don't shoot the messenger, zionist warmonger. On Tuesday, October 14, 2014 11:38:03 AM UTC-5, KeithInTampa wrote: > > Plain Ol'; citing the Daily Kos......Nothing new here...... > > On Tue, Oct 14, 2014 at 12:06 PM, plainolamerican <[email protected] > <javascript:>> wrote: > >> Key neocons call for ending U.S. aid to Israel >> <http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/28/1317362/-Key-neocons-call-for-ending-U-S-aid-to-Israel> >> >> >> by Jon Perr <http://www.dailykos.com/user/Jon%20Perr>Follow >> <http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/28/1317362/-Key-neocons-call-for-ending-U-S-aid-to-Israel#?friend_id=8251&is_stream=1> >> >> attribution: CBN News >> In their controversial 2007 book *The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign >> Policy >> <http://books.google.com/books?id=bQHXJ4JzxV4C&pg=PT41&lpg=PT41&dq=walt+mearsheimer+%22it+is+time+to+treat+israel+like+a+normal+country%22&source=bl&ots=AP9lfoauqx&sig=U3aKWiDtTRgyobaZyRdkgRn9hYg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VZDWU8DsFevXigKL4oHAAQ&sqi=2&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=walt%20mearsheimer%20%22it%20is%20time%20to%20treat%20israel%20like%20a%20normal%20country%22&f=false>*, >> >> authors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt proposed a dramatic change in >> American financial aid for Israel currently amounting to $3 billion >> annually. "It is time to treat Israel like a normal country," they argued, >> "and make U.S. aid conditional on an end to the occupation and Israel's >> willingness to conform its policies to American interests." For this (among >> other perceived sins), the two men were vilified by many American >> politicians, press and pundits, and were quickly labelled anti-Semites--and >> worse. >> >> But now, some of the same voices that led the charge against Mearsheimer >> and Walt are now calling for ending U.S. aid to Israel altogether >> <http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/18/some-of-israel-s-top-defenders-say-it-s-time-to-end-u-s-aid.html>. >> >> At the front of that pack is Elliot Abrams. But the Iran-Contra >> conspirator, Iraq war architect and cheerleader for a preventive U.S. war >> to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities doesn't want to terminate financial >> support in order to enhance American leverage on Israel, but instead to >> *dramatically >> limit Washington's influence* over the Jewish State. >> >> As Eli Lake >> <http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/18/some-of-israel-s-top-defenders-say-it-s-time-to-end-u-s-aid.html> >> >> explained in The Daily Beast, right now President Obama, overwhelming >> bipartisan majorities in Congress and the American Israeli Political Action >> Committee remain committed to sending billions in U.S. aid for years to >> come. But some of the usual suspects among the neoconservative movement >> have a different take: >> >> "The experience of the Obama years has sharpened the perception among >> pro-Israel Americans that aid can cut against Israel by giving presidents >> with bad ideas more leverage than they would otherwise have," said Noah >> Pollak, the executive director of the Emergency Committee for Israel >> (ECI)... aid provides easy fodder for critics to claim that the alliance is >> a burden on the United States or that it's a one-way street of America >> giving and Israel receiving. All things being equal, why not remove these >> falsehoods from the debate?" >> >> Abrams, who has called on Congress for an authorization for the use of >> military force (AUMF) to give President Obama a free hand to bomb Iran, >> wants to give Benjamin Netanyahu and his successors a free hand, period. >> >> "My view is over time it would be healthy for the relationship if the aid >> diminished. Israel should be less dependent on American financial >> assistance and should become the kind of ally that we have in Australia, >> Canada, or the United Kingdom: an intimate military relationship and >> alliance, but no military aid." >> >> (It should be noted, as former Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren did, >> that the United States does not have a mutual defense agreement with >> Israel. Then again, unlike Australia, Canada or the United Kingdom, >> Israel's power is not fungible on behalf of the United States. As the >> experience of the First Gulf War >> <http://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/20/world/war-gulf-president-bush-urges-israeli-restraint-phone-appeals-shamir.html> >> >> showed to the chagrin of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, justifiable Israeli >> retaliation against Iraqi Scud missile strikes would have shattered the >> allied coalition that ejected Saddam Hussein from Kuwait.) >> >> *Continue reading below.* >> >> With the Israeli economy booming and soon to be bolstered by massive >> proceeds from new natural gas discoveries, the once vital American billions >> will seem increasingly incongruous. As Abrams put it, "I do not believe a >> country that has a sovereign wealth fund can be an aid recipient." >> >> It's no surprise that David Wurmser would agree. Wurmser, an aide to Dick >> Cheney who resigned in 2007 over the Bush's administration's >> catastrophic policy >> <http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/20/1315353/-Hamas-rule-in-Gaza-President-Bush-built-that> >> >> that enabled Hamas to take over Gaza, as far back as 1996 called Israel to >> graduate from being a "tenuous project" to a "real country." Now a >> consultant for U.S. firms looking to invest in the Israeli energy sector, >> Wurmser argues that the U.S. should cut the cord precisely so Israel can >> operate with impunity free of pressure from Washington: >> >> "The aid both implied a lack of feasibility of the state as well as tying >> the state's hands and reducing its freedom to maneuver. Both of which are >> inappropriate for a truly independent country, which it had become in this >> period." >> >> That's putting it mildly. As the withering criticism of Secretary of >> State John Kerry >> <http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/us-fuming-israeli-criticism-john-kerry> >> from the Israeli government and press shows, our ally like any other will >> ultimately do what it believes are necessary for its--and not >> American--interests. (That 87 percent of Israelis don't want a truce >> <http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/Poll-865-percent-of-Israelis-oppose-cease-fire-369064> >> >> to prevent the suddenly very popular Benjamin Netanyahu to crush Hamas in >> Gaza is reflects the two nation's diverging national interests.) While >> not all of their fellow travelers agree, the message from the >> neoconservatives seems to be this. Israel will--and should--do whatever it >> wants to anyway; Americans might as well as save that $3 billion a year. >> Apparently, it's better for Stephen Walt, John Mearsheimer and millions of >> American taxpayers to be frustrated for free. >> >> -- >> -- >> Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. >> For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum >> >> * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ >> * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. >> * Read the latest breaking news, and more. >> >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "PoliticalForum" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected] <javascript:>. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > >
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