--- Begin Message ---
Why we few criticize Israel
Is Sri Lanka Worth Criticism?
2/25/02 11:26:37 AM
Joe Sobran / (Old) National Review
Commentary -- Why we few criticize Israel
By JOSEPH SOBRAN
WASHINGTON - People sometimes ask me why I'm so critical of Israel, as if
I
should be devoting more of my attention to Sri Lanka, or perhaps Zaire.
But the
question is always a little nervous, as it wouldn't be if I were writing
equally often about Sri Lanka or Zaire.
I could understand this curiosity if some other small, remote country were
one
of the world's four or five military powers; if it received a quarter of
our
foreign aid; if it were constantly on our front pages; and if its
sympathizers
regularly occupied much of the op-ed space of The New York Times and other
major newspapers. But there is only one country of whom these things are
true,
and that is Israel.
Nobody thinks it's odd that there should be 20 columnists who are
apologists'
for Israel; but apparently it is unfathomable that there should be one or
two
who are critical of Israel.
But there's another reason that is both personal and professional. Israel
has a
very powerful lobby in this country, with a highly accomplished propaganda
corps. And that lobby is not content with making the case for Israel and
putting fear into nearly all the politicians in Washington, who are
supposed to
be representing the interests of the United States. It also tries to shut
up
opposition in the free press.
I have felt its pressure. So have Rowland Evans and Robert Novak. So has
Patrick Buchanan. And a great many newspaper editors.
We still hear of the fear engendered by Joe McCarthy. But people talked
freely
about that fear even 'at the height of Sen. McCarthy's career. I believe
that
someday historians will look back with more wonder about the quieter and
more
paralyzing fear engendered in our own era by domestic Zionist power. The
press
was never afraid of Sen. McCarthy; it is very much afraid of Israel's U.S.
sympathizers.
One result is that the news we get from Israel is heavily self censored
and
bowdlerized. The average American thinks of Israel as a "democratic"
country
whose domestic troubles are due to unruly Arabs. Not one American
Christian in
a hundred realizes that if he lived in Israel, he would be the victim of
official discrimination forced, like the Soviet Jew, to carry an
identification
card effectively stigmatizing him.
If Israeli propaganda were true, there would be no need to Quash or
intimidate
critics. The very act of trying to silence opposition is a kind of
confession
in itself. Ring Lardner said it well: "'Shut up,' he explained."
Is there no case to be made for Israel? Of course there is. I have made it
myself. I would make it again -- if Israel had not become a threat to
freedom
of speech and ethical debate in this country. But when you risk injury to
your
career in the U.S. by defending the interests of the U.S., something is
seriously wrong. A proper parallel is not with Joe McCarthy, who at least
was
trying to uphold America's position, but with the publishing industry in
New
York during the 1930s, when a book critical of the Soviet Union stood
scant
chance of seeing print.
Suppression is a good tactic, but a bad strategy. In the long run, the
truth
has a way of seeping through. No matter how many clever excuses you make
for a
Yitzhak Shamir, it's not a terribly good idea to have Americans
identifying
Israel with Yitzhak Shamir. Israel was much better off when Americans
identified Israel with Abba Eban -- now in political exile for his
moderation.
And it isn't wise, in the long run, to make Americans afraid, in their own
country, to speak their minds about a foreign country. They will
eventually
resent the colossal impudence of it. And the country on whose behalf the
suppression was enacted will bear the consequences.
Joseph Sobran is a senior editor of the National Review.
Libertarian Socialist News
Post Office Box 12244
Silver Spring, MD 20908
http://www.overthrow.com
(check out our messageboards -- discuss this story on-line!)
(Formerly http://www.libertariansocialist.com)
--- End Message ---
