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In a little noticed, totally unexpected
and uncharacteristic act of moral indignation, the Congress passed
the "Israel Accountability Act" (HB 666) at noontime
the day before spring recess, 373-27, with the Jewish Caucus
standing firm against the Act despite the documented evidence
that clearly called for such censure, as the full Congress gathered
in the Old House Office basement closet used by Rep. Conyers
when he sought to investigate the torture crimes of the Bush
administration a few months ago. The pre-arranged gathering in
this undisclosed location sought to avoid the prying eyes of
the pro-Israeli press. The legislation, allegedly written according
to AIPAC by APPAC (the American Palestine Public Affairs Committee),
followed a prolonged prayer breakfast where numerous Christian
Tele-evangelist ministers castigated the Congress for moral "cowardiceness"
in performance of their duties regarding the people of Palestine.
However, AIPAC (the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee), the fourth branch of the United
States government of checks and balances, the Implementation
Branch, created about 53 years ago as the American Zionist Committee
to circumvent the logjams caused by the checks and balances,
threatened, within minutes of its passage, to expose the surreptitious
action of the Congress to FOX News thereby threatening all 373
representatives with the loss of their House seats.
HB 911 was quickly rescinded and all members slunk down the hall
to the elevators. Paul Findley, once a long-time and respected
member of the House, commented on this turn of events, "For
one brief moment the United States Congress had regained the
moral high ground it has abdicated since AIPAC was installed
as the fourth branch of government," a comment Irving Kristol,
AIPAC's Supreme Commander of Political Discord, dismissed as
"sour grapes."
The House Bill, modeled on
the one designed by AIPAC against Palestine, HB4681 (the Palestine
Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006) would have imposed measures to "defund"
the newly elected government of Israel (once it is formed with
Kadima as the party in control) unless it met the following requirements:
* The government of Israel
has recognized publicly and before the United Nations the right
of Palestine to exist as a nation state;
*renounced all actions it has
taken in defiance of the "Road Map," actions that include
expansion of settlements, continued confiscation of Palestinian
land, and violence against the civilians of Palestine;
* abjured all agreements it
has made with the "irrelevant" PA since it has made
moot all such agreements by unilateral actions taken since they
were signed;
* formed a government that
cannot contain any members from parties that call for or contain
platforms that imply or deny the rights of Palestinians under
international law or suggest other terrorist actions such as
ethnic cleansing, transfer or forced removal of Palestinians
from their indigenous homeland;
* taken effective steps and
made demonstrable progress toward (a). removing its troops from
the illegally occupied land of the Palestinians; (b). dismantling
all terrorist operations that are cloaked in euphemistic military
jargon like "security checkpoints" that prohibit freedom
of movement by Palestinians, "security strips" that
permit illegal home demolition, "clearing actions"
that allow destruction of Palestine farm lands, "absentee
property laws" that provide for illegal confiscation of
Palestinian homes and properties, and all other insidious actions
of like kind; c). halting all anti-Palestine incitement in Israel,
especially in the Knesset, including school books which should
include true information on the Nakba and Israeli massacres and
ethnic cleansing carried out in 1947; (d). providing to the new
democratically elected government in Palestine the tax revenues
collected by Israel on its behalf;
* and, finally, produce after
59 years, a constitution that guarantees the equal rights of
any and all citizens that reside in the boundaries of the state
of Israel, including right to property and right of return.
Should the new Israeli government
consent to these measures, funding would continue based on a
new formula consistent with all other support provided to foreign
countries. This alteration in dispensing foreign aid to Israel
is long overdue since US aid to Israel accounts for one third
of the international aid provided by the US to only .001% of
the world's population, 5.8 million, and that the 16th wealthiest
in the world, while a much smaller amount goes to more than 350
million people living in sub-Saharan Africa.
