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<h3 class="post_author_h3"><big><big>They call themselves <a
href="http://www.newprofile.org/english/node/231"
target="_hplink">New Profile</a> and their website has <a
href="http://www.newprofile.org/english" target="_hplink">graphic
presentations</a> of how militarism is increasingly
dominating every aspect of Israelis life.</big></big>By <a
rel="author" class="bluetext"
href="http://972mag.com/author/972blog/">+972 Blog</a></h3>
<time pubdate="pubdate" datetime="2014-03-20T19:41:43+00:00"><span
class="sa_s_g">|</span>Published March 20, 2014 </time>
<h1 class="post_title_h1 bluetext">Standing up to AIPAC means
supporting Israeli dissidents</h1>
</header>
<p><big><big><em><strong>The voice of ‘pro-Israel’ militarism has
been ringing through the halls of Washington D.C. since
the 1970s. Now, to end the occupation, American citizens
must couple their opposition to AIPAC with support for
anti-occupation groups in Israel.</strong></em></big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>By Philip Farah</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>In the 1970s, Israeli TV had a great program, Nikui
Rosh, that was something like the country’s version
of Saturday Night Live. Its most famous skit was one in which
Israeli leaders would start beating the drums of war, warning
against threats from across the Lebanese or Syrian borders,
whenever the Israeli economy was in crisis. This is an old
trick everywhere: when your leadership is being questioned,
rally the nation to unite against the enemy. Today, Israeli
leaders don’t need an economic crisis in order to rattle their
sabers because they have a chronic political crisis: what to
do with <a
href="http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41723.htm"
target="_hplink">the Palestinians under their control</a>,
a <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/content/ei-exclusive-palestinian-population-exceeds-jewish-population-says-us-government/5491"
target="_hplink">population whose numbers</a> may have
already exceeded those of Jews in Israel. The leaders’ answer
is, again, to point the finger elsewhere: Iran is the Boogie
Man, with its (Muslim) bomb that threatens not only Israel,
but all of the West’s Judeo-Christian civilization.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Is there a war that Israeli leaders or their Washington
friends, especially the neocons, do not love? Was there a
voice cheering more loudly for the U.S. to launch a <a
href="http://mondoweiss.net/2008/06/hollings-says-iraq-war-was-launched-in-large-part-to-secure-israel.html"
target="_hplink">war on Iraq</a> in 2002 than theirs? Was
there a greater disappointment than theirs when the Syrian
chemical weapons crisis did not result in U.S. military
strikes against Syria?</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<div id="attachment_59464" class="wp-caption aligncenter"
style="width: 540px"><big><big><a
href="http://972mag.com/wp-content/uploads//2012/11/Obama2_pic.jpg"><img
class="size-full wp-image-59464" alt="President Barack
Obama at the AIPAC Policy Conference 2011. (photo: AIPAC)
" src="cid:part7.02090006.03000407@comcast.net"></a></big></big>
<div class="wp-caption-text">
<p><big><big>President Barack Obama at the AIPAC Policy
Conference 2011. (photo: AIPAC)</big></big></p>
</div>
</div>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>This week, at the annual conference of the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee, prominent politicians raced
to the podium to declare their hawkish foreign policy
credentials in order to curry favor with the powerful lobby
group. <a
href="http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/03/03/john-mccain-thanks-aipac-for-supporting-military-intervention-in-syria/"
target="_hplink">Some leaders</a> complained that the
current crisis in Crimea, for example, is the result of the
U.S. losing its reputation as a tough international policeman,
and that the “mullahs” in Iran ought not to be trusted and
that Israel and its friends in the U.S. ought to keep up the
pressure. Prime Minister Netanyahu (whose speech in Congress
last year received more standing ovations than President
Obama’s), declared at the Conference that the stifling
economic sanctions weren’t working and that a <a
href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.535661"
target="_hplink">“credible military threat is needed.”</a> The
voice of “pro-Israel” militarism has been heard in Washington
at least as far back as the early 1970s, when it was
eloquently articulated by <a
href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/08/04/890238/-The-Anti-Defamation-League-Has-No-More-Credibility"
