I don’t know if you’ve been following the story around Minnesota’s freshman House Rep. Ilhan Omar and her comments about Congress’s fervent support of Israel, but it’s an eye-opener. This piece is not about Omar except to say that she started something revolutionary in a place where what was once unspeakable is now revealed.
It’s been said, and not in jest, that America has become a government of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations. How? By their donations to the congressional and presidential candidates who seek and occupy seats of power.
Corporations like pharmaceuticals and fossil fuel producers and organizations like the NRA make substantial contributions to candidates and expect commensurate access and influence. This is not a secret. In the same way, so do foreign countries.
According to OpenSecrets.org, South Korea happens to be the greatest buyer of influence in Washington. Also on the list of top 10 foreign countries with paid lobbyists is Israel. The difference between South Korea and Israel, however, is the extent of internal sources of pressure and financial influence on Congress from Israel’s various American supporters.
From the beginning of time, humans have operated on the “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” understanding, personally, in society and in politics. So it is not surprising that we brought that tradition into government. The outrage and posturing over Omar’s comments might make one think our members of Congress are as naive as they claim she is, or that they hope that that is true of the public. To pretend that money has no part to play in how decisions and policies are made is simply preposterous and, frankly, insulting to voters. Lobbying is not illegal, nor are campaign contributions. It’s a hell of a way to run a country, but it’s also a sad fact.
Our Congress and president have adhered to the demands of the Israel lobby and are complicit with Israel’s government in its flouting of the Geneva Convention rules for the victor in a conflict as well as other international laws over its treatment of the Palestinian population. Congress has no hesitancy in sending annually over $4 billion to that country despite its hostile takeover of now nearly the entire land mass that belonged to the Arab people already there, its completely undemocratic rule over the disenfranchised remaining Arab residents, its military courts for Palestinians, its detention of Palestinian children without charge or with bogus charges, and so much more. Dollars instead of justice. What is that all about?
Of the 535 current members of Congress, 520 of them, including the N.H. delegation, have received or accepted money from sources supporting Israel. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, the main source of lobbyists for Israel, boasts that two-thirds of the U.S. Congress attend their annual convention. This year the organization lists five U.S. senators and 32 House members in its long list of convention speakers. Among them are N.H.’s Chris Pappas, as well as N.H. Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley. Some might call all this a cozy relationship, with benefits.
I and others have written to the N.H. Washington delegation on numerous occasions about our objection to the U.S.’s unquestioning support for Israel. We have given them detailed facts about the rampant injustices committed by the Israeli government and its military against the Muslim and Christian populations. The information we present is readily available and vetted. What do we get in response? We get letters that never address the concerns we present, but instead are filled with praise for “our only Democratic ally in the Middle East.” Tellingly, we have received the same letter, word for word, from both our senators. Hmm. I cannot prove it, but would not be surprised if it was composed by a staff person at AIPAC.
A country that has openly declared itself by and for a particular religious group as Israel has cannot be a democracy. That is a theocracy, like the one the United States condemned in Iran. My understanding of democracy is that all within a country’s borders are treated equally under one set of laws. The facts on the ground in Israel/Palestine belie that label every day and belie Congress’s excuse for continuing to turn a blind eye to its crimes and accept contributions from Israel’s cheerleaders.
(Gail Page lives in Concord.)