ZGram - 11/8/2001 - "Sobran: Weighing the costs"

[Ingrid Rimland]

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

  Copyright (c) 2001 - Ingrid A. Rimland

 ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

 November 8, 2000

 Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

Read the Sobran column below - and try to keep your blood pressure from
going through the roof.

[START]

 Weighing the Costs | October 23, 2001

 by Joe Sobran

 Weighing the Costs | October 23, 2001

 by Joe Sobran

      One reason the Middle East has always baffled me is that we hear
such contradictory things about the state of Israel. Israel's defenders
make it sound like heaven; its detractors make it sound like hell. On the
one hand, its citizens, including Arabs, enjoy liberties denied by most
states in the region; on the other hand, it deals harshly and cruelly with
non-Jews, especially in the occupied territories.

      A Christian has to be particularly disturbed by the recent killings
of innocent Christians, including children, in Bethlehem, the birthplace
of Christ. The exact circumstances are unclear, because our news media
don't report much on the plight of Christians in the region; but it's hard
to believe these violent deaths were unavoidable. Were they inflicted by
weapons supplied by the United States?

      The question is not whether Israel is heaven or hell; it's neither.
It's a deeply troubled country, and the real question, for Americans, is
whether the fate of the United States should be tied to it.

      It's understandable that the Israelis should want U.S. support; but
what is the cost to Americans? There is the monetary cost, in billions of
tax dollars per year; there is the hatred of this country that is
exacerbated, if not wholly caused, by the U.S.-Israel alliance; and that
hatred has now cost thousands of American lives, with the toll rising.

     It would be one thing if Israel's American advocates frankly
admitted the costs and argued that America has nevertheless gained more
than it has lost by the alliance. But they don't. They talk as if the
alliance has been all profit to this country, with no downside. They
contend that the 9/11 attacks had little or nothing to do with the
U.S.-Israel alliance.

      Some of Israel's advocates are even arguing, as former Israeli prime
minister Benjamin Netanyahu does, that Arabs hate Israel because of the
United States, and not vice versa! Even by the standards of political
propaganda, which assumes the stupidity of the masses, this is absurd. If
it were true, the Israelis would end their ties to the United States in a
flash.

      A decade ago, Patrick Buchanan was accused of anti- Semitism for
referring to Israel's "amen corner in this country." But nobody denied
that such an Amen Corner exists, including many journalists, Christian as
well as Jewish, who constantly urge the U.S. to go to war against Israel's
enemies -- especially, at the moment, Iraq.

      To acknowledge this is to incur the charge of raising "the canard of
dual loyalty." Now it would be grossly unfair to accuse all American Jews
of giving their chief loyalty to Israel. But that some Jews do it is
beyond question. What is the pro-Israel lobby in this country seeking, if
not at least the partial sacrifice of American interests to Israeli
interests? That's what lobbies are for: sacrificing general interests to
particular interests. Farmers' lobbies do it, labor unions do it, big
corporations do it. They always pretend that what is good for the narrow
interest is good for everyone, just as the pro-Israel lobby always argues
that what is good for Israel is good for America.

      The pro-Israel lobby never acknowledges that there may be sharp
divergences between the two countries' interests. Having read its
literature for many years, I can't recall a single case when Israel's
advocates have said: "Policy X would be to Israel's advantage, but it
would hurt the United States, so it should be avoided." Even "dual"
loyalty would sometimes put U.S. interests first.

      Worse than the pro-Israel lobby itself are the American politicians
who constantly pander to it. They act on the assumption that Jewish voters
and campaign donors place Israeli interests above American interests. And
as long as they act on this assumption without putting it into words,
nobody comments on the "anti- Semitic" implications of their behaving as
if the "canard" were solid fact.

      Even when the Israelis kill American sailors or steal American
military secrets, these fine Americans never express outrage or demand
investigations. Nothing could better illustrate the sagacity of George
Washington's warnings against the "foreign corruption" to which republics
are susceptible.

      Israel has become so dependent on American aid that even to ask for
candor about the interests at stake is to risk the charge of being
"anti-Israel" -- as if seeking the unvarnished truth amounted to declaring
war on Israel. Israel's defenders imply that Israel depends not only on
America, but on false propaganda. Don't they ever listen to themselves?

[END]

This column is archived at http://www.sobran.com/columns/011023.shtml.

 To subscribe to the Sobran columns, see
http://www.sobran.com/e-mail.shtml or http://www.griffnews.com for details
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  Copyright (c) 2001 by the Griffin Internet Syndicate, www.griffnews.com.
All rights reserved.

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 Thought for the Day:

 "Even some Jews are waking up!"

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