his views is radioactive, as far as a high-level job in the foreign policy establishment is concerned. And yet – and yet …. They – the Lobby – have now been forced out in the open

Interview With Charles Freeman
13.03.09. R. Dreyfuss, Nation.

The Washington Post Has Supported AIPAC

The Real Chas Freeman
11.03.09. C. Lane, Washington Post.

Blame the 'Lobby'
12.03.09. Washington Post. [Freeman- mud-slinging by AIPAC-supporting Washington Post] The article mentions AIPAC's support of Nancy Pelosi [see above]

Rosen sues AIPAC for defamation
11.03.09. JTA. Steve Rosen filed a civil action March 2 in District of Columbia Superior Court seeking $21 million from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, its officers at the time of his dismissal in 2005 and an outside spokesman hired to deal specifically with the case. / In his complaint, a copy of which was obtained by JTA, Rosen charges that "false and defamatory statements" made on AIPAC's behalf caused him to "suffer personal and professional humiliation, career damage, damage to his personal and professional reputation, mental and emotional distress, and loss of income and earnings and other financial losses."

'Washington Post' urges dismissal of AIPAC espionage case, asks for counter-argument, and promptly rejects same
14.03.09. phillip weiss. The other day the Washington Post editorial page -- ran an editorial urging the Justice Department to drop the "misguided" espionage case against former AIPAC staffers Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman. [read what happened then]

Mideast Press Questions Obama
15.03.09. W. Pincus Top Intelligence Pick's Pullout Blamed on 'Pro-Israel Hawks'. A commentary in Abu Dhabi's the National, a newspaper owned by an investment fund controlled by the government, said Freeman's decision Tuesday to withdraw as chairman of the National Intelligence Council "threw the Obama administration into the heart of a long-running controversy over the alleged supremacy of pro-Israel hawks in determining U.S. foreign policy after having taken a cautious approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so far consistent with previous administrations."... / ... Meanwhile, Obama has not discussed the matter, and press secretary Robert Gibbs has repeatedly dodged questions about it. ... / When a reporter asked "for straight answers," Gibbs said, "I gave you as straight of one as I can get."

Is the Israeli Lobby Running Scared?
15.03.09. Robert Dreyfuss, Tomgram. Is the Israel lobby in Washington an all-powerful force? Or is it, perhaps, running scared? / Judging by the outcome of the Charles W. ("Chas") Freeman affair this week, it might seem as if the Israeli lobby is fearsome indeed. Seen more broadly, however, the controversy over Freeman could be the Israel lobby's Waterloo.

Israel’s American Chattel
18.03.09. Paul Craig Roberts, ICH. The Obama administration, despite the Democrats’ decisive electoral victory in last November’s election, has demonstrated that the great unipower cannot appoint its own chairman of the National Intelligence Council. Charles Freeman, a distinguished and independent-minded American, former ambassador and former Assistant Secretary of Defense, found his appointment blocked by Steve Rosen, a former official of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) currently under indictment as an Israeli spy, and a handful of American Jewish neoconservatives closely identified with the right-wing government in Israel. / How is the United States a superpower when it cannot appoint the official who oversees the National Intelligence Estimate without the approval of the Israeli right-wing government and its American agents?

Of Patriots and Assassins
18.03.09. Pat Buchanan, CS / ICH. ... (Freeman's qualifications) ... At MEPC, however, Freeman committed a great crime. He published "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy" by Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, which went onto the New York Times best-seller list — and put Freeman on AIPAC's enemies list. ... [Rosen's qualifications ... faces imminent federal criminal prosecution under the Espionage Act for transferring top-secret Pentagon documents to the Israeli Embassy.

"The tactics of the Israel lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assassination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods and an utter disregard for the truth."

Students hindering the Zionist meeting in NY arrested by U.S. Police
14.03.09. Kourosh Ziabari, Axis of Logic. At 6:30 PM on Thursday January 29, some 250 protestors from various nationalities and political belongings staged a rally before the hotel to blockade the party and hinder the entrance of AIPAC members into the lobby. 10 young activists and students who were the main organizers of the demo on behalf of the Break the Siege On Gaza Coalition's Student Committee were consequently attacked by the New York Federal Police and arrested for interrogation...

The Lobby Falters
22.03.09. John Mearsheimer, LRB / ICH. When pro-Israel forces clashed with a major political figure in the past, that person usually backed off. Jimmy Carter, who was smeared by the lobby after he published Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid
, was the first prominent American to stand his ground and fight back.

