Israel and the War
a MECC pamphlet
So what's the real reason we went to war against Iraq? Well there wasn't just one reason. There were a bunch. The biggest is clearly oil. For generations that has been the main reason for the US power elite's mania about the Middle East. Oil is not only valuable, but world production may already be peaking and so control of this irreplacable resource is a key lever of power.
There are other reasons, dependence of the economy on weapons sales, the insistence on privatizing economies with big state owned sectors, and the expectation that a massive shock and awe campaign would intimidate al Qaeda and any opponents of Bush's wishes. However, one reason is rarely talked about, the influence that the Israeli government and its US admirers have over Middle East policy.
Is the hair standing up on your neck? Is this going to be some loony diatribe that "the Jews" run the USA? It isn't. History is not a puppet show. Israel is just one of the factors in the mix. But the anti-war movement is foolish in the extreme to ignore to clout of Israel. If we're ever going to get the US out of Iraq we have to cut away all the entangling roots that keep it there.
Here's the argument in a nutshell: Israeli government wanted an attack on Iraq, it exerts significant influence over the US government, and that Israel takes this militaristic line because of the nature of Israeli society.
Point #1 The Israeli Government wanted the Invasion
Israel has been a strong opponent of the Saddam Hussein regime for decades. It attacked Iraq in 1981 blowing up its nuclear reactors. It wanted to take part in the 1991 war against Iraq and Iraq attacked Israel with missiles . Since that time Israel has kept a low profile, but there is ample evidence that shows that its government not only supported but pressed for the Iraq invasion.
A key document is a paper produced in 1997 for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. It was called 'A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm'. It opposed the notion of land for peace and insisted on a more aggressive Israeli foreign policy. On Iraq its recommendation was crystal clear. It called for a "focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq".
Now when the final decisions on whether to invade Iraq were being made in 2002 this is where Israel stood.
On April 26, 2002 columnist Akiva Eldar of the Israeli paper Ha'aretz wrote, "Israel has its own agenda in backing a US attack on Iraq. As Egypt and other Arab allies issue vehement warnings to dissuade Washington, Israel's fear is that the US will back off"
"Deputy Interior Minister Gideon Ezra suggested this week that a US attack on Iraq will help Israel impose a new order, sans Arafat, in the Palestinian territories. 'The more aggressive the attack is, the more it will help Israel against the Palestinians.'" Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 30, 2002
Haaretz which has been called the New York Times of Israel wrote on Nov. 14, 2002 "Israel is the only country to absolutely support the American decision [to attack Iraq], and has urged it to act, and quickly."
And Iraq was only the beginning. There's a NY Daily News columnist who the New Haven Register often features. He's name is Zev Chafets. He's Israeli and American citizen and was once a high press official in the Israeli government. In November 2002 he wrote an op-ed that I think perfectly expressed the line of the Israeli govenment. He wrote that Arab and Iranian societies were "irrational", that nothing could be done to improve their "mental health" and that weapons had to be taken away from all the "deranged" regimes. It was a shockingly racist analysis, but it hasn't hurt his reputation. The New York Times published a Chafets op-ed in the summer of '05.
Clearly the Israeli government of Ariel Sharon believed in the strategy of "A Clean Break" and wanted the US to attack Iraq.
Point #2 The Israeli government has important influence on US Middle East policy
The Israeli government has three groups of admirers in this country, the most numerous being those Christians who believe Israeli domination of the Middle East is essential for bringing about the rapture and the end of the world, second, the American Jewish establishment which for years has supported the most right wing Israelis and third militarists who admire Israel's kick ass approach to dealing with Arabs. These forces have all congealed in the Bush Administration.
Consider once again the stategy of "A Clean Break". It was a report to an Israeli government, but it written by Americans, Richard Pearle, Douglas Feith and David Wurmser, all of whom were to take important places in the Bush Administration.
The call for an outright invasion of Iraq was taken up in 1997 by a American group called The Project for a New American Century whose members were warm friends of Israel and future Bush appointees. Another such group that favored an attack was JINSA, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. Despite its name its members are not only Jews. Dick Cheney was a key member. So was Jeanne Kirkpatrick. These are some of the militaristic admirers of Israel that I mentioned earlier.
Major Jewish political organizations and those Christians who also blindly support Israeli actions have well oiled political machines that lobby and fund US politicians. A case in point is AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Each year it holds a convention and it is addressed by the President and Secretary of State and a host of other important officials. In 2003 the Washington Post reported that among the 5,000 in attendance at its convention were half of the US Senate and 1/3 of the House. No other lobby gets such attention. Now where was AIPAC on Iraq? It was a die hard supporter of the genocidal sanctions and in 2004 its convention gave President Bush 23 standing ovations as he extolled his Iraq invasion.
In summary the Israel has clout in the US
Point #3. Israel is bound to be militaristic because it oppresses Palestinians
Israel is in practice is a Jewish superiority state. It enshrines discrimination. Palestinians citizens in Israel can't buy or lease over 90% of the land. In the Occupied Territorie it's much worse. Palestinian communities there are cut off from each other by Jewish-only settlements, Jewish-only roads and Israeli army bases, and walls. This Jewish aparthied state sits in the middle of an overwhelming Arab Middle East whose main religion has deep ties to Jerusalem. How can Palestinians and other Arabs be forced to put up with this, through force, might, beatings and war.
The militaristic wind that is blowing from Israel adds to the clamour for war in the U.S. and Israeli militarism is directly tied to the plight of the Palestinian people.
What does it All Mean for the Anti-War Movement
* We have to talk about the militaristic wind blowing from Israel just like we talk about oil and the other reasons for the war.
* We have to oppose the discrimination in Israeli society just as we oppose lack of human rights in countries like Saudi Arabia.
* Solidarity with Palestinian human rights and opposition to Israeli plans to bully the Middle East have to be a cornerstones of the anti-war movement.