the question i've been asked to address today is quote are there is really lobby gate keepers and damage control squads of the left speaking of forty years experience the answer is clearly yes some years ago a story in an veteran left activist leonie brenner who wrote extensively about zionist nazi collaboration a taboo subject for phil over there described the left as the rear guard of the israel lobby he was referring not just to the unwillingness of the left in the antiwar movement to challenge or even speak about the lobby but to the efforts of this leading factions all of whom claim to be anti zionist to isolate the palestinian struggle from protest against south african apartheid and u s intervention central america in the eighty's while israel was occupying lebanon during the first intifada and not to talk about the role of israel in central america and supporting south african apartheid thirty years later nothing's changed the same factions are still in control with washington also being israeli occupied territory they have every base covered little wonder why the palestine solidarity movement has  slightest impact on u s policy and its all the years it's been in existence steven green who examines state department archives dealing with israel u s relationship for his book on the subject taking sides america's secret relations israel concluded that after eisenhower quote israel and friends of israel america have determine the broad outlines of u s policy in the region it has been left to american presidents to implement that policy with varying degrees of enthusiasm and to deal with tactical issues end quote there's a corollary to green's conclusion within the left in general and with the organized opposition to israel's crimes against the palestinians and lebanese people there is similar limits the parameters whom which israel is friends in america may be legitimately criticized without the critic being stigmatized by being called an anti semite have been adapted for misinformation concerning israel u s relations that phyllis bennis to a large degree these parameters have been accepted without question by the left by mainstream religious institutions and sad to say by many palestinians and arab americans they have been spread in and forced by an jewish activist most of those be bennis who appears to play an important role behind the scenes with jewish voice for peace and u s committee for it to end the occupation the two most prominent and well financed groups dealing with the israel palestine conflict on the opposition in the media where jewish domination this issue is observable as a leader alexander coburn once said democracy now is amy goodman has been up in comparable value as a gate keeper for a pack and the american jewish establishment about what she'll say more in a moment given the time limits up focus on two of the most important what might be called the chomsky parameters the first is his insistence that israel is backed by the u s because it has to teach a gas it america's in the middle east he has written and what in a will not undertake any major action without the approval of the white house this is simply wrong it's also the u s according to chomsky that has led israel in rejecting an agreement with the palestinians implying of washington's opposition to israeli settlements is a ruse another false he's a short his distortion of the facts on the ground became an shrine stone for the solidarity movement in  with the publication of his book the fateful triangle the united states israel and the palestinians that in israeli shoulder is yet to shed a drop of blood on america's behalf and the bush's father bush's father and son paid up israel to stay o both gulf wars hasn't dissuaded chomsky or his followers from hearing to that position the result of this from a political standpoint has been that the left is allowed members of congress who publicly support israel particularly democrats to go unchallenged if they are considered good on other issues in the fateful triangle chomsky didn't spare words describing atrocities committed by israel during the one nine hundred eighty two war in lebanon but in a clever bait and switch he placed the ultimate blame for those crimes not on israel but on the us providing the weapons to commit those crimes the weaponry was provided according to congress not because of pressure on israel by a pack but because the reagan administration approved the invasion what's telling is there's no mention of a pack in his entire book that is a possible reason for chomsky placing the blame for israel's crimes at the foot of washington and the willingness of israel's critics inside and outside of the jewish community to accept it is that the alternative is something that a few of them at least publicly will acknowledge at those responsible for the plight of the palestinians with the zionist jews and their supporters around the world who backed by no imperial power carried out the ethnic cleansing after nine hundred forty eight when israel declared statehood it was as legitimate as any other state and should be recognized as such by the palestinians implying at the theft of their country their being expelled and the destruction of five hundred palestinian was something they should put behind them most critics of israel jews and non jews don't want to acknowledge jewish culpability for the nakba because the notion of blaming the jews as an ugly historical precedent and they share the fear of provoking anti semitism thus on the altar of protecting jewish sensibilities the oppression of the palestinians continues as a pax occupation of congress downplaying the influence of use real lobby in determining u s middle east policies chomsky's parameters and flows from the first for him the lobby just pushing through an open door i don't write about it i don't talk about he once wrote in explaining why he wouldn't debate the issue the invasion of iraq was a major threat to  particularly the attention given to john mearsheimer and stephen walt excellent book the israel lobby and us foreign policy which it should be the launching of the war to the lobby and punch of the left mantra