VIDEOS: Empire - Israel and the US - 25 Feb 09 - Part 1; Part 2

They’re Doing the J Street Jive
April 2009. Noah Pollak, Commentary. In December 2008, two weeks before Hamas abandoned the six-month lull in its rocket war against Israel, the founder and executive director of the new lobbying group J Street [Jeremy Ben-Ami] delivered a message via YouTube
to potential supporters. “I don’t find it American to not allow people to express alternative opinions, and I certainly don’t find it to be pro-Israel. . . . I’ve decided that I had to speak out.” The group Ben-Ami founded seeks to be the vehicle for this protest. It has sought to challenge the ascendancy of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the hub of the legendary “Israel Lobby” in Washington that critics of strong American support for Israel see as a key obstacle to their goal of Middle East peace.

AIPAC head testifies on Israel aid
27.03.09. JTA. Howard Kohr, executive director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, told the House Appropriations Foreign Operations subcommittee that "American assistance to Israel serves vital U.S. national security interests and advances critical U.S. foreign policy goals."He requested that Israel receive $2.775 billion in military aid in fiscal year 2010, as called for in the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. and Israel that allocates $30 billion in aid for the Jewish state over 10 years.

Please Tell Me, Where is Israel Headed?
31.03.09. John J. Mearsheimer, FP / ICH. The Israel lobby, will adamantly defend Israel's right to do whatever it wants in the Occupied Territories and make it impossible for the president to put significant pressure on Israel. Netanyahu, like all Israeli leaders, understands this basic fact of life.

APRIL 2009

Freeman (cont.)

Was Gaza Israel's Waterloo?
3-5 April 2009. John Goekler, Counterpunch. Is the Power of AIPAC on the Decline?The usual suspects who savage anyone questioning the AIPAC / Neo-Con party line that America and Israel are Siamese twins conjoined by identical interests delivered the attacks. They were coordinated by former AIPAC official Steve Rosen (currently on trial for allegedly passing top secret US documents to Israel) and featured congressional obeisance by members as senior as senators Joseph Lieberman and Charles Schumer. / The counterintuitiveness is stunning. The message that America’s intelligence officers should follow any party line, rather than operate analytically and objectively, is a red flag to thoughtful Americans of all political persuasions. It is particularly foolish mere weeks after the departure of an administration that twisted intelligence to “slam dunk” the US into Iraq. / The subtext is even more important – AIPAC, Lieberman and Schumer have tacitly acknowledged that America’s strategic and security interests are secondary to Israel’s. For this reason, future historians will likely see the Freeman affair as the apex of a policy arc in which America moved toward Israel, and is now beginning to head away. / The subtext … ) cont. reading …

By Their Enemies You Shall Know Them
April 2009. WRMEA. Former U.S. ambassader to Saudi Arabia Chas Freeman, most recently president of the respected Middle East Policy Council, has been named to head the National Intelligence Council. Freeman’s appointment was first criticized by accused spy for Israel Steve Rosen, formerly a top AIPAC honcho, now a blogger with Daniel Pipes ’ Middle East Policy Forum Web site.

Buckling under to “aid” for Israel

Senate restores foreign aid cuts
03.04.,09. JTA. The U.S. Senate restored $4 billion in cuts to the Obama administration's foreign assistance proposals. / The American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbied hard for the amendment crafted by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) that restored the money to the $53.8 billion proposed by the White House; the cuts had been inserted while the budget cleared the requisite Senate committees.

Paging Stephen Walt: Obama's Mind Captured by AIPAC
07.04.09. Jeffrey Goldberg, Atlantic. President Obama, speaking in France, had this to say about al-Qaeda's motivations:

Al Qaeda is still bent on carrying out terrorist activity. It is-- al Qaeda is still bent on carrying out terrorist activity. It is, you know, don't fool yourselves because some people say, well, you know, if we changed our policies with respect to Israeli/Palestinian conflict or if we were more respectful towards the Muslim world, suddenly, these organizations would stop threatening us.

That's just not the case. It is true that we have to change our behavior in showing the Muslim world greater respect and changing our language and changing our tone. It is true that we have to work very hard for Israeli/Palestinian peace.

But what is also true is that these organizations are willing to kill innocent people because of a twisted distorted ideology and we, as democracies and as people who value human life, can't allow those organizations to operate.

