Carl Remick wrote:
>
> [clip]
> [I don't find Chomsky's thoughts in this instance convincing. A more
> persuasive POV (below) is offered by a recent poster (whom I do not know) on
> the Marxism list, so I am taking the liberty of citing it in full. [clip]
>
> From: "M. Junaid Alam" <alam at lefthook.org>
>
> [Louis Proyect wrote:] "Israel does not exercise a 'tyranny' over US
> foreign policy. US foreign policy is simply an extension of English foreign
> policy that goes back to the Balfour declaration."
>
> This is really a bit odd. First, because this totally contradicts Louis'
> earlier argument that perhaps support for Israel is totally irrational
> because systems on the brink behave irrationally. But more to the point,
> while the argument here tries to make US support for Israel sound as natural
> as the sun setting in the evening, it ends up doing quite the opposite. Yes
> - the policy is definitely an extension of British foreign policy - but then
> the question is: what motivated Britain's support for Jewish settlement in
> Palestine? The Brits didn't wake up one morning and say, "hey you know what
> would be a kick-ass idea? A Jewish state in the middle of the Muslim world!"
> Rather, it was Zionists in the mold of Herzl and Weizmann who actively
> lobbied the British government to create a state.
I have great respect often for M. JUnaid Alam's posts -- but here he is talking nonsense. And those who repeat this nonsense are (mostly without realizing it) spouting an anti-semitic explanation of u.s. and british foreign policy. The existence of Zionism provided a marvelous form for continuing what had been a foundation of imperialist policy since the late 19th century. Had Zionism not existed they would have had to invent it (and in fact various gentile imperialist sid participate in its invention.
The enemy is u.s. imperialism and its allies big and small. It is simply grotesque to think that a policy supported by very nearly the whole of the ruling classes of England and the U.S. should be determined by a "Jewish Lobby" -- nearly as grotesque as the Protocol of the Elders of Zion and really resembling that a good deal. And like other historical vehicles of anti-semitism it adds up to apologetics for the real villains. It is The Jew as scapegoat once more.
Carrol