Israel is dependent on imported oil and gets it primarily from Russia. But are they a reliable source? Recall that they recently threatened to cut off their East European customers if they didn’t behave as expected.

http://www.slate.com/id/2145704/

Where Does Israel Get Oil?If you're selling, they're buying.

By Daniel Engber
Posted Friday, July 14, 2006, at 6:19 PM ET

The leader of Hezbollah declared "open war" against Israel on Friday following the bombing of his offices in Beirut, Lebanon. The president of Iran has announced that if Israel were to expand the hostilities by attacking Syria, that would represent "an attack on the whole Islamic world and the regime will face a crushing response." Given the grim state of Arab-Israeli relations, where does Israel get its oil?

From Russia and former Soviet republics. Israel produces only a couple thousand barrels of oil a day, which means it relies on the global market for more than 99 percent of its consumption. It's difficult to name all of the country's suppliers—in 2004, Israel's minister of national infrastructures admitted that "Israel's situation is complicated. We don't have diplomatic relations with most of the countries from which we import oil." But over the past 25 years, significant fuel imports have come from Angola, Colombia, Mexico, Egypt, and Norway. In more recent times, the Israelis have turned to Russia, Kazakhstan, and some of the other -stans for the bulk of their oil.

Israel has long sought a local source of oil, especially since the oil crisis of 1973. Having a nearby supplier would increase Israel's energy security and reduce the cost of its imports. Iran filled that need for a while: Starting in 1968, the Israelis used a pipe called the "TIPline" to import Iranian oil from the Red Sea. But the shah was overthrown in 1979, and Iran shut off the tap. (These days, Israel lets the Russians use the TIPline to pump oil in the opposite direction.)

Question for the group:

Why does the US continue to give the Israelis billions of dollars in foreign aid each year, even though we can’t afford it and have to borrow the money from the Chinese (plus interest)?

I don’t know either unless it’s because AIPAC owns our congress, senate and executive branches of government.

"As for Zionists, God is found in hearts and minds, not in a piece of land."

Excellent point. Perhaps the golden calf of our era is this stretch of territory.

It is pointless to discuss whether the Israeli lobby exists or not or has "tremendous unacknowledged influence" or not on American policy. What IS worth discussing is: when will the US stop allowing itself to be stretched between foreign entities crying out for aid and intervention and those crying out against US expansionism and meddling (often the same foreign entities)? What's wrong with isolationism? Look where we are now: allied to Israel which does not share our constitutional values, allied to Arab countries whose regimes do not share our constitutional values, trading with China (one-way albeit) another country which does not share our constitutional values... the list goes on. The USA needs to put itself first and stop being the world's police force, rescuer, and meal-ticket.
We don't need to worry about "controlling" oil-rich countries (as Andoni asserts) because it doesn't do oil-rich countries any good to sit on the oil. They need to sell it and we are the main market. Let them secure their own deliveries to us - that's not our job as the customer.
As for Zionists, God is found in hearts and minds, not in a piece of land. What's happening in that land today is anything but holy. Your messiah is all-powerful right? so why does he need a piece of land or a temple to make his return? I'd like to see all American Jews who are outraged by anti-semitism in the US take a stand against anti-Arabism here (as any American should). You can start with writing letters to the Christian Broadcast Network to remove the kefia-clad "terrorist" portrayed on that channel as one of the signs of the "end-time" used to create hate and fear. Those who speak out against hate must denounce hate against all.

There are 40 Jews in the Congress with less than 2% of the population. If there were 40 Arabs there would be an outcry, expecially by the Jews. With only 2% of the population there should be very few Jews on the national radio and TV networks.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Almost everyone in Congress is a politician yet politicians represent less than 1% of our population. A large majority of Americans want us to leave the middle east and become energy independant using our smarts and can-do winners attitude. But in our "representative" democracy, party affiliation, lobby influence, and special interest money to be reelected has driven Congress into a state of paralysis. We have taxation without representation, again!
So if you have a gripe about Isreali lobbies, get in line!

There are 40 Jews in the Congress with less than 2% of the population. If there were 40 Arabs there would be an outcry, expecially by the Jews. With only 2% of the population there should be very few Jews on the national radio and TV networks.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Almost everyone in Congress is a politician yet politicians represent less than 1% of our population. A large majority of Americans want us to leave the middle east and become energy independant using our smarts and can-do winners attitude. But in our "representative" democracy, party affiliation, lobby influence, and special interest money to be reelected has driven Congress into a state of paralysis. We have taxation without representation, again!
So if you have a gripe about Isreali lobbies, get in line!

