by Paul J. Balles
Paul J. Balles argues that the Democrats' gains in the US mid-term
elections will not lead to a change in US policy in the Middle East. He
cites Democrat leaders' unconditional support for Israeli crimes and for
possible aggression against Iran.
Anyone who believes that the election of a Democratic majority in
Congress will make a difference in US foreign policy has either been
playing ostrich or supporting the poppy fields.
The Democrats not only choose to cow-tow to the Israeli lobbies, but
they fail to resist the "end-time" evangelists, eliminating any
possibility of a Democratic majority making a difference in Congress.
Anyone watching the post-election speeches by the new speaker of the
House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, would have heard her mention that
she was raised a catholic, and from that developed her moral values.
That speech sounded like an appeal for support from the larger
population and not the 40 million evangelicals who support everything that
Israel says and does. It also momentarily side-stepped her earlier
pronouncements of support for Israel to AIPAC (American Israel Public
Affairs Committee).
That Pelosi had been lured into the snake pit became unequivocally
clear when she attacked Jimmy Carter for writing a book mentioning Israeli
apartheid. Jewish organizations in Washington heaped praise on her for her
straight-A record on Israel.
Addressing AIPAC, the largest lobby in the US representing a foreign
country, last year, Pelosi boasted of how "America's commitment to the
safety and security of the State of Israel is unwavering. America and
Israel share an unbreakable bond: in peace and war; and in prosperity and
in hardship."
She complained that Palestinian National Authority President Mahmud
Abbas "has not removed Arafat's corrupt cronies from positions of power,
nor has he moved to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure".
There's no record of any praise by Pelosi for the democratic election
of Hamas to replace "Arafat's corrupt cronies".
During the same speech, Pelosi labelled any reference to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict being about Israel's occupation of Palestine
as "absolute nonsense". She added, "In truth, the history of the conflict
is not over occupation, and never has been: it is over the fundamental
right of Israel to exist."
The most daunting thing that she said during her presentation to AIPAC
was "The greatest threat to Israel's right to exist, with the prospect of
devastating violence, now comes from Iran."
To make matters worse, Representative Henry Waxman, in line to chair
the House Government Reform Committee, said, in an online chat with
Zionist supporters, "There will be some Democratic chairmen who may not
share all my views or have as clear a perspective on Israel as I do, but
they will not be chairing committees dealing with Israel and the Middle
East."
America needs more than just a shift from Republicans to Democrats in
Congress if it hopes to move toward peace in the Middle East. The
Palestinians are no better off than they were; and there's no less danger
of a military confrontation with Iran, unless...
American voters need to make it perfectly clear to their congressional
representatives that the recent vote was a mandate to end its warmongering
in the Middle East.
That means an end to the American contribution to the carnage in Iraq.
It means an end to blind support for Israel's massacres in Gaza and
destruction in the West Bank. It means an absolute refusal to entertain
military action against Iran in order to mollify Israel and its lobbies in
America.
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