[Peace-discuss] WHAT accounts for the US' mindless support for Israel???

[David Green]

"All the Jews"?? This is transparently boastful. Reagan sold the AWACS to S.A. in order to secure oil resources after the tumultuous 1970s. Congress approved the sale, Lobby notwithstanding. S.A. and Israel have essentially been allies since. There isn't a shred of evidence that this issue is what defeated Percy. And I guess "all the Jews" couldn't defeat Reagan, and in fact the Lobby didn't try. In fact, Reagan may have gotten the highest percentage of Jewish votes in 1984 of any Republican in recent memory.



----- Original Message ----
From: Ron Szoke <r-szoke at illinois.edu>
To: Barbara kessel <barkes at gmail.com>; C. G. Estabrook <galliher at uiuc.edu>
Cc: peace-discuss <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 4:03:06 PM
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] WHAT accounts for the US' mindless support for Israel???

From the NationMaster online encyclopedia --

Re former IL Senator Charles H. Percy:

Percy's first foray into electoral politics was a run for governor of Illinois in 
1964, which Percy lost to Democratic incumbent Otto Kerner. His second 
attempt, a run for senator from Illinois, succeeded two years later, with Percy 
upsetting incumbent Democratic senator Paul Douglas (a former professor of 
Percy's at the University of Chicago). During that campaign, his daughter 
Valerie was murdered at the family home under mysterious circumstances, and 
campaigning was suspended for two weeks, but then continued. Valerie Percy's 
murder has never been solved, despite a long investigation. [1]

Percy served in the Senate until 1984, when he was defeated for re-election by 
Paul Simon, in a campaign in which Percy was attacked for an "anti-Israel" 
stance because he supported the sale of AWACS planes to Saudi Arabia. 
Speaking in Toronto in 1984, AIPAC's Executive Director Tom Dine boasted: "All 
the Jews, from coast to coast, gathered to oust Percy. And the American 
politicians—those who hold public positions now, and those who aspire—got 
the message." [2]