Saul Singer:

“The surprising truth, however, is that from the point of view of both the peace process and even more fundamental American interests, the U.S. should be more "pro-Israel," not less. The basic reason for this is that the Arab war to destroy Israel is a subset of Islamo-fascist jihad against the West. It makes little sense for the U.S. to be neutral in such a struggle, just as the U.S. could not be neutral as Nazi Germany proceeded to gobble up Europe.”

Get real! The only fascists are the US/Israeli invaders/occupiers who have used the world’s most powerful war machine to keep the Palestinians under the Israeli Jackboot living in squalor, to control their food, water and energy supplies, and to allocate to each Israeli the same amount of water as four Palestinians.

This is the root cause, along with our illegal preemptive invasion and occupation of Iraq, for any Muslim retaliation against the West. Of course the Neocons and Israeli Lobbyists were prime instigators of our disastrous invasion of Iraq.

Mr. Singer argues that we should be even more pro-Israel to expedite the submission of the Palestinians and Islamic Jihadists in general.

Nonsense! The Muslim world will simply wait for the U.S. Empire to founder on its inability to get its dependency on Middle East oil under control, and be bankrupted by the oil producing nations.

My solution to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict:

1. Declare a no fly zone over the region.

2. Demand that Israel destroy all planes, tanks and nuclear weapons. If they refuse, we do it for them.

3. Stand back and say: “O.K. boys and girls, have at it.

A lot of pats on the backing going on....what bothers me is why does Israel spy on the USA? It has been caught in the past and recently. And facing charges of spying today. We support Israel, but they spy on us...If France did the same, it will be a whole different story.
Take a look at Israel's Nuke issue .....
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/israel/israel-070702-voa01.htm
Israel keeps the Nuke issue unknown to the world and the USA pushes other countries not to have nukes. If you have a nuke, it's political power and the USA will look to invade a non-nuke country to keep America free. A arm race has started.
USA should be Nuetral to Israel. not pro or anti, but neutral .....Supporting Israel for over 50 years and their problems have become ours. Read the 9/11 commission report ....

Daniel Brown,

Thanks for the post and kind words.

The Arab-Israeli conflict does seem like an intractable conflict. A country is established as a Jewish majority nation in the Middle of Palestine, an existing country with an Arab majority consisting of Christians and Muslims.

Today as it stands, 5.5 million Jews and 5.7 million Arabs live in historic Palestine, between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean. There are only two possible solutions that are viable alternatives to the current situation of occupation and apartheid, as named by many observers, Jews and gentiles, including former President Jimmy Carter who, himself, gave Israel its most prized posession, peace with Egypt.

The first solution is a one state solution with Christian and Muslim Arabs living with Jews in one state that combines Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza into one large nation that is home to both Palestinians and Jews. The one state solution is supported by the majority of Arabs and Palestinians, but is a no deal to Israelis and World Jewry for the reason that the new state would be majority Arab.

The second solution is a two state solution where the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem form the Palestinian state. This would result in two states between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, one Jewish, one Palestinian with large minorities of Arabs and Jews respectively.

The reasons that induce one to conclude that the Pro-Israel lobby is too powerful in the United States are evident. For the last fourty years, the Arabs of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, which now total 4.3 million people, have the been the only people on earth with no citizenship to any country. They have no rights, nor representation, nor self-determination or any freedom that is associated with a soverign people nor are they given these rights as full citizens of Israel.

The United States has supported this state of affairs despite its obvious moral shortcomings and illegal trappings, precisely because of a strong pro-Israel domestic lobby. Furthermore, American interests would no more explain the American policy in the Middle East than morality does.

US interest would lie at the very least in a peaceful Middle East, composed of a secured Israel and a free Palestine. However, even through the Oslo years, and definitely before and since, settlement building and settler colonization of the West Bank has been going strong. The number of settlers between 1967 and 1990 is 90 thousand settlers. During the Oslo years, between 1991 and 2000, the number of settlers increased to 250,000. Since the settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have reached up to 450,000. This number approaches ten percent of Israel's Jewish population. One can no longer claim that settlers are a fringe group. The United States has never weighed heavily against Israel for its settlement policy and the two presidents that tried, Jimmy Carter and George HP Bush did not get re-elected.

The answer is not to do away with lobbies or to outlaw the Pro-Israel lobby but to awaken average Americans to the real costs incurred in their financial and military support of the state of Israel against Palestinians and the entire Middle East.

Ms. Andoni's comments were refreshingly intelligent and on target. One is reminded of that period of time, the 12th century, when the
wise Muslim teacher, Saladin, promoted education and knowledge among his people. Saladin's personal physician was Moses Maimonides, a reminder that Islam and Judaism once worked together.