Should the new government refuse
to accept these terms, the new law would
* Bar all direct aid to the
Israeli government and not provide the President with any leeway
to funnel funds through AIPAC or any of its 500 affiliate national
and local organizations even if Israeli security is deemed at
risk;
* Bar all Senators and Congressmen
from giving speeches at AIPAC, AEI, JINSA or CSP;
* Bar all aid to NGOs except
to B'tselem since it is the one organization Israel wishes to
eradicate;
* Hold back owed dues to the
UN in proportion to the UN's direct support for the government
of Israel;
* Bar all Senators and Congressmen
from interviews with far right magazines and radio talk shows
like "Commentary," "National Review," "The
Weekly Standard," "The New Republic," "The
National Interest," etc.;
* Designate all areas occupied
by Israel as "terrorist" territories since they are
illegal, contrary to International Law and the UN Charter, and
areas of violence perpetrated by the IDF;
* Ban the issuance of Visas
to anyone affiliated with the Israeli government;
* Bar the Israeli government
from maintaining or establishing offices within the territories
controlled by the US, including all 145 nations where the US
maintains bases to secure its interests;
* Require the President to
direct US representatives at International Financial Institutions
(e.g. the World Bank, IMF) to use the voice, vote, and influence
of the US to block any aid to Israel, this measure to require
the removal of Paul Wolfowitz from his position at the World
Bank before its implementation;
* Bar all display of the Israeli
flag on US soil as is required of other nations whose illegal
immigrants have attempted to thwart House Bills favored by the
Congress and Senate;
*Require the President to direct
all US representatives associated with the state of Israel to
publish their defense of this rogue state in the Internet pages
of liberal publications like Counterpunch;
* Bar all diplomatic contact
or negotiation with any member of the Israeli government or its
sympathizers;
* Bar US visas and restrict
travel for Israeli government officials with the exception of
Peretz representing the Labor Party;
* Designate the state of Israel
as "Terrorist Sanctuary."
Each of the above items parallels
the points contained in the Palestine Anti-Terrorism Act voted
by the Congress just before the spring recess. However, unlike
that document, that passed unanimously, this one contained a
cover document that established the reasons for putting forward
the Israel Accountability Act. In keeping with congressional
duplicity, it appears that this document is a forgery since it
is signed by Senator Joe Lieberman, an unlikely candidate to
support the following "Rationale for Moral Action,"
as the document is labeled. No one, of course, could take seriously
the charges made here or consider for one moment that Israel
is more repugnant than the newly installed Hamas government.
Nonetheless, it's important to report all the news, good and
bad, as we must remain obsequious to our meticulous leader in
this regard, FOX News.
The document begins with the
following appeal: "As we all sat in stunned silence this
morning at our prayer breakfast, listening to the dire words
of our religious leaders, the doctors of divinity from Trinity
Broadcasting Corporation, as they excoriated us for moral laxness
regarding Palestine, I had to lift my pen and itemize the reasons
they proffered for taking action against Israel. I enclose with
this document, this "Rationale for Moral Action," the
text of the "Israel Accountability Act."
The items that follow are arranged
in the order of greatest iniquity as they inflict injury on the
American people.
* As John Mearsheimer and Stephen
Walt establish in their recent work, The IsraelLobby,
we are the victims of a foreign power that has established its
control over our political lives (as our former colleagues Senator
Charles Percy, Paul Findley, Pete McCloskey, Earl Hilliard and
Cynthia McKinny can testify), forcing us to act on behalf of
the state of Israel, even against the security interests of the
United States, and contrary to the desires of the American people,
whom we represent, as recent polls make all too obvious.
*We have allowed the Lobby
to which they refer (AIPAC) to be exempt from the "Foreign
Agents Registration Act" required of all other lobbies as
a means of avoiding reporting actions done on behalf of a foreign
state while requiring us to grovel before them at annual celebrations
held on public grounds while the Israeli flag flies in equal
numbers with that of the US.
* We stand before the world
as the Vichy government of the US, a collaborationist regime
in bed with a power that illegally occupies another land, defies
165 UN Resolutions, and writes and prepares legislation drafts
that propel America into acts contrary to its foundational documents
and the international agreements it is a party to like the UN
Charter, the Nuclear Non-proliferation Agreement, and the justice
that can be attained through the International Court of Justice.
Our National Security Strategic Report is a document that was
prepared by agents of this lobby and amounts to a revision of
"A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,"
a document prepared for Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel. Its precepts
of preemptive strike and world hegemony are anathema to America's
principles and stated values.
* We provide Israel with more
than 3 billion dollars of taxpayer money per year, an amount
that now exceeds $134 billion, including approximately $800 million
to bring Jews from foreign nations to the foreign nation of Israel,
construct infrastructures for illegal settlements on Palestinian
land, settlements with new town homes, pools, lush lawns and
greenery, while our own poor in New Orleans and elsewhere have
no support, no resettlement monies, no infrastructure support,
and no medical care. We are in effect the beholden puppets of
a foreign nation.
