Now I suppose that the polite
thing for Hagel to have said would be to refer to the Israel Lobby rather than
the Jewish Lobby because, as Stephens notes, not all Jews support the Israel
Lobby, and because there are plenty of useful idiots, cowards and opportunists
who are not Jews but support the Lobby (not Stephens’ words). But the
intimidating power of money, as well as the organization and the media influence
of the Israel Lobby certainly come from Jews. And the vast majority of American
Jews either support the Israel Lobby or do nothing to oppose it. To suggest that
the Israel Lobby is only marginally connected to the American Jewish community
is a far greater distortion than what Hagel said.
Stephens also complains that
Hagel actually believes that there is an Israel Lobby with real
power:
The word “intimidates” ascribes to the so-called Jewish lobby powers that are at once vast, invisible and malevolent; and because it suggests that legislators who adopt positions friendly to that lobby are doing so not from political conviction but out of personal fear.
I don’t see how talking of
intimidation implies invisibility. In fact, the power of the Israel Lobby is far
from invisible. And it is vast and it is malevolent. Why else, for example,
would the U.S. be virtually the only country in the world voting against the
recent UN resolution upgrading the status of the Palestinians? Why else would
the stridently liberal U.S. government officially dedicated to human rights and
democracy as a rationale for changing governments support a state that is
dedicated to apartheid and ethnic cleansing? Israel just announced the approval of 1500 more settler
homes in East Jerusalem, after previously announcing 3000 new settler homes on
the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the wake of the UN vote. The U.S. will
oppose this but, as usual, nothing will be done to prevent it. Yes, the Lobby is
powerful and it does support evil.