Summers

Living Large and in Charge
07.04.09. Robert Sheer, Truthdig. Not surprisingly, Lawrence Summers is convinced that he deserved every penny of the $8 million that Wall Street firms paid him last year. And why shouldn't he be cut in on the loot from the loopholes in the toxic derivatives market that he pushed into law when he was Bill Clinton's treasury secretary? No one has been more persistently effective in paving the way for the financial swindles that enriched the titans of finance while impoverishing the rest of the world than the man who is now the top economic adviser to President Obama.

Obama's Top Economic Adviser Is Greedy and Highly Compromised
10.04.09. Matt Taibbi, True/Slant/ alternet. Among the payoffs Larry Summers received: $45K from Merrill Lynch days before he joined Obama's team. And it gets worse.

Why We Should Banish Larry Summers From Public Life
19.04.09. Naomi Klein, Wash Post. The criticisms of President Obama's chief economic adviser are well known. He's too close to Wall Street. And he's a frightful bully, of both people and countries. Still, we're told we shouldn't care about such minor infractions. Why? Because Summers is brilliant, and the world needs his big brain. / And this brings us to a central and often overlooked cause of the global financial crisis: Brain Bubbles. This is the process wherein the intelligence of an inarguably intelligent person is inflated and valued beyond all reason, creating a dangerous accumulation of unhedged risk. Larry Summers is the biggest Brain Bubble we've got.

Ross

Dennis Ross's Iran Plan
12.04.09. Robert Dreyfuss, The Nation / ICH. Diplomats and Middle East watchers hoping Ross would be sidelined are wrong. He is building an empire at the State Department: hiring staff and, with his legendary flair for bureaucratic wrangling, cementing liaisons with a wide range of US officials. The Iran portfolio is his, says an insider.

Rahm Emanuel

VIDEO: Rahm Emanuel: There is no law

Hillary Clinton

US policy on Hamas 'unchanged'
22.04.09. al jazeera. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has reiterated the US position that it will not deal with or fund a Palestinian government that includes Hamas until certain conditions are met.

UK infected by AIPAC

BBC Middle East editor criticised
15.04.09. BBC. The body which oversees the BBC on behalf [sic}of its audiences has criticised an article by the BBC's Middle East Editor, Jeremy Bowen.

How Can You Trust The Cowardly BBC?
16.04.09. Robert Fisk, Independent. The BBC Trust is now a mouthpiece for the Israeli lobby which abused Bowen.

It is time AIPAC register as a foreign lobbyist
24.04.09. Marcy Winograd, Huff Post. On Harman's Wiretap Woes and the AIPAC Cabal.

MAY 2009

AIPAC pushing for new Iran sanctions bill?
02.05.09. presstv.ir. Influential Israeli lobby group in the US, AIPAC is to push for a newly crafted resolution designed to choke off Iranian gas imports. "It's no coincidence that the bills, which are strongly backed by AIPAC, are "dropping" into Congress for consideration this week, having 6,000 conference-goers press for their passage next Tuesday is bound to give them a turbo boost," the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) said on Monday.

Biden

Biden to address AIPAC
02.05.09. JTA. – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will close this year’s AIPAC policy conference.

Transcript: V.P. Joe Biden Speech at AIPAC Conference - May
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At Annual Meeting, Pro-Israel Group Reasserts Clout
04.05.09. NY Times. The formidable political strength of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the nation’s major pro-Israel lobby, has been on decidedly intentional display here in the last few days. … More than half the members of the House and Senate attended Monday night's dinner, which featured the group's "roll call" in which the lawmakers all rise. It is a conscious - and effective - effort to demonstrate the group's influence on Capitol Hill.

US pro-Israeli group attempts to stop shift in White House Middle East policy
05.05.09. Guardian. Aipac urges Congress members to sign letter to Barack Obama calling for Israel to set pace of negotiations with Palestinians.

The New Discourse on anti-Semitism
06.05.09. Shafiq Morton, uruknet. Those who criticize Israel or those who interrogate Zionism (the ism that gave birth to Israel) are often labeled "anti-Semitic" by the Zionist lobby. This lobby, a world-wide movement, is seen to be most influential in the United States where it vigorously defends the interests of Israel. To view Israel unsympathetically means vilification by this group: it avows political critique is something that threatens the existence of all Jews. Yet, ironically, some of the most ardent critics of Israel have been Jews – academics and political liberals who have not denigrated their Jewishness in any way because of their conscience...

