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Israel - A Rant


Rashid
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Wow. Ilhan Omar has been accused of being an anti-Semite (surprise!) for calling out Israel, but she's just carrying on regardless and has now started on AIPAC :

 

 

This will almost definitely have hoards of Zionists, Islamophobes, right wingers and various other idiots going into a total frenzy.

 

 

They're being targeted because they're calling out Israel and becuase they're Muslims, and it's disgusting but completely expected. Even Chelsea Clinton has been tweeting about Omar being anti-Semitic in response to tweets that had nothing to do with anti-Semitism.

 

I find this interesting because AIPAC hardly ever gets called out. It's had a big influence in the US for decades, and the fact that a new member of the house who's also a Muslim has the courage to speak her mind like this is awesome.

 

AIPAC should be registered as a foreign agent as well. Next post is part of an article on that subject that I'm posting instead of linking because I can cut out several paragraphs on anti-BDS bills that are now dated.

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FARA/AIPAC article extract from a former CIA member :

 

 

Quote

FARA ( Foreign Agents Registration Act) was created in the lead up to World War II to help monitor the activity of Italian, German and Japanese agent-lobbyists who were believed to be working hard in the U.S. to influence opinion as well as congressional votes in favor of their respective sponsoring nations. The intention was to force the “foreign agents” to register with the Department of the Treasury so they would have to identify their government sponsors and be required to reveal their sources of income.

FARA is not very rigorously enforced, which was one of the points that the Judiciary Committee was prepared to address in regards to Russia, but there can be consequences for those who ignore it. Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was recently compelled to register as an agent of Turkey after he received $530,000 in payments to support Ankara’s view regarding those it believed to be behind last year’s coup.

Ironically, the most powerful and effective foreign-government lobby in Washington is so dominant that it has been able to avoid registering for the past 55 years. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was last confronted by FARA when its predecessor organization the American Zionist Council was pressured by John F. Kennedy’s Justice Department in 1962 and 1963. Kennedy’s death stopped that effort—and ended White House attempts to hold Israel accountable for the development of its secret nuclear weapons program (which depended on nuclear material removed illegally from the United States with the connivance of a company located in Pennsylvania called NUMEC).

AIPAC’s website declares that it is “America’s Pro-Israel Lobby,” so by its own admission it functions pretty clearly as Israel’s proxy. It spent $102 million in 2015, had 396 employees in 2013, and claims to have 100,000 members, many of whom are organized into state and city chapters. It also benefits from being a tax exempt 501(c)4 organization classified as promoting “international understanding.” Its annual Summit in Washington attracts more than 15,000 participants, including scores of congressmen and other senior government officials. It blankets Capitol Hill with its lobbyists and is a prolific source of position papers explaining Israel’s perception of what is taking place in the Middle East. Its easy access to the media and also to politicians in Washington is so widely accepted on Capitol Hill that it reportedly frequently drafts bills that Congress then goes on to propose.

No Washington lobby is benign. Lobbies exist to subvert the public interest. They promote particular agendas and are not intended to enhance the general well-being of the American public. Lobbyists would argue that they are in the information business, that they make lawmakers aware of facts that impact on pending legislation, but the reality is that every lobby is nevertheless driven by self-interest.

The power of the Israel Lobby and of AIPAC is not cost free for the American public. The current $3 billion plus that Israel, with a thriving first world economy, receives in military assistance is on top of the $130 billion that it has received since 1949. Protecting Israel in international organizations like the United Nations has sometimes marginalized the U.S. in such bodies and the lobby’s influence over American foreign policy has often been noted. In 2010 General David Petraeus stated that Israeli policies were putting American military personnel in the Middle East in danger. He quickly recanted, however.

Once upon a time AIPAC’s Steven Rosen boasted to an interviewer, “You see this napkin? In twenty-four hours, we could have the signatures of seventy senators on this napkin.” He meant that congressmen would sign on to anything if they thought it would please Israel. Recently the U.S. Congress has been working on bills that would criminalize individuals or groups that support a boycott of Israel. It would not be the first such legislation. The 2015 omnibus trade agreement with Europe included an amendment mandating that nations engaging in anti-Israel boycotts, to include “Israeli controlled territories,” should be subject to retaliatory action by the U.S.

[removed 2017 anti-BDS bill paragraphs]

Daniel Larison has observed that even if one assumes that the legislation will face judicial hurdles and will never be enacted, it is nevertheless discouraging to consider that a clear majority of congressmen thinks it is perfectly acceptable to deny all Americans the right to free political expression in order to defend an internationally-acknowledged illegal occupation being carried out by a foreign country. That the occupation is illegal has even been acknowledged repeatedly by Washington, which contradicts its own policy with this legislation.

