"Cut off the Cash and Israel Might Behave."

Yup...

End support for Zionism now.

Israel has always been a liability because it's very existence has always been a war crime in process. Many decent honest Jews including orthodox rabbi's here in the US understand that the problem that threatens Judaism worldwide is not Islam and Muslim fundamentalism but Zionism. To have peace you must have justice, to have justice you must have democracy in some form. Zionism is the worst form of racism, it's apartheid. This is no more acceptable today in Palestine than it was in South Africa. There is no 2 state solution for Palestine, there is only a one state solution with equal rights for all. Until Zionism is dismantled there will never be piece. The United States must apply it's own laws to help do this. They should start with the Symington Amendment to to Nuclear Arms control act.

ed

If all the cash, loan guarantees (giveaways) and military gifts were cut off, Israel would have to behave like a civilized state. When all the sources of income from the US are tallied up, Israel receives 7-12 Billion every year. Per capita (Israel's population is tiny), that is more benefits than US citizens receive from their own government. However, Obama has promised Israel more weapons and 30 Billion in EXTRA money over the next decade, so things will just get worse.

Still, Israel receives yearly reparations payments from Germany and raises money from private donors; however they would not be able to fund Apartheid walls, ethnic cleansing, war crimes, nuclear arsenals, and the massive military machine by those funds alone.

On a similar note: when the Empire is unable to fund itself the USA will be forced to act like a civilized nation, and not the "enemy of humankind" as Che Guevarra once said.

Paul Kennedy's revised classic "Rise and Fall of the Great Powers" is good to re-visit nowadays.

Yes. The United States should cut off the cash.

And it would work like a charm.

After all, name one other country that would come to the aid of the war criminals who used white phosphorus weapons during the large incursion into Gaza?

Israel is thumbing it's nose at the world right now. In spite of all the protestations by the U.S., has Israel ordered a halt to the 1600 settlement units that are scheduled to be built in occupied Jerusalem? The answer is "no".

As a matter of fact, I heard someone on NPR a few days ago say that Hillary Clinton's State Department, in the fall of 2009, agreed to allow MORE settlements to be built. We should all do a little research into this one.

There is also the idea being floated around that AIPAC should be forced to register with the State Department as a foreign agent. That would help a great deal, as they would then no longer be allowed to interfere in the politics of D.C.

I wish some researchers would take a good, hard look into this:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/16/AR2009061603285.html

Yes, the aid must be cut off immediately.

This is also true for the myriad other military ventures we fund around the world- including the training of Latin American soldiers at the US Army School of the Americas in Ft. Benning, Georgia.

Ending military and economic occupation of other countries has to be one of the top priorities of our foreign and domestic policies.

Unless ordinary Americans can get themselves organized to be at least as effective as AIPAC nothing much will change. The U.S. Congress is already flooding the White House and the media with letters and news releases complaining about the administration’s recent scolding of Netanyahu.

The term "Unconditional" wields its ugly head again.

"Obama has backed down once, but he is determined to face Netanyahu down this time."

FAT. CHANCE.

THERE HAVE NEVER BEEN ANY PEACE TALKS

because you cannot negotiate with people who suffer from selective historical amnesia, an extreme form of self-righteousness (backed by biblical fantasies and “divine decree”) and complete disregard for the universal rights of people who refuse to follow your orders / serve your interests (that is the “unbreakable bond” between USrael)

The word “peace process” is completely meaningless in this context, a PR-charade designed to crate the illusion that USrael are interested in peace (which can only come from justice , admission of guilt and sincere commitment to establish trust by being honest to yourself and the injured party, not to forget the payment of reparations)

“This unparalleled generosity towards a junior partner is largely the result of sentimental attachment and SHARED VALUES.”

Avi, are you serious? Or have I just failed to detect the irony in your statement? Could the “shared values” refer to the ugly truth Howard Pinter revealed in his 2005 Nobel address:

“ ... that “the ["foreign policy"]crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, ...
... that it has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good...Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless it may be but it is also very clever. .. its most saleable commodity is self love.”

“There is a broad international consensus in favour of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and America is PART OF THE CONCENSUS.

