Thread: Zionist Influence on American Foreign Policy

Right, I can see that I was a bit unclear. I should have said "perceived interests" rather than simply "interests". I agree that American support for Israel has often done us more harm than good, and is arguably NOT in our best interests at all, for exactly the reasons you give. But the fact remains that American foreign policy has traditionally perceived Israel as an important ally in the region, for a variety of reasons.

I'm not saying it's entirely rational, or that it's the best possible arrangement, or that it isn't myopic and counterproductive in some ways. I'm definitely not saying that American policy towards Israel is necessarily justified in light of our interests, because again, just the opposite may be true. What I am saying is that it's a bit unrealistic to blame America's policy towards Israel on the "Israel lobby" (AIPAC etc.); the Israel lobby wouldn't have any influence to exert in the first place if traditional American foreign policy perceptions (and public perceptions) of Israel weren't what they are. Of course to some degree the Israel lobby has helped created those perceptions, but I think their role has been small in comparison to other factors.

Also, bear in mind that most of the Arab states--with the exceptions of Syria and Libya--are already de facto US allies (and in the case of those two, reducing ties with Israel isn't necessarily going to turn them into our friends). It's not like Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, etc. are currently refusing to cooperate with us because of our support for Israel. They definitely aren't our enemies. Again, I agree with your overall point--that it would be beneficial for us to reduce/conditionalize support for Israel and cultivate better relations with the Muslim world--but your suggestion that the Arab governments and intelligence services are our 'enemies' is mostly incorrect.

EDIT: As for the consequences of US military/financial support for Israel, I think it's inaccurate to say that they "will" come "sooner or later"; they have already come, and they are still coming today, and we have been suffering for them from a while now! They could definitely intensify in the future, though.

Americans see Israel as an important ally in the region largely because of the Israeli lobby. When the vast majority of congress, a group of corrupt lawmakers Americans would like to revere, views Israel as our 'stalwart' ally, civilians will follow suit; this is mainly because there is not enough information out there on what is really going on in the occupied Palestinian territories to counter.

The Israeli lobby comes in many different forms. Two academics, Stephen Walt of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, published a paper calling the lobby "mysteriously large, including everything from Washington think-tanks, New York newspapers, and websites, to traditional lobby groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)" http://www.meforum.org/1004/how-important-is-the-israel-lobby. The media has a ridiculous amount of influence on America's worker bees and people who don't think for themselves. Even for someone who does, it can be easy to lose perspective of the situation when watching American mainstream media. For example, it was never made clear that Israel in fact broke the ceasefire which lead to Operation Cast Lead in 2006. You would never know from watching ABC, Fox, CNN, or NBC that Israel assassinated Hamas officials, during a ceasefire, prior to any rockets being fired. This is an epitomic example because of the tons of cases where news outlets neglect extremely important information necessary to understanding the conflict. Hamas's pathetic rockets are always made out as instigations, while Israel's massive US supplied white phosphorous bombs and automated bulldozing fleet (designed to destroy neighborhoods) are retaliations. I believe this is largely due to the influence of the Israeli lobby on American media.

And I agree with you that most Arab states are our allies. But most of these are corrupt regimes who are disliked by their people. Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia are our allies becuase of the massive amounts of monetary aid we supply them with (nothing compared to Israel, of course). These three regimes are authoritarian and corrupt in many cases, but the U.S. turns a blind eye because they do what we say. It is the Arab people, the civilians who live under these oppressive regimes, that hate American influence in the Middle East. So I guess it comes down to whether freedom and democracy are true American ideals that should be spread or not.

And I suppose you are right, some consequences have arrived for America and Israel, but not nearly enough to make them stop. There is no doubt America's aid to Israel was in part a motive for 9/11, but nobody ever talks about that.