J Street

A look at pro-Israel lobbying by J Street, AIPAC
25.05.09. AP. A comparison of the resources and techniques of 2 pro-Israel lobbying organizations
= = =
Who will Stand Up To America and Israel?
27.05.09. Paul Craig Roberts, ICH. The military/security complex that rules America, together with the Israel Lobby and the financial banksters, needs a long list of dangerous enemies to keep the taxpayers' money flowing into its coffers.

JUNE 2009

Dennis Ross

Why is Dennis Ross being ousted as Obama envoy to Iran?
15.06.09. Haaretz. Dennis Ross, who most recently served as a special State Department envoy to Iran, will abruptly be relieved of his duties, sources in Washington told Haaretz. / Washington insiders speculate that a number of reasons moved the administration to reassign Ross. One possibility is Iran's persistent refusal to accept Ross as a U.S. emissary given the diplomat's Jewish background as well as his purported pro-Israel leanings. Ross is known to maintain contacts with numerous senior officials in Israel's defense establishment and the Israeli government. / Diplomatic sources in Jerusalem surmised that another possibility for Ross' ouster is his just-released book, "Myths, Illusions, and Peace - Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East." / … Another possible reason for the reshuffle could be Ross' dissatisfaction with his present standing in the State Department.

U.S. foreign policy veteran Ross moves to White House
26.06.09. daily mail, uk. After only a few months as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's "Iran czar," Ross is moving to the White House, raising speculation about tensions within President Barack Obama's foreign policy team.

Summers & Geithner

A New Financial Foundation
15.06.09. Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers, Washington Post. In recent years, the pace of innovation in the financial sector has outstripped the pace of regulatory modernization, leaving entire markets and market participants largely unregulated.

Obama’s Economic Misfits Finally Get It
17.06.09. Robert Sheer, Truthdig. On Monday, two men with considerable responsibility for enabling the banking meltdown confronted the error of their ways. Not directly, of course, for accountability is hardly the mark of either Lawrence Summers, the top White House economic adviser, or Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Their careers have long been fueled by error. / … What they wrote this week in a joint Op-Ed article in The Washington Post is a condemnation of the Wall Street shenanigans they once abetted and celebrated. I hope their apparent sudden conversion to common sense indicates the seriousness of the banking regulation plan that President Obama will present to Congress today. / … According to Summers and Geithner, the Obama plan to be revealed today promises that all derivatives dealers will be “subject to supervision, and regulators will be empowered to enforce rules against manipulation and abuse.” / If such language is ever passed into law, I hope that Brooksley Born is in the gallery and gets the standing ovation she deserves. That’s the woman who, when she headed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, warned that the derivatives market needed to be regulated. Summers and his predecessor as treasury secretary, Robert Rubin, destroyed Born’s career because she dared to accurately predict today’s crisis.

JULY 2009

Obama's Prizes For Israel Are Not "Pressure"
16.07.09. Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada/Countercurrents. President Barack Obama received 16 leaders of the most prominent pro-Israel organizations at the White House. The gathering was an effort to assuage American Jewish concerns about US pressure on Israel over a settlement freeze in the occupied West Bank. / But rather than using American leverage to require Israel to comply with international law, the Obama administration is actually offering it more rewards at the expense of Palestinians and Arab states.

Hillary Clinton

Clinton Outlines Continuation of Bush Policies Under Obama at CFR
19.07.09. Jeremy R. Hammond, ICH. Setting aside the platitudes that comprised most of Clinton's speech and looking closely at her remarks that actually spoke meaningfully towards U.S. policy under the Obama, a picture emerges, one not of a change of course from Bush but rather of near perfect continuity between the two administrations.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23097.htm

AIPAC

How Israel Lobby Took Control Of US Foreign Policy
19.07.09. Jeff Gates, ICH. In the early 1960s, Senator William J. Fulbright fought to force the American Zionist Council to register as agents of a foreign government. The Council eluded registration by reorganizing as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC has since become what Fulbright most feared: a foreign agent dominating American foreign policy while disguised as a domestic lobby.

5. REFERENCES

ABOUT AIPAC

American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Wikipedia)

See here for Sourcewatch articles on AIPAC.

The Unmentionable Source of Terrorism
20.03.04. John Pilger, anti-war. Israel is the guard dog of America's plans for the Middle East. / Until recently, a group of Zionists ran their own intelligence service inside the Pentagon. This was known as the Office of Special Plans, and was overseen by Douglas Feith, an under-secretary of defence, extreme Zionist and opponent of any negotiated peace with the Palestinians.