the israel lobby & u.s. foreign policy

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This is a presentation based on the infamous book by John Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt

TRANSCRIPT

Presented By:

Habiba Tur Rauf Mehreen Omer

Israel: Strategic Asset or Liability?

A Dwindling Moral Case What is the Israel Lobby? Guiding the Policy Process The Lobby in Action The Lobby Vs the Palestinians Iraq and Dreams of

transforming the Middle-East Iran in the Crosshairs The Lobby and the Second

Lebanon War Conclusion Critique Short Documentary

Gives a comprehensive account of what really is happening in the Middle-East

Opens the public discourse for debates on controversial issues

Explains the global political scenario and why and how a new world order is being orchestrated

“Partners against terror” : The New Rationale Denial of any connection between U.S. support for

Israel and the terrorist problem Confronting Rogue States Alliance of U.S. with many dictatorships Both Israel and U.S. have powerful nuclear forces of

their own Israel is the only country that spies on the United

States “Special Relationship” between U.S. and Israel no

longer defensible on strategic grounds

American backing justified by the claim that Israel is a fellow democracy

Israel explicitly founded as a Jewish State Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel by

the UN Arab Israelis are systematically marginalized Israel has a vibrant democratic order for its Jewish citizens David Ben-Gurion, a Zionist leader said in 1937:

“After the formation of a large army in the wake of the

establishment of the state, we will abolish partition and expand to the whole of Palestine.”

57%

63.7%

42% 40%

62%

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2003 IsraelDemocracy

Institute

2004 HaifaUniversity's

Center

2005PalestinianCentre for

Israel Studies

2005 Center forCombating

Racism

2005 IsraelDemocracy

Institute

5.3m

1.36m

3.8m

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Jews Arabs Palestinians in Gaza &Westbank

Israeli leaders & American apologists repeat that Israel adheres to “purity of arms”

Between 1949 and 1956, IDF killed between 2700 and 5000 Arabs

Escalation of violence in Gaza and Lebanon and Gaza in 2006

Jewish terrorists from the infamous Irgun, a militant Zionist group

Between 1944 and 1947, several Zionist Organizations used terrorist attacks to drive the British from Palestine

IDF targets civilian areas in Lebanon

Loose coalition of individuals and organizations

Do not engage in formal lobbying activities, but influence US Foreign Policy like interest groups

Zionist Organization of America

Malcolm Hoenlein Boundaries still remain

fuzzy

36% of Jewish Americans were either “not very” or “not at all” emotionally attached to Israel

Christian Zionists American Jews Organizations:

AIPAC ZOA IPF ADL Religious Action Centre of Reform Judaism Americans for a Safe Israel American Friends of Lukud Mercaz-USA Hadassah

Dispensationalism ; Biblical interpretation in the nineteenth-century England

The founding of the State of Israel in 1948 gave new light to this movement

According to CUFI founder Hagee: “We support Israel because all other nations were created by

an act of men, but Israel was created by an act of God”

Oppose a tw0-state solution Some Jewish-American organizations have

welcomed this alliance Lack the financial power and organizational

capacity

An important part of American intellectual and political life since the 1970s

Extol the virtues of American hegemony Advocacy groups:

American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Center for Security Policy (CSP) Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) Middle-East Forum (MEF) Project for New American Century (PNAC) Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP)

In “The Neoconservative Revolution : Jewish Intellectuals and the Shaping of Public Policy”, Murray Friedman describes neoconservativism as “American Jewish Conservatism”

AIPAC has an unchallenged hold on Congress

Senator Ernest Hollings noted as he was leaving office:

“You can’t have an Israeli policy other than what AIPAC gives you around here”

Ehud Olmert said : “Thank God we have AIPAC, the greatest supporter and friend

we have in the whole world.”

Exert significant leverage over the

executive branch

Candidates are especially eager to

appeal to AIPAC and other

organizations in the lobby

John Edwards, Mitt Romney, and

John McCain all made emphatic

pro-Israel speeches to the 2007

Herzliya conference

Howard Dean in 2004 made the

mistake of saying the U.S. should

take a more “even-handed role” in

the Arab-Israeli conflict

Dominate the public discourse

Little mention of Anti-Semitism during the Oslo Peace Process in the 1990s

Charges became widespread again in 2002

France is portrayed as the most anti-semitic state in Europe

89%

97% 87%

85%

Poll of French Citizens in 2002

Envisage living with aJew

Against making anti-semitic grafitti

Against attacks onFrench synagogues

French Catholics rejectedinfluence of Jews inbusiness and finance

Shape the Middle-East environment

Spreading democracy and toppling regimes against Israel

Disarming Hezbollah Israel’s most

vociferous supporters oppose withdrawal of American forces from Iraq

Critical moment for Israel and the lobby U.S. adopted Israel’s justifications for policy

preferences toward the Palestinians, Iran and rest of the region

Deception : Israel’s America’s foes Bush and Sharon saw the world in

essentially the same way Transformation of the Middle-East into a sea

of democracies

Bush gave a major speech in 2002 Road-Map the best solution to resolve the conflict But Bush reached a series of “understandings” with

