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Philip Weiss is a longtime writer and journalist in New York. He co-edits a website on Israel/Palestine, Mondoweiss.net, which he founded in order to foster the movement for greater fairness and justice for Palestinians in American foreign policy. He is currently working on a novel about the US in Australia during WW2.
(3 comments) SHARE Monday, January 26, 2015 "NYT" and Matthews warn that Netanyahu speech to Congress could lead US to war
The plans by the Israeli Prime Minister to address both Houses of Congress in March in order to rebut the President's call for negotiations with Iran is finally drawing the outrage it deserves. It was condemned in the last day by The New York Times, leading pundits, liberal Zionist organizations, and implicitly, in the Israeli press.
(4 comments) SHARE Saturday, July 13, 2013 Clinton and Israel -- the Marc Rich story
Israeli president Shimon Peres was one of those pressing Clinton for the Rich pardon, and last month, Bill Clinton received $500,000 from an Israeli outfit for a speech on Shimon Peres's 90th birthday. It's really hard to say throughout these tales, where the Israeli interest ends and the American one begins. Does Hillary Clinton know?
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, March 29, 2014 Obama's European message -- self-determination, equality, dignity -- is null and void in Palestine
Obama said, "Those voices for human dignity and opportunity and individual rights and rule of law -- those voices ultimately will triumph ... because these ideals that we affirm are true; these ideals are universal." But the nonviolent resistance movement in Palestine is opposed by an occupying army that the U.S. supports with billions every year.
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, October 15, 2014 British Parliament sends a message to Obama: the people see Israel as a "bully"
Yesterday the British Parliament voted overwhelmingly (274-12) to recognize a Palestinian state, and if you listened to the debate, one theme above all else explains the crushing victory: The British public has been horrified by Gaza and its opinion of Israel has shifted.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, July 25, 2014 Gaza massacre is generating ideological crisis in American Zionists
Jews are the ballgame; but forget about the wise son / wicked son crap. Jews of conscience must organize with one foot inside the Jewish community and one foot outside it. That is the only way to move the Jewish establishment, and America.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, March 27, 2015 I want my country back
John Mearsheimer once said that the fight against pro-Israel ideologues was "mortal combat," and I take his point. I call on others with any spine to decry the influence of the lobby in our politics, to challenge anyone who is serving Israel's aims against the president. I want my country back.
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, December 31, 2014 "Desperate" Senator Graham promises "violent backlash" by Congress if Palestinians go to UN
Senator Lindsey Graham told the Israeli Prime Minister he had rushed to Israel in "the most desperate way" then twice used the word "violent" to characterize Congress' response to a Palestinian statehood initiative at the UN Security Council. Netanyahu railed against a "diktat" from the UN Security Council on the peace process. If the international community does not reject the Palestinian proposal, we will, he promised.
SHARE Thursday, April 16, 2015 Obama got Senate to reject "two of Netanyahu's demands" on Iran (but the "NYT" won't touch that angle)
Polls show that by 2-1 Americans support a deal with Iran and oppose the Congress's inserting itself into negotiations. And when you consider that Israeli PM Netanyahu's speech to Congress in March was supposed to result in legislation hamstringing the deal, we have already stopped the opposition at key moments.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, February 20, 2015 White House suggests Israel is lying about Iran talks -- as Obama officials shun Netanyahu
It turns out from the State Department briefing that no one is going to be around to meet Netanyahu when he comes to town to give his March 3 speech. The president won't meet him. The VP won't meet him. And now the Secretary of State will be out of town.
(3 comments) SHARE Tuesday, April 14, 2015 Does Schumer have any idea how angry his constituents will be if he torpedoes his president on Iran?
Senator Chuck Schumer has indicated that he is going to side with Republicans on the Iran deal rather than the Obama administration, because he is a "sincere and committed Israel hawk" (as his former intern Matt Yglesias says). Both the White House and State Department are trying to mollify the powerful senator to keep him from voting against the historic agreement in the end.
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, June 30, 2014 Can a neocon change his spots (and come back as a liberal interventionist for Hillary Clinton)?
The neoconservatives are on the run. The latest upheaval in Iraq has further discredited them for destabilizing the country in the first place; and they are being called out in the mainstream media. But the neoconservatives' partners in crime have gone largely blameless: American liberal interventionists and the Israeli right. When will they come in for criticism?
(6 comments) SHARE Thursday, June 11, 2015 Schumer says Jewish and American interests on Iran deal differ but he has "to do what's right for U.S."
