Forum Post: In March, Occupy will target one of the most powerful lobbies on the planet
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 27, 2011, 12:57 a.m. EST by gmxusa
(274)
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March 3rd, Occupy will be in Washington to Occupy AIPAC, the unstoppable multimillion dollar institution for the Israel lobby that controls most of Congress and dictates American policy for the Middle East.
Lee Whitnum confronts pro-lobby candidate on TV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL-EDrKGEc8
The Lobby debate video at MIT: http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/488
That is how AIPAC operates in our nation’s capitol video: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/pg-aipacstudents.html
Council for the National Interest: http://www.councilforthenationalinterest.org/
Stop AIPAC: http://www.stopaipac.org/
Occupy AIPAC: http://www.moveoveraipac.org/
i would like to suggest a group attempt a citizens arrest of them for bribing a congressman- say the speaker of the house--
Most of the bribes are done legally, via lobbies.
By definition, a bribe cannot be legal.
And a bribe can have no other objective than eventual blackmail.
Ummmm generally to buy agreement or performance
But once a bribe has been accepted, it can easily be used to blackmail. It's all about control, and power.
Is this officially part of OWS, or is it a splinter group?
This is from CODEPINK, an antiwar Jewish group within OWS.
Somehow I don't believe it. No Jew in their right mind would employ rhetoric like you did in the OP. No Jew would allow themselves to be so coopted by the prevailing anti-semitic mythology of "Jewish Control" of congress.
I understand about being Jewish and anti-war. I fit into both those categories. But I have nothing but contempt for Jews adopting the very language used to smear us by those who hate us. You should be ashamed of yourself.
The video below shows Rea Abileah, from CODEPINK talking about her protest in Congress against Netanyahu and the pro-Israel goons who attacked her. The Israel lobby is a small but powerful group of Zionist Christians and Jews. No one ever said anything about Jewish Control of Congress.
http://youtu.be/b95y2M62il4
"No one ever said anything about Jewish Control of Congress"
Really? What's this:
"Israel lobby that controls most of Congress and dictates American policy"
So the Israel lobby is Hindu? You are dissembling.
AIPAC doe NOT "control" congress. It does NOT "dictate" policy. Congress has always followed its own interests. The president, who, unlike congress, controls the bulk of foreign policy, goes by what he perceives, rightly or wrongly, is in America's interests. If that coincides with what AIPAC pushes, fine. If it doesn't, it isn't implemented.
AIPAC does have more influence than its size would indicate. But words like "control" and "dictate" are inaccurate and scurrilous. They perpetuate and encourage the same myths and rationalizations used to fuel world-wide anti-Semitism for generations, the same myths that laid the foundations for.... you know what. And it totally ignores the fact that Exxon and BP, not to mention Haliburton, have FAR more say in Middle Eastern policy than AIPAC ever will.
I am solidly against the Netinyahu regime. I think it is undermining peace and threatening Israel's future, not to mention perpetuating brutality against Arab Palestinians. But using the same rhetoric as anti-Semite conspiracy assholes puts you in league with them.
The Israel lobby is comprised heavily with Christian Zionists among others. Jew bashers want to use as an excuse for their own agenda. I agree with you 100% on oil companies also influencing Middle East policies. But in case you missed Professor Mearsheimer on the Israel lobby and control of Congress video listed on the title of this post, here is a video with Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney on the lobby.
http://youtu.be/MeVBa4lSscw
Cynthia McKinney is a 9/11 truther conspiracy whacko.
Her claims on the video are a mix of complete distortions, exaggerations, and outright falsehoods. They are not even consistent within themselves. far from demonstrating control of Congress by AIPAC, she has shown that they don't matter. She goes on to denigrate the Anti-Defamation League as well, and claim a conspiracy against her by them.
Do I need to go point by point over the video in discrediting her every statement? Why is this whack job someone you cite to support your case of control? Did you not listen to the meaning of what she says with her own mouth? She lost her own party's support, not because of AIPAC, but because she was an idiot. If her money was cut off by AIPAC, as she claims, for campaigning, - which she admits is very expensive - effectively controlling her, how did she raise enough to get elected six times? How much control over her does that indicate?