Those co-sponsoring the bills include Democrats, Republicans, progressives, and conservatives. Deference to Israeli interests is bipartisan and crosses ideological lines. Glenn Greenwald and Ryan Grim, writing at The Intercept, observe that “…the very mention of the word ‘Israel’ causes most members of both parties to quickly snap into line in a show of unanimity that would make the regime of North Korea blush with envy.”

Finally, the seemingly unrelenting pressure to make criticism of Israel illegal is particularly dangerous as it is international. Indeed, it is a global phenomenon. Wherever one goes—Western Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States—there is a well-organized and funded lobby ready, willing, and able to go to war to protect Israel. In France it is illegal to wear a t-shirt supporting BDS or to demonstrate in favor of it. Britain has introduced laws that include defining criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism. In Canada, support of BDS has been regarded as a hate crime.

Will FARA registration of AIPAC as a foreign lobby fix all that? Of course not, but it would be a good first step. AIPAC would have to publicly acknowledge that it is acting on behalf of a foreign government and its sources of income would be subject to review. While the Congress is busy searching for Russian agents under FARA it just might spend some time also examining the pernicious influence of the unregistered and unrestrained Israel Lobby.

 

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/aipac-should-register-as-a-foreign-agent/

 

 

 

 

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Pelosi : Israel's bitch, AIPAC's bitch.

 

 

Here's the tweets :

 

 

To class this as anti-Semitic would be to say that we can never say it's all about the money when referring to a politician defending a foreign nation.

 

 

To class this as anti-Semitic means that we can never type : AIPAC.

 

Ilhan still wins, she linked this recently :

 

 

Absolutely fucking disgusting this, and agreed with moof. It's really similar to a lot of the outright bullshit going on over here too.

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It's madness that you can say that big pharmaceutical companies, financial institutions, fossil fuel companies, Saudi money etc all grease the palms of those within the US political system, but when you say the same about a pro-Israel lobby group, whose aim is to get the US government/politicians to act in a way which serves the best interests of Israel, you're accused of antisemitism. 

 

The trope referred to has legs when it comes to antisemitism. But every mention of money and Jewish people shouldn't automatically be classed as antisemitic. Particularly when it comes to lobby groups. That's. What. They. Fucking. Do. 

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18 minutes ago, Nelly-Torres said:

The trope referred to has legs when it comes to antisemitism. But every mention of money and Jewish people shouldn't automatically be classed as antisemitic. Particularly when it comes to lobby groups. That's. What. They. Fucking. Do. 

 

Agreed. Supporters of Israel and AIPAC will for a decent part know this I'd guess, but they've probably flipped straight into going completely over the top at the sight of Ilhan calling out AIPAC. I think the fears of AIPAC having to register as a foreign agent will always be in the back of thier heads, they've managed to avoid it for decades and increasing awareness of the group will surely result in more calls for it to happen.

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2 hours ago, Nelly-Torres said:

I'm not 100% on this, but are AIPAC even a "Jewish" group? Aren't they an American-Israel relations group, made up of Jewish people and evangelical Christians etc?

 

As far as I can tell anyone that supports what they stand for can join them. Not just a group of Jewish people.

 

1 hour ago, Slippin’ Jimmy said:

Fellas, maybe it's just me getting old, but this thread looks like a twitter feed. Any chance you could share your actual opinions?

 

That's mainly my fault, but the whole thing did originate from there so I just posted some tweets to help recap quickly. I did try to share my opinions in with the tweets too though.

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https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2019/0228/1033385-un-israel/

 

United Nations investigators said Israeli security forces may have committed war crimes over the killing of 189 Palestinians and wounding of more than 6,100 at weekly protests in Gaza last year.

"The Israeli security forces killed and maimed Palestinian demonstrators who did not pose an imminent threat of death or serious injury to others when they were shot, nor were they directly participating in hostilities," the panel report said.

The panel had confidential information about those believed to be responsible for the killings, including snipers and commanders, which was being given to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet for her to share with the International Criminal Court (ICC), it said.

Protests have been held at the frontier between Israel and Gaza since last year, calling for the easing of an Israeli blockade of the territory and recognition of the right of Palestinian refugees there to return to homes in Israel.

Israel has said its forces opened fire to protect the frontier from incursions and attacks by armed militants.

 

 

 

 

Not sure if I am allowed to say the UN is antisemitic, I get confused. 

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