NY Senator Charles Schumer told a New York Jewish audience a week ago that the U.S. and Israel have very different interests re a possible Iran deal and as a senator representing Americans, he may determine that the deal is in his country's best interest. In a remarkably frank discussion of dual loyalty, he said his concern for Israel comes second.
SHARE Wednesday, January 21, 2015 Congress invites Netanyahu to rebut Obama on Iran, and White House slams "breach of protocol"
Boehner's actual invitation sent out this morning says Netanyahu is being invited by the "bipartisan leadership" of the Senate and House. Says Scott McConnell of Netanyahu's visit to Congress: "The only question will be how many standing ovations will he receive? I think he had 29 last time around. Should we set up a betting pool on it?"
(14 comments) SHARE Thursday, October 9, 2014 It Looks Like Obama is Checking out on Israel
Is Obama walking away from Israel? Is he sick of the never-ending narrative of occupation/brutality/and security concerns that the Israelis dump in his lap and just going through the motions till his administration ends, or the midterms are over? A few recent items suggest this may be the case.
SHARE Thursday, October 29, 2015 Netanyahu's having a better week in the Democratic Party than Hillary Clinton!
Benjamin Netanyahu is back in the saddle again! When he comes to Washington next month, the Israeli Prime Minister will get a prize from the neoconservative thinktank, the American Enterprise Institute, and also -- shockingly -- be welcomed by the Democratic Party think tank, the Center for American Progress, which has close connections to Hillary Clinton.
SHARE Wednesday, July 31, 2013 Jeff Toobin says he trusts State Dept officials more than Manning on what to make public
I want to reach out to Bradley Manning and thank him for his strength of character and lonely courage during a long ordeal. But it's been a bloodbath for Manning in the mainstream media, with John Hockenberry of NPR lately describing him as a "disturbed" young man, after Bill Keller of the New York Times gave him permission, by saying that Manning is a "complicated young man" who suffered a "lot of personal unhappiness."
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, May 20, 2014 "Courting powerful Jewish donors," Christie calls for aggressive foreign policy
Last week Hillary Clinton sucked up to the Israel lobby in a speech questioning President Obama's strength vis-a-vis Iran, and yesterday Chris Christie sucked up to donors Sheldon Adelson and Michael Steinhardt with his own foreign policy speech delivered at the "Champions of Jewish Values Awards" gala in NY.
(10 comments) SHARE Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Video: If you voted for Hamas, Israel has a right to kill you, says president of NY Board of Rabbis
There was a pro-Israel rally of 10,000 people in New York yesterday, a half block from the United Nations, and Rabbi David-Seth Kirshner, the president of the NY Board of Rabbis, suggested that Palestinians who voted for Hamas are combatants who deserve to be targeted by Israel. He said that the Israeli army is "the most moral army in the history of civilization."
SHARE Monday, January 19, 2015 US calls ICC decision to investigate Gaza "tragic irony"
The U.S. government deplored the decision as a "tragic irony" in a statement last night. Palestine is not a state and Israel should not be investigated because it has a right to defend itself from thousands of rockets, the State Department's Jeff Rathke said.
SHARE Friday, December 26, 2014 Next U.S. elections threaten Israel's "total isolation" -- and the Israeli public is worried
Last summer an Obama foreign policy aide, Philip Gordon, shocked Israel supporters by warning that Israel faces a "tsunami" of international pressure if it fails to participate in the peace process. Now that warning seems to be coming true. I have to believe that Gaza plays a role in Israel's wariness. If you listen to international opinion and end the blockade of Cuba, why not end the siege of Gaza too?
(12 comments) SHARE Monday, November 20, 2017 The Clinton scandals entailed violent threats against people who knew about his sex life
Today the Clinton scandals are getting a rehearing because of the revolution that is taking place in our mores, and in the structure of the patriarchy itself, due to the sexual harassment scandals that are felling powerful men. Many of these scandals mirror elements of the Clinton story.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, September 1, 2015 You'd think Wasserman Schultz would lose DNC job for bucking Obama on Iran Deal
Wasserman Schultz isn't concerned for her own district but the strength of the party nationally. Her stance also helps explain why NY Senator Chuck Schumer came out against the deal: because he wants to raise money to help Democratic Senatorial candidates next fall, so that they will then vote to put him in as party leader.
