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TEHRAN – A Jewish political activist believes the United States is fighting on behalf of Israel, citing as examples Washington’s imposition of sanctions on other countries and the sacrifice of young American soldiers in wars.
“The United States is willing to sacrifice its young soldiers and national interests and even its economy for Israel,” Gilad Atzmon, who was born into a Jewish family in Israel and raised in Jerusalem al-Quds, told the Tehran Times.
Atzmon, who now lives in Britain, also says: “Israeli lobbyists seem to believe that they are actually more powerful and certainly more important than the US constitution.”
The following is the text of the interview:
QUESTION: Numerous human rights organizations have criticized Western countries’ arms trade with Israel. What is your comment?
ANSWER: For decades, Israel has been selling killing machines to the world’s most oppressive regimes, and this should come as no surprise, as Israel itself is at the top of the list of oppressive regimes.
Embarrassed by the current weaponry of the Israeli government of Azerbaijan in its war with Armenia, Holocaust scholar Israel W. Charny wrote an article for The Times of Israel titled: Would Israel Sell a Used Drone to a Hitler? Charny admits in his article that Israel’s conduct is fundamentally unethical. He ends his comment by writing, “To my Armenian colleagues and friends, I can only say that as a Jew and as an Israeli, I am mortified and angry.”
I would think that if the leading historian of Israel’s genocide allows himself to admit in an Israeli nationalist medium that the Jewish state is profiting from the unethical arms trade, the rest of us should have the right to freely engage in this issue and use whatever it takes. Possible platform to report Israel or anyone else for profiting from unethical practices.
The problems go far beyond Israel’s arms trade. A few days ago, we learned from the Jewish press about a bipartisan bill in the United States that would give Israel a voice on arms sales in the Middle East (West Asia). The bill “would require the president to consult with the Israeli government to make sure the concerns are resolved.” If the bill passes, the trade of the US military industrial complex would depend on Israel’s consent.
Q: How big is the influence of Jewish and Zionist lobbies in America and how can this status quo change?
ANSWER: The facts regarding the immense influence of Israel and the Jewish lobby in the United States and other Western countries have been established for a while. One may refer to The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, a detailed study of two of the most influential American social scientists (Professor John Mearsheimer and Professor Stephen Walt). Another prominent American political scientist admired by a generation of scholars who also covered the subject is, of course, Professor James Petras, in his book The Power of Israel in the United States.
What can be done with AIPAC’s well-documented domain? I would like to believe that the most effective method of addressing this issue would be to point directly to the Lobby and its corrosive impact: this involves pointing the finger at the wars that the United States is waging on behalf of Israel, the sanctions that the United States imposes on Israel, that the United States is willing to sacrifice its young soldiers and national interests and even its economy for Israel. In theory, American citizens have the right to express criticism, since freedom of expression is enshrined in the first amendment of their constitution. Israeli lobbyists seem to believe that they are actually more powerful and certainly more important than the US constitution. A few months ago, we learned that right-wing activists tried to spread new laws in Republican-controlled states that would suppress criticism of Israel’s public university campuses and its occupation of Palestinian territory.
At this point, the US is practically functioning as a remote and subordinate Israeli satellite. I cannot identify any genuine political force in the United States that can change this in the short term. I don’t see anyone in American politics who is willing to broach the issue. But the American people, like the British and the French, are not stupid; they see everything.
“By now, the US is practically functioning as a remote, subordinate Israeli satellite.”
QUESTION: Although Israel is violating and defying international law on a daily basis, its Western followers and allies continue to support these actions or at least turn a blind eye to them. How do you assess this double standard?
A: In general, it is good practice not to overestimate people’s intelligence. But Israel and its lobby make the opposite mistake; they tend to believe that people are much stupider than they are.
People see what is happening and the general malaise with Israel and its lobby is growing rapidly. People notice Israeli crime; they also note that their politicians at all levels operate as foreign agents for a criminal state. Israel and The Lobby interpret this increased awareness as “growing anti-Semitism”, but this is hyperbole. A general consciousness of the masses has emerged. The Israelis and The Lobby know that once you see the whole picture, you can’t just stop looking at it. In that sense, Israel faces a wall of silent resistance and the consequences of this reality are unpredictable.
It is fascinating to watch the tsunami of massive protests that we see within Israel against Netanyahu and institutional corruption. The Israelis, or at least many of them, are also tired of being themselves. According to Jewish history, it is possible that it is really the Jews who topple their current empire. From what I can tell, they are better at that battle than anyone else.
