Colin Powell Disagrees With David Gergen's Claim That There is No Israel "Lobby"

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http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/views06/0410-34.htm

Published on Monday, April 10, 2006 by CommonDreams.org
Colin Powell Disagrees With David Gergen's Claim That There is No
Israel "Lobby"
Two Israeli journalists wrote that Colin Powell understood and feared
the power of the lobby
by Ira Glunts

In an op-ed column critical of his Harvard colleagues, ludicrously
titled "There Is No Israel 'Lobby'" the well-known political
consultant David Gergen proclaimed, "Over the course of four tours in
the White House, I never once saw a decision in the Oval Office to tilt
U.S. foreign policy in favor of Israel at the expense of America's
interest." America's massive financial support of Israel's
territorial expansion in the West Bank is very much contrary to its own
interests, his two colleagues would respond. Gergen's blanket denial
is one of the most preposterous statements in the ongoing media
reporting that impugn the motivations of Stephen Walt and John
Mearsheimer, two political scientists who recently published the
"Israel Lobby." Their essay described what the writers understand
to be the many deleterious effects of pro-Israel activists upon the
formulation of American foreign policy. In his critique of the essay,
Gergen displays a level of chutzpah which would astound even the most
blindly loyal devotee of the Israeli cause, when he excoriates Walt and
Mearsheimer for "impugn[ing] the unstinting service to America's
national security by public figures like Dennis Ross, Martin Indyk
....."

The truth is that Ross and Indyk are two government officials that best
illustrate the presence of pro-Israel advocates in the US government.
Ross, who was the lead negotiator at the Camp David Peace talks, was
publicly criticized for his lack of objectivity by his own deputy Aaron
Miller. Miller in a Washington Post op-ed called "Israel's
Lawyer" wrote that during the negotiations Ross and his team, instead
of facilitating compromise, which would have been in America's best
interest, chose to act as an advocate for the Israelis. Dennis Ross is
currently the director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
(WINEP), a pro-Israel think-tank which is funded by the American Israel
Policy Action Committee (AIPAC). Martin Indyk, who founded WINEP and
served as its first executive director, was later both US Ambassador to
Israel and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. He is
a long time uncritical supporter of Israeli government policy.

In their recent best-selling book, Boomerang: The Failure of Leadership
In the Second Intifada, presently only available in Hebrew, Raviv
Drucker and Ofer Shelah, two respected Israeli journalists, described a
meeting between the then Secretary of State Colin Powell, who the lobby
considered to be the "weak link" in the chain of more
Israel-friendly Bush Administration officials, and Abraham Foxman, head
of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith, who is a prominent
member of what in Israel is called the Jewish lobby. The following
selection indicates in a dramatic way that Gergen's view of the
influence of the Israel lobby may not be shared by all ex-government
officials.

In his [Powell's] own State Department there was a keen awareness
of the strength of the Jewish lobbyists. Secretaries of State did not
usually meet with lobbyists, but both Jewish officials and Jews that
did not officially represent specific groups from Abe Foxman of the
Anti-Defamation League to Ronald Lauder, could meet with Powell on
short notice.... At the State Department, Foxman had an aura of
omnipotence. He was held responsible for the appointment of Indyk as
Undersecretary of State under Clinton, and was thought to have played a
role in the appointments of Secretaries of State Christopher and
Albright. Powell related to Foxman almost as if he were someone to whom
he must capitulate. Once Foxman told one of his deputies that Powell
was the weak link. When the Secretary of State heard this he began to
worry. He knew that in Washington a confrontation with the Jewish lobby
would make his life difficult. Once he arranged a meeting with Foxman,
but the busy Foxman postponed the meeting three times. When they
eventually met, the head of the Anti-Defamation League apologized to
the Secretary of State [for the postponements]. "You call, we
come," replied Powell, paraphrasing a well known advertisement for a
freight company. That statement had much more meaning than just a
humorous polite reply.

Drucker, Raviv and Shelah, Ofer, Boomerang..., Keter, 2005, pps.
132-133. Translation and text emphasized or enclosed in brackets, mine.

Unfortunately, the American press has thus far been largely complicit
in the unwarranted attacks on two professors who have written a
generally well-argued essay on the disadvantages of the current
American/Israeli relationship. Most press accounts of the article
feature the negative criticism, but tend to ignore or downplay positive
comment. In the present political climate it is not a surprise that
there is not a groundswell of support for the two embattled scholars.
Abe Foxman called the essay "a classic conspiratorial anti-Semitic
analysis invoking the canards of Jewish power and Jewish control." I,
as a Jew, agree with the Jewish editor, Mary-Kay Wilmers, who published
the article. She feels, as paraphrased in The Observer, "that the
most angry denunciations of anti-Semitism - while designed to serve the
purpose of censorship by those attempting to forestall criticism of
Israel - may actually encourage anti-Semitism in the long run."

The American media does no favor to the many American Jews and Israelis
who are critical of Israel's self-defeating expansionism and its
suppression of the Palestinian right of self-determination. The Israel
lobby in the United States does not represent the opinions of many
American Jews. The pressure it exerts on government officials to
blindly and unconditionally support present Israeli policies, in the
end will help neither the United States nor Israel itself.

Ira Glunts (first visited the Middle East in 1972, where he taught
English and physical education in a small rural community in Israel. He
was a volunteer in the Israeli Defense Forces in 1992. Mr. Glunts lives
in Madison, New York where he operates a used and rare book business.

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