SHARE Saturday, September 12, 2015 Iran Deal aftermath brings warnings of donor backlash against Dems
It's time for the press to get honest and specific about how much Jewish money is in the political process. From Sheldon Adelson to Haim Saban to Norman Braman to Bernard Marcus, this seems to be the prize, and Republicans seem to believe it's in play. These are ardent supporters of Israel who are voting with their wallets.
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, December 7, 2014 Chris Hughes brings down the curtain on neoconservative New Republic
The New Republic had been supported by one neocon after another, from Michael Steinhardt to Bruce Kovner to Roger Hertog. For years, the magazine helped impose its litmus test within the mainstream media: You must be a Zionist to write about the conflict; and if you're not, then keep your mouth shut.
(4 comments) SHARE Friday, May 16, 2014 "NYT" publishes unvarnished ADL propaganda: 93% of Palestinians are anti-Semites
The ADL is serving its pro-Israel interest here. The Israel lobby theory, for instance, is a theory of outsize conservative Jewish influence. Many Israel lobbyists insist on loyalty to Israel: for instance Sheldon Adelson saying he wishes he had served in the Israeli army not the American one, or the late Myra Kraft saying her sons could fight for Israel not the U.S.
(3 comments) SHARE Wednesday, June 29, 2016 Clinton to Palestine: Drop dead
Hillary Clinton has pledged two or three times now, last year in a letter to Haim Saban, one of her biggest donors, and in a slavish performance channeling Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israel lobby group AIPAC this spring, and at the Saban Forum last December too, to fight BDS tooth and nail. This is evidently essential work to raising money on the Dem side and also recruiting neoconservative establishment support.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, December 6, 2016 More than half of US aid "to entire world" goes to Israel and it ignores our warnings on settlements -- Kerry
Kerry protested that he has spoken to Benjamin Netanyahu 375 times as Secretary of State, to the point that his wife says he talks to Netanyahu more than to her. He hinted that the Obama administration may get the last word with Netanyahu at the UN Security Council. The United States gives Israel more than half of the aid that we give "to the entire world."
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, June 2, 2015 New York Times cites Palestinians as "demographic" threat
the "demographic threat" argument for preserving Israel is widely considered racist. The argument is that Israel must take pains to establish a Palestinian state alongside it because otherwise Jews will cease to be a majority in the lands under their dominion, and therefore the Jewish character of the state will be at risk.
(2 comments) SHARE Thursday, August 6, 2015 Obama tells Americans it is "abrogation of my constitutional duty" to defer to Israel on Iran Deal
Israel is the only country in the world that is against this deal, he said. Europe and the Security Council are behind it all the way. And while Benjamin Netanyahu is completely "sincere" in his opposition, Obama said, "As president of the United States, it would be an abrogation of my constitutional duty" to defer to Israel's wishes on this matter.
(6 comments) SHARE Saturday, May 24, 2014 CNN airs evidence Israelis used live bullets on Palestinian protesters
Could Israel's horrific killings of two Palestinian youths during a demonstration a week ago become a diplomatic incident? The State Department continues to demand an investigation of the killings, though expressing respect for Israel's "moral code." The U.N. also wants an investigation. But Israel's Foreign Minister tells the U.S. to bug out, accusing the country of "hypocrisy."
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, July 31, 2017 Napoleon, Hitler and the economy -- David Brooks hints that Trump is losing his mind
I get what Brooks is saying. The thought process is fragmented, and lost in trivia -- seemingly confused. Though the transcript reminds me of the expression crazy like a fox. Trump is damned if he's going to give the reporters anything (though he did), so he runs in circles.
(2 comments) SHARE Thursday, September 22, 2016 "Beholden to AIPAC" -- progressive senators Warren, Murphy, Brown sign letter seeking to limit Obama's actions
The Israel lobby group AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, flexed its muscle against President Obama and on the side of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu by posting a letter signed by 88 senators warning President Obama not to back any international measures that would pressure Israel to withdraw from occupied territories.
(3 comments) SHARE Thursday, June 6, 2019 Bernie Sanders links Hitler's murder of his family to his fight against occupation of Palestinians
Joe Biden went after the Palestinians. Kamala Harris embraced Israel. No candidate has mentioned the occupation or Palestinian human rights with any specificity. Till now, that is. Bernie Sanders weighed in yesterday with a forceful message that connects the murder of his own family by the Nazis to his fight against the crushing, humiliating military occupation by Israel of Palestine.
