By Eli Clifton
While House Resolution (HR) 867 condemning the Goldstone report passed 344-36 yesterday evening, members of the Israeli and American Jewish far-right held court on Capitol Hill at “The Jerusalem Conference”.
The event brought together some of the most hawkish American and Israeli voices to both issue their own condemnation of the Goldstone report and warn once more of the threat posed by a nuclear Iran.
Perhaps more important than what the speakers said—which rarely strayed from the anti-Goldstone, pro-Iran-sanctions line—was who the right-wing, pro-Israel organizers succeeded in attracting to their six hour conference. The speakers list alone was a statement of the group’s continued political muscle in Washington.
Co-sponsors of the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (IRPSA), House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), and the Committee’s Ranking Republican, Rep. Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), as well as the co-sponsors of the Senate counterpart, Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) and Sen. Sam Brownback, filled out the first half of the program which focused on “Jerusalem-Protecting Its Remarkable Past and Future” and “Realities of the Middle East Process.”
Brownback got a standing ovation for announcing his intention to (re)introduce his Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act of 2009 Wednesday, only this time, he promised, the waiver provision that both Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush used to prevent the Act from actually being implemented — it would move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem — will be removed.
The US legislators in the first half of the program–who bolstered their already impressive numbers with a “surprise” appearance by Sen. Daniel Innouye (D-HI) who spoke of his efforts to increase American aid to Israel–were balanced out by Israeli Cabinet Minister Yossi Peled, Israeli MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud), and Lt. Colonel Jonathan D. Halevi. Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren, who skipped the much larger J Street Conference last week, was scheduled to speak but scheduling constraints forced him to send a representative from the embassy in his place.
At the heart of the conference was the dual theme of condemning the Goldstone report and touting the various pending bills that would impose “crippling” sanctions against Iran if it did not abandon its nuclear program.
“In (both) Fallujah and in Gaza approximately 1000 terrorists were killed and in Fallujah approximately 6,000 civilians were killed,” extolled Ken Abramowitz, Managing General Partner of NGN Capital in New York and one of the Conference’s moderators. “And in Gaza three or four hundred (were killed), so I think it’s fair to say that in the operation in Gaza, Israel demonstrated the lowest level of civilian deaths per military deaths in the history of warfare in the history of the world. And it was criticized even though it exceeded the standard that no other army in the history of armies ever reached. So it’s just pure anti-Semitism,” he declared before entertaining questions for Lt. Col. (IDF res.) Jonathan D. Halevi, who had had himself extolled the exceptional morality of Israel’s conduct of the Gaza war in contradiction to the war crimes detailed in the Goldstone report.
Needless to say the audience which gathered for the conference did not choose to question the numbers thrown around by Abramowitz, nor did they, for that matter, question why neither the session on the war nor that on the (non-existent) peace process featured even one Palestinian speaker or discussant.
(Note: As reported in the Jerusalem Post, the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem estimated the civilian death toll in Gaza at 774.)
While Goldstone “debunking” was a sure-fire crowd-pleaser, the certainty of its condemnation by the House in Tuesday’s vote detracted somewhat from the dramatic tension. On the other hand, the specter of a nuclear Iran held the crowd in thrall, as speaker after speaker insisted that action was more urgent than ever.
“Don’t wait (to impose sanctions)… Use existing authority right now within the executive branch,” demanded Casey. “Be it the Treasury Department, or other ways to provide the kind of pressure that I think has to be applied to the regime!”
The third panel of the day, sponsored by the missile-defense-promoting Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), focused predictably on missile defense and was headlined by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AR), Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) and Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV).
“We have no greater ally in the region than Israel, and it is in the interest of our own national security to stand with Israel,” Inhofe said. “This partnership is not a one-sided relationship. Israel has provided the United States military with invaluable technology such as the Hunter UAV, Bradley Reactive Armor Tiles, and the Lightning Pod. Our nation must maintain a close relationship with our friends in Israel, despite the fact that the current administration has demonstrated a willingness to work with those that stand opposed to Israel.”
“Today’s news that Hamas has used Iranian technology to improve their missile capabilities proves that we need a strong missile defense system that protects our allies, and more importantly, provides greater protection for the United States,” he continued. “The same enemies that threaten the existence of Israel also want to destroy America. Over the years, the United States has greatly benefited from cooperation with Israel on missile defense technologies, and we should continue this partnership. Instead, President Obama has cut funding for our missile defense systems, and ended the Third Site in Poland. Such action by the Obama administration puts the United States and our allies like Israel at greater risk.”
