Journalists Refuse to Weigh Neocons' Own Statements of Israel-Centered Foreign Policy

On today's Times Op-Ed page, Robert Wright says, "Critics murmur that neoconservatism is 'all about Israel.'" Then Wright deflects the idea with patter about neocons trying to spread democracy everywhere, even China.

The critical murmurs Wright dismisses are serious charges, based on the neocons' own statements, and liberal journalists have botched their orders by failing to take these charges seriously. Here, for instance, is Norman Podhoretz, neocon godfather, writing about the centralness of Israel, in Breaking Ranks (1979):

There was, to be sure, one thing that many of even the most passionately committed American Zionists were reluctant to do, and that was to face up to the fact that continued American support for Israel depended upon continued American involvement in international affairs-- from which it followed that an American withdrawal into the kind of isolationist mood that prevailed most recently between the two world wars, and that now looked as though it might soon prevail again, represented a direct threat to the security of Israel. [my emphasis]

That was a neocon mission statement. Until journalists come to terms with these powerful, dangerous ideas, Americans' understanding of the Iraq war will remain cloudy.

[Thanks to anon for appending further evidence, in Comments below]

Comments

[anon]

"One major factor that drew [the first-generation neo-cons] inexorably to the right was their attachment to Israel and their growing frustration during the 1960s with a Democratic party that was becoming increasingly opposed to American military preparedness and increasingly enamored of Third World causes [e.g., Palestinian rights]. In the Reaganite right's hard-line anti-communism, commitment to American military strength, and willingness to intervene politically and militarily in the affairs of other nations to promote democratic values (and American interests), neocons found a political movement that would guarantee Israel's security." (Benjamin Ginsberg, The Fatal Embrace (1993), p. 231)

"I’ve always thought it was best for Israel for the U.S. to be generally engaged and generally strong, and then the commitment to Israel follows from a general foreign policy." (William Kristol to the Jerusalem Post, July 27, 2000)

[Richard Witty]

Israel is not the cause of US dependance on oil, nor of inter-Arab civil conflicts.

[Klaus Bloemker]

"Israel is not the cause of US dependance on oil"
------------------------------------------
Yes, but the Israel lobby is the cause of the statement - by John Kerry before the last presidential election - "Israel's cause is America's cause." And this is not just a statement.
I was wondering at the time: How the hell is Kerry going to solve the Palestinian conflict?

Klaus

[anon]

"Israel is not the cause of US dependance on oil."

Yes, but the Israel lobby is the cause of a situation where the countries with oil have been made our enemies, and the country with nothing to offer is our only ally.

[Klaus Bloemker]

"the country with nothing (but problems - my comment)
to offer is our only ally."
_______________________________________

That hits the nail on the head!

[Richard Witty]

Where is the better analysis?

I hear complaint, but not proposal.

[Klaus Bloemker]

No proposal?
__________________

The proposal could be: Tell the Israeli Jews to go back to where they came from - their country of origin and citizenship, be it Russia or Argentina. Most Israeli Jews still have a citzenship (or are entiteled to) of a country of their (or their parents/grandparents) origin/birth.

[Richard Witty]

The majority of Israelis were born in Israel.

That is the country of their birth.

[Gene Machina]

To Richard Witty:

I've been curious for a long time. I occasionally see remarks in the Israeli press along the lines of, "If things get any worse we'll emigrate to America."

My question: Would you happen to know how hard is it for an Israeli to emigrate to America? Does he have to follow the same rules as would a Pole or an Italian? Or are there special and/or expedited rules for Israelis?

[David]

Almost every "aliyah-ist" elects to keep his old U.S. citizenship alongside his new one. I've seen the figure of 600,000 for the number of dual-citizenship Israelis who are now living in the U.S. It's not easy to get this number (for obvious reasons).

I'm not sure what the annual immigration quota is for non-U.S.-passport-holding Israelis. But I think we can assume it's pretty generous. :)

[Reader from Germany]

Hey Philip,

off topic I know, but don't you have yomething to say about Kucinich introducing articles of impeachment against Cheney?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042401542.html

[Klaus Bloemker]

Back to Norman Podhoretz
-----------------------------
The implication of the statement is that Podhoretz would favor political/military American intervention in country X for cause Y not because of the country and cause at hand - but for Israel's cause. Podhoretz' is smart thinking. But maybe not smart enough as the Iraq case shows.

[Reader from Planet Earth]

Klaus - We get nothing from Israel but problems. Right. Lets make Israel Juden free just like we did back in dear old Germany and the Netherlands, eh?

Thank you for making yourself even more clear. Perhaps you and some stormtroopers could assist those nice families in relocating.

Forget 2-state solution, forget 1-state solution, lets just ethnically cleanse, since it's fine with Klaus as long as it is Jews who are "chosen" to be cleansed.

And what exactly is it that we (the USA)get so from the other countries in the region aside from oil?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_technology_in_Israel

[Klaus Bloemker]

'Stormtroopers assist in relocating Israelis.'
__________________________________

'Reader from Planet Earth' sounds a lot like good old Bill Pearlman.

So Bill, I know a few ex-Israelis living in Frankfurt for good, not planning to return, one having married a German. You see, we stormtroopers do in fact assist the ex-Israelis.

[David]

It's usually at this stage that the Bill Pearlmans start mentioning "cutting-edge computing solutions." :)

But back to the subject:

"Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama said Tuesday that America needs to ask Israel to help change the status quo in its conflict with the Palestinians, the ONLY CANDIDATE AT A NATIONAL JEWISH DEMOCRATIC COUNCIL CONFERENCE TO SUGGEST THAT THERE IS ANY ONUS ON THE JEWISH STATE WHEN IT COMES TO MAKING PEACE WITH ITS NEIGHBORS."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1177251162085&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

I think we now have to rule this guy out.

[T]

Warning: it will make you sick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba_qqP2Fmuc

American soldier talking about raping a 15-year old Iraqi girl.

[David]

Phil:

Do you think the reason that you got thrown out of The Observer was because they are part of the journalism conspiracy?

[anonymous]

Shame on you for posting under someone else's name.