I was going to write something but I do not want to show how ignorant I am compared to Rick. He said alot of stuff I know (Oh Rick I just wrote Mr. Ignatius an Email on his great article and also more information about this issue) but he put it in a way that was reasonable and totally shuts down oppsition. Nice job Rick.

In today’s WP:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/14/AR2007111402032_pf.html

Palestinian Security Paradox

By David Ignatius
Thursday, November 15, 2007; A25

“JERUSALEM -- Here's a safe prediction in advance of the Annapolis peace conference scheduled to take place in a few weeks: The Palestinians won't be ready to fulfill their obligation to provide security in the West Bank under the "road map to peace."

The Palestinian Authority simply doesn't have the people, the training or the equipment to maintain order in the territories.

Why is this so? The answer, in part, is that the Palestinians haven't built up their security forces because the Israelis haven't permitted them to do so. And they haven't trained or equipped these forces, as envisaged under the road map, because the United States has failed to provide the necessary funds.

Security is the magic word. No peace deal will work until the Palestinians are able to provide security that Israelis can trust. But right now, people are paying lip service to this idea rather than actually helping the Palestinians build a credible force.

If Annapolis is to be anything more than another exercise in frustration, Americans, Israelis and Palestinians should face this problem directly. The peace conference is premised on expectations about security that are unrealistic and can't be fulfilled. If the Israelis really want the Palestinians to take more responsibility for curbing terror and maintaining order, they will have to allow them the resources and training to learn how. That's risky, but the alternative is permanent Israeli occupation, which nobody wants...”

“To carry out the road map, the Bush administration in 2005 created the office of U.S. security coordinator, reporting to the State Department. Since late 2005, that post has been filled by Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton. But until recently, his office has had little money from Congress to carry out its responsibilities. That's because Congress, mistrusting the Palestinians, wouldn't appropriate the funds...”

“Fayyad wants to build a strong security force that can stop terrorism -- but one that Palestinians will see as their own rather than something imposed by America or Israel. That's a goal everyone should share, but it won't be a reality when the Annapolis conference convenes. If people are serious about security in a future Palestinian state, they need to let Palestinians learn to do the job.”

That sounds good David, but I think there can never be enough security (Palestinian, Israeli or U.S.) to protect the illegitimate “State of Israel” from attack by Palestinians and freedom fighters (Hezbollah and Hamas) in neighboring states. The “two-state” solution is a nonstarter. The opposition will merely wait out the declining U.S. Empire, which can’t solve its dependency problem on Middle East oil, until it becomes increasingly bankrupted by the world’s oil suppliers.

A number of posters have denied that there is any pro-Israel lobby, and either implicitly or explicitly accused Ms. Andoni and all the comments agreeing with her of anti-Semitism.

They're wrong about the second (in most cases), and right about the first. There is no pro-Israel lobby in the USA. Rather, there is a very powerful pro-Likud lobby. As close to half the Israeli populace has understood for a long time, it poses the greatest threat on the planet (outside of Hamas and Hizbollah themselves) to the long-term survival of the state of Israel.

There's an analogy with the ueber-patriots who support the neocons in their systematic dismantling of the American Bill of Rights, thus posing the greatest threat on the planet to the long-term survival of the American experiment. The ways in which the analogy breaks down are both to Israel's credit. First, the temptation to a hard line is easy to sympathize with, since Arab extremism actually poses an existential threat to their nation, as terrorism never has and never could to our own. And second, the Israeli press, unlike the U.S. "Pick one, Viacom, Fox, or Disney" version, is a functioning institution that still promotes a vigorous exploration of a wide palette of views.

Likud completed the effective subjugation of the U.S. Congress years ago. It's still struggling to match that with a parallel subjugation of the Knesset. I hope it loses. Then Israel, ordinary Palestinians, America, and the world at large will finally have a chance to win.

Refreshing to find this comment page so user-friendly. Usually this topic is tucked away in the recesses of almost hidden I/P forums on many websites, and moderated to the point of censorship.

The Weapons of Mass Destruction can be found in Israel, and not iraq or Iran. The Jewish people bought those WMD from the US to use on Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Palestinians.

Israeli policy executed on the people of the middle east through US intervention or lack of intervention.

American's are afraid to speak out against Israel for fear of being labeled anti-semetic. It is sad that Israel uses fear to disallow speaking out against Israeli violent and inhumane treatment of other peoples of the region they invaded in 1948.

Patrick

Hi Rachel

“We have a homeland which we have possessed continuously for thousands of years. This does not make us "colonialists". The typical misapplication of incorrect standards and false historical references is exactly the thing which people should be discussing.”

