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Edited on Mon Aug-07-06 09:15 PM by nam78_two
by who, why bring it up? And yes, the idea that Israel dictates US policy is absurd IMO and I say this even though: 1) I have read the Mearsheimer paper on the Israel lobby thats supposedly ruling the world.. 2)I am not Jewish and actually don't even have any close friends that are Jewish (purely coincidental :)) 3)I do not support what Israel is doing in Lebanon right now.
I will say this though, I do have a strong pro-Jewish bias. I try to avoid generalizations usually, except when they are positive. My pro-Jewish bias started almost from the time I became actively involved in progressive causes. Over time I couldn't help but notice how diproportionately Jews as a group, tend to get involved in any progressive cause-whether its civil rights, feminism,environmentalism or animal rights. It saddens me that the foreign policy of a country could result in such a, by and large, intelligent and wonderful group of people, getting tarred and feathered. Yes, criticism of Israel's foreign policy does not amount to anti-Jewish sentiment, but sometimes anti-Jewish sentiments can be dressed up as a criticism of Zionism. I will never forget the "progressive lefty" I knew -a Nader supporter-who always criticized Israel's actions in Gaza. That was in front of outsiders. But when only in the company of friends she would say things like this "Yeah, you know how the jews love money", "those jews will do anything for a buck"..quite progressive eh :sarcasm:. I guess we are all shaped by our experiences and that has definitely made me aware that there are some people who may be progressive in many ways, yet bigoted in some one area.
Some of the American Jews tend to be overly hawkish-probably a result of the holocaust. However, the whole 'Israel controls the US' nonsense is just getting out of hand. I suppose the US invaded Iraq as well because of "those Jews"? At least, if as many Jews in Israel aren't protesting the war, it makes more sense than Americans here not doing so. They are so close to the war zone and its such a small country..
What about Americans here who in the majority supported whats happening in Iraq for so long-they couldn't all have been Republicans-numbers belie that? Everyone is so ready to criticize Israel. How about looking at the mote in one's own eye eh?
I recently read "The House of Bush, the House of Saud" and a no. of other articles about the Bushies and their ties to Saudis and even the Bin Laden family. There is just as much a case to be made for a Saudi lobby as their is for an Israel lobby. Specially when you are looking at big oil.
I repeat, what Israel is doing in Lebanon right now may be nuts, but the Saudis are as powerful a lobby as Israel ever was. If anyone wants details they can email me and I have lots of information on that-information from legitimate journalists like WaPo's Douglas Farah, Craig Unger etc. These are good sources not some right wing conspiracy sites, which are the ones I have mostly come across spewing the whole Israel controls the world thing.
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