By Eli Clifton
While House Resolution (HR) 867 condemning the Goldstone report passed 344-36 yesterday evening, members of the Israeli and American Jewish far-right held court on Capitol Hill at “The Jerusalem Conference”.
The event brought together some of the most hawkish American and Israeli voices to both issue their own condemnation of the Goldstone report and warn once more of the threat posed by a nuclear Iran.
Perhaps more important than what the speakers said—which rarely strayed from the anti-Goldstone, pro-Iran-sanctions line—was who the right-wing, pro-Israel organizers succeeded in attracting to their six hour conference. The speakers list alone was a statement of the group’s continued political muscle in Washington.
Co-sponsors of the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (IRPSA), House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), and the Committee’s Ranking Republican, Rep. Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), as well as the co-sponsors of the Senate counterpart, Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) and Sen. Sam Brownback, filled out the first half of the program which focused on “Jerusalem-Protecting Its Remarkable Past and Future” and “Realities of the Middle East Process.”
Brownback got a standing ovation for announcing his intention to (re)introduce his Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act of 2009 Wednesday, only this time, he promised, the waiver provision that both Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush used to prevent the Act from actually being implemented — it would move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem — will be removed.
The US legislators in the first half of the program–who bolstered their already impressive numbers with a “surprise” appearance by Sen. Daniel Innouye (D-HI) who spoke of his efforts to increase American aid to Israel–were balanced out by Israeli Cabinet Minister Yossi Peled, Israeli MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud), and Lt. Colonel Jonathan D. Halevi. Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren, who skipped the much larger J Street Conference last week, was scheduled to speak but scheduling constraints forced him to send a representative from the embassy in his place.
At the heart of the conference was the dual theme of condemning the Goldstone report and touting the various pending bills that would impose “crippling” sanctions against Iran if it did not abandon its nuclear program.
“In (both) Fallujah and in Gaza approximately 1000 terrorists were killed and in Fallujah approximately 6,000 civilians were killed,” extolled Ken Abramowitz, Managing General Partner of NGN Capital in New York and one of the Conference’s moderators. “And in Gaza three or four hundred (were killed), so I think it’s fair to say that in the operation in Gaza, Israel demonstrated the lowest level of civilian deaths per military deaths in the history of warfare in the history of the world. And it was criticized even though it exceeded the standard that no other army in the history of armies ever reached. So it’s just pure anti-Semitism,” he declared before entertaining questions for Lt. Col. (IDF res.) Jonathan D. Halevi, who had had himself extolled the exceptional morality of Israel’s conduct of the Gaza war in contradiction to the war crimes detailed in the Goldstone report.
Needless to say the audience which gathered for the conference did not choose to question the numbers thrown around by Abramowitz, nor did they, for that matter, question why neither the session on the war nor that on the (non-existent) peace process featured even one Palestinian speaker or discussant.
(Note: As reported in the Jerusalem Post, the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem estimated the civilian death toll in Gaza at 774.)
While Goldstone “debunking” was a sure-fire crowd-pleaser, the certainty of its condemnation by the House in Tuesday’s vote detracted somewhat from the dramatic tension. On the other hand, the specter of a nuclear Iran held the crowd in thrall, as speaker after speaker insisted that action was more urgent than ever.
“Don’t wait (to impose sanctions)… Use existing authority right now within the executive branch,” demanded Casey. “Be it the Treasury Department, or other ways to provide the kind of pressure that I think has to be applied to the regime!”
The third panel of the day, sponsored by the missile-defense-promoting Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), focused predictably on missile defense and was headlined by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AR), Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) and Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV).
“We have no greater ally in the region than Israel, and it is in the interest of our own national security to stand with Israel,” Inhofe said. “This partnership is not a one-sided relationship. Israel has provided the United States military with invaluable technology such as the Hunter UAV, Bradley Reactive Armor Tiles, and the Lightning Pod. Our nation must maintain a close relationship with our friends in Israel, despite the fact that the current administration has demonstrated a willingness to work with those that stand opposed to Israel.”
“Today’s news that Hamas has used Iranian technology to improve their missile capabilities proves that we need a strong missile defense system that protects our allies, and more importantly, provides greater protection for the United States,” he continued. “The same enemies that threaten the existence of Israel also want to destroy America. Over the years, the United States has greatly benefited from cooperation with Israel on missile defense technologies, and we should continue this partnership. Instead, President Obama has cut funding for our missile defense systems, and ended the Third Site in Poland. Such action by the Obama administration puts the United States and our allies like Israel at greater risk.”