Please help me out with the following so I can get my “typical misapplication of incorrect standards and false historical references” straight:

Here is the relevant map of Palestine:

http://www.ccmep.org/delegations/maps/palestine.html

The four maps titled Palestinian Loss of Land 1946 – 1999 give the picture. From the one on the left (Palestinian and Jewish Land in 1946) Palestinians owned practically all (92%) of the land in 1946, prior to the illegitimate UN partition. Since, Palestine was not the UN’s to give away; this is the map that any peace agreement must go back to.

Here is a summary of the Brief History of Palestine:

http://www.cyberus.ca/~baker/pal_hist.htm

Note that just prior to the turn of the 20th century (1895), the total population of Palestine was 500,000 of whom 47,000 (9%) were Jews who owned 0.5% of the land.
In 1917, at the time of the Balfour Declaration, the total population was 700,000 of which 56,000 (8%) were Jews.

In 1947, after 30 years of Zionist immigration, the illegal UN partition of Palestine allocated 53% of the land to the Jews who accounted for only 30% of the population and owned only 8% of the land. Only 47% of the land went to the Arab Palestinians who accounted for 70% of the population and actually owned 92% of the land.

In 2005, the Jewish population stood at about 5,200,000 (50.7%) compared to the 5,056,000 (49.3%) Arab Palestinian population.

So clearly, the only fair and equitable thing to do is to evacuate the 4,470,000 illegitimate Zionist Jews and descendents to the U.S., leaving the Jewish population at the original 47,000 that were there at the turn of the 20th century (adjusted for normal 2% population growth demographics, or about 430,000 Jews today.

The single state solution is the only one with a prayer of success, with right of return granted to the exiled Palestinians in refugee camps. Life will be very uncomfortable for the remaining Jews, sort of like that of the minority Sunnis in Iraq today, only worse. But if they don’t like it, they are welcome to join their brethren in the U.S.

As for the Balfour Declaration:

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 (dated November 2, 1917) was a classified formal statement of policy by the British government on the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of the World War I.

The letter stated the position, agreed at a British Cabinet meeting on October 31, 1917, that the British government supported Zionist plans for a Jewish "national home" in Palestine, with the condition that nothing should be done which might prejudice the rights of existing communities there.

So the result was the forceful injection by the British, of the Zionist Jews, who had been expelled from the region 2000 years ago.

Who would have thought that such an illegal Zionist immigration could ever satisfy: “the condition that nothing should be done which might prejudice the rights of existing communities” of Palestine?

The British soon recognized the folly of this policy and attempted to halt the Zionist immigration. They were attacked by a terrorist group named Irgun (some call it Etzel), established by the violent Right-Wing of the Zionist Movement in Palestine. The most well-known of these attacks was the King David Hotel bombing which occurred on July 22, 1946. This was a well-planned act engineered by the Irgun's Leader and future Prime Minster, Menachem Begin.

So the Balfour Declaration, and resulting Zionist immigration, was a terrible mistake. The British tried and failed to reverse this terrible decision.

Repercussions of this heinous crime are behind all turmoil and bloodshed in the Middle East including Iraq, Lebanon, Palestinian occupied territories, Syria, Iran etc.

The whole world will never see peace as long as the crime of the 20th century is not corrected.

Does the Israeli Lobby have to much influence over U.S. decisions?

Answer YES! After 40 votes: 78% Yes, 22% No.

http://www.youpolls.com/details.asp?pid=966

A professor at UC Irvine, Amos N Guiora, claims today on the pages of sfgate - San Francisco Chronicle that ISRAEL is merely "responding to terrorism".

"Somehow" the Chronicle does not mention Guiora's record, which I found on the website of the Cleveland Jewish News:
"Amos N. GUIORA IS a former commander of the Israeli army's School of Military Law. Guiora holds dual Israel-American citizenship and served for 19 years in the "Israel Defense Forces" (IDF) Judge Advocate General Corps".

DISHONESTY SHOULD NOT THE TRADE OF RESPECTED MEDIA!
NOR SHOULD ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS ACCEPT SUCH BEHAVIOR!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/14/ED23TBLNN.DTL
http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/articles/2006/12/21/news/israel/acourt1222.txt

Lamis is SPOT ON with this analysis. Everyone should understand the real workings of these so called "think tanks."

Talvez a preocupação dos americanos, em concentrado recursos em israel e outras unidades do continente, seja a razão principal do distanciamento cada vez maior com as americas do sul e central . Utilizaram e abusaram muito de nossas riquesas naturais e sugaram a nossa poupança interna, disciplinando uma política monetarista que geravam benefícios aos próprio mercado financeiro americano e durante décadas. E mais, países pobres e em desenvolvimento, voltaram a ser comandados por governos populistas e que estão se ampliando, porque a corrupção e a carencia da população era muito grande. Havia uma concentração cada vez maior das riquesas pelas elites dominantes

Haaretz just released this horrifying fresh poll:

70 % of JEWISH YOUTH in Israel believe that Israeli Bedouins -- the original inhabitants of the Negev/Naqeb HAVE NO RIGHTS to such rights the "Jews" have.