The Israeli perspective was represented by Israeli Cabinet Minister Yossi Peled, and Brigadier General Yossi Kuperwasser.
The final session of the day, ‘’Regional Threats to Global Security,’’ was headlined by Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN), Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Israeli Lt. Col. Jonathan D. Halevi of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
While speakers stayed on the relatively safe topics of Goldstone, Iran sanctions, and missile defense, the most noticeable element was the scheduled appearances of thirteen US senators or representatives (plus Daniel Innouye) during the six-hour conference. Between the decidedly one-sided vote on HR 867 condemning the Goldstone report and the display of political power reflected by the Jerusalem Conference’s speaker list, Tuesday was a day when the right-wing, pro-Israel lobby was shown at full-force on Capitol Hill.
In some ways Fallujah and Gaza were similar. In both cases the media was prevented from covering it. Hospitals and medical personnel were attacked. Something like 70% of the buildings were destroyed in Fallujah. Gaza was similarly destroyed. Between the two there is not much to brag about on humanitarian basis. Even without a Hitler we can behave like Nazis. Even with democracy there is fanaticism and destruction. Our political system is being hijacked. Little, but well-armed Israel, has harnessed the American gorilla and is wreaking havoc throughout the Middle East bringing us closer to the Christian-Zionist dream of ‘Armageddon’, which, by the way, is not prophecy, but merely delusion. A false prophecy. The fanatics are like little children playing with matches – thrilled and intoxicated by destructive power.
From an international view: The pro-Isreal lobby in the USA is the Achilles Heel of U.S. foreign policy – and it is also like the bell on the cat’s neck: You can not trust the USA because its relations with the world are subordinated to the lobby of a nation (Israel) that has a global agenda and rides on the American elephant like a “majoud” directing the huge animal with foot movements. Thus inadvertedly – Likud-Lieberman Israel is an asset to the world because it marks the U.S. foreign relations as “toxic” . Thus the governments around the world have to don their diplomatic and geostrategic “hazmat” suits when dealing with the U.S. whose policies are subtly designed to advance the interest of Israel which are global far beyond Palestine and the Near East. I wrote in 2000 to a relative, who as I has some Jewish ancestry: “Israel will be the geopolitical Vietnam of the U.S. in the 21st century. The Israel lobby will paint the U.S. into a corner. Those people will take the U.S. down…”. If Iran would be the Iran of Mossadeq -it would deserve total support. But the Iran of the Fatwaclerics is a potential danger to the entire world: How crazy could they become? They issued a death sentence fatwa against Salman Rushdie. Thus – the Fatwa Iran and the Netanyahu Isreal deserve each other! On the Arab side – the lack of support for the Palestinians from the Saudis and Emirates speaks sadly for itself…Final note: Nobody did more in the past 2000 years to destroy the Christian communities in the Near East – then the U.S., especially George Bush.
I commented on a recent post that latent anti-semitism is growing in the US. Without characterizing any of the comments above as anti-semitic, I submit that the anger contained in many of them is symptomatic of a growing trend. That this anger remains largely underground is a result of people being aware that it is not politically correct to express overt prejudice. The feeling remains, however, and is becoming more widespread.
We are heading into dangerous territory. How bad it gets depends on several factors – the future state of the US economy, the energy situation, and whether we become involved in more wars in the Middle East. But I believe a real blowup is possible, though it may be 10 or 20 years away.
When it comes to the Middle East, you have the side of good and the side of evil. Israel represents the side of good and the islamic Arab states represents the side of evil. It is a real shame that some people are too uneducated, lame or just plan ainti-semtic to see that. If these people would take the time to learn about the history of Israel then they would understand that the Palestinian Arabs have no real claim to this land. If these people would take the time to educate themselves about Islam, then they would understand that purpose of Islam is to have the entire world become Muslim and live under the rule of one Caliphate. They would also understand that Islam teaches that anything a Muslim does to enhance Islam is good (including murder, deception, pillaging etc…) Only when every single Israeli (Jew and Christian) convert to Islam can peace come to the Middle East. There is a syaing in the Arab Middle East that sums up everything. First Saturday and then Sunday. This means first the Jews and then the Christians. Think about it.