alas .. the vindication of walt, jimmy and david. On Wednesday, March 4, 2015 at 9:29:27 PM UTC-6, MJ wrote: > > > March 2, 2015 > > *Netanyahu and the Crumbling Israeli Lobby * > *Support for the Israeli prime minister's hardline policies is fading > among American Jews and Christians alike. *By Jon Basil Utley > > Jewish resistance to Netanyahu’s invitation by Republicans to address > Congress is showing cracks in the Israeli Lobby’s influence over Congress. > The leading Jewish newspaper *Forward* reports, “the biggest casualties > may be the normally omnipotent pro-Israel lobby and its allies in the > Jewish community, who have seen their credibility and political power > severely shaken.” CNN reports that 63 percent of American oppose the > invitation. > > The Israeli Lobby represents less than half of American Jews. The real > lobby today is an amalgam of mainly older Jews, evangelical Armageddon > believers, and the military-industrial complex, which prospers from > unending wars and chaos in the Middle East. A recent Pew poll shows 31 > percent of Jews do not feel attached to the state of Israel while another > 39 percent feel only “somewhat” attached. A massive 83 percent think that > construction of settlements on Palestinian lands on the West Bank do not > help Israeli security. Sixty-two percent believe that the Israeli > government is not negotiating in good faith with the Palestinians. > > Media reporting about the growing American Jewish opposition to Israel’s > Likud Party hawks is especially scarce. Republican media such as the *Wall > Street Journal* op-ed pages and Fox News disregard such news. I have > attended three meetings of the pro-peace and fast-growing Jewish > organization J Street. The last meeting’s dinner banquet in 2013 was > attended by 60 members of Congress and sponsored by 41 major Jewish > organizations. (I wrote about their counter-influence in “ J Street and > the Israeli Lobby > <http://www.theamericanconservative.com/j-street-and-the-israeli-lobby/>,” > reporting on how so many Jews oppose the Israeli government’s hawkish Likud > regime of Netanyahu.) Rarely in America does one see such exhibits as one > finds at their meetings that show the suffering of the Palestinians under > Israel’s brutal occupation and the many Jewish groups trying to alleviate > their suffering. There are many other Jewish and Israeli organizations > promoting compromise and peace with the Palestinians, as well. > > The hawkish Israeli Lobby’s massive strength in Congress depends for its > power upon a myththat it represents nearly all American Jews. Instead, > today it depends upon others, especially Bible Belt Republican > evangelicalsthink Mike Huckabee. About them I once wrote “The Strangest > Alliance in History,” explaining how each side thought it was using and > fooling the other. Above all it is their longing for Armageddon that > motivates many so-called Christian Zionists. They fervently believe and > want Israel to help bring about the end times. Indeed I called them the > Armageddon Lobby. Journalist Max Blumenthal recently did video interviews > of some of these evangelical supporters of hardline Israeli policies, > including former Republican congressional leader Tom Delay, at the massive > convention of Christians United for Israel. Delay said how he longed for > the end times, which “our connection” to Israel would help bring about. > Others voiced similar aspirations. > > > > * http://youtu.be/mjMRgT5o-Ig <http://youtu.be/mjMRgT5o-Ig>*Yet there is > now extraordinary ferment, especially among younger evangelicals, > questioning and weakening Christian Right support. Fifty-eight years after > Israel’s founding, the idea of imminent Armageddon, promised in the > Scofield Bible, is wearing thin. The *Middle East Quarterly *reports, > “How quickly things change. The days of taking evangelical support for > Israel for granted are over anti-Israel Christians are penetrating the > evangelical world at its soft underbelly, the millennial generation. Young > believers are rebelling against the excessive biblical literalism of their > parents as they strive to imitate Jesus’s stand with the oppressed and > downtrodden.” The article’s author, CUFI executive director David Brog, > warns that polling shows only 30 percent of evangelicals sympathize with > Israel, while 49 percent sympathize with Israelis and Palestinians equally. > Brog warns, “The day that Israel is seen as the moral equivalent of Hamas > is the day that the evangelical community will cease providing the Jewish > state any meaningful support.” An article in *Counterpunch,* “Christian > Evangelicals Increasingly Support Palestinian Human Rights,” has very > detailed information on all sorts of changes and challenges to the formerly > monolithic Israeli Lobby. > > Allied with the Christian Zionists is much of the military-industrial > complex. It is a key industry in many congressional districts benefiting > from unending wars, that create more and more enemies for America. See “The > *Unholy > Alliance Between the Military-Security-Industrial Complex and the Israel > Lobby,”* which explains how “irrational and conflicting U.S. policies in > the Middle East are quite logical from the viewpoint of economic and > geopolitical beneficiaries of war.” Noam Chomsky argues that the > military-industrial complex’s “lobbying influence and campaign > contributions far surpass that of the much-vaunted Zionist lobby and its > allied donors to congressional races.” > > Republican pandering to the hardline Israeli Lobby through Netanyahu and > his push for America to start a third war against another Muslim nation, > this time with Iran, may not be so politically beneficial as the GOP’s > leaders imagine. > > *Jon Basil Utley is publisher of *The American Conservative > > *. > http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/netanyahu-and-the-crumbling-israeli-lobby/ > > <http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/netanyahu-and-the-crumbling-israeli-lobby/> > > * >
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