* We are responsible for accepting
the Israeli occupation of the Palestine land despite the actions
of the world communities to condemn that occupation, more than
160 times since 1948. We accept Israeli designation of Palestinians
as terrorists despite the reality on the ground where Israeli
terrorist activities far exceed anything perpetrated by Hamas
or Fatah. MIFTAH's facts show that over 4140 Palestinians have
been killed by Israeli forces, 887 children and 272 women, 117
caused by intervention by IDF against medical personnel while
1113 Israelis have been killed during this Intifada. In addition,
233,875 dunams have been confiscated, 73613 dunams of land razed,
1,186,742 trees uprooted, and over 7,762 homes demolished. Our
financial support for Israel allows this wanton slaughter to
take place; our silence guarantees that it will.
* As we have become the puppets
of Israeli influence, we have permitted the American people to
fall prey to their insidious power in the main stream press.
"In 2004, when 8 Israeli children were killed and 179 Palestinian
children were killed, NBC reported on 100% of Israeli children's
deaths and on 10% of Palestinian children's deaths." (ifamericansknew.org)
ABC on 100% and 11%. The New York Times on 50% and 7%. We have
prevented Americans from knowing the truth.
* We know Israel spies on the
US, on us through employees at AIPAC, but we say nothing. None
of us speaks out about the three indicted and convicted spies
who are currently before our courts. We fear AIPAC's power and
we return to grovel before them in return for jaunts to Israel,
awards bestowed, and contributions to our campaign chests. Our
hypocrisy has brought us world condemnation, foreign policy of
benefit to Israel but not the US, and contempt for our form of
"democracy" by nations in the mid-east, Asia, and South
America.
* Speaking of hypocrisy ...
we have bought into the President's most recent rationale for
his wars in the mid-east, "spreading democracy to all countries
as God's gift" to hem, yet we have just passed "the
Palestine Anti-Terrorist Act" that effectively nullifies
the will of the Palestinian people despite the fact that it was
monitored by outside agents and declared a model of the democratic
election process, something we can't even accomplish in our own
country. And to what end? A certain future of continued deprivation,
human suffering, and death for thousands of Palestinians; a certain
continuation of instability in all of Palestine including a resurrection
of suicide bombing from those who now have reason to know peace
will not come and in absolute desperation resort to that action
rather than total capitulation, and all of this courtesy of our
"cowardiceness" as the good ministers have told us
this morning.
* And, finally, let me remind
you that we have skirted the most obvious hypocrisy of our responsibility
to the American people, indeed to the entire world when it comes
to Israel, the reality that they have nuclear weapons, WMD, that
elusive item that has brought us to war in Iraq, that we use
at every turn to justify our "Accountability" acts
like those against, would you believe mid-east countries, Syria,
Palestine and Iran, but not Israel, the only nation in the mid-east
that has them. Why? Why this silence? We know the world knows
we know. We know they see the control Israel has on our government.
This is the elephant that causes America to be the target of
terrorists, yet we do nothing about it. Why? Why not a non-nuclear
mid-east zone? Why not take action that might bring a real peace
in the mid-east?
Investigative reporters who
have read this document note how closely it parallels the action
taken in the Palestine Anti-Terrorist Act. Provisions in that
document effectively destroy the will of the Palestinian people
by undermining the ability of that government to carry forward
its responsibilities. Its primary basis seeks from the Hamas
government acceptance of the state of Israel, acceptance of agreements
made by Israel with the former PLO authority, and cessation of
violence against Israel, yet nothing is required of Israel, not
acceptance of a Palestine state, not cessation of violence against
the Palestinians and not recognition that Israel has broken the
very agreements it wants Hamas to accept. The passage of the
act makes moot America's purported interest in creating democracies
in the mid-east and ensures the continuation of instability for
years to come. In short, it appears that the US and Israel intentionally
want to maintain a constant condition in the mid-east that will
ensure not just the continuation of terror by insurgents and
nation states in that area, but a legacy of unending war.
While the above document carried
the signature of the Senate's "moral guide," Senator
Joe Lieberman, two things suggest that this was only a ruse:
"the Israel Accountability Act" arose in the Congress
not the Senate, and most observers believe that Senator Lieberman
would find objection to some, if not all, of the rationale itemized
above. However that may be, it is newsworthy that this clandestine
action by the Congress be made available to the people if only
to offer them a glimpse of hope that there is some degree of
human warmth left in their representatives.
CounterPunch
Speakers Bureau Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid?
CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair
are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues,
as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call
CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org.