Hillary
Clinton And
The Pro-Israel Lobby
By Joshua Frank
23 January, 2007
Countercurrents.org
George
W. Bush's position on Iran is "disturbing" and "dangerous",
reads a position paper written in late 2005 by American Israel Public
Affairs Committee (AIPAC). One year ago the Bush administration accepted
a Russian proposal to allow Iran to continue to develop nuclear energy
under Russian supervision. Needless to say, AIPAC wasn’t the least
bit happy about the compromise.
In a letter to congressional
allies, mostly Democrats, the pro-Israel organization admitted is was
"concerned that the decision not to go to the Security Council,
combined with the U.S. decision to support the 'Russian proposal,' indicates
a disturbing shift in the Administration's policy on Iran and poses
a danger to the U.S. and our allies."
Israel, however, continues
to develop a substantial nuclear arsenal. In 2000 the British Broadcasting
Corporation reported that Israel has likely produced enough plutonium
to make up to 200 nuclear weapons. So, it is safe to say that Israel's
bomb building technologies are light years ahead of Iran's budding nuclear
program. Yet Israel still won't admit they have capacity to produce
such deadly weapons.
Meanwhile, as AIPAC and Israel
pressure the U.S. government to force the Iran issue to the U.N. Security
Council, Israel itself stands in violation of numerous U.N. Resolutions
dealing with the occupied territories of Palestine, including U.N. Resolution
1402, which in part calls on Israel to withdraw its military from all
Palestinian cities at once.
AIPAC's hypocrisy is nauseating.
The goliath lobbying organization wants Iran to cease to procure nukes
while the crimes of Israel continue to be ignored. So who is propping
up AIPAC's hypocritical position? None other than Democratic presidential
candidate, Senator Hillary Clinton of New York.
As one of the top Democratic
recipient of pro-Israel funds for the 2006 election cycle, pocketing
over $83,000, Senator Clinton now has Iran in her cross hairs.
During a Hanukkah dinner
speech delivered in December of 2005 hosted by Yeshiva University, Clinton
prattled, "I held a series of meetings with Israeli officials [last
summer], including the prime minister and the foreign minister and the
head of the [Israeli Defense Force] to discuss such challenges we confront.
In each of these meetings, we talked at length about the dire threat
posed by the potential of a nuclear-armed Iran, not only to Israel,
but also to Europe and Russia. Just this week, the new president of
Iran made further outrageous comments that attacked Israel's right to
exist that are simply beyond the pale of international discourse and
acceptability. During my meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, I
was reminded vividly of the threats that Israel faces every hour of
every day ... It became even more clear how important it is for the
United States to stand with Israel...”
As Sen. Clinton embraces
Israel's violence, as well as AIPAC's fraudulent posture on Iran, she
simultaneously ignores the hostilities inflicted upon Palestine, as
numerous Palestinians have been killed during the continued shelling
of the Gaza Strip over the past year.
Clinton’s silence toward
Israel's brutality implies the senator will continue to support AIPAC's
mission to occupy the whole of the occupied territories, as well as
a war on Iran. AIPAC is correct -- even President Bush appears to be
a little sheepish when up against the warmongering of Hillary Clinton.
***
Hillary along with her husband
Bill paid a visit to Israel in the fall of 2005. The former president
was a featured speaker at a mass rally that marked the 10th anniversary
of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. It was Hillary's
second visit to Israel since she was elected to office in 2000.
The senator did manage to
take time out of her tour to meet with the then semi-conscious Ariel
Sharon to discuss "security matters." Hillary also made her
way to the great apartheid wall, which separates Palestine from Israel.
As the barrier is nearing completion, as the monstrosity to a completion
it will ultimately stretch to over 400 miles in length.
Palestinians rightly criticize
the obtrusive wall on the grounds that it cuts them off from occupied
land in the West Bank. Thousands more will be cut off from their jobs,
schools, and essential farmland.
Hillary and her pro-Israel
buds don't get it. When you put powerless Palestinians behind a jail-like
wall where life in any real economic sense is unattainable, you wreak
pain and anguish, which in turn leads to more anger and resentment toward
the Israeli government’s brutal policies. Indeed, the wall will
not prove to be a deterrent to resistance, but an incitement to defiance.
"This is not against
the Palestinian people," Clinton said as she gazed over the massive
wall. "This is against the terrorists. The Palestinian people have
to help to prevent terrorism. They have to change the attitudes about
terrorism."
The senator's comments seem
as if they were taken word-for-word from an AIPAC position paper. They
may well have been as the lobby packs her coffers full of cash. In May
of 2005 Sen. Clinton spoke at an AIPAC conference where she praised
the bonds between Israel and the United States:
"[O]ur future here in
this country is intertwined with the future of Israel and the Middle
East. Now there is a lot that we could talk about, and obviously much
has been discussed. But in the short period that I have been given the
honor of addressing you, I want to start by focusing on our deep and
lasting bonds between the United States and Israel."
Clinton went on to address
about the importance of disarming Iran and Syria as well as keeping
troops in Iraq for as long as "it" takes. It was textbook
warmongering and surprise, surprise -- Hillary got a standing ovation
for her repertoire.
It is no matter that Iraq
will never see true democracy. The U.S. won't allow that. Our government
will never allow a free Iraq to form that embodied even the slightest
disgust toward Israel or America. Democracy in Iraq, like democracy
in Israel, has clear limitations.
Similar to her husband and
the current president, Hillary Clinton will never alter the U.S.' Middle
East policy that so blatantly favors Israeli interests.
Joshua Frank is the author of Left Out! How Liberals How Liberals Helped
Reelect George W. Bush (Common Courage Press, 2005) and edits BrickBurner.org,
the official news blog of DissidentVoice.org.
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