Since when? As Noam Chomsky has repeatedly stressed in his lectures and books, the US (USrael) is the only country in the world that blocks the “international consensus” (pre-1967 borders, East Jerusalem capital of a Palestinan state, compensation for refugees, etc.) From my perspective the Democrats are “owned” by two amoral political forces: Wall Street and AIPAC ... and of course the “military-industrial-complex” needs customers like Israel as a drug addict needs his dope ...

No matter how many editorials repeat the same BS the “insult” to Biden was no “blunder” by Netanyahu, it was clearly a calculated effrontery to show the whole world who IS calling the shots in this “special relationship”. And who can be surprised by that arrogance?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25018.htm

(Hypothesis: the Mossad was involved in 9/11 - wouldn't that give Israel enormous power over the US?)

An American vice-president, obviously and shamefully so very eager to please the Israeli government that “sucking up to AIPAC” would be a huge understatement:

“The cornerstone of the relationship is our absolute, total, unvarnished commitment to Israel’s security. ... progress occurs in the Middle East when everyone knows there is simply no space between the United States and Israel ...when it comes to Israel’s security.”

Who in their right mind, with the slightest sincere intention to work for peace in the Middle East would use words like “absolute, total, unvarnished, iron-clad” in relation to a “gangster state headed by "an utterly unscrupulous set of leaders”
( http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/07/gaza-israel-palestine )

Well, only the siamese twin of this “gangster state” of course ...

“.. The basic problem is that land-grabbing and peacemaking cannot proceed together ..”

Quite right but Israel has amply demonstrated that it prefers stealing land and does not give a ... about “peace” because the only thing that holds Israel together (an artificial “national identity”) is the constant fear of evil enemies and the ridiculous claim of divine decree to own the “Holy Land” no matter how many laws must be broken or how many lives will be destroyed in the process ...

“The official American position .... held that Jewish settlements on occupied Arab land are illegal and a major obstacle to peace. The Obama administration upholds this position. “

Totally WRONG. No American president (or member of Congress) has dared to utter the words “illegal” in the context of “settlements” for years (not even “rookie” Grayson - See DN!) Of course Obama KNOWS that the building of thousands of Jewish homes IS a “major obstacle to peace” but the “calling on Israel” and the “condemnation” is just empty rhetoric as we all know there will be no sanctions whatsoever. So Netanyahu must be pretty amused about all these stupid editorials and commentaries: (“The ties that bind America to Israel are beginning to fray and break”

John Stewart rightly satirized the situation by saying that the superpower “reaction” to the Israeli insult was that Biden arrived 90 minutes late to Netanyahu’s dinner – Wow! The Israeli government must be shaking in their boots, if this kind of “US pressure” continues!

The absolutely ludicrous media hype about General Petraeus’s warning that “a perception of US favouritism for Israel foments anti-American sentiment" and thus endangers US-troops, deserves only scornful laughter because since when is stating the obvious (a fact that has been known for decades) a big news story?

The whole thing was staged from the beginning and Israel is controlling the media herd as usual (they dominate the media with “created” events to focus public attention where they want it and away from “hostile” issues like the Goldstone report and the massive crimes in Gaza).

To derail the stupid peace talks they had to create “incidents”:

First provoke riots in East Jerusalem and frame them in the usual way (pictures of Arab violence in the news with false or missing context), then show Biden who is calling the shots (the whole world talks about the insult but not about the injustice to the Palestinians and finally “preempt” any efforts by the newly apponted EU foreign representative to demand and end to the brutal and inhumane siege of Gaza by arranging for a rocket attack EXACTLY on the day of her arrival in Gaza (the rocket was NOT fired by Hamas members but allegedly by a splinter group of (the phantom) Al Qaeda: Jund Ansar As-Sunna ... (victim was NON-JEWISH – a false flag OP?)

Avi Shlaim's article is full of factual errors and omissions.

He claims that US partiality to Israel is merely an ideological phenomenon: "This unparalleled generosity towards a junior partner is largely the result of sentimental attachment and shared values." This is flatly false. The attachment at work exactly reflects the timing and the content of the US/Israel imperialist alliance for domination of the Middle East, which began after Israel's 1967 war/land theft and accelerated after the fall of the Shah removed Iran as a US proxy in the region.