The Israeli perspective was represented by Israeli Cabinet Minister Yossi Peled, and Brigadier General Yossi Kuperwasser.
The final session of the day, ‘’Regional Threats to Global Security,’’ was headlined by Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN), Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Israeli Lt. Col. Jonathan D. Halevi of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
While speakers stayed on the relatively safe topics of Goldstone, Iran sanctions, and missile defense, the most noticeable element was the scheduled appearances of thirteen US senators or representatives (plus Daniel Innouye) during the six-hour conference. Between the decidedly one-sided vote on HR 867 condemning the Goldstone report and the display of political power reflected by the Jerusalem Conference’s speaker list, Tuesday was a day when the right-wing, pro-Israel lobby was shown at full-force on Capitol Hill.
Jon Harrison
November 4, 2009 @ 3:40 pm
The political-economic-media weight behind Israel is just staggering. And with Iran’s obvious manipulation of the uranaium-to-Russia proposal, hopes for a peaceful resolution of that issue seem pretty much shattered. More U.S. sanctions are coming, I predict next year. When these fail to break the Iranian regime, war will follow. Israel attacks Iran in 2011 – you read it here first.
Richard Lowry
November 4, 2009 @ 4:04 pm
“6,000 civilians were killed,” extolled Ken Abramowitz, Managing General Partner of NGN Capital in New York”
No one, absolutely no one can substantiate this number. I challenge you or Mr Abramowitz to produce ANY proof that 6000 civilians were killed during the 2004 fighting in Fallujah.
As a matter of fact, the intense April fighting lasted only a few days and Marines were careful not to attack civilians. By the time the November fighting rolled around, the city was virtually deserted — only insurgents remained and the number of insurgents killed was closer to 2-3000.
It is irresponsible statements like Mr Abramowitz’ that cloud the real story.
Jon Harrison
November 5, 2009 @ 6:54 am
Good point. No way 6,000 civilians died at Fallujah.
Katz Freedman
November 5, 2009 @ 11:45 am
Israel is a fascist apartheid state. I no longer support it. Israel has made me ashamed to be a Jew. I will no longer sit silent while war mongers and war criminals debate how to cover their crimes.
You do this in the name of the Jews. You are a traitor to the Jewish people, and hide behind decent Jewish people, while you do the most cowardly and disgusting things to other people.
Greg Bacon
November 5, 2009 @ 12:07 pm
“We have no greater ally in the region than Israel
Yes, an ally that spies on the USA, stealing our military and business secrets…
And ally that has savagely attacked out ships, like the USS Liberty and had a hand in the USS Cole attack.
An ally that had its agents steal tremendous amounts of money from Wall Street 401k accounts and pension funds.
An ally that used its influence over the MSM to tell thousands of lies to scare Americans into invading Iraq.
Gosh, what a friend we have in Israel!!!
The Rev. Don Prange
November 5, 2009 @ 12:54 pm
All those ‘hawks’ need to read the ‘dovish’ – but very forceful and militant – observations of the prophetic voices of the Hebrew Bible that constantly condemned any manifestation of ‘Zionism’ and called for the practice of ‘justice’ – ONLY justice. Only when that is pursued will there be any possibility of moving beyond the ‘mantra’ of talking primarily from the perspective of ’security’ for the State of Israel. ‘Security’ – based on the domination of empire – is an idolatrous preoccupation!
BK
November 5, 2009 @ 1:16 pm
Jon Harrison says.., “Israel attacks Iran in 2011 – you read it here first”.
That might be a “insider” information which generally comes from a source where the consequences are not considered.., however, if that happens ( Israel attacking Iran) then what..? I for one think that the world as we know it would end by 2012. The Bush war machinery and its apparatus’ like Paul Wolfowitz and others hade a plan, is was not a new but rather an old plan, to occupy entire middle east and the map would start from Palestine – Israel to Pakistan which would give “them” a military control of the Persian Gulf and somewhat Central Asia, the plan would be carried by the US army. US and British invasion of Afghanistan and then Iraq.., Israel attacking Lebanon combine with all other facts pointing to the Old Plan and its strategically importance.