SHARE Sunday, August 3, 2014 Israel calls Obama's tune
This is tragic and embarrassing. Israel is calling the tune for the Obama administration on Gaza. In the last 24 hours since the alleged capture of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants, the Obama administration is now laying all blame on Hamas for Israel's slaughter of over 1300 Palestinians in Gaza. What other nations are calling a massacre and genocide -- our government is calling the Palestinians' own fault.
(3 comments) SHARE Wednesday, February 11, 2015 Dear Mr. Netanyahu, please don't cancel your speech
If the speech takes place, and the lobby loses the blind support of progressive Democrats, the American people will get to debate Israel policy and maybe even speak critically about all the stuff that Israel is doing, like massacring Palestinians in Gaza and building colonies on Palestinian land. Right now those issues are not discussed openly in the U.S. power structure and leading media.
SHARE Monday, November 27, 2017 The left must give thanks to... Donald Trump
The purport of the news from the Mueller investigation and of the recent testimony of military commanders about Trump's proximity to the nuclear football is that the board members of the security state are as panicked by Trump as the rest of us. Their careers have been devoted to keeping lunatics out of the engine room. One day we will learn the story about everything they did to keep him away from the football.
SHARE Wednesday, August 12, 2015 President Obama wants us to argue about the special relationship
There is actual ideological diversity inside the Jewish community, but many leading Jews do not want to discuss this openly. Some because they ardently believe that Zionism is the Jewish religion today. Others fear that by opening up this conversation, it will crack the American support system that Israel has always depended upon.
SHARE Saturday, June 22, 2019 Buttigieg faults Israel on human rights, while Klobuchar, Warren, Harris, Booker and de Blasio offer excuses
Those who advocate for Israel include Kamala Harris, who gives Israel an A (as we noted yesterday); Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Kirsten Gillibrand, Bill de Blasio, and Beto O'Rourke. It seems like it's OK to knock Benjamin Netanyahu, but Israel is still a "beacon" in the Middle East, as Klobuchar says, and everyone is for a two-state solution. That is the safe talking point in the Democratic Party.
SHARE Saturday, July 28, 2018 Israel's "nation state of Jews" law is a "mistake" that will hurt relations with US Jews -- Dershowitz
Alan Dershowitz said his new memoir is about "how much more difficult it is today" to defend Israel than it used to be. That chore now includes defending Israel's new law making the country the "nation state of the Jewish people," in which only one people have the right of self-determination, Jews.
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, August 22, 2014 Democratic Party leader echoes Netanyahu's new theme: Hamas equals ISIS
A few weeks after the Israeli prime minister accused Hamas of piling up "telegenically-dead Palestinians for their cause," Benjamin Netanyahu has found a telegenically-dead victim for his propaganda purposes: James Foley, the brave American journalist killed by ISIS in Syria. Netanyahu is using Foley's gruesome beheading to equate ISIS and all its horrors to...Hamas.
SHARE Wednesday, February 5, 2014 "NYT" highlights AIPAC's first failure in 30 years, as de Blasio and Hillary jump on Iran bandwagon
Money explains Wasserman Schultz's silence (she's chair of the Democratic National Commitee) and Hillary Clinton's fence-sitting, and an incident Landler also cites: Bill de Blasio humiliating himself to AIPAC on January 23. But The Times mentions the long list of Jews, including many liberal Zionists, who published a letter rebuking de Blasio and saying AIPAC doesn't speak for them.
SHARE Tuesday, October 8, 2019 Lose Netanyahu and Dems will love Israel again -- liberal Zionist mantra
There's been a tectonic shift in the progressive camp, the human rights issue is now important because of Israel's conduct. A majority of Dems support sanctions to end the settlement expansion. It will be interesting to see how much oxygen the J Street conference gives to these critics.
SHARE Saturday, July 18, 2015 Nine reasons Obama is going to win on Iran. The first: Netanyahu
In the last 24 hours, it has become clear that President Obama is going to win his Iran deal inside the American government, maybe overwhelmingly; that the Congress is going to fail to veto it by a large margin. And that the fence-sitters will fall into line with the president.
(16 comments) SHARE Monday, December 18, 2017 Israeli Jews "will never accept" giving vote to Palestinians -- liberal Zionist leader
It's important to see that American Jews abandon the idea of a Jewish state, and support the principles that govern our existence here, and that we have insisted on through many a struggle -- separation of church and state; one person, one vote.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, July 8, 2016 In latest pander to Israel lobby, Clinton smears Max Blumenthal's criticism of Wiesel as "hateful"
Clinton thinks she can only gain politically from smearing Max Blumenthal. She is saying, Let the Sanders hard-core stay home or vote for Jill Stein, I don't need them. But this political season isn't over yet; the Palestinian-solidarity community is having more mainstream impact than even I imagined a year ago with my rose-colored glasses.