Shlaim mischaracterizes history when he fails to specify the reasons for failure of Bill Clinton's effort, leaving us only with the bare assurance, "Both sides rejected this peace plan." Ever since Oslo, Arafat had done his best to convince the US and Israel that he was a reliable jailer of his own people, but the Zionist/US demands were too much even for Arafat to impose. Then the Zionists abandoned the charade of the "peace process" in favor of the iron heel of repression; a pattern that repeats itself in colonial occupations. --Read Edward Said, Noam Chomsky, and Norman Finklestein to dispel Shlaim's Clinton-friendly allusion.

Shlaim reports, "The official American position since 1967, except under George W Bush, held that Jewish settlements on occupied Arab land are illegal and a major obstacle to peace. The Obama administration upholds this position." --Quite so, but Shlaim utterly fails to explain why the "official" position translated into a reality of US backing for creeping ethnic cleansing and annexation by the Zionists. --The answer, again, is the longstanding US/Israeli imperialist alliance.

Shlaim concludes, "Obama has backed down once, but he is determined to face Netanyahu down this time." --Not one shred of evidence is offered for this claim. This from a "professor of international relations at Oxford"!

What will happen is a continuation of the Peace Process fraud. Zionist colonization of Arab land will continue. Criminal "facts" will continue to be "created." The de facto "transfer" (expulsion) of Palestinians will continue. The Public Relations embarrassment imposed by Israel on the US image as a beneficent empire will be handled by Public Relations means, just as the vast destruction imposed upon Iraq is now being handled by the installation of a "friendly native" regime--"democratic," of course--in reality, a reliable neo-colonial dependency. The Zionists have already chosen their Palestinian agents, namely, the most corrupt elements of the PLO, long since a corrupt shell of its former self. Hamas will be liquidated unless it falls into line. The US will continue to assist in this effort.

A final falsehood of Prof. Shlaim deserves notice. Says he, "In private, Joe Biden told the Israelis that their intransigence was undermining America's credibility with Arab and Muslim nations and endangering American lives in Iraq and Afghanistan." --In truth, America has no credibility with the overwhelming majority of the citizens of "Arab and Muslim nations." These folks have long memories. What is undermined is the "credibility" of local tyrants allied with the US, such as the Saudis and the US stooges in Iraq and Afghanistan. Again, this is a Public Relations problem to be handled by Public Relations means. The US would be quite content if the Zionists could replicate a Saudi-type regime in the bantustans that will contain the remaining indigenous people of Palestine.

Ken Ward
"Junior partner" is an inadequate description for Israel. The US has no other bilateral relationship quite like its relationship with Israel. Israel is closer to an American alter ego than a junior partner, an ally or, even less, a client state. America and Israel both settled "empty countries" at enormous cost to the natives in the implementation of God's will. God played no such role in the white settlement of other territories like Canada, Australia or New Zealand, although perhaps He was on hand in South Africa. When Biden abjectly declared that he had come 'home' on arriving in Israel and proclaimed his love, he was behaving as US politicians behave in no other foreign country. One reason Israel can be a US alter ego is that it is a state based on a religion, not on ethnicity. This allows an easier flow from US to Israeli identities and back. Take Martin Indyk, the Australian intelligence analyst who, after ten years or so of US residence, was appointed US ambassador to Israel. Had he migrated instead to Israel, maybe he would have become Israel's ambassador to Washington, or at least to Canberra. But it is inconceivable that Indyk could have been sent as US ambassador to any other country. And what about soldier-scholar Michael Oren, who moved a few streets from Georgetown to the Israeli embassy? Once one turns to the media, how many US correspondents have children serving in their host countries' armed forces apart from in Israel?

The fact that the US has never before seriously considered using its aid shut-off leverage to thwart Israel's many outrageous actions and violations of international law, shows -for all to see -- just how deeply the claws of Zionism are embedded in US government decision making processes and in the US newsmedia.

It is no exaggeration to say that these claws of influence constitute a de facto, long standing occupation of the US by Israel, one which functions as a 5th Column [of policy manipulation] in violation of the most fundamental principles of [US] sovereignty.

For decades, it has been obvious to all honest observers in the US that Israel's Zionist "interests" are not, and can never be, compatible with the interests of the general US population.

Of course, since we can also observe the same long-tolerated ilicitness RE the bogus "interests" of most US corporations vis-a-vis the US population, it seems naive to expect anything to soon change -- in either case.

Still, if Israel's talon grip over US policy is by some clearer thinking ever losened, that process will begin exactly as the author above suggests it should, now.

Cut those cash giveaways to Israel and the US might have a little more money for some true universal health care.