That proves the SUCCESS of the RACIST ZIONIST EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.

The Bedouins who were the true people of the Negev/Naqeb, are now concentrated in 2% of the region's area; mostly in crowded townships which resemble those in APARTHEID South Africa.

The Hebrew language link:
http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/924009.html

"...Israel views a weak, if not a disintegrated, Arab World as a prerequisite for pursuing expansionist, racist and colonialist policies unchallenged...."

the above statement tells a lot about you. Absolving the Arab world of any blames, be it blatant racism, maniacal religious fanaticism, and their tendency to translate this into terrorism and war mongering tells me a lot about the 'expert' in you. There has been practised real colonialism in the past. However we didnt see terrorism as a result of this. There are 57 'Islamic' nations on this planet. I think that tells a lot about source of some of the problems.

I am amazed that there is no pressure whatsoever on any of the arab or islamic countries to change their mindset from the intellectual 'stalwarts' like you. the attitude of these countries and the dismantling of the religious nature of their nations is an important step towards solving the problems in Mid East.

Blindly saying that America is a dangerous cowboy and Israel is the evil brain behind this cowboy is malafide and myopic. and blaming AIPAC for all this is childish. Has someone been paid for this propoganda?

I've seen videos of some of the politicians speaking at AIPAC, and it truly is revolting. It goes beyond just shaming the United States; it is truly shameful for these politicians as people to kowtow so thoroughly, to directly deny any possibility of divergence of interests between the US and Israel.

If the Israel Lobby wields undue influence in Washington, the fault is not with the Lobby, which after all has the right, within the limits of the law, to promote whatever interest it chooses. The fault lies with how spineless American politicians have become. There is something very wrong with the Republic that this sort of people are our "leaders." It is no wonder that we do fantastically stupid things like invading Iraq, and I suspect that these loathsome panderers will direct us into still greater blunders.

Truly amazing how these articles bring out the anti-Semitic bigots, conspiracy mongers and just plain old fashioned Jew-haters.

It makes me glad I support groups which stand up to such people. It also points up the necessity of even more people getting involved in fighting this illness within our civilization.

Sadly, Ms. Adoni does exactly what all anti-Semites do,but does so in a typically insidious manner. There actually is no such thing as an "Israeli lobby." There are groups founded by Jews that express interest in Jewish affairs and things which matter to most Jews, such as the continued existence of the State of Israel. It is regrettable that she and others believe that any group exerts any control or power at all over the deliberations of the US Congress. It indicates clearly that she and others who run on about the "Jewish lobby" have a complete lack of understanding about how the US government actually works. It the anti-Semitic and hysterical thinking by those on the Left who are so dangerous to the existence of Israel. And I am not sure why she thinks that Israel has
"colonialist" or even "expansionist" aspirations in the Middle East. We have a homeland which we have possessed continuously for thousands of years. This does not make us "colonialists". The typical misapplication of incorrect standards and false historical references is exactly the thing which people should be discussing.

Of course, the Israelis lobbying group in Washington is very influential in domestic and international issues that affects Israel. The reason why the Israel lobbying group is so effective and powerful should not be attached to money, but should be attached to the level of organizational management it has;whereas other lobbying groups lack that capacity and ability to exert strong influences. I am not saying that money isn't a factor. Of course, money can talk and can get things done. However, without coherent and interconnected networks, then policy executions would mean nothing at the end the day. In other worlds, the end justifies the mean when it comes to how organize the Israelis lobbying group in Washington compares to other lobbying organizations.

Second, the US interest in the Middle East is another thing that makes the Israelis lobbying group in Washington an expert that is always needed. The Israelis are very familiar with the Middle East in historical, politcal, and economic contexts more than other groups. Therefore, this makes them the right organization to be consulted should anything about the region arises.

Without adding the third and fourth points why the Israelis lobbying group is so effective, I would reiterate that the above two points would be enough to convince any doubting Thomas. Of course, money can talk! There is no doubt about that. However, things cannot work if there is no clear organization.

Interesting arrangement. Billions of dollars of hard earned US taxpayers money is given to Israel. Israel in turn gives millions of dollars back to the same politicians to get reelected.

Oh, those darn Jews. I remember when the combined armies of 6 Arab nations peacefully set themselves up on the Israeli border and expected all the Jews to march into the sea and drown. But no... being the expansionist colonialist warmongers we all know them to be, the Jews fought instead of being peacefully over-run and peacefully dying.