target="_hplink">Nathan Perlmutter</a> of the
Anti-Defamation League. He expressed concern that “nowadays
war is getting a bad name and peace too favorable a press;”
that “peacemakers of Vietnam vintage– transmuters of swords
into plowshares,” condemn U.S. policies in Vietnam and Central
America while “sniping at American defense budgets.”</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Israeli militarism pre-dates the establishment of
Israel in 1948. Vladimir Jabotinsky, the spiritual father of
the current ruling party, said that force was absolutely
necessary for the creation of the Jewish State because it was
foolhardy to expect the Palestinians, who constituted the
overwhelming majority at the time, to give up their country
voluntarily. Ben Gurion, the first leader of the new state,
continued the tradition by brilliantly parlaying Israel’s
military capabilities as an asset for “Western interests” in
the region and beyond. Israel’s military establishment and its
military industries have played a prominent role in many
countries, including <a
href="http://www.wrmea.org/wrmea-archives/96-washington-report-archives-1982-1987/january-1987/715-israeli-arms-sales-to-central-america-an-overview.html"
target="_hplink">El Salvador</a>, <a
href="http://mondoweiss.net/2013/05/guatemalan-genocide-christian.html"
target="_hplink">Guatemala,</a> <a
href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/a-generation-ago-israelis-found-paradise-in-iran/"
target="_hplink">Iran</a>, <a
href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.562796"
target="_hplink">South Africa</a>, <a
href="http://www.wrmea.org/wrmea-archives/186-washington-report-archives-1994-1999/april-may-1997/2540-israel-comes-to-the-rescue-of-africas-most-corrupt-ruler-.html"
target="_hplink">Zaire</a>, and <a
href="http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/01/31/how-israel-helped-sri-lanka-defeat-the-tamil-tigers/"
target="_hplink">Sri Lanka</a>. In this role, Israel often
played the role that the U.S. was too embarrassed to play
because of abysmal human rights records in these countries.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<div id="attachment_88145" class="wp-caption aligncenter"
style="width: 740px"><big><big><a
href="http://972mag.com/wp-content/uploads//2014/03/0Q7A8796_wm.jpg"><img
class="size-full wp-image-88145" alt="Female Israeli
anti-occupation activists protest the siege on Gaza at the
Erez Crossing on International Women's Day. (photo:
Activestills)"
src="cid:part18.03050602.08050606@comcast.net"></a></big></big>
<div class="wp-caption-text">
<p><big><big>Female Israeli anti-occupation activists protest
the siege on Gaza at the Erez Crossing on International
Women’s Day. (photo: Activestills)</big></big></p>
</div>
</div>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>I may be a wild-eyed optimist, but I do see a glimmer
of hope in Israel. Just read Israel’s leading English language
online publication, <em>Haaretz</em>, to see that there are <a
href="http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.572166"
target="_hplink">more and more Israelis</a> – albeit still a
minority — telling their leaders that their hubris is driving
the country towards the edge of a cliff. However, the Israeli
peace group closest to my heart consists of a number of feisty
mothers and grandmothers who are fighting militarism in their
country, including helping some of their children and
grandchildren who refuse conscription in the army. They call
themselves <a
href="http://www.newprofile.org/english/node/231"
target="_hplink">New Profile</a> and their website has <a
href="http://www.newprofile.org/english" target="_hplink">graphic
presentations</a> of how militarism is increasingly
dominating every aspect of Israelis life. The more we in the
U.S. encourage groups like these, the greater the chance of a
just peace in Israel/Palestine.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big><em>Philip Farah, born and raised in Jerusalem, is
co-founder of the Washington Alliance for Middle East Peace
in Washington, D.C. <em>This piece first appeared on <a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-farah/american-israel-public-af_b_4908183.html">The
Huffington Post</a>. </em></em></big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big><strong>Related:</strong><br>
<a
href="http://972mag.com/does-kerry-need-to-convince-aipac-to-support-peace/80458/">Does
Kerry need to convince AIPAC to support peace?</a><br>
<a
href="http://972mag.com/speaking-truth-to-aipacs-power/77124/">Speaking
truth to AIPAC’s power</a></big></big></p>
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