that it was a war for oil response to that book the first reputations first on the attack ironically was palestinian professor joseph saad who had been targeted by a lobby group while teaching at columbia his experience it apparently taught him to how to behave and now the lobby leaves them goodman's response however took the prize for damage control because as untouchable icon of the left and with an ever widening listening and viewing audience what she does it doesn't say about it of singular importance rather than vi either  issues should be renamed damage control now is of course an experience shared by most if not all today's speakers telling your viewers and listeners the truth about israel u s relations the iraq war and the buildup to war in iran is clearly not on the good m us annual policy compas you're in washington which are not insignificant events even the public confrontation between obama and apac over new sanctions has read only a single headline on what she now in tones every day as is the american century from the scottish morning herald years after p nak instant initiated and made up of predominately jewish neocons began promoting regime change in iraq today we hear nary a word or successor about it or its successors the foreign policy initiative and the foundation for defense of democracies which bring into existence the day after nine eleven both of which also dominated by jewish neo cons some of the very same ones went on a pa foreign policy initiative not many how about a foundation for defense of democracies not many sure wonder why not then there is the washington institute for near east policy or wind up whose resident experts  on a daily basis by the new york times and other national media on middle east issues and who routinely testified before congress on issues affecting israel who is side in the present company knows that it was created by a pact in  five to do exactly what it is doing now that is founding director martin indyk and one of his leading spokespersons david makovsky were appointed by john kerry to bridge the differences between israelis and palestinians during the phony peace talks that are now going on and should be news no no not at least for the mainstream media nor for chomsky bennet's or goodman nor for their followers nor for the left nor for the palestinians who they have managed to fool in his biography a biography colin powell blamed the war in iraq on quote the jinsa crowd the jewish institute for national security affairs how many readers of this book ever heard of it how many people outside of this room that them uncritically one may argue that they know their audience and only say what their audience wants to hear the role of the gatekeepers is to keep it that way in one thousand nine hundred one speaking in berkeley chomps he was asked by an iraqi american in the audience triangle was a polemics designed to prove the supporting israel has been high on the agenda of every u s president that followed eisenhower when hasn't he simply ignores it that's why there's no mention of kennedy his book can be strongly opposes real developing nuclear weapons and was the last president to do so he also supported the palestinian right of return and wanted it implemented to some degree and the time of his murder his justice department underbred it brother brother bobby was engaged in a serious effort to get the american zionist council a creation of israel's jewish agency and to register a foreign nation it became a pac all these positions were red lines as far as it was concerned why didn't he mention them in his book or mention them to call on israel to return to the sixty seven borders which a pact was able to stymie later he tells his readers that george bush sr who went on national t v to block israel's request for ten billion loan guarantees and when vice president wanted to sanction israel both after bomb iraq reactor and after invading lebanon was or he was that he was our only pro israel jump you say with pro israel them with the truth and this conference is a way to begin thank you very much it's a great pleasure to be here and to meet many of my long time readers in the washington report on middle east affairs with which i have been associated it seems like for decades now we all zionism has distorted american policy in the middle east at the same time it has had a terribly negative impact upon us life in the united states and throughout the world and it is important to remember that historically  minority view within judaism particularly in america the organization whose journal i edit the american council for jewish nationalism had to change course so the council was organized to maintain this older view that first judaism is a religion not a nationality that american jews are american by nationality and used by religion just as other people are protestant catholic or muslim this was the view maintained by the vast majority of american jews all through history in my opinion it's the view of the silent majority today gained a foothold largely because of the reaction to naziism something had to be done in the wake of the horror of europe but i just want to give you a little bit of the history so you understand where where we're coming from in eight hundred forty one at the dedication of temple beth fellow heman charleston south carolina the oldest reform synagogue in america rabbi gust of post nonskid declared this country is our power stein this city is our jerusalem this house of god is our temple in eight hundred eighty five when the union of american hebrew congregations was established in pittsburgh rabbi mer wise the leading reform rabbi of the time was instrumental in writing what was called the pittsburgh platform in it he declared we consider ourselves no longer a nation but a religious community and therefore expect neither a return to palestine nor a sacrificial worship under the sons of aaron restoration of any laws concerning the jewish state one of the leading due is theologians of the twentieth century abraham joshua heschel said judaism is not a religion of space does not worship the soil so too the state of israel is not the climax of jewish