By Omer Bin Abdullah
July/Aug 2024
The genocide in Gaza continues unabated, and American and British politicians continue to promote and benefit from it through their ever-more amazing verbal gymnastics.
The Zionist occupation junta and their AIPAC bribe-loving U.S. Congress, which some call The Knesset-on-the-Potomac, continue to do their best to divert the world’s attention elsewhere. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has called for nuking Gaza. Netanyahu expelled Minister of Heritage Amichay Eliyahu for making the same comment. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, Graham retains his seat.
From mid-May, Zionist keyboard warriors unleashed their vitriol after Israel’s Eurovision entry didn’t win, due to “antisemitism.” The U.K.’s Sunday Telegraph put the fifth-place Eurovision singer on its front page instead of the Swiss winner. Ironically, among its major investors is UAE vice president Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
After an initial show of fake concern over the Rafah invasion, by suspending the delivery of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs, the U.S. has reverted to its regular ways. The Biden administration notified Congress on May 14 that it was moving forward with more than $1 billion in new weapons deals for Israel.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), in 2016 the U.S. and Israel signed a third 10-year agreement covering the 2018-28 period providing $33 billion in grants to buy military equipment and $5 billion for missile defense systems. Israel received 69% of its military aid from the U.S. during 2019-23.
Secretary State Blinken has noted that “in certain instances, Israel acted in ways that are not consistent with international humanitarian law” (CBS News, Face the Nation, May 12). A minor detail, perhaps?
In addition to the well-known AIPAC and ADL, many influential Zionist propaganda organizations are affecting all factors of American life. Among this is the online extremist Canary Mission (https://canarymission.org), whose raison d’être is to target and condemn any human rights advocacy for Palestine in North American academia and to meticulously document all scholarship and advocacy remotely critical of Israel or its primary paymaster, the U.S. Its website pulls no punches: It goes after “individuals and organizations that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses and beyond.”
Founded in 1982 as supposedly non-partisan defenders of the “truth” behind Zionism, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) is a media-monitoring, research and membership organization devoted to promoting Israel-centric coverage. Its tentacles include Camera on Campus that, like other anti-Palestine groups, deliberately ignores the very well-known history of Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestine, mass confiscation of Palestinian lands thanks to the U.S.-funded settler movement, and other illegal actions.
And then there’s the Middle East Media Research Institute, officially the Middle East Media and Research Institute (MEMRI), a U.S.-based go-to mistranslation source. Co-founded in 1997 by Israeli ex-intelligence officer Yigal Carmon and Israeli American political scientist Meyrav Wurmser, this nonprofit focuses on press monitoring and analysis organization.
Lobbyists are no strangers to Washington’s halls of power. Just consider AIPAC, whose first “kill” occurred in 1982 when their contributions enabled Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to de-seat Rep. Paul Findley (R-Ill), who was viewed as pro-Palestine. Durbin is now that state’s senator.
Some 46 years later, AIPAC assumed full control of the Senate, the House of Representatives and the state houses.
Isn’t it time for Muslims to begin finding ways to gain some political influence in Washington and on the street? In 2010, the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission overruled an earlier decision, Austin v. Michigan State Chamber of Commerce (Austin), that sought to limit the amount of political donations by corporations.
One result of this decision is abundantly clear: In November, Americans, especially Muslim Americans, will be faced with ideological “choices” that are, at best, disturbing. The scene is intimidating, but the time to start working is now.
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