PAUL FINDLEY
October 16, 2007
There is an open secret in Washington. I learned it well during my
22-year tenure as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
All members swear to serve the interests of the United States, but
there is an unwritten and overwhelming exception: The interests of
one small foreign country almost always trump U.S. interests. That
nation of course is Israel.
Both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue give priority to Israel over
America. Those on Capitol Hill are pre-primed to roar approval for
Israeli actions whether right or wrong, instead of at least fussing
first and then caving. The White House sometimes puts up a modest
and ineffective show of resistance before it follows Israel's
lead.
In 2002, President Bush publicly ordered Israeli prime minister
Ariel Sharon to end a bloody, destructive rampage through the
Palestinian West Bank. He wilted just as publicly when he received
curt word from Sharon that Israeli troops would not withdraw and
would continue their military operations. A few days later
President Bush invited Sharon to the White House where he saluted
him as a "man of peace."
I had similar experiences in the House of Representatives. On
several occasions, colleagues told me privately that they admired
what I was trying to do in Middle East policy reform but could not
risk pro-Israel protest back home by supporting my positions.
The pro-Israel lobby is not one organization orchestrating U.S.
Middle East policy from a backroom in Washington. Nor is it
entirely Jewish. It consists of scores of groups -- large and small
-- that work at various levels. The largest, most professional, and
most effective is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Many pro-Israel lobby groups belong to the Christian Right.
The recently released book, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign
Policy," co-authored by distinguished professors John Mearsheimer
of the University of Chicago and Stephen Walt of Harvard, offers
hope for constructive change. It details the damage to U.S.
national interests caused by the lobby for Israel. These brave
professors render a great service to America, but their theme,
expressed in a published study paper a year ago, is already under
heavy, vitriolic attack.
They are unjustly accused of anti-Semitism, the ultimate instrument
of intimidation employed by the lobby. A common problem: Under
pressure, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs withdrew an
invitation for the authors to speak about their book. Council
president Marshall Bouton explained ruefully that the invitation
posed "a political problem" and a need "to protect the institution"
from those who would be angry if the authors appeared.
I know what it is like to be targeted in this way. In the last
years of my long service in Congress, I spoke out, making many of
the points now presented in the Mearsheimer-Walt book. In 1980, my
opponent charged me with anti-Semitism, and money poured into his
campaign fund from every state in the Union. I prevailed that year
but two years later lost by a narrow margin. In 1984, Sen. Charles
Percy, then chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and an
occasional critic of Israel, was defeated. Leaders of the Israel
lobby claimed credit for defeating both Percy and me, claims that
strengthened lobby influence in the years that followed.
The result is that Members of Congress today loudly reward Israel
as it violates international law and peace agreements, lures
America into costly wars, and subjects millions of Palestinians
under its rule to apartheid-like conditions because they are not
Jewish.
It is time to call politicians to account for their undying
allegiance to a foreign state. Let the Mearsheimer-Walt book be a
clarion that bestirs the American people to political action and
finally brings fundamental change to both Capitol Hill and the
White House.
Citizen participation in public policy development is a hallmark of
our proud democracy. But the pro-Israel groups subvert democracy
when they engage in smear campaigns that intimidate and silence
critics. America badly needs a civilized discussion of the damaging
role of Israel in U.S. policy formulation.
Paul Findley represented Illinois in the U.S. House of
Representatives for 22 years. He is the author of They Dare to
Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront the Israel
Lobby.