Gus Savage, whom she claims in the video was "targeted" by the "pro-Israel lobby" was, in fact booted from office because of his sheer stupidity. He was compared in the press to a stalk of celery, unfavorably. Nearly half of his legislative efforts had nothing to do with the nation's business, but with Joe Louis.
After he lost election, he wouldn't talk to the press because, he stated, "it includes too many Jews." (No mention of AIPAC, just Jews: that should give you a clue about what's really going on.) He blamed his defeat (to another African American) on "racist, reactionary Jewish misleaders." He called "historically, culturally and politically accurate" Louis Farrakhan's statement that "Hitler was a great man" and that Judaism is a "gutter religion." He was up before the House Ethics Committee on more than one occasion, and was found guilty of violations more than once.
This is McKinney's victim of AIPAC control.
And you believe her!
AIPAC no more controls congress than it controls you. It has influence, as much as it is convenient for individual congressmen to allow that influence. McKinney's claims are of someone looking for a scapegoat to blame her defeat on rather than her wild conspiracy theories or her assault on a police officer, that eroded her support. Why not blame the Jews? It's always worked before, hasn't it.
I looked at all the links you put up. not a single one includes anything beyond innuendo and conspiracy theory. And you swallowed it all, hook line and sinker.
I certainly understand and agree with much criticism against Israel's current policies. But adopting the language of anti-semitic conspiracists is not only inappropriate and ignorant, but is, by definition, anti-semitic.
See how quickly you lose support if you continue to do so, not based on conspiracies, but simple decency. No one - not Christians, not Jews, not AIPAC - likes a self-hating Jew.
AIPAC only purpose is to influence Washington and dictate Middle East policies. This is not a conspiracy and it is perfectly legal. But not all US Jews want to be tagged along AIPAC lunacies. And that does not mean one is self hating Jew because policies disagreements. The interview on PBS below, is from a former AIPAC member, Keith Weissman.
"The reason why I want to tell this story now is, we may be going down a path, helped along by the American Jewish community, and maybe even Israel, that is going to be worse even than the one we're on now - some sort of military confrontation with Iran. That worries me. Because they will be able to blame [it] on the Jews, to a great extent," says Weissman, who worked at AIPAC from 1993 until 2005, much of that time as the group's deputy director of foreign policy. Though Weissman disagrees sharply with those who say that AIPAC played a critical role in pushing for the 2003 U.S. decision to invade Iraq, he believes a war with Iran -- which he says "would be the stupidest thing I ever heard of" -- might well be blamed on AIPAC's leaders and their constituents. "What the Jews' war will be is Iran," he says. "Not Iraq."
Read more: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2011/06/aipac-from-the-inside-1-isolating-iran.html
ALL lobbying groups only purpose is to influence Washington and its policies. AIPAC is no different. Some of AIPAC's positions are indeed lunatic, some aren't. I agree with some of their positions; some I couldn't disagree with with more strongly.
But I object to your LANGUAGE. You use phrases like "control congress". AIPAC does no such thing. Nor does it "dictate" it. It works, and works hard, to influence it. McKinney, a known 9/11 "truther," provides NO evidence for her outlandish claims. Indeed, if one listens carefully to her words, she provides strong evidence for the fact that AIPAC controlled nothing and no one, especially her. That you would use such a thoroughly discredited moron to support your accusation of "control" of congress by zionists, that this lobbying group has the power to "dictate" policy, that it is a conspiracy hidden in plain sight, only shows that you are willing to clutch at straws to malign this group.
The hyperbole stems, not because of policy disagreements, but originates in Anti-Semitism and anti-Zionist conspiracy theories. And you enthusiastically adopt that language. It is that adoption of language that makes you a self-hating Jew, not a disagreement of policy.
These are phrases absolutely parallel to the ones the Nazis used about German government (and banking) just before they decided to murder most of my people. Jews control everything and are causing poverty and war, is what the accusations boiled down to. Even the Nazis substituted the word "Zionist" for jew.
I don't agree with many of AIPAC's positions. They may very well be a proper target for protest. But the claims of control and dictating policy are shameful, and play into the hands of the worst kind of anti-semitism in the world.
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