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Monday, September 6, 2010

The Zionist Party in the USA


A rather brief, albeit synthetic, new article has been published by US sociologist James Petras, describing the reality of the Zionist Lobby or, as he prefers to call it, the Zionist Power Configuration (ZPC) in the USA. A must-read.


James Petras, The State and Local Bases of Zionist Power in America (PDF).

The ZPC, a true political party on its own right, even if it works within both mainstream US electoral machines, can hence be divided in two sections: the government section (presence of key operatives in strategic positions in the government) and the mass movement section (the activities of local Zionist organizations affiliated with mainstream Jewish organizations and religious orders).

They are organized into 52 organizations, associated in the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (CoP or Presidents' Conference for short), an institution promoted by Eisenhower in the 1950s.

The grassroots membership ranges from several hundred thousand militants in the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) to one hundred thousand wealthy contributors, activists and power brokers in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

AIPAC, the most visible and impressive face of the Zionist Party, is special in the sense that, as we learn from Wikipedia, its board of directors is the same as that of the CoP, so there is no real distinction between both.

In addition scores of propaganda mills, dubbed think tanks, have been established by million dollar grants from billionaire Zionists including the Brookings Institute (Haim Saban) and the Hudson Institute among others. Scores of Zionist funded political action committees (PAC) have intervened in all national and regional elections, controlling nominations and influencing election outcomes. Publishing houses, including university presses have been literally taken over by Zionist zealots, the most egregious example being Yale University, which publishes the most unbalanced tracts parroting Zionist parodies of Jewish history (Financial Times book review section August 28/29 2010). (...) Jewish billionaires and the Israeli state foot the bill.

The activities of the mass movement section are impressive: from recruiting and indoctrinating young Jewish students, favoring selected sympathizers in ethnic minorities... to directly influencing US foreign (and maybe domestic) policy in favor of a foreign power (Israel) by means of the most powerful lobby in Washington D.C. (and every other seat of power).

Petras' dissension with Chomsky goes open:

Those who deny Zionist power over US Mid East foreign policy are left-Zionists namely Noam Chomsky and his acolytes.

I must say that I became really aware of the oppression of Palestine and, crucially, of how the media impacts our perceptions of the world by means of selectively highlighting or hiding information and by means also of the choice of words, by a booklet of Chomsky more than 20 years ago. However, it is very true that Chomsky does not want to fully accept the criminal (colonialist, genocidal, imperialist) nature of the state of Israel nor he admits to the importance of the Zionist Party in the political and media reality, specially in the USA.

Back to the main theme:

Zionist policymakers in strategic positions depend on the political backing and work closely with their counterparts in the “lobbies” (AIPAC) in Congress and in the national and local Jewish Zionist organizations. Many of the leading Zionist policymakers rose to power through a deliberate strategy of infiltrating the government to shape policy promoting Israel’s interest over and above the interests of the US populace.

This is critical to understand. Indeed all lobbies have to some extent this potential and now and then do exert it successfully but the influence of the Zionist Lobby can only be said to be all pervading. Not just Jews (most of them Zionist) are disproportionately represented in all sectors of power but most non-Jews in such positions are also Zionists and may have needed the blessing of the ZPC to reach such offices.

Additionally foreign relations of a sovereign country, specially if this country is the only global superpower, are supposed to take place essentially through diplomatic channels and not via internal lobbies/parties/networks. Sure that there is room for the cultural and even political recognition of minorities within a state's border but these are not supposed to significantly influence foreign policy, which is first of all, the external projection of the country's own interests. In fact, it is technically illegal to act as an agent of a foreign power in the USA as the Israel Party does.

Not that such a technical legal issue means much, it seems.

Interestingly:

In 2004, AIPAC successfully pressured the Bush Administration to create the office of Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (UTFI) and to name its protégé Princeton graduate Stuart Levey to that position. Before, but especially after his appointment, Levey was in close collaboration with the Israeli state and was known as an over the top Zionist zealot with unbounded energy and blind worship of the Israeli state.

I had not heard this name before, I will try to remember it.

But, as said above, it's not just Washington what matters. The Zionist Party could not achieve its goals without a much wider network of strategical control and pressure.

Other active divisions of the ZPC mentioned are active at all local and intermediate levels. A key sector is of course the media, full of Zionist propaganda, Zionist investors, Zionist CEOs and Zionist journalists.

The level of infiltration the Senate subpoenaed Zionist documents in the 1960’s reveal has multiplied a hundred fold over the past 50 years in terms of financing, paid functionaries and committed militants and above all in structural power and coercive capability.

They have whole networks of committed activists sending mails and writing opinions for all levels of media influence and policymaking, they organize Zionist speeches with no second opinions and make all they can to impede anti-Zionist acts or impose a Zionist counterpart.

Local militant Zionist is very strong and powerful:

Local Zionist functionaries form rapid response committees to visit and threaten any local publisher and editorial staff publishing editorials or articles questioning the Israeli party line. Local leaders police (“monitor”) all local meetings, speaker invitations, as well as the speeches of public commentators, religious leaders and academics to detect any “anti-Zionist overtones’ (which they label “covert anti-Semitism”).