Sharon and his lieutenants that allayed their fears about the Quartet’s peace plan

Unilaterism in, Road Map Out In early 2004, Thomas Friedman of the New York Times

said: “Mr. Sharon has the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat under

house arrest in his office in Ramallah, and he’s had George Bush under house arrest in the Oval Office”

In March 2004, Israel assassinated Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin with American-made Hellfire missiles

Arafat dies and nothing changes Israel’s ability to defy the United States

Bombing of the Osirak reactor in 1981 Ha’aretz reported in 2001 that Iraq poses more of a

threat to Israel than Iran Efforts began in the Spring of 2002 Shimon Peres, former Israeli Prime Minister said: “Saddam Hussein is as dangerous as bin Laden” U.S. backed Saddam Hussein in the early 1980s to

help contain the threat from revolutionary Iran and it armed the Afghan Mujahideen following the Soviet Invasion in 1979

The driving force was a small band of neocons The war the neoconservatives wanted, the war the

neoconservatives marketed

Even Noam Chomsky subscribed to the idea, popularized in Fahrenheit 9/11

Saudi Arabia would have been the more attractive target than Iraq

Saudi Arabia supported the Bush administration to drive Iraq out of Kuwait but publicly opposed using American force against Iraq during the second Gulf war

Domino effect Remaking the Middle-East

Rogue State Problematic relationship between the U.S. and Syria

for nearly 50 years Why Syria? Not a serious military threat to the U.S. or to Israel Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad Syria has been trying to negotiate a peace

agreement with Israel since the early 1990s Relations changed for the worse when Sharon

replaced Barak Golan Heights Demonizing Syria and baiting the U.S. into ratcheting

up the pressure

U.S. had excellent relations with Iran from 1953 until 1979

During the 1980s, neither the U.S. nor Israel was threatened by Iran

Israel’s perception of the Iranian threat underwent a fundamental change in the early 1990s

Iranian leaders with their apocalyptic vision of history

Iran has offered to put up its nuclear program and engage in a modus vivendi with Israel

Confrontational approach of the lobby

Regime change in Iran Lobby struck up a close relationship with Reza

Pahlavi, son of the late Shah of Iran Bush administration had funded Iranian exile

groups Imposition of economic sanctions and military

strikes on Iran by the U.S. John Hagee said in a 2007 conference: “It is 1938, Iran is Germany, and Ahmadinejad is

the new Hitler. We must stop Iran’s nuclear threat and stand boldly with Israel.”

In 2006, Israel fought a thirty-four day war against Lebanon

The war solidified instead the informal alliance between Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran

Neoconservatives have been angling to smash Hezbollah since September 11

Democrats and Republics compete to show that their party, not the rival one, is Israel’s best friend

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Civilians Buildings

Hezbollah

Israel

Israelis were determined to eliminate the thousands of missiles and rockets that could strike northern Israel

Olmert government decided to ground troops in Lebanon and defeat Hezbollah within a few weeks time

Israel’s strategy to punish Lebanon was also to backfire

The political postion in Lebanon and the “Islamic” world was improved by war

Reinforced anti-Americanism in the Arab and Islamic world

U.S. played a key role in pushing Syria out of Lebanon in 2005

The wedge between Iran and Syria Many neocons called for Israel or the United

States to attack Syria and Iran in the midst of the conflict

Support from regimes in region like Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia

44%

31%

35%

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Very concerned Somewhat concerned Hurt the situation forU.S. in Iraq

USA Today

Identifying U.S. interests in the Middle-East Outlining a strategy to protect those

interests Developing new relationship with Israel Ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

through a two-state solution Transforming the lobby into a constructive

force

Democracy is an oxymoron

The Holocaust Lie Case of Pakistan No mention of the

freemasons and the Rothschilds

Oversimplifies the situation at hand

We are open for questions