Israel is doing what it has been doing for years, land grabbing and making Israel bigger which in part is part of the plan for bigger, mightier and audacious Israel.., yet there are two obstacles in the heart of Middle East left to be conquered.., Iran and Syria. Here, if anyone for a moment thinks that: if Israel or US attacking Iran or Syria the Russians, Chinese the South American leftist government and others will be silent then they are making the biggest mistake in the of mankind time existence. What the rightwing Jewish, as they are called, “Hawks“, are doing is wait and see and make themselves heard, what the democrats, those who agrees with the “Hawks” are doing is what Bush did, in another word, they are preparing for the next disaster president to appear from yet another haven who would make the war with Iran, Syria, Russia, China and all leftist South American government a axes of the “neo evils” and give it a religious, political and economical legitimacy to attacking everyone who dose not agree with them.., the “Hawks“. Here and most of all what is bothering me is that they call it democracy, otherwise I truly don’t care what they do, I think there is enough monkeys in this world to restart a new mankind generation after we are go on. So good luck Israel – USA and G. Britain, Iran and good luck to the “Hawks“ in being such a wise guys.
maria
November 5, 2009 @ 2:23 pm
In Falluyah nobody knows how many were killed, just know that there were none phisycal space to dig them all. So, it was a lot, and probably 6000 is a approximated number. What we should stress here is the estrategy Israel is using; “I blame you that you are a killer bigger than me, so you have to help me”. And it is true, USA is killing more people than Israel, but that means both are CRIMINAL, not that one is better than other (1 million in Irak, unknow number in Afganistan, Paquistan, and etc..). Both are criminals, but Israel has been caught, and this is not antisemitism, is just the report has been written and presented to the UN. With time another report should be presented as well against USA and Europe. It is a question of time.
Rampaging Manatee
November 5, 2009 @ 3:00 pm
Traitiors. Plain and simple, they’re sick, lying, murderous, traitors.
Phonk
November 5, 2009 @ 6:51 pm
“6,000 civilians were killed,” extolled Ken Abramowitz, Managing General Partner of NGN Capital in New York”
This guy is more than willing to blame USA for war crimes in order to diminish Israel’s war crime and he said it in front of US officials and in USA not in Israel or elswhere.
Wake up slaves…Israel is your master and they are ordering you to protect them and fight wars for them.
boatops
November 5, 2009 @ 8:33 pm
It seems those heavyweight hawks want to forget about the ISRAELI ATTACK on the USS LIBERTY where ISRAEL knowingly KILLED 34 and wounded 174 U.S. NAVY Serviceman. That was another WAR CRIME we let ISRAEL get away with. When will we WAKE UP?? Israel is NOT our friend! REMEMBER the LIBERTY!!!
Carl
November 5, 2009 @ 9:30 pm
US slaughter in Fallujah, Israeli slaughter in Gaza. Arab life is cheap to the gringos and the IDF.
For better or worse, Israel is a small country and a limited effort could destroy the place. Not so the US. Our little attack hyena should be mindful of the fact that delusions of grandeur can have unpleasant consequences.
Zena
November 6, 2009 @ 7:55 am
Israel is the most important ally that the U.S. has. Our Congress knows its true friends and the White House would be wise to take note – and to support this democracy. Muslim terrorism is aimed not at the ‘zionist entity’ but at democratic freedom worldwide and we should wake up and realize this before its too late.
Congrats for raising an important voice on the Hill, may we see many more.
Yisrael Medad
November 6, 2009 @ 8:03 am
Good to read all the wacky, Judeaphobic, irrational comments here. At least that indicates that non-support of Israel is a sign of intellectual instability.
William deB. Mills
November 6, 2009 @ 3:16 pm
The passage of HR 867 amounts to calling on the U.S. Government to stick its head in the sand; to speak, hear, and see no evil; and to refuse to discuss charges of war crimes during Israel’s vicious and equally willful attack on the people of Gaza in December 2008. In a move that would make John C. Calhoun proud, this band will adopt the final defense of the morally bankrupt and instead attack free speech. Knowing well that their position cannot stand in the light of day, they will demand that the charges being brought against them in the closest arena the world has to a court of law simply “not be discussed.”
