The NYT Addresses The Zionist Trap, And More

A couple days ago the NYT ran an op-ed by Stephen Wertheim, a fairly notable historian and analyst of foreign policy. While Wertheim doesn’t use the term Zionist Trap, he pretty clearly is speaking about the same phenomenon that I am. The title alone gives the game away:

America Is Losing Control

If America is losing control over its foreign policy, the obvious question is: Who does have control over our foreign policy? I won’t spend much time on this, having written about it twice already. However, Wertheim’s article is worth a read, and here are some excerpts to provide an idea of what he has to say. In the article these paragraphs are separated, but I’ve run them all together:

It’s Mr. Biden who has not learned from America’s mistakes, rushing headlong into the latest war. By backing Israel unconditionally, and failing to champion Palestinians’ rights as well, he made the United States complicit in whatever Israel did next. The costs, in American prestige and power, have already proved substantial. And they could get much worse.

U.S. officials are increasingly signaling their displeasure at Israeli military operations in Gaza and mounting settler violence in the West Bank, but they will have little leverage to make Israel change course unless they specify an “or else.”

I saw a video today of two Arab boys—they appeared to be no more than about 12 years old—skateboarding down a street on the West Bank. They were both shot.

Don’t count on Mr. Biden to change. If he was unwilling to impose conditions on Israeli conduct at the outset, when it mattered most, he is unlikely to risk a breach with Israel, a popular cause in American politics, as next year’s presidential election nears. But he should — because the alternative is worse.

Meanwhile, Washington is hemorrhaging influence around the world. Having implored countries outside the West to oppose Russia for occupying territory and targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, the United States appears nakedly unprincipled for standing in lock step with Israel as it occupies Palestinian land and shuts off food, water and power in Gaza. Displeasure is not confined to Arab states.

At home, too, the repercussions could be fateful. Young voters and Arab and Muslim Americans, constituencies key to Mr. Biden’s election victory in 2020, are aghast at his handling of the war. They may not turn out for him next November.

The electoral effect could actually be quite a bit worse, because Black and Hispanic voters are also heavily turned off by what Israel is doing in Gaza with American complicity. They may not switch parties—the GOP has given them no reason to do so—but they could stay home, as Wertheim suggests.

My impression is that many Americans vaguely believe that Zionism has something to do with the Holocaust, and the Nakba—which few have heard about—had something to do with Arabs trying to kill Jews. These are complicated issues and I won’t attempt to get into the history—except to cite an article that points out that the intent to ethnically cleanse Palestine goes back to the origins of Zionism:

The Catastrophic Roots of Zionism in Palestine

Again, I’ll confine this to some brief excerpts:

I am frequently asked to identify the force most responsible for the catastrophe we are witnessing today in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem.  Audiences are surprised when I say that the source is easily identifiable – it is Zionism.

Zionism is the political ideology that emerged in 19th century Europe among a small minority of Jews determined to establish a Jewish homeland.  Twenty-two Zionist congresses were convened between 1897 and 1946.  Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), Viennese journalist and founder of the modern Zionist movement, began the process of implementing his vision of a Jewish utopia at the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, in August 1897.

Confident in his success, Herzl proudly announced, “I founded the Jewish state in Basel.”  He helped build a campaign that transformed a popular movement to create a homeland for Jews into a political movement that shattered the homeland of Palestinians.

Fundamental to understanding Israel’s massacre of Palestinians and the wasteland they are creating in Gaza is to discern the blueprint that Israel’s founders drew up to create their Jewish homeland; what they called Eretz-Israel.

Early Zionist leaders were explicit about what they deemed “transfer” plans to effect a “Jewish majority” in Palestine.  Yosef Weitz (1890-1972)—known as the “architect of transfer” – served as director of the powerful Jewish National Fund’s Land Settlement Department.  As head of what he deemed Transfer Committees, Weitz set in motion long-held Zionist plans to “transfer” (ethnically cleanse) and dispossess Palestinians from their homes, land and businesses.  His diary entry from 12 December 1940 is revelatory:   “It must be clear that there is no room in the country for both peoples….If the Arabs leave it, the country will become wide and spacious for us…. The only solution is a Land of Israel… without Arabs. There is no room here for compromises… There is no way but to transfer the Arabs from here to the neighboring countries, and to transfer all of them, save perhaps [a few].”

