The early Gush Emunim settlers, living in their tents on West Bank hills, may have dreamed of this day, but they could not have imagined that the world's greater power, the United States of America, would so easily fall into line and follow the dictates of what has become a settler-dominated Israeli government.
It was not easy, but it was carefully planned. At a heavy cost of the abandonment of the "shared values" of all religions, the plan was carried out.
Decades have passed, but the power of those early settlers and the half million who have followed, have brought us to the 2012 US presidential race, in which, as reported by London's Daily Mail, Republican presidential candidates vie with one another to promise to go to war against Iran because that is what Israel wants them to say and do.
"GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney and increasingly popular Newt Gingrich both used a presidential debate on foreign policy to back a pre-emptive military strike against Iran to stop the country obtaining nuclear weapons.
"Former Massachusetts Governor Romney said that if 'crippling sanctions' failed, war would be an option because it is 'unacceptable' for Iran to become a nuclear power, while ex-speaker Gingrich argued the United States should covertly 'take out their scientists,' and 'break up their systems.'"
That is Gush Emunim, right-wing Zionist talk, and it is coming in a Republican presidential nomination debate between a Mormon and a former Southern Baptist, who is now a Catholic.
How did this happen? How has Gush Eminum moved from a few radical religio-politco extremists hovering in tents on the hills of Palestine to become a powerful force in American elections?
Phillip Weiss, the insightful and wise US Jewish blogger, tackles this issue on a regular basis at his site, Mondoweiss.
This week, Weiss posted an entry which he entitled, "NBC and the Israel Lobby."
In this posting, Weiss identifies David Cohen, of Philadelphia, who is, as Weiss puts it, "the longtime political guru of former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell."
David Cohen is also a media mogul, the executive vice president of Comcast, the company that bought NBC and MSNBC in 2009.
This makes him the boss of the MSNBC nightly lineup of television talk show hosts that include Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz, Lawrence O'Donnell, and Rachel Maddow.
One thing this quartet has in common: They are all PEPs (Progressives Except on Palestine).
Cohen's influence, however, extends far beyond the broadcasters who work for him at MSNBC. Weiss writes that Cohen is also close to Barack Obama.
For example, a few months ago, Cohen raised $1.2 million for Obama at his Philadelphia home.
"Like Ed Rendell, Cohen is pro-Israel. He is the former vice chair of the Jewish Federations in Philadelphia, a pro-Israel organization.
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