The Israel Lobby and the Left: Uneasy Questions [View All]

[Classical_Liberal]

The Israel Lobby and the Left: Uneasy Questions

Jeffrey Blankfort
Left Curve

It was 1991 and Noam Chomsky had just finished a lecture in Berkeley on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and was taking questions from the audience. An Arab-American asked him to explain his position regarding the influence of America's Israel lobby.

Chomsky replied that its reputation was generally exaggerated and, like other lobbies, it only appears to be powerful when its position lines up with that of the "elites"who determine policy in Washington. Earlier in the evening, he had asserted that Israel received support from the United States as a reward for the services it provides as the US's "cop-on-the-beat"in the Middle East.

Chomsky's response drew a warm round of applause from members of the audience who were no doubt pleased to have

American Jews absolved from any blame for Israel's oppression of the Palestinians, then in the fourth year of their first Intifada.

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=03/11/27/8546442