Larry Wilkerson: Congress’s ‘remarkable’ reaction to Netanyahu might be explained by money

[kpete]

Larry Wilkerson: Congress’s ‘remarkable’ reaction to Netanyahu might be explained by money
Posted on 05.27.11
By murielkane

The bellicose speech delivered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before Congress earlier this week was received with multiple standing ovations from members of both parties, raising many questions about the politics in play.

Larry Wilkerson, a former chief of staff to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, appeared on The Real News to discuss Congress’s reaction.

“Even the obsequiousness of the United States Congress from time to time during States of the Union or other type speeches doesn’t come anywhere near this” Wilkerson marveled. “This was a refutation, really, of the standing policy position of the sitting president of the United States by the separate and equal branch of government, the Congress, with a foreign leader being the center pole around which they coalesced this opposition. It’s really quite remarkable.”

When asked what he thought might explain the reaction, Wilkerson replied, “It’s a mystery to me, except money. That’s the only answer I can come up with. … Congressmen and women … understand what a powerful entity in America is the lobby group AIPAC for Israel, and that generates a lot of coin, a lot of money.”

VIDEO & MORE:
http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/05/22228/

[EFerrari]

1. My old teacher Ishmael Reed calls them the coin operated Congress.

lol

[pintobean]

2. Or, it could be this

"Americans' views toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict held fairly steady over the past year, with a near record-high 63% continuing to say their sympathies lie more with the Israelis. Seventeen percent sympathize more with the Palestinians."

http://www.gallup.com/poll/146408/americans-maintain-broad-support-israel.aspx

[KittyWampus]

5. One can have sympathies with Israel and it's people and not the Far Right Likud and it's bellicose

policies and its insistence on illegal incursions into Palestinian territory.

The issue here is separating out illegal, dangerous and counter-productive policies of an extremist political party and the actual country and its population.

[xpertanalyst]

8. Yes, and true of the Palesintians also

I agree, and the same holds true for the Palestinians.

There are good people with terrorists like Hamas mixed in. And the trick is separating the illegal dangerous ones from the pack.

[azurnoir]

17. Funny thing about that 'support for Israel'

if one takes the time to Bob and Sally Johnson from Omaha or Edna Hanson from Fargo or Clarence Willet from Milwaukee if they support Israel they'll say "yes of course" however if you press them they'll also say that it's because that's where Jesus was born and well those people over there have been killing each other since the Bible was written, press them further ask them about Jews and you'll find that their comments will more match Helen Thomas's than any love of Jews especially where money is concerned and that they reflexively associate any Arab sounding name with terrorism

[enough]

3. And the analysis he comes to by the end of the interview is far more chilling. (nt)

[DCBob]

4. Jewish lobby is the strongest on the planet.

They have both parties fearing for their lives. Thank God we have a President with the guts to stand up to them... at least partially.

[KittyWampus]

6. AIPAC isn't the "Jewish lobby". They are the Far Right NeoCon party lobby.

Big difference. Not all Jews support AIPAC's goals. Not all Jews and Israelis support Likud.

[Bucky]

10. I wish people wouldn't call AIPAC "the Jewish lobby" when it not about being Jewish

AIPAC is the reflexively pro-Israel, pro-militarist lobby, but its membership includes lots of non-Jews and being Jewish is not defined by being supportive of AIPAC. For that matter, being pro-Israel isn't defined by supporting AIPAC, either. You wouldn't call the Urban League "the black lobby" and you wouldn't call the NRA "the hunters' lobby," so why should we dumb down the demographics and ideologies of AIPAC?

[Karenina]

16. THANK YOU!!! AIPAC has co-opted "Jewish" as their handle.

It's INACCURATE and COUNTERPRODUCTIVE and completely distorts reality. I consider these far right "settler" Israelis the biggest threat to Israel's existence. They in no way, shape or form represent the essence of Judaism. Their counterparts can be found in Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. Their megaphone completely drowns out any rational discussion of "the facts on the ground." If you missed Elliot Spitzer interviewing Hanah Ashwari on CNN, do go watch it. Talk about Exhbit A... :eyes:

[xpertanalyst]

11. Hardly. More than Corporations? Cuba?

I doubt that. Defense Contractors have a far more powerful lobby, Oil companies too.

The Anti-Cuba lobby is extremely powerful. How about the Tea Party - they're driving politics to new heights of insanity.

People over-blow the Israeli lobby. Jews are outnumbered by almost every ethnic group in America. And the Muslim lobby is growing in strength. You don't think Saudi has more influence on US policy than Israel? It did with GWB.

[KittyWampus]

13. Defense Contractors and AIPAC are on the same NeoCon page. As are the Oil Co's. Cheney and his

flying monkeys are the perfect example of this confluence.

People most certainly do NOT over-blow the Far Right Israeli lobby. When you take into account who they are in league with, they are at the core of the problem.

Especially when you factor in the the Far Right Christians with Dominion and Apocalyptic visions.

I'd say most people don't realize how insidious this complex is. And if you bring the subject up, the label "anti-Semite" and "weak on defense" get thrown around.
"

[xpertanalyst]

18. Well, if you're going to lump everything together

Now you're saying the "jewish lobby" should included evangelicals, the defense industry, and the far-right as part of they're lobby? You're changing the equation. They are not a monolithic group.

By that logic, the progressives, the greens, the chinese, the cubans, and the socialist are one lobby.

[KittyWampus]

19. #1. I explicitly refuted the term "Jewish Lobby". #2. I explicitly stated this is a complex of

several specific groups.

Commonalities include- Oil, Defense Contractors and the Middle East.

[sufrommich]

14. ........

:eyes:

[xpertanalyst]

7. This is silly, A lot more is spent on other things

It's not about money. Israel gives them a lot less money than oil companies, and the middle east oil nations. They also receive a lot less money than those nations combined.

And it's not about guilt. If anything, the propaganda is moving in the other direction. Many nations are forgetting about the 30s/40s and even in the US hatred for non-christians is on the rise. Of course, this is tragic and just plain dumb.

Larry is missing the point on this IMHO.

There are many in congress (and in America) that recognize the Israel, with all of it's faults (and there have been many, I admit) is better than a middle-east dominated by extremists. As hard as they can be to deal with, many feel they are easier than dealing with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. And it is a fact (not fear) that they are on the rise in the middle east. Their culture is in conflict with American culture, and we will need to deal with this sooner or later - and war will not solve it.

Many are angry at Israel, but iI think t's because they expect more from them. We expect them to be civilized. No one is angry at Hamas, because NO ONE expects more from them. We have grown accustomed to suicide bombers and pizza parlors with children being blown up. We don't expect them to behave as a nation. The problem is, at least in Gaza, they want to be treated as a nation, even though they are not one.

Israel should do better - but they are not a threat to us. Their enemies however, probably are.

[KittyWampus]

9. It's about money and votes. The Far Right has lost blacks, women, latinos. They're now trying

to peel as many Jewish votes from the Left as possible.

Since Obama has been in office, it's a common refrain from the Mediawhores and Repubican pols. The Left is weak on Israel support. Despite the fact Obama's position is the same as Bush's.

[xpertanalyst]

12. Did they ever have them?

Did the far-right ever have Latinos and Blacks? I don't remember that. :)

There is no doubt that "progressives" are less supportive of Israel than the right. All one has to do is read blogs and posts on news sites to see that. I'm not judging or claiming causation here - it's just a fact.

You might be right about the reason though. Hard to tell.

[EFerrari]

15. The left doesn't support the right wing whackjobs running Israel

at the moment. The right does. That's not surprising.