Israel was the only country in the world whose government, its opposition, and a majority of its people were in favor of the Iraq war. The loudest voices in favor of a strike against Iran today are exactly the same pro-Israel voices who also wanted the U.S. to attack Saddam, and they are the ones who are opposing President Bush in his belated and weak effort to push for a two-state solution in which Palestine will be an independent sate alongside the state of Israel.
After decades of conflict in the Middle East, Secretary Rice finally said three weeks ago that the creation of a Palestinian state is in the national interest of the United States. To prove it, the U.S. sent its National Security advisor to Ramallah. That’s the first time a senior U.S. official has discussed the Israeli-Palestine conflict in terms of U.S. national security.
I believe the creation of a Palestinian state has always been in the national interest of the United States. Had the U.S. taken this into consideration earlier, much of the current misery in the Middle East and in America might have been avoided. It can be argued that on more than one occasion, pro-Israeli groups and individuals have shown more loyalty to one party in an overseas conflict than to U.S. national interests. Many of these foreign policy decisions were based on domestic considerations, and thus it is an open question whether pressure has been exerted for policy that is not necessarily in the interest of the U.S.
In this context, the attacks on the two U.S. academics who dared question the power of the pro-Israel lobby actually prove the academics’ point that people who confront this lobby will be terrorized. Fundamentalist Christian Zionists, and certainly not all evangelical Christians, have also shown similar blind support to one state (actually to one position within Israel) using God as their guidance and giving their interpretations of the Bible to legitimize violent occupation and injustice to Palestinians, some of whom are also Christians.
So in short, yes; the pro-Israel lobby’s influence is so strong in the U.S. that you have more debate within Israeli political and media circles than in the U.S. itself.
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