And this happened again and again. And the peaceful Syrians peacefully shelled Israel, and the warlike Israelis took the Golan Heights instead of dying in peace the way they were supposed to.

Now the awful Jews are building walls to keep the Palestinians away from them, just because those Palestinians keep killing Israelis. This is the worst kind of colonialism.

It is good to finally see the truth here on the Washington Post's website: that if Israel and the American Jewish lobby really wanted peace, they would all die peacefully instead of fighting against the rightful aspirations of the Arab peoples who want to wipe them out.

Uh-huh.

We Americans are under educated on these issues.

American media no longer has an interest in getting the facts to the American public.

The Democrat Congress does not have the back-bone
to address the issues head-on, and the Bush administration will take full advanatage of these things to put more of the money, and power in a very few hands.

The Bush administration will continue to bankrupt our Nation, morally, monetarily, and militarily because their goals are not the health of the country. Their goal is control of the wealth.

The sad fact is: they see no wrong in this.

"The Wolf Who Cried Wolf:
Charging Anti-Semitism and Extending the Iron Wall
by M. Junaid Alam...":

http://www.counterpunch.org/jalam1026.html

why do we let a blatantly anti-american "journalist" from Al Jazeera have any say in our domestic or foreign policy.

Its ridiculous that the Washington Post even gives her a platform.

Wake up America.

AIPAC has scripted U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and the greater Islamic world forever. But I can't help but think we truly abandoned any pretext at formulating independent foreign policy with the Islamic world in 2000, when the Supreme Court awarded the presidency to W.

As I recall the first edict from W's administration was the declaration of a months-long moratorium on the Clinton efforts to forge some sort of peace in the region. With no clout whatsoever, new Middle East ambassador General Zinni quickly recognized that this administration was ill-equipped (intellectually and morally) to press for Is-Pal talks based on some small degree of impartiality. He soon did the honorable thing-- he quit the Bush State Department.

The next thing I recall, some six months later, was that famous White House photo op with W's arm draped around Ariel Sharon's shoulders, while he tells the American public "I think this (Sharon) is a man of peace." (Sort of like looking into the eyes and soul of Vladimir Putin.)

At the same moment W and the neo-cons were drooling over the vicious General Sharon, Israeli armored bulldozers were flattening a sizable swath of the Palestinian refugee camp at Jenin, in yet another stunning display of near-criminal disproportionate response. And on it went.

Now we've got Condoleezza Rice trying to reinvent the dead-serious attempts of the Clinton people to forge a negotiated Is-Pal settlement that gives at least some the West Bank back to the Palestinians from whom it was seized. She looks and sounds so pathetic, mouthing the ideas of her predecessors and speaking with an urgency that would leave the unsuspecting/uninformed public to think her ideas and strategies are original.

God save the republic.

With small number of population and ability to control the US Middle East policy it is obvious that the Israeli is very smart. By now those who still have doubt should be convinced we are "the chosen people."

Israel get away of sinking USS Liberty and what did the US did, give them more aid.

Israel practice an ideology of discrimination, gentile can not be our leader especially the Palestinian or Arab what do we get, more US aid.

Israel is created in the land of Palestine by terrorizing and expelling their inhabitants, what do we get, US aid to defend us against "terrorist" who wants to take back their stolen land. Following that Christian Zionist are busy concocting stories that those land were in fact God promised land exclusively for us the Jews. So when God fail to deliver His promise then the gentile such as the American must become a Zionist tool and help us to subjugate the Palestinians. The truth must prevail, so let the gentile help to fulfill His promise that He failed to deliver.

There are disproportionate 40 Jews as member of Congress off course the gentile should accept that otherwise their faith that we are "the chosen people" is weak or compromised.

If there are 40 Arab as member of Congress off course there should be an outrage because Arabs are the descendant of Ishmael who is the first born son of Abraham therefore Arabs are NOT the "chosen people".

The book about "The Israel Lobby" in fact is a mistake we should NOT allow such information to disseminate to the general populace at large lest other people will become smart too.

It seems our weapon of character destruction such as "Anti-Semite" effectiveness is eroding please readers give us your thought.

Off course we don't want to open the flood gate of information to the gentile lest one day an Arab might become an Israeli president then once more time we might lost our nation of the "chosen people."

"The U.S. makes no secret about its drive to control the oil-rich region."

What does she mean by "control"?
The goals of the U.S. are the same as all other countries whose economies depend on oil: to promote promote political stability so that oil producing countries can bring their product to the world market without disruption. Did the U.S. invade Kuwait so that it could "control" it and its neighbors? When the U.S. had 9000 troops in Saudi Arabia, was the purpose to "control" it?