We will need to remove all of our politicians who are in the pay of foreign powers and agencies like AIPAC. I don't care what the Bush toadies in the Extreme Kourt say about bribing our elected officials.

JERUSALEM — Israel will not restrict construction in east Jerusalem, Israel's prime minister said Sunday hours before leaving for Washington, despite a clear U.S. demand that building there must stop and a crisis in relations between the two longtime allies.

Benjamin Netanyahu's hardline statement came just hours before he was scheduled to leave for Washington.

{Meanwhile the Jewish State continues to shoot and kill their victims in Occupied Palestine.}

If the U.S. were to cut the money supply off for izrael, then the izraelis will lob a few of their nukes into america or sneak them in and detonate them and get away with blaming the Palestinians for 'another terrorist attack' on american soil.

With President Rahm Emanuel in the White House, Israel can do whatever it wants whenever it wants. Oh...did you really think that Obama was more than just a front man?

" Even if the current crisis is resolved and the peace talks are resumed, they will go nowhere slowly unless President Obama makes American money and arms to Israel conditional on its heeding American advice."
Instead of the above, cut all aid to Israel. The U.S should not be enabling Israel's injust policies. I don't think that Israel will "behave" but, at least, the U.S. will not be a party to what they do.

Mad dogs must be leashed.
In the real world, if not:

Mad dogs are destroyed.

Get rid of Obummer, then stop all cash and weapons of mass destruction flowing into the Zionist state. Oh, fling many members of Congress out as well...perhaps you will get your country back. We will give you Stephen Harper...do what you want with his imperial majesty.

Statements such as those by General Petreaus before the Senated Armed Forces Committee present those who struggle for justice for Palestine with a window of opportunity which, unless we exploit it, will quickly close, indeed, those who created it already are trying to do just that, for they realize the adverse implications to their agenda of words to the effect that America's all out support for the settler-state is the root cause of the "Why they hate us" as well as endangering American lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not that they haven't known this all along, but it's one thing, their knowing this, another, their going public with it. Has to do with possible unforeseen consequences, such as the public getting pissed at finding out that the alliance that these same leaders have been telling us enhances national security, not only does the exact opposite but costs the lives of Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq. How pissed? Pissed as in being mad as hell and unwilling to take it any more. Except this won't happen unless this message gets out, not once, but over and over again, and then some. But with MSM closed to progressives, how is this going to happen? Online, of course, what with its outreach potential being at least as great as that of MSM. What it amounts to is that this so-called rift, if exploited to the max has the potential to sour the American people on the special relationship with Israel. And when this happens won't Israel's days be numbered? What say, supporters of justice for Palestine, can we afford not to move on this?

All this talk of cutting off US aid to the Zionist entity is a load of crap. This "entity" has had the US by the nuts for a very long time, and very few in the US are even willing to admit that. Power, whether Zionist or any other, only gives ground when it sees its own defeat. Zionists must be made to understand that there is no room for their kind in Palestine--and that's not going to happen for some time.

key words for understanding israel; count folke bernadotte; menachem begin; george marshall threatens to resign as secretary of state; kennedy's 1963 letter to eshkol; mordechai vanunu; u.s.s. liberty; atomic proliferation; you can add your own, but here are the names, words, and phrases that i find most useful for understanding israel, the biggest rogue state in the world (well, second biggest).

Johnny U what was this about '......kennedy's 1963 letter to eshkol' ?

doubledee your analysis is deeply flawed as to what actually occurred on the record in 1967.

Read David Hirst's ' The and Gun and the Olive Branch' doubledee and anyone else who is interested in the whole truth. Like 'The picture of Dorian Grey' eh? There are radio recordings available from that time. It began the fiction big time especially in MSM and indoctrinated masses with lies and deceit. A second disgusting deportation and ethnic cleansing spree went under way for about 18 months that is rarely ever mentioned and its scale was enormous. So, Doubledee please educate yourself about the truth of what happened. You sound like Avi Shalim in this piece that has been well criticised and rightly so by Tocqueville and others on here.

I always found it incredible that what I read in Hirst's accounts are never recognised though well researched and well documented. People were lead to believe a fiction about the realities and truth. Its so important to understand the role of the MSM in this and to find the origins of The USA becoming a country under an occupation in its own government.