SHARE Saturday, October 19, 2019 Trump's Syria withdrawal is "disaster" for Israel, leaving it on its own against Iran, supporters say
Trump's decision was widely condemned by Israeli politicians, per the Times of Israel. Yair Lapid, a leader of Netanyahu's chief rival party, said he joined Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen in "their call to impose sanctions on Turkey and suspend it from NATO in response to any attack on the Kurds in northern Syria."
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, November 26, 2014 Like an unrequited lover, "NYT" confesses itself heartbroken over Israel's (latest) betrayal of democracy
As for mild criticism from the State Department? "[W]e would expect [Israel] to continue Israel's commitment to democratic principles." The Israeli right wing is biting back, hard, saying Bug out! Of course, Israel interferes in our politics all the time, with the complicity of the New York Times. But raise a voice in displeasure, and they let you have it.
SHARE Wednesday, November 19, 2014 For Obama officials, synagogue attack is "pure terror" -- and not a word about attacks on Palestinians
Palestinians all over East Jerusalem are subject to unrelenting occupation and persecution. But for American officials, the terror killings of four Jewish men in a West Jerusalem synagogue today is the one and only story. "Pure terror," as our secretary of state puts it. President Obama condemned the killings with not a word about the Palestinian experience
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, March 24, 2018 War-loving, Muslim-hating John Bolton wants to give "pieces" of Palestine to Jordan and Egypt
Even Never-Trump neocons are happy today. The intemperate and Islamophobic Bolton is fiercely opposed to the Iran Deal, is militantly opposed to Russian influence in the Middle East, has called for declaring war against Iran and North Korea, and has pronounced the two-state solution dead.
(2 comments) SHARE Thursday, June 5, 2014 Chris Matthews channels his inner Bill Kristol
One unfortunate outcome of the controversy over the release of Bowe Bergdahl, the US army sergeant held by the Taliban for nearly five years, is the exposure of Chris Matthews's neoconservative streak. On Hardball for the last two nights, Matthews has championed the war in Afghanistan as an ongoing US war against an intolerant Taliban.
SHARE Wednesday, December 25, 2019 Campaign against Sanders on "antisemitism" for his criticism of Israel begins in earnest
A group calling itself Democrats Against Anti-Semitism has begun an earnest campaign to inject the discourse with the idea that Bernie Sanders, historically the leading Jewish politician ever to run for president, is an antisemite because of his positions on Israel.
(4 comments) SHARE Monday, July 24, 2017 Critics of U.S. "Israel Anti-Boycott Act" say even requests for information could expose citizens to penalties
The bill in Congress that could make it a felony punishable by prison-time to advocate for boycott against Israel is causing a big splash in liberal and progressive waters. Numerous organizations have come out against the bill, including J Street, which warns against giving the Trump administration any power to "lock them up."
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, July 7, 2015 Hillary Clinton promises megadonor she will work with Republicans -- to oppose BDS
Clinton says that the Palestinians cannot unilaterally declare a state, and no one can impose a solution on Israel. She brags on her record as a U.S. senator and secretary of state, saying she opposed "dozens of anti-Israel resolutions at the UN." She writes that she supported Israel after the "biased" Goldstone Report.
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, July 4, 2016 "NY Jewish Week" speaks bluntly of "Israel firsters" in US politics
It's good that American Jews will begin openly saying of other Jews that their first loyalty is Israel. It makes such a stance untenable: it will make it impossible for people who act on "what they believe is best for Israel" to hold high positions in foreign policy-making in the U.S. government. It demonstrates that the neoconservatives are losing oxygen slowly.
SHARE Monday, August 31, 2015 U.S. is even more implicated in Israeli settlement project than we thought
The Israeli colonies are an American problem in a whole new way. Nearly one out of six settlers in the West Bank is an American. Haaretz broke the story. the settlement movement is funded not just by the Israeli government but tax-deductible donations from American Zionists. An issue the US media has refused to deal with.