Dick.
The Russian Jew Chaim Weizmann ended up in Great Britain where he during the First World War manipulated the English to declare its willingness to set aside Palestine as a Jewish Homeland or Commonwealth (The Balfour Declaration), the English hoping by this act to have Jewish support to manipulate USA into a war with Germany. At the same time English Special Branch together with US State Police (this was before FBI era) from 1914 kept a watchful eye on the Jews in the Wall Street area that was busy doing trade in their mother tongue the German language
In Palestine the Jewish population increased from a mere 24.000 in 1880 (in London there lived about 50.000 Jews) to 49.000 in 1903 and to 90.000 by 1914 while in Palestine at that time there were reckoned to be 500.000 Arabs. King Ibn Saud objected in spring 1945 to heavy influx of Jews into Palestine and President F. D. ROOSEVELT promised him not to take any action without consulting the King. In 1946 did President Truman pressure the English to promptly dispatch 100.000 Jews to Palestine and also undertook to arrange the sea transport. So the Jewish immigration to Palestine legal or not could well be compared to the Russification of the Baltic States in the 1940/50. This came to an abrupt end 1991 and let us hopes that the same will also happens in Palestine. The Jewish colony in USA is extremely strong in Finance and Media. And there is not one single American film since before the Second World War that do not include a remark about Jewish habits one way or another. The most common insert is “bar Mitzvah” that just pops up in conversation without any logical meaning. You listen to any American film. Myself prefer Alfred Hitchcock’s quite guest performance in his own films.

Israel opposed Bush's oil grab in Iraq and repeatedly warned the administration that it would be a mistake.

Can you spell "xenophobia"?

Argentina dirty war was lost when the army used the guerrilla way of war, at the end we were the enemy, because we lost our moral, the same way and I don't know who is the boss in this american-israeli relation, but folowing this me me me style is sending us to the worst.

I beg to disagree with Lamis Andonis' defintion on what "Pro-Israel" is.

To me Pro-Israel stands for a policy that is based on a vision which aims to guarantee the future existence of Israel.

What AIPAC and other right-wing Zionist lobbying organization do is ANTI-PEACE, and therefore are ANTI-ISRAEL.

- what a beautiful and refreshing original article. I would wish to raise your stakes a bit and state that the Israel Lobby and our Neocons effectively completely control our government and foreign policy. It has been nothing less than a Neocon coup and it has broken our democracy. Please take a look at these several plainly clear points:

1- The Neocons have prevented resolution of the Israeli-Palestiian conflict
2- the Neocons have had us assault Iraq
3- they now have us on the way to assaulting Iran
4- they aren't done after Iran, either. Next we assault Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, and finally, Egypt- look it up -it's all there in the Neocon Handbook
5- our US Congress is well known to be nearly fully sold out to AIPAC - listen to Jimmy Carter or anyone else
6- our current unitary executive is fully following the neocon AIPAC/AEI/Israeli adgenda - "lock stock and barrel" according to John Edwards (*see amazing link below - it will blow your mind - John Edwards goes ballistic on the Neocons on 11 05 07 and so should you- ha!)
7- frontrunnig Guilani and Hillary are both William Kristol-approved for following up our preliminary assaults on Iran

- and all these points are part of the same whole - take a look below.

The Neocons have been destroying Palestine and any chance for peace in the ME with the same brutality and insanity with which they have been running American foreign policy during this BushCheney regime. Our policy is now Neocon-centered which is another way of saying "Israel First". In order to destroy this Neocon coup we must Free Palestine in order to Free America from the Neocons. At this point one will not happen without the other - it is now part of one whole.

We need another war all right - we need a 'The War against the Neocons', a war against the Neocons and their right wing Judeofacist-Likudnik goose steppers in the US Congress, a war against these traitors who have destroyed America and made us all fascists for Israel in order for her to be able to get away with her theft of Palestine.

And don't forget- after Iran there's MORE! - even after we commit the war crime of assaulting Iran - even THEN the Neocons are not done with us - for next we attack Syria and Lebanon. And even THEN they're not done. It's perpetual war and since Hillary is William Krystol's Gal - the neocon war-party now has Hillary as well as Rudy as well as Joe Warmonger Liberman as the independent. Pretty good, huh? AIPAC has the Reps, Dems, and the koff koff Independent Lieberman - a three-way from hell all in it's pretty little hand

We have propped up the illegal and immoral Israeli occupation of Palestine for the last half-century and the Neocons are using America to reduce Israel's enemies to rubble. To end George's bogus 'war on terror' Israel must be forced to conform to the UN Resolutions, Geneva Conventions, and international law it is violation of [United Nations Sec Coun Res 242, 192, 338, the Geneva Convention, and international law.]

