US Jews confident in Israeli democracy

[Behind the Aegis]

American Jewish leaders mingled anxiety with belief in Israel's ability to endure hardship Thursday while they closely monitored news on hospitalized Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

"It's a time of prayer and uncertainty, but also of enduring confidence in Israel's democracy and stable nature," said David A. Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee.

"Prime Minister Sharon has had a highly personalized leadership in the last five years so it would be very difficult to imagine life without him," Harris said, yet Israel has weathered the loss of other strong leaders in the past.

Echoing those words, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, said Sharon "is a very great man, but no democracy is truly dependent on any single individual." Still, he added, "his likely withdrawal from politics creates tremendous uncertainty."

more...

[Tom Joad]

1. There are, of course, dissenters to the status quo.

See for example,
Jewish Voice for Peace
http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/

[Coastie for Truth]

2. Tom - glad for the link to JVP

I followed the links and came up with co-authored by my friend Joel Beinin.

I find three paragraphs interesting

What matters are US interests
Oil is both the obvious and correct answer; specifically, American control over the region’s oil resources, which also motivates many policymakers’ support for Israel. It also motivates other policymakers’ urging greater American distance from Israel. The neocons, on the other hand, are ideologically supportive of Israel, as well as strategically, but this does not dictate all of their politics.

In a , Michael Renner describes in detail just how huge the oil stakes were in Iraq and how big a difference for the US a client government replacing Saddam Hussein would make. The impact would be enormous, both for big oil companies and for many individuals connected to them in the Bush Administration. This is a much more obvious and clear reason for the war than Israeli interests. Berkeley political scientist , as well as some of the challenges the US faced from nationalized oil and competition from the euro that framed the decision to go to war. These are just two of many sources that document a case, based on hard evidence, for why America went to war.

The decision to invade Iraq was motivated by many factors. These included the fact that the relationship with Saudi Arabia was shaken by 9/11, a desire for more direct control over Iraqi oil (and the untapped reserves, which are thought by some to be the largest in the world), concern over the direction Latin American oil producers were going (particularly Venezuela), the feeling that the first Gulf War left “unfinished business” and the propaganda uses in terms of the “war on terror”, among others. Israeli desires were certainly a factor, as was the perception that the invasion of Iraq would advance Israeli interests. Israel’s lobbyists here in the US were understated in their support for the war, possibly because they knew it would go through without much effort on their part, but certainly were supportive of it. On a number of levels, Israel was a factor in the disastrous decision to invade Iraq. But to say it was the major or decisive factor is enormously out of line with the evidence. Iraq was a war for American interests as perceived by those who have the power to make those decisions. It was not a “war for Israel".

I am really surprized so many of our fellow progressives neglect the oil and euro issues - especially give Bush's and Cheney's ties to oil.

[Name removed]

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