When You’ve Lost Bernie Sanders: How Netanyahu Destroyed the Israel Lobby

[kpete]

When You’ve Lost Bernie Sanders: How Netanyahu Destroyed the Israel Lobby

Posted on Feb 10, 2015

By Juan Cole

Senator Bernie Sanders, the most consistent and prominent progressive in the US Senate, has decided to skip the speech of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to Congress on March 3, which was orchestrated by Israel’s ambassador to the US Ron Dermer and Speaker of the House John Boehner in an attempt to derail President Obama’s negotiations with Iran over its civilian nuclear enrichment program. It is Bibi’s Kanye West moment.

Sanders’s announcement may well signal a turning point in the domestic politics of Mideast policy. Sanders runs as a Socialist but might well announce his candidacy within the Democratic Party for president in the 2016 race. He can’t win, of course, but could push the electoral issues to the left. He in any case caucuses with the Democrats. Despite his strong progressive vision, Sanders has in the past been reluctant to criticize Israel. He, like many on the American left, held up Israel in general as a progressive cause, regardless of the country’s colonial actions in the Palestinian West Bank or its illegal blockade of Gaza

Obama believes that a deal can be had whereby Iran is allowed to enrich uranium for reactor fuel but through restrictions and inspections can be kept from ever militarizing the program. Boehner and Netanyahu believe that Iran’s enrichment program must be closed down to forestall the development of a bomb by Tehran. Israel is currently the only nuclear power in the region, which makes it a regional hegemon, a position it might lose if it were one of many nuclear powers.


The Israel lobbies as a project of Jewish nationalism have long depended primarily on three tactics for their success. 1) They brutally punish those critical of Israeli policy (no matter how justified the criticism) with boycotts, smears and blackballing; 2) They marshal American Jewish groups into unanimity in support of Israel regardless of the latter’s feelings about certain policies, and 3) they use political donations to shape Congressional and general political discourse on Israel in official circles.



More:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/when_youve_lost_bernie_sanders_netanyahu_destroyed_israel_lobby_20150210

[2banon]

1. I have a Great Respect for Juan Cole, on this point I think he's a bit Optimistic - but I celebrate

his thoughts on this just the same.. It will be interesting to see if his analysis on the subject pans out..

with baited breath, I hold out hope that it's true.

[world wide wally]

2. The problem is Netenyahu, not so much Isreal.

[sabrina 1]

4. That is true. But in order to stop the great harm he has done to Israel's image around the world

the people of Israel will have to stop electing him, or as happened to the US when the world was initially willing to view Bush's election as an aberration, changed its views when he was returned to the WH, Israel itself will be viewed as the problem.

[world wide wally]

5. We definitely fall into the same trap.

We just need a cure for stupidity and forced vaccination for it.

[JDPriestly]

10. And Netanyahu and so many Israelis are the product of many centuries of pogroms and

ostracism and persecution of Jewish people.

One advocate for Israel, Weizmann, asserted that Jews had been persecuted for 18 centuries (since the Romans entered Palestine, the Jewish homeland at that time).

Netanyahu's older brother was killed in the rescue of the hijacking of the plane in Entebbe.

We all need to work toward fostering understanding and reconciliation between Israelis, Palestinians and all others. This kind of finger-pointing actually makes the situation worse. It makes the Jewish people feel even more unwelcome on this earth, even more persecuted. And it encourages extremists who oppose Jews (an I am not accusing Juan Cole or most DUers of being among those extremists), NAZI-type extremists to justify and spread their irrational hate.

We must work to find solutions and heal the discord in the Middle East. Blaming the Jewish people alone for the problems in the Middle East is dishonest to say the least. There were plenty of problems there before Israel was founded. The Ottoman Empire was oppressive, far more oppressive than Israel.

An interesting book to read to learn about the negotiations after WWI and the situation of the world especially the Middle East at that time is Paris 1919, Six Months That Changed the World.

From Barnes & Noble
The "war to end all wars" ended with a conference that helped spawn conflicts that persist to this day. The 1919 Versailles peacemakers created Iraq, Palestine, and Yugoslavia. They debated Kosovo, Kurdish independence, Islamic aspirations, women's rights, and the threat of communism. Margaret MacMillan's lively, detailed, sometimes mind-boggling narrative of the Paris Peace Conference follows the tangled negotiations to end World War I.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/paris-1919-margaret-macmillan/1100618985?ean=9780375760525

Of course, you can buy the book from any bookstore. It is worth reading.

Weizmann who advocated so strongly for Israel was a scientist. One of his discoveries helped the allies win WWI. He offered it to the British and their allies for free and asked only for Israel. I did not know this story.

The book describes the ignorance and confusion, the personalities, the foibles, the obvious mistakes and the high ideals of those who drafted the Treaty of Versailles that ended WWI and reshaped the world.

The value of oil was just beginning to be understood.

This book throws light on the Iraq War, on the Saudis, on the turmoil in Syria, but also on the nationalism in Eastern Europe and the great effort to win the peace after winning the war. It is long and not an easy read but well worth the trouble. Of course, it does not tell the whole story. And every author of every history book has a point of view. You may or may not agree with the conclusions or even the evidence presented, but it is a fascinating story.

I think that a lot of DUers are on the anti-Israel bandwagon who do not understand many of the issues. Again, I have to add the disclaimer that I am not Jewish. I just would like for all people to be able to live in dignity and peace including Jewish people and Palestinians.

[DirkGently]

3. Netanyahu is terrible. n/t

[thesquanderer]

7. He is their George W Bush.

Except maybe even more dangerous because he is smarter.

[dirtydickcheney]

8. Why can't Bernie win?

Who on the left isn't excited to very excited about his positions?

Everyone I know is in either of two camps about Bernie - they either like or love him (as I do).

So why can't he win?

[fbc]

9. Very good question!

"He can’t win, of course"

Why?

I hate the "He can't win" supposition with no reasoning behind it.

Is he too old? Then have the courage to say he's too old.