SHARE Wednesday, October 14, 2015 Adelson will mold Rubio into "perfect little puppet"
Politico reported that Sheldon Adelson is warming up to Senator Marco Rubio as his best hope for influencing the presidency as he did with George W. Bush. No endorsement yet, but the two get along very well. The piece says that Rubio calls Adelson several times a month to pick his brain (!)...
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, October 27, 2013 Olmert is a "patriot," Adelson tells an American audience
Anti-Zionists long contended that a problem with Zionism is that it creates dual loyalty, and suspicions about Jews in the countries where they are citizens, because of its definition of a "Jewish people" that transcends borders. Adelson gave Romney's presidential campaign $30 million last year, and millions to Newt Gingrich. What did he want from them?
(2 comments) SHARE Thursday, November 17, 2016 Neoconservatives warm up to Trump (maybe they have an agenda)
The word has gone out that Donald Trump's foreign policy is up for grabs, and the neoconservatives are humming with pleasure over this news, and lobbying quietly and not so quietly. You can hardly blame them for sucking up to Trump: neoconservatives are hawks who care about Israel more than anything, and it is vital to them to secure Israel's interests in the next administration.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, December 30, 2016 Why Obama waited 8 years to take on Netanyahu
Obama has finally done what he wanted to do and taken on Benjamin Netanyahu and exposed his extremism. Why did he wait so long? The answer is simple: the Israel lobby was against any real action. Jewish Americans of my generation and older opposed any pressure on Israel. So there was no pressure (till now, and Trump).
SHARE Saturday, March 16, 2019 Don't accept the rules for how to criticize the Israel lobby
The Israel lobby is essentially the foreign ministry of Israel in the capital of the most powerful country in the world and it exists, as it has stated itself, to make sure that there is no daylight between the US government and Israel. And if you think that has ever meant changing Israeli policy, I have a bridge to sell you. It means shifting U.S. policy.
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, July 8, 2017 Clinton lost because PA, WI, and MI have high casualty rates and saw her as pro-war, study says
Professors argue that Clinton lost the battleground states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan in last year's presidential election because they had some of the highest casualty rates during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and voters there saw Clinton as the pro-war candidate.
SHARE Monday, December 4, 2017 Netanyahu has been interfering in U.S. politics for a long, long time
Netanyahu famously once said that the United States "can be easily moved." There are many examples of his seeking to move United States policy. Let's forget about the Russians for a moment and look at Netanyahu's record. Here are nine examples of interference that would make Vladimir Putin blush.
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, December 7, 2018 "NYT" editorial on Flynn's misdeeds has a laughable omission -- Israel's role
Two days ago, the special counsel investigating Russian influence on the Trump campaign submitted a sentencing memo urging leniency for a cooperating witness, former national security adviser Mike Flynn, and the press is, not surprisingly, leaving out the Israel angle.
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, December 29, 2018 Sheldon Adelson was a giant loser in midterms -- and Trump is letting him know it
Donald Trump is a shrewd man, and he has surely concluded what any gamer would, that Sheldon Adelson's millions didn't have the impact in 2018 that they did in 2016, when they helped deliver the White House. Hey, maybe Adelson should have given more for the embassy! He can afford it!
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, June 23, 2018 Democrats are losing their fear of AIPAC and Haim Saban
There's been a reluctance even in the Democratic establishment to defend Israel during the Gaza slaughter. Trump's embrace of Netanyahu has opened the door for formerly-silent Democrats to be critical of Israel. Trump's embrace of Netanyahu has opened the door for formerly-silent Democrats to be critical of Israel. Senator Bernie Sanders has released videos about Gaza and condemned Israeli killings of unarmed protesters.
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, January 14, 2019 Tom Friedman says he would have demanded something from Palestinians in return for moving the embassy to Jerusalem (!)
If the embassy move had truly been a bargaining chip, as Friedman suggests, Trump would have said, I'm not going to move the embassy unless you do thus-and-such. But the Palestinians were never a consideration at all and Trump was determined to go through with a radical move as a gift to Netanyahu and Sheldon Adelson, Trump's biggest donor.
SHARE Monday, February 26, 2018 The case for liberal anti-Zionism
Palestinian solidarity will not sweep to victory in this fashion. There are too many stops on it inside mainstream culture. Maybe the Ahed Tamimi case is what Ferguson was for Black Lives Matter, vaulting the movement to a wider following inside the Democratic left. I hope so. But we are not going to win the battle over Israel and Palestine in the U.S. without Zionists shedding their Zionism.
