August 15, 2007

The Zionist Lobby

No American President Can Stand Up to Israel

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Reality-check, Abed. I isn't any lobbying. It's popular support by the American people:

US Poll: Israel Alone Named 'Vital Friend'

Gallup poll places Israel as only country majority of Americans both view favorably and see as important. Iraq most unfavorable but most important while only 9 percent view Iran as favorable


A Gallup poll surveying US opinion on geopolitics singles out Israel as only foreign nation Americans feel favorably toward and also say that what happens there is vitally important to the US.

Americans remain most favorable towards English-speaking countries – Canada (92 percent view it as mostly favorable), Australia (89 percent) and Great Britain (also 89 percent). Additional countries the majority of Americans view favorably are Japan (82), India (69), Israel (63), Mexico (60), Egypt (60), Russia (53) percent and Jordan (51).

The country viewed as least-favorable by Americans is Iran (9 percent), followed by North Korea (12), Iraq (15), Palestinian Authority (16), Syria (21), Afghanistan (23), Cuba (25), Pakistan (28), Saudi Arabia (35), Venezuela (41) and China (48).

Ratings of France are now at their highest level since the start of the Iraq war and now stand at 57 percent favorable, up three points from 2006. Prewar levels typically stood at 70 percent. Ratings of Germany have now returned to prewar levels (83 percent).

Relavant and less-relevant enemies

Gallup also examined the perceived importance of foreign nations, stacking this data against the figures pertaining to favorability.

The five countries deemed by Americans as the world's 'hot spots' - nations that a majority of Americans view unfavorably and say that what happens in each is "vitally important" to US interests - are Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, and China.

Countries viewed as 'less relevant enemies' – unfavorable but not important – are Pakistan (47 percent), Syria (42), Cuba (31) and Venezuela (29).

Of the countries viewed both favorably and important, only Israel was named, with 55 percent of Americans deeming it a 'vital friend.'

Countries viewed as 'low-pertinence friends', favorable but unimportant, are Great Britain (43 percent), Mexico (42), Japan (40), Russia (40), Canada (36) and India (28).

A review of Gallup data regarding US opinion of Israel:

According to the current poll 63 percent of Americans view Israel favorably, in 2006 the figure stood at 68 percent while in 2005 it reached a peak at 69 percent. In 2004 it stood at 59, in 2003 it was identical to this year's poll (63 percent) and in 2002 the figure stood at only 56 percent. To compare in the early 90s less than 50 percent of Americans viewed Israel with favor.

"The broad support of the American people to Israel is of the utmost strategic importance to Israel and it must be nurtured and maintained," Israeli ambassador to the United States Salai Meridor told Ynet in response to the poll's findings. "The United States understands that Israel stand with it against extremists threatening world security. The results of this poll give expression to the shared values and interests between Israel and the US," said Meridor.

Anonymous said...

Only 16% of Americans were favorable towards the Paleos, while 75% were mostly unfavorable or very unfavorable (only 2% were "Very Favorable").

On the other hand, regarding Israel, 63% were very or mostly favorable and only 30% mostly unfavorable or very unfavorable. In fact, the last time so many Americans were this strong on the "Very Favorable" category vis-à-vis Israel was way back in Jan-Feb. 1991:

http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=1624&pg=2

Americans know best.

Anonymous said...

Want more? My pleasure, Abed:

Poll Finds US Support For Israel Soaring

American public support for Israel in the face of its enemies is at a five-year high, a poll found.

A new survey commissioned by the Israel Project showed that an average of 66 percent of Americans rate their feelings toward the Jewish state as "warm" or "very favorable," while 11 percent gave Iran a positive rating.

Asked about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 65 percent of respondents said they support Israel, while 10 percent said they support the Palestinians.

About three-quarters of those polled said the United States should not resume sending aid to the Palestinian Authority until the Hamas-led government "ends the culture of hate" and recognizes Israel.

Seventy-three percent of Americans believe Islamic extremism is the main source of Middle East instability, compared to 12 percent who blame Israel and its policies.

"Support for Israel among American opinion elite has reached its highest level over the last five years, and more than eight of 10 believe that Israel is one of our strongest allies," pollster Neil Newhouse said.

The survey had 500 respondents and a margin of error of plus or minus 4.38 percentage points.

Anonymous said...

And one more for the road:

A Six-Day War: Its Aftermath in American Public Opinion

For 40 years, public opinion has consistently favored Israel over the Palestinians
, by Robert Ruby, Senior Editor, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life
May 30, 2007

QED

Jundi said...

A majority of people believe that Israel and Iran have a mainly negative influence in the world, a poll for the BBC World Service suggests.

It shows that the two countries are closely followed by the United States and North Korea.

The poll asked 28,000 people in 27 countries to rate a dozen countries plus the EU in terms of whether they have a positive or negative influence.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6421597.stm

Jundi said...

the homepage of AIPAC explicitly says "AIPAC - America's Pro-Israel Lobby" .. yeah there's no lobbying going on lol
http://www.aipac.org/

---------------------
Who is AIPAC??

STOP AIPAC
http://www.stopaipac.org/

TIME TO REIN IN AIPAC?
http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/15521/index.php

http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=4178

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0907-12.htm

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,280172,00.html

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=6890

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/AIPACClinton.html

http://dissidentnews.wordpress.com/2007/03/07/the-power-of-israel-in-the-united-states-by-james-petras/

Anonymous said...

In other words, you have no cogent answer. If only Americans "knew"... then they wouldn't support Isael but would flock to support the Paleos- right?

HEY ABED- I DON'T THINK SO.

=

Jundi said...

ummm actually that's exactly what will happen .. that is of course except for the zionist christians aka the evangelicals aka the religious right .. these nuts actually support israel's existence because it's all a part of their twisted beliefs .. but regular americans will support the palestinians once they know the truth about what's going on .. and from what i can tell they are slowly starting to wake up .. the israel lobby is now being openly discussed and criticized

Anonymous said...

Ummmm... YOU MUST BE ABLE TO TYPE BLIND.

It isn't the "Christian right": The American people AS A WHOLE support Israel-

* As you can see from NUMEROUS polls

* As has been consistent for DECADES

And the American people hate the Paleos-

* As you can see from NUMEROUS polls

* As has been consistent for DECADES

Better get used to it, because it isn't changing; not even close.