By Jafar M Ramini

A chill has covered our land recently leaving children exposed, cold and hungry in refugee camps. Yet there is another, even greater chill emanating from Tel Aviv.

The Zionist occupiers of our land are embarking on yet another election. All indications point towards victory for the Likud/Beitinu coalition. This devilish alliance between Netanyahu and Lieberman carries with it the most existential threat to our people in Palestine and beyond. A coalition of the far right political parties in Israel means more suffering for the Palestinians, more land grabs, more settlements and more Jewish only inward migration.

Have a look at this:
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/watch-there-was-no-palestinian-people-big-donor-birthright-israel-tells-max

This link shows beyond any shadow of doubt that the Zionists are consolidating and pushing forward with the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. This to me is easy to understand because it’s part and parcel of their ongoing policy. What I find perplexing and difficult to understand is not what the Zionists are doing, but what the Arabs and the International community are not doing.

Is their inertia because they too are under Zionist occupation? Is the whole world under Zionist occupation? This might sound cynical, if not outright provocative but please bear with me.

I am sure that you are all aware of the fury of the Zionists over the appointment of Chuck Hagel as the new Secretary of State. A fury that made Mark Regef, spokesman for Mr. Netanyahu, say openly that if this appointment went ahead, Israel would wield the veto that it holds over Washington. Yes, little Israel has power of veto over the mighty goliath that is the United States of America.

What made Mr. Hagel unsuitable in the eyes of the veto wielding Jewish lobby in Washington was this quote made back in 2006:

“The political reality is that the Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here. I am a United States senator, I am not an Israeli senator.”

Mind you, this was the very same Chuck Hagel who was a signatory to a $40 billion aid package to Israel. But that doesn’t count. He dared to speak out.

Yet, all is not lost. There are still people in Washington who are willing to stand up and call it how it is.

I came across an enlightening and informative interview with a Jewish American on the Russia Today America TV programme, ‘Breaking The Set” with Abbey Martin.

The gentleman in question was Mark Bruzonsky, publisher of Middleeast.org. This is what he had to say when asked about the strength of the Jewish lobby:

“I’ve been in Washington a long time. My first job out of graduate school was to represent the World Jewish Congress, so I’ve been involved in this for a long time. They rely on intimidation, they rely on blackmail, and they rely on letting people know that if you cross them your career is in jeopardy.

They do it with journalists, they do it with politicians and they have been extremely successful. AIPAC is merely the tip of the iceberg. You’ve got the President’s conference of major Jewish American organizations. Then there’s the American Jewish Congress, the American Jewish Committee, Commentary Magazine, two think tanks, one with the Republicans and the hard liners, the other with the Democrats. It’s a whole range of inter-working, interlocking organizations.

It started from the Holocaust and from Jewish impotence in the thirties and forties over what happened to the Jewish people in Europe. Then there was the fight in the 40s over whether or not the US would support the creation of a Jewish state. Everybody’s forgotten that the biggest person in foreign policy was General Marshall and he opposed it. He even told President Truman, “ If you, President Truman support the creation of a Jewish state there will be unending war in the Middle East. It will be against American interests, and I your Secretary of State will resign.”
He was willing to resign over this. So this fight has been going on for a long time.”

Abbey Martin: “How much influence does the Jewish lobby really wield on Washington politics and actual policies that are implemented?”

M. B. “A lot of people will find this hard to believe, but to answer your question honestly as I have come to experience it, when it comes to matters relating to Israel or matters relating to the Middle East, their influence is almost total.

“ They have such ways of manipulating the press and politicians and of forcing people. What’s more, they have many fallback positions. Sometimes they appear not to get their first goal, but they have many other goals that are also acceptable to them.

“It’s not just American Jews, by the way, Christians United For Israel (CUFI), which AIPAC helped organize seven years ago, is an extremely powerful force in this country and their convention is even larger than AIPAC’s convention.

“Chuck Hagel may have his views, but after the hearings they will turn this all into a propaganda fest for themselves. They will force Hagel to mouth all of their slogans and support all of their positions.

“Of course he doesn’t really believe any of it, but he will have to oblige. The President doesn’t want to be pushed in this direction either, but in a sense the Jewish lobby is more powerful than temporary politicians like the President or the Secretary of State. They’ve been around for forty or fifty years.

“In June, 2008, it was a critical time for Obama, when people were deciding between him or Hillary. Obama had a private meeting in a hotel right here in Washington with none other than the board of directors of AIPAC. That day, three hours after the meeting ended, Rahm Emmanuel who had taken Obama to the meeting with AIPAC, gave a press conference announcing that he had switched his allegiance from the Clintons to Obama. That was the day that we knew that AIPAC and the Israeli lobby had decided to back Obama.”

We now know the results, Obama won the election, Rahm Emmanuel was appointed Obama’s Chief of Staff and Israel got Obama where it wanted him. In The White House being a good representative of Israel’s interest, doing what he’s told.

And finally, to my fellow Arabs and citizens of the world, I offer the wisdom of Voltaire.
“ If you want to know who rules over you look around and see who you are not allowed to criticise.”

Jafar M. Ramini
Salam Wa Laisa Estislam
Peace Not Capitulation