history but a test of the integrity of the jewish people and the competence as a spiritual center was a contradiction to judaism's ultimate purpose he wrote judaism is not some religious concentration that can be localized or situated in a single territory neither is judaism a nationality in the sense of modern nationalism fifth to be woven into the three fold in this homeland confines of any particular territory for as scriptures said of torah is measure is greater than the earth it is my opinion  what has happened to american judaism has completely corrupted its religious nature what we are witnessing today synagogues flying israeli flags programs urging american jews to emigrate to israel their real homeland is a form of idolatry making the sovereign state of israel the object of worship rather than god in one nine hundred ninety nine the union for reform judaism adopted a resolution saying israel is central to our religion israel not god and one of the prominent zionists professor ruth weiss of harvard university said at one time i would rather surround myself with jews who loved israel and didn't believe in god at all than with those who believed in god and did not love israel it is also my view that zionism is a sub enterprise what would we as americans think of any religious institution and our society that flew a foreign flag in its houses of worship that told young americans that this is not really their homeland that someplace else is their homeland and that the highest form of their religious expression is to emigrate to that country now i doubt that very many american jews believe any of that very few american jews are emigrating to israel yet their religious institutions manifest that sensibility if you read the jewish press whether the foreword or the washington jewish week or local jewish papers in los angeles or cleveland you get the feeling that you are reading the papers of an expatriate community it's as if you were reading the papers of recent immigrants from el salvador who were reading about the daily events in their home country and were being urged to return now there have been many discourse ins in american jewish life consider the hypocrisy of american jewish organizations which have gone to court to remove voluntary school prayer for our schools remove christmas trees from our schools yet support of theocracy in israel where there is no separation of church and state that israel calls itself a jewish state yet non orthodox jews have fewer rights in israel than any place in the western world reform rabbis have no right to perform weddings or funerals conversions by reform rabbis are not recognized israel is not a free society with regard to religion the question then arises american jewish organizations which dedicated themselves with such fervor to script separation of church and state seem not really to believe in separation of church and state when jews are a majority it's interesting that when thomas jefferson and james madison wrote the virginia declaration of religious freedom they were not members of a persecuted minority they were people who believed in religious freedom one wonders if the american jewish establishment shares that belief consider how israel has infiltrated american jewish life to the extent when resolutions were proposed and congress to recognize the armenian genocide by turkey tuition organizations led the crusade to remove that legislation and defeat it because israel at that time was allied with turkey i suspect of the same resolution came up in israel itself there is a growth of racism there is a growth of religious extremism the book the king's cobra was a best seller this is a book that sa jews and non jews are basically different in nature jews are much closer to god than non jews who are referred to as uncompassionate the ten commandments  not kill according to this book written by orthodox rabbis whose yeshivas on the occupied west bank are financed by the israeli government this book says that thou shalt not kill refers only to one jew killing another not killing non jews in fact it discusses the circumstances under which it is all right to kill non jewish children religious extremism of the highest order rabbis have made proclamations telling jews in israel not to rent homes apartments to non jews we understand there's religious extremism in many parts of the world my point is why don't american jews say a word about this not a word of criticism of the racism and extremism growing in israel it has distorted jewish values it has discarded american  life now i'm not a pessimist because as i said earlier i believe that the position i represent represents a silent majority of american jews not those who are members of a pack or the american jewish committee but the vast majority of american jews believe they are americans believe that judaism is their religion do not believe that israel is their homeland is in retreat in my opinion within the jewish community we've seen a number of events hillel foundations in various parts of the country are rejecting the guidelines set down by the hill ale foundation officially and eric fingerhut the former congressman from ohio who is now the head of hillel said according to our guidelines no antis zionists will be permitted to speak at hillel foundations mr fingerhut must not be aware of the long tradition of jewish opposition to zionism that i have just reciting it and you know this is nothing new among the a scottish jewish community when napoleon invaded russia and napoleon was bringing religious freedom to russia napoleon tore down the ghetto walls all over europe but the rabbis in russia supported the tsar and oppose napoleon because if the ghetto walls were torn down and religious freedom came to russia the authority of the rabbis would be eliminated so among young people there's a great belief in freedom of speech in freedom of debate and a desire that moral values treating each individual w human dignity be applied everywhere in palestine as well as in israel as well as in our own country so i think zionism within the jewish community is in retreat and time will tell whether i'm right thank you very much