Norman G. Finkelstein weighed in on this, and I find his take very useful.
Soundbites: "Apart from the Israel-Palestine conflict, fundamental U.S. policy in the Middle East hasn't been affected by the Lobby"; "The spectrum of U.S. policy differences might be narrow but in terms of impact on the real lives of real people in the Arab world these differences are probably meaningful, the Israeli influence making things worse"; "The claim that Israel has become a liability for U.S. "national" interests in the Middle East misses the bigger picture . . . Israel is the only stable and secure base for projecting U.S. power in this region. Every other country the U.S. relies on might, for all anyone knows, fall out of U.S. control tomorrow"; "Similarly the U.S. doesn't want an Israel truly at peace with the Arabs, for such an Israel could loosen its bonds of dependence on the U.S., making it a less reliable proxy. This is one reason why the claim that Jewish elites are 'pro'-Israel makes little sense. They are "pro" an Israel that is useful to the U.S. and therefore useful to them. What use would a Paul Wolfowitz have of an Israel living peacefully with its Arab neighbors and less willing to do the U.S.'s bidding?"; "The historical record strongly suggests that neither Jewish neo-conservatives in particular nor mainstream Jewish intellectuals generally have a primary allegiance to Israel -- in fact any allegiance to Israel"; "the U.S. won't do so [i.e. order Israel out of the OPTs] until and unless the Israeli occupation becomes a major liability for it: on account of the Lobby the point at which 'until and unless' is reached significantly differs"; "in the current 'either-or' debate on whether the Lobby affects U.S. Middle East policy at the elite level, it's been lost on many of the interlocutors that a crucial dimension of this debate should be the extent to which the Lobby stifles free and open discussion on the subject." <http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/finkelstein010506.html>
The Israel lobby's most significant function must be to manufacture a semblance of "consensus" for US foreign policy -- and Israel's policy toward Palestinians -- especially within Jewish communities.
If you poll rank-and-file Jews, Reform and secular, they are strongly against the Iraq War, much more so than non-Jews (except Blacks), but that doesn't become the focus of leadership:
<blockquote>Almost six months after putting Judaism's largest denomination on record calling for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, a divided Reform movement has let languish the resolution it passed with great fanfare at its November biennial convention.
The Union for Reform Judaism resolution, which demanded "a clear exit strategy ... with specific goals for [U.S.] troop withdrawal," marked the first — and still only — official stand by a major Jewish organization against the war, even as polls consistently show Jews more strongly opposed to the war than the country as a whole.
But since writing President George W. Bush in December repeating the resolution's main points, Reform leaders have not issued any press statements on the issue. The numerous action alerts sent to Reform congregations nationwide have called for action on issues ranging from the crisis in Darfur to the bloody budget battle on Capitol Hill — but not a word on Iraq.
Now, some of the Reform rabbis and lay leaders who strongly supported the resolution are beginning to voice criticism. (James D. Besser, Reform Movement Goes Silent On Its Anti-War Stand: Five Months after Resolution at Biennial, Liberal Stream Paralyzed in Follow-up," The Jewish Week, <http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=12324>, 14 April 2006)</blockquote>
Instead, now, it's all out for Darfur:
<blockquote>"The days after the rally are the most important days," Rabbi Saperstein explained, "our '30 Days for Darfur' campaign will harness the energy generated by this weekend's rally to mobilize Reform Jews and other members of America's faith communities to continue their efforts to end the genocide."
This campaign – inspired by a meeting between Rabbi Saperstein, President Bush, and other Darfur advocates – will mobilize America's faithful to visit the consulates and embassies of NATO and African Union countries, as well as Russia and China, and their UN offices.
According to Rabbi Saperstein, "The United States has been a leader among nations in the effort to stop the violence in Sudan, and only by joining together with the international community can we hope to end the atrocities currently underway in the Darfur region of Sudan."
Participants will ask embassies, consulates and United Nations' missions to support UN resolutions to create a robust, well-equipped and effective peace-keeping force with a clear mandate to protect innocent civilian life.
Although the Reform Movement will lead the effort, it will include a wide array of religious Americans. The "30 Days for Darfur" initiative has already been endorsed by the National Council of Churches and the Southern Baptist Convention.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
For more information or to become involved in this campaign, please visit www.30daysfordarfur.org or email Jkleinman at rac.org
<http://rac.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=1577&pge_prg_id=7685></blockquote>
-- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>