From the Conclusions section:

The power of Israel in the US does not reside only in the influence and leadership of powerful Washington based “pro-Israel lobbies”, like AIPAC. Without the hundreds of thousands of militant locally based dentists, podiatrists, stockbrokers, real estate brokers, professors and others, the “lobby” would be unable to sustain and implement its policy among hundreds of millions of Americans outside the major metropolises. As we have seen from the Senate declassified documents, over a half-century ago, local Zionist organizations began a systematic campaign of penetration, control and intimidation that has reached its pinnacle in the first decade of the 21st century.

...

Over the decades, the distinction between Zionist power exercised by a “lobby” outside the government and operatives “inside” the government has virtually vanished.

However Petras warns that this growing power relies on shaky grounds, as most US Jews now marry outside the ethnic community and are therefore less likely to support the colonial state of Israel and its continuous policy of ethnic cleansing and apartheid, specially not fanatically and acritically. For that reason they are more and more aggressive in recruiting anyone with Jewish ancestry or relations but they have also colluded with the US extreme right, as has become very apparent in the "Ground Zero Mosque" controversy.

In this sense I must say that they are actually inciting a new form of Antisemitism: the so-called Islamophobia.

A Spanish version of Petras' article is available at La Haine, site that also hosts his repository of articles in both English and Spanish languages.

9 comments:

Va_Highlander said...

The Zionist strangle hold on the US political discourse is very old news, so old that one is left wondering whether Petras has been living under a rock. In reality, the Zionist lobby appears to have actually lost power over the past decade, as their land-slide defeat in the election of '08 suggests.

A far more interesting topic, to my mind, is why European countries like Germany continue to support Israel. Without German submarines, the Zionist state would have no direct military reach outside of the Middle East. And without European markets for Israeli goods, the country would dry up and blow away, I should think.

Maju said...

Petras is maybe the loudest voice in denouncing the ZPC and has been doing so for some years now, at least since 2006, when he published a book titled "The Power of Israel in the United States".

While it may be "old news" for some privileged illustrated minds, it is always good to denounce it because not everyone is really aware, much less of the many ramifications.

"In reality, the Zionist lobby appears to have actually lost power over the past decade, as their land-slide defeat in the election of '08 suggests".

The opposite is actually true. Barack Obama was described by Petras as "the first Jewish President" just when he got elected, meaning the first member of the ZPC to reach that office directly. Obama's career has been almost fully within the Zionist Party.

Clinton was no alternative because she may be even more strongly Zionist (Christian-Zionist apparently). It was obvious as Obama remained silent while Israel massacred Gaza, it was obvious when he appointed rabid Zionist and Israeli citizen Rahm Emanuel (alias Rahmbo) to be his Prime Minister (or whatever name this office has in the USA). And it was obvious when he appointed Elena Kagan to become the third Jewish (not the third Zionist) Supreme Court member, in spite of her poor credentials.

And remember that guy that was "character-assassinated" by the ZPC when Obama wanted to appoint an independent voice to an important Middle East committee (can't recall the exact names) because he was too "pro-Arab" (i.e. pro-Saudi, not even pro-Palestinian). That was surely the key defeat of the "pragmatic party". The appointment of Petraeus, the visible head of the pragmatics to direct Afghanistan command (demotion from his proconsular role) is yet another victory of the ZPC in US imperial politics. All this in the context of greatly improved Washington-Tel Aviv relations... just after the Mavi Marmara massacre, an attack in international waters of a civil ship of a fellow NATO member state, a technical act of war, and the murder of a US citizen in it.

Obama stinks to Zionism in all his acts. And Petras denounced it and was maybe the only one who did, at least in the Left.

...

Maju said...

"A far more interesting topic, to my mind, is why European countries like Germany continue to support Israel".

What is Yiddish but German? Right-wing Germans got all they wanted with the creation of Israel: a colony in the Middle East and getting rid of most of its Jews (which were c. 9% of all Germans in the early 20th century).

Apart from that, Europe is nowadays little more than an extension of the USA, with almost total solidarity in interests and imperial policies. European countries are structural vassals of the USA within NATO and the international structures and "think tanks" (G7, trilateral, IMF, etc.) and essentially abide by Washington policies as do Colombia, Philippines or Japan.

Another reason is of course the penetration of the Zionist Party in Europe, which should not be dismissed at all but it's less well researched probably. It is also less all-pervading surely but in countries like Britain, the Netherlands, France or Switzerland (and also in Russia, a major Zionist powerhouse nowadays) it must be a real force. It is also important in some Latin American countries, like Argentina, and they are also very influential in India, a major Israeli business and tourism destination and a strategical partner in the crusade against Islam.

I fully agree anyhow that the reality of the ZPC beyond the USA should be throughoutly investigated. I wish we would have more information, really. But what is clear is that, even if much less ideologically powerful than in the USA (largely because the empathy with Palestinian cause is much stronger in Europe because of historical and geographical reasons), there is a clear strong influence in Europe as well, either via Washington, via the multinational corporations or directly through secretive lobbying.

