[lbo-talk] Israel, Ireland, and South Africa

[Josh Narins]

> But I'm still curious about the "Holy Land 2000" sidelight and what in your
> view makes it relevant to the debate on the pro-Israel lobby.

That the recent paper published, at least the reports of it I've read,
make it sound like the lobbiests for Israel are particularly effective
lobbyists, rather than finding particularly receptive targets.

> P.S. This is off topic but -- There are some people, I have met, who are
> deeply religious and believe in the literal truth of the Bible (a form of
> irrationalism or subservience to authority in my view) who are "left" in all
> of their political views.  Engagement with the African-American church and
> with the religious members of the Central American Solidarity movement
> enlightened me to this side of "left" religion.  I consider my self
> anti-organized religion, but just because a person has been indoctrinated
> into a particular religion doesn't mean that they have come to reactionary
> political conclusions.

The "left" in America (let's say, for sake of argument, the reform
Jewish community, A for Peace Now, and throw in Tikkun) wants the
accomodationist situation that you said the elites, in earlier years,
wanted for South Africa. 

And I wonder if and of these literal truth leftists are completely 
dispassionate about Israel?  

To be fair to me, I thought I said they elected Clinton, Bush Sr, Reagan 
and Carter, too, quite explicitly on Christian grounds.  If I deleted
that sentence, I apologize for any misunderstanding.

> But I'm trying to figure out what all of this has to do with the debate at
> hand, which was about the relative weight of the pro-Israel Lobby on U.S.
> foreign policy and elite planning.
> 
> Jerry