Het volgende citaat uit onderstaand artikel is een beetje vreemd:
The billionaire investor George Soros has added
his voice to a heated but little-noticed debate over the role of
Israel's powerful lobby in shaping Washington policy in a way critics
say hurts U.S. national interests and stifles debate.
Hoezo 'little noticed'? De 'studie' van Mearsheimer en Walt, en Carters boek over Israëlische Apartheid zijn uitgebreid bediscussieerd in de Amerikaanse media. In Nederland hoor en lees ik overigens al jaren verhalen over de zogenaamde machtige Israël lobby, die de buitenlandse politiek van de VS zou bepalen en kritiek in de kiem zou smoren. Uiteraard is het absoluut niet P.C. te wijzen op de gelijkenis met theorieën over de Joodse almacht die al eeuwenlang in Europa opgeld doen. Men moet immers iedere indruk vermijden als dat men de waarde bepleiters van deze theorie voor antisemiet wil uitmaken.
AIPAC now has more than 100,000 members and is rated one of the most
influential special interest groups in the United States, its political
clout comparable with such lobbies as the National Rifle Association.
De hele 'pro-Israël' lobby stond qua donaties aan kandidaten en partijen in 2004 met $ 5 miljoen slechts op de 39ste plaats, ver achter koploper de advocaten lobby met $ 86 miljoen, de gepensioneerden lobby, de vastgoed lobby en vele andere lobby groepen die de presidentskandidaten sponsorden.
The billionaire investor George Soros has added
his voice to a heated but little-noticed debate over the role of
Israel's powerful lobby in shaping Washington policy in a way critics
say hurts U.S. national interests and stifles debate.
Hoezo 'little noticed'? De 'studie' van Mearsheimer en Walt, en Carters boek over Israëlische Apartheid zijn uitgebreid bediscussieerd in de Amerikaanse media. In Nederland hoor en lees ik overigens al jaren verhalen over de zogenaamde machtige Israël lobby, die de buitenlandse politiek van de VS zou bepalen en kritiek in de kiem zou smoren. Uiteraard is het absoluut niet P.C. te wijzen op de gelijkenis met theorieën over de Joodse almacht die al eeuwenlang in Europa opgeld doen. Men moet immers iedere indruk vermijden als dat men de waarde bepleiters van deze theorie voor antisemiet wil uitmaken.
AIPAC now has more than 100,000 members and is rated one of the most
influential special interest groups in the United States, its political
clout comparable with such lobbies as the National Rifle Association.
De hele 'pro-Israël' lobby stond qua donaties aan kandidaten en partijen in 2004 met $ 5 miljoen slechts op de 39ste plaats, ver achter koploper de advocaten lobby met $ 86 miljoen, de gepensioneerden lobby, de vastgoed lobby en vele andere lobby groepen die de presidentskandidaten sponsorden.
Wie of wat ze als meest invloedrijk heeft gelabeled, blijft in het artikel onduidelijk. AIPAC presenteert zich graag als een machtige groep waar politici niet omheen kunnen - dit doet iedere lobby groep overigens. Om te bepalen hoe invloedrijk ze werkelijk zijn, is het onvoldoende op hun glossy jaarlijkse meeting of andere PR stunts af te gaan. AIPAC's invloed in het Witte huis, met name bij het ministerie voor buitenlandse zaken is beperkt.
Van alle lobbies die er in de VS actief zijn, is AIPAC waarschijnlijk de meest bekende.
Soros mengt zich niet in een 'little noticed' debat, maar in modieus-linkse kritiek op alles wat met Israël en Zionisme te maken heeft. Jammer, want over Europa heeft hij best zinnige dingen te zeggen.
__________________________________________________
Soros adds voice to debate over Israel lobby
Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:39pm ET
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2007-04-16T033913Z_01_N13215323_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-ISRAEL-LOBBY.xml&src=rss&rpc=22
By Bernd Debusmann, Special Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The billionaire investor George Soros has added
his voice to a heated but little-noticed debate over the role of
Israel's powerful lobby in shaping Washington policy in a way critics
say hurts U.S. national interests and stifles debate.
In the current issue of the New York Review of Books, Soros takes issue
with "the pervasive influence of the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC)" in Washington and says the Bush administration's
close ties with Israel are obstacles to a peace settlement between
Israel and the Palestinians.
Soros, who is Jewish but not often engaged in Israel affairs, echoed
arguments that have fueled a passionate debate conducted largely in the
rarefied world of academia, foreign policy think tanks and parts of the
U.S. Jewish community.
"The pro-Israel lobby has been remarkably successful in suppressing
criticism," wrote Soros. Politicians challenge it at their peril and
dissenters risk personal vilification, he said.
AIPAC has consistently declined comment on such charges, but many of its
supporters have been vocal in dismissing them. Historian Michael Oren,
speaking at AIPAC's 2007 conference in March, said the group was not
merely a lobby for Israel. "It is the embodiment of a conviction as old
as this (American) nation itself that belief in the Jewish state is
tantamount to belief in these United States," he said in a keynote speech.
The long-simmering debate bubbled to the surface a year ago, when two
prominent academics, Stephen Walt of Harvard and John Mearsheimer of the
University of Chicago, published a 12,500-word essay entitled "The
Israel Lobby" and featuring the fiercest criticism of AIPAC since it was
founded in 1953.
AIPAC now has more than 100,000 members and is rated one of the most
influential special interest groups in the United States, its political
clout comparable with such lobbies as the National Rifle Association.
Soros mengt zich niet in een 'little noticed' debat, maar in modieus-linkse kritiek op alles wat met Israël en Zionisme te maken heeft. Jammer, want over Europa heeft hij best zinnige dingen te zeggen.
__________________________________________________
Soros adds voice to debate over Israel lobby
Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:39pm ET
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2007-04-16T033913Z_01_N13215323_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-ISRAEL-LOBBY.xml&src=rss&rpc=22
By Bernd Debusmann, Special Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The billionaire investor George Soros has added
his voice to a heated but little-noticed debate over the role of
Israel's powerful lobby in shaping Washington policy in a way critics
say hurts U.S. national interests and stifles debate.
In the current issue of the New York Review of Books, Soros takes issue
with "the pervasive influence of the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC)" in Washington and says the Bush administration's
close ties with Israel are obstacles to a peace settlement between
Israel and the Palestinians.
Soros, who is Jewish but not often engaged in Israel affairs, echoed
arguments that have fueled a passionate debate conducted largely in the
rarefied world of academia, foreign policy think tanks and parts of the
U.S. Jewish community.
"The pro-Israel lobby has been remarkably successful in suppressing
criticism," wrote Soros. Politicians challenge it at their peril and
dissenters risk personal vilification, he said.
AIPAC has consistently declined comment on such charges, but many of its
supporters have been vocal in dismissing them. Historian Michael Oren,
speaking at AIPAC's 2007 conference in March, said the group was not
merely a lobby for Israel. "It is the embodiment of a conviction as old
as this (American) nation itself that belief in the Jewish state is
tantamount to belief in these United States," he said in a keynote speech.
The long-simmering debate bubbled to the surface a year ago, when two
prominent academics, Stephen Walt of Harvard and John Mearsheimer of the
University of Chicago, published a 12,500-word essay entitled "The
Israel Lobby" and featuring the fiercest criticism of AIPAC since it was
founded in 1953.
AIPAC now has more than 100,000 members and is rated one of the most
influential special interest groups in the United States, its political
clout comparable with such lobbies as the National Rifle Association.
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