by Mizgin (author of the excellent Rasti blog) “It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress.”~ Mark Twain. Yeah, okay . . . I wasn’t going to say anything, but after hearing an overblown, completely undeserved eulogy for the dead Tom Lantos on the local public radio station, I’m not letting it pass. You’ll remember Tom Lantos from Sibel
by Shmuel Rosner, chief US correspondent for Haaretz There’s been a lot of talk lately about John McCain’s problem with the more conservative (and religious) right wing of the Republican Party. In Super Tuesday McCain won among self-identified conservatives in only three of the nine states that were covered by the exit polls I looked at. His real strength is among moderates. The dominant narrative for the rest of the
Some Western observers have recently speculated that recent NIE notwithstanding, a US attack on Iran was still possible. The Deputy Head of Iran’s Armed Forces General Headquarters, Gholam-Ali Rashid, has even reportedly stated that such an attack before the end of 2008 was “probable”. So how likely is such an attack? There can be no doubt that the publication of the NIE has resulted in a dramatic loss of momentum
A friend of mine just sent me this old video from 1976. Interesting, isn’t it?
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by Ray McGovern Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is at her mushroom-cloud hyperbolic best, and this time Iran is the target. Her claim last week that “the policies of Iran constitute perhaps the single greatest challenge to American security interests in the Middle East and around the world” is simply too much of a stretch. To gauge someone’s reliability, one depends largely on prior experience. Sadly, Rice’s credibility suffers in
Watch this short video about the Lobby’s attempt to suppress any critical discussion of the self-styled “Jewish state” and its racist policies:
Eric Chinski, the editor of John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt’s provocative new bestseller, asks the authors whether their book is good for the Jews and good for America. This interview originally appeared on the Web site of the publishing house Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Thanks to TruthDig for resurfacing it. Why did your article “The Israel Lobby,” which was published in the London Review of Books in 2006,
By Paul Findley There is an open secret in Washington. I learned it well during my 22-year tenure as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. All members swear to serve the interests of the United States, but there is an unwritten and overwhelming exception: The interests of one small foreign country almost always trump U.S. interests. That nation of course is Israel. Both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue give
by Richard Silverstein I’ve noticed what may be a new phenomenon in the Israel-Palestine debate as it plays out in the US. I call it pre-emptive censorship. A number of non-Jewish organisations have denied supposedly controversial speakers or organisations the right to speak or perform due to the anticipated reaction of the local Jewish community. It’s one thing for pro-Israel groups to protest, as they did when Columbia University extended
“It Doesn’t Get Any Worse Than That, Ray” By William Cook Ray Suarez (PBS News Hour Reporter, October 2, 2007): “You’re saying that the national legislature of this country, rather than doing the will of the citizens of the United States, passed that Iran resolution, sanctioning the Republican Guard, because of the American-Israeli Political Action Committee?” Mike Gravel (Democratic Presidential Candidate): “Wait a second. They’ll (sic) be some information coming
By Matt Snyders Put off by his controversial words on Israel, the University of St. Thomas snubs a Nobel Laureate Back in April, when University of St. Thomas staffer Mike Klein informed his colleagues in the Justice and Peace Studies program that he’d succeeded in booking Archbishop Desmond Tutu for a campus appearance, the faculty buzzed in anticipation. For a program dedicated to fostering social change and nonviolence, there were
by Priyamvada Gopal We have become accustomed to theatrical displays of intolerance: death threats against writers, bonfires of novels, plays shut down, vandals defacing paintings. The danger, however, is that this obscures the more insidious forms that the suppression of dissent can take. Announcing that the proposed boycott of links with Israeli universities would be illegal, the University and College Union asserted that debates related to the topic under its
By CECILIE SURASKY (Special to the Star-Telegram) Last year, I agreed to speak to a Jewish youth group about my organization, Jewish Voice for Peace, and our opposition to Israel’s occupation. My talk was to follow one from a member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which calls itself “America’s pro-Israel Lobby.” A week before, a shaken program leader said the AIPAC staffer had threatened to get the entire
by Uri Avnery THERE ARE books that change people’s consciousness and change history. Some tell a story, like Harriet Beech Stowe’s 1851 “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, which gave a huge impetus to the campaign for the abolition of slavery. Others take the form of a political treatise, like Theodor Herzl’s “Der Judenstaat”, which gave birth to the Zionist movement. Or they can be scientific in nature, like Charles Darwin’s “The Origin
by M. J. Rosenberg Critics of “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy” by John J. Mearsheimer and Steven M. Walt cannot be surprised that the attacks on the book prior to publication have already helped propel it to #10 on Amazon’s best-seller list. Not only that, the names “Walt-Mearsheimer” have become almost People magazine famous, odd for two mild-mannered political scientists from the University of Chicago and Harvard. It
By KATHLEEN and BILL CHRISTISON Two recent offhand comments, both widely publicized, have seriously undermined whatever progress might have been made in exposing the fact that the Iraq war was initiated at least in large part to guarantee Israel’s safety and regional dominance in the Middle East. In late August, Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as Colin Powell’s chief of staff when he was secretary of state, told Gareth Porter of
Dear friends, Take a look at the email I just received: ******* Dear , With the Walt/Mearsheimer book, “The Israel Lobby”, attaining national bestseller status, and the simultaneous release of THE DEADLIEST LIES: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control, the national debate has begun. We have seen your review/mention of THE ISRAEL LOBBY, and we are writing to urge you to consider covering Foxman’s book as well.
by Politico Sixteen of Democratic Rep. Jim Moran’s House colleagues rebuked him in a withering letter Wednesday for saying last week that the pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, “pushed [the Iraq] war from the beginning.” It was the Virginia congressman’s latest dust-up over Israel — and one that brought a demand for a retraction by the House Democratic leader, Rep. Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland. Moran’s colleagues
by Michael Lerner 1. A Zionist Boy Reads the Prophets—How I came to critique the Israel Lobby I grew up in the heart of what would eventually become the Israel Lobby in the U.S. My father and mother were national leaders of the Zionist movement in the U.S. My mother used to talk proudly of how, at five years old, I was standing outside the local bank on Bergen Street