Its probably why that last great President in the government of The USA, namely George Bush Junior, found it no big deal to declare that The USA recognises that which is 'illegal' and criminal. The root and core of the problem, 'Occupation'. And for all the bluster about the spat with Netanyahu never was the word 'illegal' used. The US military are present and helping their Zionist buddies build trenches and walls to imprison Gaza's population. They train and are trained in turn by Israel. They engage with their Jewish brothers and sisters in Zionist activities abroad across the middle east. They are partners in covert operations, have recently indulged in mass assassinations of academics and third world's poor in mass while indulging terrorism through the present in Iraq Iran and Lebanon, in Somalia and Sudan, in Pakistan and in India in Sri Lanka and in Columbia. The US military is a disgraceful entity, allying with mercenaries and killing squads across the globe while it occupies Europe through NATO and demands Israel is protected overt those 40 odd years to its utter disgrace.

Yankee go home from a widening cry abroad. Why support this barbarism? That's what we have evolved into now. Barbarians in suits and uniforms. Its reality. Drones for goodness sake? Depleted uranium killing millions forever. Can't be cleaned up. Generations will die and suffer. Countless millions will. Unspeakable sums of money high paid jobs and massive destructive forces unleashed to nuts in military uniforms. Read The Pentagon papers again. The lunatics are loose and developing weapons to kill us all. And that's what they do. Its their job to kill. Its a rush!
Mad indeed to trust them. Worse to support their

I wonder if the influence of AIPAC et al over our representatives will wane, given that corporations can now spend without limit to support their favorite congressional stooge. Big Energy/Big Agra/MIC have infinitely more funding than the pro-Israel lobby.

The Palestinians were offered all of the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and $35 billion in refugee compensation by current defence minister and the Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
This was rejected by Arafat. No counter offer was made but was responded to by Palestinain violence. All of this was played out on international television so anyone who spins it otherwise is ignorant.

The Palestinians were also offered a state in 1967 and 1948. It wasn't the particulars of the state that were rejected, it was the rightful existence of Israel that was rejected.

Who is Israel to negotiate with today?
A)Hamas, a corrupt fundamentalist regime that seized power in a coup from the Palestinian Authority forces, is sworn to Israel's destruction. The closure of the borders with Gaza by both Egypt and Israel is for the safety of their citizens. Hamas holds its poulation hostage to its corrupt and evil ideology of destroying Israel and spreading its evil into Egypt. The very existence of Hamas is only made possible by financial and military support of Iran, a country sworn to Israel's destruction.

B) If the Palestinian authority were given back their rightful duty to police Gaza, there would be no closure of Gaza and their people would be far better off. To twist this into a tale of Israeli and Egypt carrying this out without purpose is a lie.
C) The Palestinian Authority and Hamas and entrenched in a civil war.
D) What peace offering has been presented to Israel by the P.A.? Will they accept the same offer presented by Ehud Barak - if not what do they want - it has never been expressed clearly - if it has, provide the reference. To this date, the PLO has not removed its intent to drive all Jews into the sea in their constitution. To this date Palestinian children are taught to hate Israel and Jews in their school curriculums. Is this a concept of a people who crave peace?

The episode with Joe Biden was a huge blunder by a nutcase politician, it certainly was not Isreali government/Netanyahu policy to embarrass Biden. Are there no nutcase politicians here or in all countries for that matter?

But lets take the 1600 planned apartments for East Jerusalem for what it is - there are to be built in an existing Jewish neighborhood. The apartments are not to be built for another 3 years!!! This is the context of which the Palestinians reject sitting down with Israel to negotiate? That is pathetic.

The Palestinians need to return to the negotiating table and stop playing games.
Negotiate a deal with Quartet backing and the settlement issue goes away, end of story.

What value has Obama achieved in his speach reaching out to the Arab world? Where is the
criticism from this administration and others about Libya's threat of Jihad against Switzerland for their ban of the mineret? What has Syrias overtones been to the USA after reestablishing our dipomatic ties there - they swayed closer to Iran. How many times has Iran spat in the face of this adminstation despite repeated offers of relations by Obama?
Where is the criticism of this on this site and in the media? These are countries that would be our friends were it not for Israel? - what nonsense!!!!

No relationship is perfect and they all have ups and downs; now is a down and it will pass.
How many true friends does the USA have in the world at this time. Israel is a true friend.