Check this out - "The Israeli Lobby and US Foreign Policy " by Mearsheimer and Walt over the last couple of months - "The Israeli Lobby and US Foreign Policy" is an essential primer to the 'why they hate us' that Israel and the Neocons don't want Americans to know about. It very clearly outlines the PRESENT manipulation of our foreign policy for our coming war on Iran - read it before (or during) our war with Iran begins - talk about exciting and timely! Ha! It's a great read and provides the necessary background for informed American foreign policy debate, IMHO

*this will blow your mind - Edwards anti-neocon speech of 11 5 07 at U of Iowa http://johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20071105-a-new-strategy-for-iran/

When will it become obvious to the Jewish-Americans that their obvious and mostly unanimous approval of whatever Israel does is not good for America. Jewish-Americans by a preponderance of numbers-compared to other ethnic groups-are the most educated and hold most of the important positions in all branches of government and by far the most successful in their socio-economic levels. History must have taught them at least one lesson-you cannot be in one's face all the time. People, sadly, in the world are awakening up to this Jewish attitude and as far as I am concerned, as a grandfather of Jewish-American grandchildren, I do not like what I see. Power corrupts. You are at the precipice of another destruction. Renounce expansionism in Israel, and be Americans first and Jewish second.

Note that the Saudi's have spent billions lobbying the US government as well. Furthermore they have spent tens of Billions spreading wahabi fundamental islam in this country via mosques they've funded all over....

Every country and its people should lead its own destiny. If they can show they are good people, with principles, hard working, educate, they are bound to strive (one example, Singapour).

If they show they are not good people, not hard working, not educated, always looking for troubles, planning social injustices, ethnic cleansing, retaliation, vendettas, they are bound to fail. I will not name nations, even if many examples come to mind, but one organisation which is a summary for all, Mafia.

All depends where you put your bets. Its always a matter of choice.

Either register with FARA , or RICO AIPAC.

Sincere thanks to the Post for this recent dialogue allowing us to express our concern about the Israeli Lobby. The recent article by Bob Novak was a breath of fresh air. There are 40 Jews in the Congress with less than 2% of the population. If there were 40 Arabs there would be an outcry, expecially by the Jews. With only 2% of the population there should be very few Jews on the national radio and TV networks. Unfortunately, there are at least five to 10 times this number,effectively dominating radio and TV. This irrational support for selfish and cruel Israeli policies and for US aggression against Iraq and Iran, is currently a huge concern for the average American. Enough!! The American Zionist Jews have become so strident and aggressive that normal people are noticing. The recent group of Jewish Neocons who pushed Bush into Iraq have left a bad taste in our mouthes. I support the existance of a secure Israel but not at the expense of a secure and intact Palestine.

To RBS:

You write: "I've often seen Israel accused of expansionist and colonialist leanings -- but have never seen an explanation in support of such assertions."

Read Joel Kovel's recent book "Overcoming Zionism". It will give the entire explanation.

What a load of manure...I support fellow democracies that share our values.

I agree with much of what the writer has authored. I do believe there is an "open" conspiracy at work in this country and yet too many "conservatives" are too blind to recognize it. These so-called conservatives would be appalled at what happens behind closed doors. It may be out in the open as you state, however, the large proportion of conservatives in this country are totally unaware that it is happening and instead focus on the American dream of exporting "freedom" and "democracy".

It is just that deception or the selling of the American way to middle-American conservatives that fools the American public into believing that we're promoting American "ideals" abroad through wars in the Middle East.

George Washington's warning against "passionate attachments" with foreign nations...

Washington said such attachments result in: "Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists...It leads also to concession to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt...to injure the nation making the concessions...by exciting jealousy, ill will, and disposition to retaliate in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld...It gives to...citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation) facility...to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils."

Many Arabs are very quick to criticize American policy in the Middle East as pro-Israeli or Imperialist and in some cases there is justification to back up these critiques. But the fact that Israel is the strongest democracy in the region, has the most stable government and economy, and has thrived despite resentment from the Arab world, my be more important reasons why American and Israeli interests cooincide frequently. American government is more likely to side with the strongest democracy, American business is most likely to invest in the strongest ecomony, and the American people are enchanted by the Israeli success. These factors, although unique to Israel at the moment, are not unatainable by other Arab countries. But using Israel and American Imperialism as a scapegoat will bring about frustration, not progress.

I've often seen Israel accused of expansionist and colonialist leanings -- but have never seen an explanation in support of such assertions.

The Jews were the first people to live in diaspora, expelled from their ancestral homeland by the Roman Empire.

Two thousand years later, they go back, fight to get the British out (among others), to have one lousy Jewish nation, among hundreds of Muslim, Christian, Buddhist nations.

What is the Imperial ambition? What is Israel's expansionist agenda? Expand what? To where? To what end?