The Handcuffed Presidents of the United States. “Israeli Lobby Recipients”.

An article written by Alan McLeod and published by Global Research explains in detail how U.S. politicians have been held hostage by the power of the Israeli lobby. Even the incumbent U.S. President, Joe Biden, is said to be the largest recipient of Israel lobby funds. The total money he received from the Israel lobby since 1990 is $4,346,264. In correlation with receiving this money, Biden, throughout his political career, from being a Senator to now becoming U.S. President, has always been a loyal defender of Israel.

When the unconditional defense of Israel is again carried out by the U.S. President, at a time when Gaza is experiencing genocide by Israel – part of which is broadcasted live on the media – and the whole world watches in horror, inevitably, U.S. democracy becomes a big question. Is this the democracy glorified by the U.S. and spread worldwide by persuasion or coercion?

Democracy means “rule by the people” since the term is derived from the Greek dēmokratia, dēmos (“people”), and kratos (“rule”). When a country claims to be a democratic country, it has a system of government where people have the power to participate in decision-making. However, in a United States-style democracy, it has been proven that the power to participate in decision-making belongs to the people and the money owners.

U.S. Presidents before the Biden also provided support for Israel. Even before advancing to the elections, U.S. presidential candidates will visit Zionist lobby organizations to pledge their support for Israel. Hillary Clinton, in her campaign before AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee), in 2016 delivered this remark about illegal settlements built by Israel in the West Bank and East Jerusalem:

“Everyone has to do their part by avoiding damaging actions, including concerning settlements. Now, America has an important role to play in supporting peace efforts. Moreover, as president, I would continue the pursuit of direct negotiations. Moreover, I would vigorously oppose any attempt by outside parties to impose a solution, including by the U.N. Security Council.”

In December 2016, the UNSC adopted Resolution 2334, which clearly states that Israeli settlement is a “flagrant violation” of international law and has “no legal validity.” Even though the Resolution does not impose any sanctions on Israel and only demands that Israel stop building houses for Israeli settlers in the Palestinian land, it has determined that Israel has indeed violated international law. The Resolution was voted by four members with UNSC veto power (China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom), and the U.S. chose to abstain. It is truly absurd that a country that claims to be the most democratic and has a project to democratize all corners of the earth supports violations of international law.

If we track the record of Barack Obama, we will see a similar phenomenon, even though at the beginning of his term, in his speech in Cairo on June 4, 2006, Obama seemed to have a fairer perspective regarding the Palestinian issue, which gave new hope.

“Now is the time for Palestinians to focus on what they can build. The Palestinian Authority needs to develop its capacity to govern with institutions that serve the needs of its people. Hamas does have support among some Palestinians, but they also have responsibilities. To play a role in fulfilling Palestinian aspirations and to unify the Palestinian people, Hamas needs to put an end to violence, recognize past agreements, and recognize Israel’s right to exist.

At the same time, Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel’s right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine’s. The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.”

However, in the following period, business as usual occurred. In 2016, Obama signed the most significant military aid package in U.S. history to Israel: $38 billion in military assistance over the next decade. The aid will allow Israel “to upgrade most of its fighter aircraft, improve its ground forces’ mobility, and strengthen its missile defense systems.”

Previously, President Bush also launched the Iraq war as a “weapon of mass murder.” However, many analysts view that the Iraq War was for Israel’s sake. James Petras, an academic and U.S. writer, wrote that the party exerting intense pressure on Bush to launch the Iraq War was the pro-Israel lobby. Architects and essential decision makers in the Iraq War were Zionists, such as Wolfowitz and Senator Lieberman. Steven L Spiegel is a professor of politics at UCLA. In his article in the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Israel-based think-tank Spiegel wrote that U.S. troops’ victory in the Gulf War was a victory for Israel because Iraq was a fundamental threat to Israel’s security that had been weakened.

The U.S. system of government provides opportunities for the American people to influence the state’s decisions through various means, such as donating to campaigns (presidential and senate/congress), voting in elections, mobilizing public opinion, as well as lobbying the government team and people’s representatives (in Congress/Senate). What is a lobby? The lobby is a group of people and organizations who work actively to influence political policy. Lobbying has become a primary ‘industry’ in Washington, DC. People who jump in doing lobbying activities are called lobbyists. Lobbyists usually form lobbying companies (lobby firms). The lobbyist profession is much sought after by former members of Congress (Parliament) or former officials because they bring in vast amounts of money. Big companies pay lobbyists if they want the government/Congress (parliament) to pass (or not pass) a law.

Any racial groups (Jews, Chinese, or Hispanics) can also lobby when their interests should be fought for in government/Congress. However, the lobby with the most significant influence in the U.S. is the pro-Israel Zionist lobby. Among the hundreds of pro-Israel lobby organizations in the U.S., the strongest are AIPAC and CPMJO, led by hardline lobbyists who are very pro-policy Israeli expansionists. However, moderate Jewish lobby organizations also stood on their side of the same: pushing U.S. policy to suit Israel’s interests.

John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, academics from Chicago University and Harvard University, in a book entitled The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, provide evidence of how pro-Israel lobby groups have been very successful in diverting U.S. political policy away from its national interests, and at the same time, convincing the public and U.S. politicians that there are similarities in the interests of the U.S. and Israel. As Obama said in front of AIPAC’s members in 2008, “Our alliance is based on shared interests and shared values. Those who threaten Israel threaten us.”

The Lobbyists’ efforts to hegemony U.S. politicians were carried out long before Bush, Obama, or now, Biden, became president. In his memoirs, the 33rd U.S. President, Harry Truman, wrote that the prominent Jewish leaders in the U.S. put full pressure on him to use American power and strength for the benefit of the aspirations of the Jews in Palestine. Truman also claimed to have received 35,000 letters and propaganda from Jews throughout America when the U.N. was in the process of dividing the Palestinian territories. When the U.N. finally passed Resolution 181 dividing Palestine in two, Truman wrote a letter to former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr., urging Morgenthau to tell his Jewish friends that “the Jews should show tolerance and consideration for other people in neighboring Palestine.” Of course, Truman did not take long to see that his hopes never came true.

So, what kind of democracy produces a foreign policy that only benefits a few parties, in this case, Israel and its cronies?

Sure enough, it is not a real democracy that heeds the people’s voice.

The U.S. – style democracy has proven to have shackled the hands of their presidents. The handcuffed U.S. Presidents can no longer fight for their nation’s interests but continue to spend state resources for the interests of a far away tiny country, Israel.

Author: Dr. Dina Yulianti Sulaeman

yogaesoteric
February 19, 2024