But there is no Zionist mass movement here and many European Jews are outspokenly critical of Israel and even condemning its very existence.

Va_Highlander said...

Maju, no offence intended, but you do not have sufficient personal knowledge of American politics to rationally judge Petras. Do you let this stop you? No and when confronted you just spew whatever neo-Marxist propaganda you last consumed.

The Zionist occupation of Washington has been criticized by the far right in this country for DECADES. I first became aware of the baleful influence of Israel on American politics during the Carter administration. Where were you and Petras then, when I was a lone voice crying in the wilderness? Why should I give either of you credit now that you have suddenly noticed the elephant in the living room? If you or Petras offered superior insight, in some way, it might be different, but I don't see either of you bringing anything new or useful to the topic.

During the waning years of the Cheney regency, there was open discussion of the Zionist lobby and its control of Congress, the White House, and the mainstream media, but you are ignorant of this. The fact that this discussion emerged at all within the circles of polite society was proof that the hold of the Zionist lobby was SLIPPING, just as I stated previously.

And your statements about of Rahm Emanuel and Kagan strike me as racist. If such is your intent, I shall be tossing you in the same bin as Dienekes, with prejudice.

Maju said...

"Maju, no offence intended, but you do not have sufficient personal knowledge of American politics to rationally judge"...

Not sure what you mean but according to another US-American (and Jewish and anti-Zionist) blogger, this is an excellent article.

"The Zionist occupation of Washington has been criticized by the far right in this country for DECADES".

No idea. I try not to mix with those thugs and anyhow they'd speak of
"Jewish occupation" and spill it all over with gross racism.

In any case the far right cannot convince anyone and even when they are right, one looks at them with suspicion, and fears they want to manipulate you in order to establish some sort of dictator or just make the rich richer. Hence it is important that a non-racist denounce is made by the left and in this Petras, who has been watching and denouncing the Middle East policy (the first meaningful article I read on the Kuwait War was from Petras, for instance), has become the most vocal left denouncer of the Zionists.

One thing that is different in Europe and the USA is that here the left has always seen Israel as a racist imperialist genocidal state and as the pet of Washington (what itself has a very bad meaning). But I think we were not really aware of how powerful was the Zionist Party in the USA and by extension in the World was until people like Petras began denouncing it.

Your question about Europe is relevant because obviously the Zios have also strong networks in this continent and they are not well researched. I tried to write something about L'Oreal and their double dealings in WWII Europe and later on but it was too long and hard to explain. And is not anyhow what we want to really know.

But there is not such a situation as in the USA where Zio thugs can go out to insult and scare people or even get them fired from their jobs or lose their business just because they dare to oppose the genocidal state of Israel. Israel has very bad reputation in Europe, even if it's better at institutional level because of the Lobby and the huge US shadow, and in some cases a sense of "guilt" on the Holocaust, that anyhow vanishes as those who were alive then are not anymore and Hitler and co. become 'ancient history', and that is irrelevant because what is happening in Palestine is just another holocaust.

(continues)

Maju said...

"Why should I give either of you credit now that you have suddenly noticed the elephant in the living room?"

You don't need to give credit to anybody, I understand. I don't pretend to have "discovered America", as we say here, just stating what should be obvious but it is not.

"... but I don't see either of you bringing anything new or useful to the topic".

Other people, as mentioned in the previous post, do.

"During the waning years of the Cheney regency, there was open discussion of the Zionist lobby and its control of Congress, the White House, and the mainstream media, but you are ignorant of this".

2006 is the year Petras published his book (2009 is when Obama took office). I won't say your "polite society" was impacted by this publication or was simply scared of how Israel the Israel Party in the USA could have manipulated your country to attack itself in NYC and Washington in order to get a pretext to attack other countries, specially Iraq, whose doom only interested Israel of all nations (and Iran too).

"And your statements about of Rahm Emanuel and Kagan strike me as racist".

They are not. Rahm Emanuel is clearly a rabid Zionist, regardless he's also a Jew. He is clearly the driving force in the Obama government, specially in all that relates to Israel, the Middle East and the Zionist Party, and therefore it is a notable character to follow. I'm less knowledgeable about Kagan's background but she clearly would not have made it without the blessings and active support of the Zionist Party, after all she is an ill-known lawyer that otherwise would not have been able to reach the Supreme Court. For more on Kagan, you may want to read Ethnic Ashkenazim against Zionist Israel (the author is rather conservative, and clearly anti-Marxist, but he's Jewish, though of Muslim religion by choice).

(continues)

terryt said...

Maju. You may find this radio interview encouraging. The subject describes himself as 'an Australian atheist Jew'.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/lecturesandforums/writersfestivals/auckland_2010

Hope the link works.

Maju said...

I'm sorry, I don't feel like listening to a long radio program now. Cheers.

terryt said...

It's about half an hour, and I'm sure you'll agree with his comments although nothing new.