SHARE Sunday, October 1, 2017 Support for Israel is tumbling -- even among young Orthodox Jews
Modern Orthodox Jews are among Israel's strongest backers in the U.S. Think Jared Kushner. Well, the generational split that is occurring everywhere in American Jewry is taking place among the Modern Orthodox, with a minority of young Jews saying they "actively support the Jewish state."
(5 comments) SHARE Saturday, January 23, 2016 Clinton baits Sanders over "destruction of Israel"
The Israel question has become an explicit issue in the Democratic battle between Clinton and Sanders, with a Clinton aide saying that Sanders's idea to normalize Iran is naive about a country that "seeks the destruction of Israel."
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, January 27, 2017 Leading Clintonite worries that Trump will sell out Israel in forging deal with Russia
Michele Flournoy, the woman regarded as Hillary Clinton's choice for Defense Secretary says "my worry" is that Donald Trump will not consider Israel's interests in forging a deal with Russia over Syria. Her comments underline the fact that during the campaign Clinton was more attuned to Israel's interests than Donald Trump.
SHARE Tuesday, August 14, 2018 Beinart's detention at airport is said to signal new Israeli policy re American Jewish dissenters
Beinart is a Zionist Jewish writer who has become more and more critical of Israel in the last 10 years, and his detention is causing alarm in American Zionist circles about the political culture of the country they love. "This is crazy,"writes a prominent neoconservative. J Street says the Beinart treatment is part of an Israeli government pattern of targeting American Jews, which is politically dangerous for Zionism.
SHARE Saturday, July 14, 2018 "Killing Gaza" gives faces to statistics of 2014 massacre, echoing Goldstone
From the time of its birth, Israel's leaders have believed that if they caused enough violence the Palestinian problem would go away, or at least be kept at a distance, subject to the occasional two-month long war -- variations on the famous iron wall doctrine. This film shows us the spiritual dead-end of such thinking.
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, July 10, 2018 Dems have four congressional candidates willing to criticize Israel -- and "reap political rewards"
The Israel issue is heating up in American politics, with ABC News publishing a report that progressive Democrats are increasingly willing to criticize Israel and may "reap political rewards" by doing so. The report cites four congressional candidates, in Pennsylvania, NY, Minnesota and Virginia. And it shows that Republicans are publicizing the trend, in an effort to peel away Jewish voters from Democratic ranks.
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, October 16, 2017 Trump's speech on Iran deal is an orgy for Israel and its US friends
Trump's decertification of the Iran deal is sad news of course, though there are some silver linings. Nothing may come of it. The Congress might woof a lot but leave it alone. Germany, France, and Britain have already slapped the president down -- they "stand committed" to the deal. It is clear as ever who is against the deal. Israel and its lobby.
SHARE Wednesday, May 4, 2016 If it had been up to Hillary Clinton, there would be no Iran Deal
Clinton sided with Netanyahu over Obama, in seeking new sanctions on Iran just as Kerry was undertaking the deal with the new president. How much of Clinton's policymaking is "swayed by" Netanyahu." And what other good stories about Clinton's visionless foreign policy is the New York Times sitting on?
SHARE Tuesday, May 10, 2016 Calling Israel a "modern day miracle" and "vibrant bloom in desert," Clinton says BDS is anti-Semitic
Clinton has repeatedly affirmed her opposition to BDS on the campaign trail, lately in a speech to AIPAC that also characterized BDS as a form of anti-Semitism. (Our view is that this is absurd and wrong.) Last summer she promised megadonor Haim Saban that she would work with Republicans to fight BDS. Obviously, donors play an important role on this question. Hillary Clinton needs Jewish pro-Israel money.
SHARE Friday, April 15, 2016 Sanders slams Clinton for ignoring Palestinian needs and thinking Netanyahu is "right all the time"
It's finally happened: the issue of Palestinian human rights came up in the Democratic debate on national television, and Bernie Sanders repeatedly criticized Hillary Clinton -- for siding with Israel singlehandedly, for her support of Benjamin Netanyahu and her indifference to the plight of Palestinians.
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, April 2, 2018 A brief, unhappy history of Israeli massacres
You'd think that the killings of 17 unarmed protesters in Gaza by Israeli riflers across a security fence on Friday would cause the world to sanction Israel for its conduct. But if you look over Israel's history, you find that the massacre has been a ready tool in the Israeli war-chest; and Israelis have not been prosecuted for carrying them out. Indeed, a couple of those responsible later became prime minister!
