NETANYAHU BEGINS FIGHT FOR ISRAELI AGENDA | 2001-10-05
Shortly after the September 11 attack, former Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu made the round of American talk shows. He is, of course, an authority on Arab terrorism, but as a patriotic Israeli, he also has his agenda.
Naturally Netanyahu wants to use this crisis to get America even more involved on the side of Israel against the Palestinians. I explained how this agenda would be disastrous for America over the next few years. I also showed how it might be disastrous for Jews in the long run (WHAT MAY HAPPEN, Sept. 12).
Nothing is more critical right now than that we do not fall for the Israel Lobby's attempt to use this crisis for their purposes.
Netanyahu was portrayed on the talk shows not as a loyal Israeli, but purely as an expert on how to deal with terrorism. Instead of saying America should go get the Palestinians, he used code words. He said we must have "zero tolerance for terror" and then talked about how the Palestinians represented only terrorism.
Those who can't see through this are wasting their time reading Whitaker Online. I would suggest something more on their intellectual level, like "Dick and Jane Went To Town" or Mother Goose.
I explained last week that the media line right now is to insist loudly that our stand for Israel has nothing to do with the fact that we are now hated throughout the Arab world.
If you know how propaganda works, you know that this means the major reason Arabs hate America is probably because of Israel. We have been totally on the side of Israel since the founding of that country. In the week since I wrote that article, Arab countries have been telling the United States that our totally one-sided support for Israel against the Palestinians is the basis of all that Middle Eastern hatred of America.
The old saying still applies, "One convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." Israel, with the American Empire behind it, has taken the ground Arabs called their own. To keep their oil and their international businesses, rich Arabs have generally accepted that, at least publicly. But private antipathy toward Israel and therefore the American Empire is universal over there.
If only some of them could realize that their real enemy is not America but the American Empire!
Even poor Arabs do not want anything from the United States except that we leave them alone. An old Southerner like me can understand that.