Q: How do Western countries exploit the issue of human rights to implement their policies? And how do they politicize human rights?
A: Human rights issues are close to our hearts. We do not like to see the abuse of others; we hate discrimination; we are horrified by racism of any kind. Apparently some were smart enough to attach barcodes to these genuine universal and ethical sentiments. As it stands, human rights issues have become a profitable industry. Many human rights campaigns are funded by elements that are dedicated to human rights abusers.
Since the Palestinian struggle is close to my heart, it took me a short time to discover that while the BDS movement was receiving money from George Soros’s Open Society Institute, BDS changed its mission statement and practically renounced the Palestinian Right of Return.
In 2012, the National BDS Committee in Ramallah made a crucial change to its mission statement. It changed the wording of its original mission statement (June 2005) from “demanding that Israel end its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands” to demanding that Israel end “its occupation and colonization of all occupied Arab lands. in June 1967 * “. My attempt to find out who made this change revealed that this new wording first appeared in Omar Barghouti’s 2011 book, ‘BDS: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights’ (page 6).
It seems that since 2011, the National BDS Committee has basically abandoned the most treasured Palestinian right: it moved away from the commitment to the lands occupied since 1948 and limited its fight to the liberation of the lands occupied in 1967. New attempts to clarify who made the change and what process revealed that this significant change was made clandestinely appeared only in English. It has never appeared in Arabic or any other language. It is clear that the change occurred behind the back of the Palestinian people. Despite BDS’s claim to be a ‘civil society’ representing more than 170 Palestinian organizations, the Palestinians were completely unaware of the BDS National Committee’s commitment to its mission.
Further investigation revealed that BDS, like most Palestinian NGOs, was funded by George Soros’ Open Society Institute. In 2013 I was asked to review a book called Israel / Palestine and the Queer International by Sarah Schulman. It was Schulman who solved the mysterious change in the BDS mission statement. In his search for funding for a Palestinian youth Queer USA tour in support of BDS, Schulman wrote that he was advised to approach George Soros’ Open Society Institute. The following account may astonish you, as it did me:
“A former ACT UP staff member who worked for the Open Society Institute, George Soros’ foundation, suggested that I apply for funds for the tour. When I did, it turned out that the person on the other side had known me since when we both attended hunter [College] High School in New York in the 1970s. She submitted the application to the institute’s office in Amman, Jordan, and had an incredible hour-long conversation with Hanan Rabani, her director of the Women and Gender program for the Middle East region. (Western Asia). Hanan told me that this tour would give great visibility to autonomous queer organizations in the region. That would inspire queer Arabs, especially in Egypt.
For that reason, he said, funding for the tour should come from the Amman office “(Israel / Palestine and Queer International, by Sarah Schulman, p. 108).
“Many human rights campaigns are funded by elements that are dedicated to human rights abusers.” Here is clear and embarrassing evidence of a stark intervention by George Soros’ institute in an attempt to shape Arab and Islamic culture and political life. We also learn about how the Soros Open Society Institute introduces gay and queer politics to the region. Apparently money for a Palestine and BDS promotional tour is traveling from the Soros Open Society to Jordan and then back to the United States.
This makes it clear why BDS had “good reason” for being silent about its funding sources. After all, being financed directly or indirectly by a liberal Zionist philanthropist, a man who also financed openly Zionist J Street and was invested in Israeli companies in the West Bank, is truly embarrassing. But its meaning is quite devastating. The discourse of the solidarity of the oppressed is shaped by the sensibilities of the oppressor who finances the movement of the oppressed. We see this in the Palestine solidarity movement; We saw the same on Occupy Wall Street and currently in some BLM business segments. Rather than genuinely caring for the oppressed, solidarity and human rights movements often morph into police forces dedicated to controlling the so-called opposition.
The case for the language of BDS has a good ending. However, Omar Barghouti did not change the words printed in his book, where he bluntly compromised with demands for occupied lands on behalf of the Palestinian people. The BDS movement finally changed its mission statement once again. It now resembles the original statement from 2005 opposing the occupation of ALL Arab lands.
QUESTION: Why doesn’t Israel accept the idea of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the region?
A: The true meaning of thinking that you are chosen is to attribute a unique sense of impunity to yourself and to no one else. In actual politics, this means that its Jewish state is the only nuclear power in the region, its Air Force is the only one flying F-35s, its military is not committed to any recognized ethical standards, its military industry trades in the most dark. regimes around. Try to imagine a world in which everyone thinks they are chosen.