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, October 25, 2018 New nation-state law shows "strength" of Israeli democracy, Netanyahu aide tells US Jews
The Israeli parliament adopted a basic law defining Israel as "the nation state of the Jewish people," with more rights for Jews than other groups: including that Arabic was no longer an official language, that "Jewish settlement" was a national value, and that the right of "national self-determination" in Israel was "unique" to Jews.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, January 26, 2016 Michael Bloomberg has been a fervent supporter of Israel, to a point
The latest surprise in a presidential race full of surprises is the news that Michael Bloomberg is considering a third-party run if it appears that non-establishment candidates Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or Bernie Sanders might actually capture his respective party's nomination. Bloomberg could become America's first Jewish president.
SHARE Monday, December 7, 2015 Elliott Abrams wants John Kerry to STFU about Palestine
Kerry's first recent offense came in October, when he linked extremist violence to Israeli settlement building. In this appearance at Harvard on October 13, you will see that he went directly from the greatest challenge of our generation being international terrorism, to the need for Palestinian statehood.
(2 comments) SHARE Sunday, February 14, 2016 The Kissinger friendship: Clinton called "Henry" to intercede with "Bibi"
If her friendship with Henry Kissinger is an issue for the Democratic base -- and it is -- Clinton's Israel friendships ought to be just as worrisome. President Obama hired Clinton as Secretary of State in the first place by way of the Israel lobby, and because of her street cred with the Israel lobby.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, May 3, 2019 "Send a message to Bibi, I love him" -- Joe Biden's long ties to Israel
"I'm a Zionist," Biden has said on many occasions. He has bragged about raising money from AIPAC and of knowing every Israeli prime minister since Golda Meir, and dismissed the idea that Israel hurts U.S. foreign policy. "Israel is the single greatest strength America has in the Middle East," Biden has said. Israel is a "security necessity" for the U.S.
SHARE Thursday, November 12, 2015 The titter-tape charade
Tanden's behavior might be excused if it were a cub reporter interviewing a foreign leader; but Tanden is leading one of America's most important progressive think tanks, with a $38-million dollar budget. She has an important position in an organization that has real impact on the policies of the world's military super-power. And progressives need stronger figures to represent us.
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, January 1, 2016 Obama wiretapped a cunning and dishonest foreign leader, for the sake of world peace
Netanyahu had come to this country without the invitation of the president, in fact defying the president, and addressed both houses of Congress to oppose the president. This was an unprecedented step by an unprincipled, politically cunning, desperate man. For world peace, President Obama had to know what this wily, dishonest man was doing to sink the deal.
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, April 2, 2016 As NY primary approaches, Clinton and Sanders separate, somewhat, on Israel
As attention turns to the NY primary, the Democratic candidates are beginning to separate on the Israel issue. Let's hope that their very real differences on the Palestinian question become politicized over the next three weeks, and voters are urged to choose between reflexive Israel support (Clinton) and criticism of the occupation (Sanders).
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, February 12, 2016 Rubio may be a robot -- but he's the neoconservatives' robot
A real discussion of Rubio's fall ought to entail some meditation of that rise. Why was a man of such limited political seasoning heralded as a plausible establishment presidential candidate? One reason only, because Rubio had the support of the rightwing Israel lobby.
SHARE Wednesday, April 13, 2016 Imitating a candidate, Ryan goes to Israel and calls BDS an anti-Semitic "shenanigan"
Paul Ryan: "First stop, our greatest ally in the region. With Israel, we have shared values and also face mutual security threats. I'm proud that my first foreign visit as speaker was to Israel. Our historic alliance is more important now than ever before."
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, December 14, 2015 How long can Democrats denounce Trump and embrace Netanyahu?
Neera Tanden's Democratic Party is also owned on a key foreign policy question by a Jim Crow faction, the Israel lobby, but the Party's own liberal base is rebelling against that ownership. The Democratic base wants Palestinians and Muslims to have basic civil rights in Israel and Palestine; and it is becoming restless inside the party, and our country too.
SHARE Tuesday, April 16, 2019 Supporting Israel is now "liability" for Democrats, but "60 Minutes" doesn't trouble Pelosi about it
A number of high-ranking members of Congress who are actually normally very close to AIPAC are speaking out against annexation. You see center-establishment organizations very concerned and publicly speaking out against annexation. So annexation is sort of like the new fear among many in the Jewish community. And, I'm speaking for the middle, not so much for the right or for the left here.