For a long sad generation, slavery was an issue that “could not be discussed” in Congress, thus allowing the pressures to build to the point that only a horrifying domestic war could resolve the issue. And today it is the barbaric collective punishment of the people of Gaza that “cannot be discussed.” Just as history today blames Calhoun for paving the road to the U.S. Civil War, so may history one day blame this petty group of American supporters of the Israeli right wing for paving the road to the destruction of Israel.
The right to buy and sell and oppress and murder slaves by Southern plantation owners could “not be discussed;” the right to oppress and bomb and murder Palestinians by the Israeli Army and the extremist politicians who control the Israeli government “cannot be discussed.” Of course not. What else can these so-called American “friends” of Israel do? When one is complicit in the rape of Fallujah and the endless rain of Predators on innocent Central Asian villagers, how can one protest the same behavior from those who perfected such tactics?
Lafontaine
November 7, 2009 @ 1:14 am
In some ways Fallujah and Gaza were similar. In both cases the media was prevented from covering it. Hospitals and medical personnel were attacked. Something like 70% of the buildings were destroyed in Fallujah. Gaza was similarly destroyed. Between the two there is not much to brag about on humanitarian basis. Even without a Hitler we can behave like Nazis. Even with democracy there is fanaticism and destruction. Our political system is being hijacked. Little, but well-armed Israel, has harnessed the American gorilla and is wreaking havoc throughout the Middle East bringing us closer to the Christian-Zionist dream of ‘Armageddon’, which, by the way, is not prophecy, but merely delusion. A false prophecy. The fanatics are like little children playing with matches – thrilled and intoxicated by destructive power.
Zorro
November 7, 2009 @ 6:42 pm
From an international view: The pro-Isreal lobby in the USA is the Achilles Heel of U.S. foreign policy – and it is also like the bell on the cat’s neck: You can not trust the USA because its relations with the world are subordinated to the lobby of a nation (Israel) that has a global agenda and rides on the American elephant like a “majoud” directing the huge animal with foot movements. Thus inadvertedly – Likud-Lieberman Israel is an asset to the world because it marks the U.S. foreign relations as “toxic” . Thus the governments around the world have to don their diplomatic and geostrategic “hazmat” suits when dealing with the U.S. whose policies are subtly designed to advance the interest of Israel which are global far beyond Palestine and the Near East. I wrote in 2000 to a relative, who as I has some Jewish ancestry: “Israel will be the geopolitical Vietnam of the U.S. in the 21st century. The Israel lobby will paint the U.S. into a corner. Those people will take the U.S. down…”. If Iran would be the Iran of Mossadeq -it would deserve total support. But the Iran of the Fatwaclerics is a potential danger to the entire world: How crazy could they become? They issued a death sentence fatwa against Salman Rushdie. Thus – the Fatwa Iran and the Netanyahu Isreal deserve each other! On the Arab side – the lack of support for the Palestinians from the Saudis and Emirates speaks sadly for itself…Final note: Nobody did more in the past 2000 years to destroy the Christian communities in the Near East – then the U.S., especially George Bush.
Jon Harrison
November 10, 2009 @ 1:44 pm
I commented on a recent post that latent anti-semitism is growing in the US. Without characterizing any of the comments above as anti-semitic, I submit that the anger contained in many of them is symptomatic of a growing trend. That this anger remains largely underground is a result of people being aware that it is not politically correct to express overt prejudice. The feeling remains, however, and is becoming more widespread.
We are heading into dangerous territory. How bad it gets depends on several factors – the future state of the US economy, the energy situation, and whether we become involved in more wars in the Middle East. But I believe a real blowup is possible, though it may be 10 or 20 years away.
Dave Stone
January 22, 2010 @ 11:31 pm
When it comes to the Middle East, you have the side of good and the side of evil. Israel represents the side of good and the islamic Arab states represents the side of evil. It is a real shame that some people are too uneducated, lame or just plan ainti-semtic to see that. If these people would take the time to learn about the history of Israel then they would understand that the Palestinian Arabs have no real claim to this land. If these people would take the time to educate themselves about Islam, then they would understand that purpose of Islam is to have the entire world become Muslim and live under the rule of one Caliphate. They would also understand that Islam teaches that anything a Muslim does to enhance Islam is good (including murder, deception, pillaging etc…) Only when every single Israeli (Jew and Christian) convert to Islam can peace come to the Middle East. There is a syaing in the Arab Middle East that sums up everything. First Saturday and then Sunday. This means first the Jews and then the Christians. Think about it.