Weitz also spoke about expanding the “Jewish state’s” borders to include areas in Lebanon and Syria. In a meeting on 22 June 1941 with Jewish National Fund Chairman, Menachem Ussishkin (1863-1941), Weitz wrote:  “The land of Israel is not small at all, if only the Arabs will be removed, and if its frontiers would be enlarged a little; to the north all the way to Litani [River in Lebanon], and to the east including the Golan Heights . . . . while the [Palestinian] Arabs be transferred to northern Syria and Iraq. . . . From now on we must work out a secret plan based on the removal of the [Palestinian] Arabs from here . . . [and] . . . to include it into American political circles. . . . today we have no other alternative. . . . We will not live here with Arabs.” (Expulsion Of The Palestinians, 134-135).

Woops! Did you catch that? The “secret plan” for the “removal” of Arabs was to be included in “American political circles.” And yet John Mearsheimer is regularly smeared as an anti-semite for using the term “The Israel Lobby”.

The history of Palestine is one of the most intentionally distorted histories of our time. The European war of 1914-1918, the collapse and dissection of the Ottoman Empire (circa 1300-1923), the paucity of civil government in the Arab world, the hubris of European empires, Zionist intrigue, zeal and violence, all seeded the birth and growth of Israel. Born in illegitimacy, Israel has been mired in violence and in mythical religious ideology ever since.

The long and the short of it is that Zionism and the state of Israel is an adventure in neocolonialism. What’s currently happening in Gaza is not something new:

Israeli Legislators: Western Nations Should 'Welcome Gaza Refugees'

In a bold demonstration of chutzpah, two current members of Israel's legislature took to the Wall Street Journal op-ed pages to declare that Western countries should start taking Gaza refugees. This comes as Israel is methodically destroying much of the densely-populated territory that's home to some 2 million Palestinians, following the stunning and  vicious Oct. 7 attack by the militant arm of Hamas, which rules Gaza.

Look at the images of Gaza before and after Israel's bombardment.

This is total destruction. Indiscriminate. Not targeted in the slightest.

But here's the kicker: @JoeBiden SAT IN on the Israeli war cabinet when this was planned.

He KNEW what would happen. He APPROVED it. pic.twitter.com/G2TVLVt7Hw

— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) November 12, 2023

"It is imperative that the international community explore potential solutions to help civilians caught in the crisis," wrote Danny Danon and Ram Ben-Barak.

What’s different now is the that the Israelis are so confident in their ownership of the US government that they are openly proclaiming their intentions and pushing their agenda to the limit:

Israel Warns: "What We Are Doing in Gaza, We Can Do In Beirut"

Authored by Kyle Anzalone via The Libertarian Institute, 

The Israeli Defense Minister threatened to launch a war in Lebanon that would resemble the military operations in Gaza. Israeli forces have waged a brutal assault and blockade of the enclave. Tel Aviv’s bombing has killed over 11,000 Palestinian civilians, including 4,000 children. The White House is concerned that if Israel goes to war in Lebanon, it will provoke a wider conflict involving the US. 

At the start of this week, Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, said, "What we are doing in Gaza, we can do in Beirut." After Tel Aviv began military operations in Gaza last month, Hezbollah and the Israeli military began exchanging fire along the border. Scores of people have been killed, including soldiers and civilians on each side. An Israeli strike caused the death of a Lebanese journalist. 

Gallant threat to model operations in Lebanon after those in Gaza is concerning due to the brutality of the Israeli campaign. In addition to the documented death toll, thousands more believed dead under the rubble. Israeli forces have also laid siege to hospitals and bombed other shelters housing displaced Palestinians. 

Tel Aviv has caused a massive humanitarian catastrophe for the 2.3 million residents of the strip. Israel cut fuel, water, food, and medical aid to the enclave. Tel Aviv has refused requests from Western nations to bring aid directly from Israel into Gaza. Tel Aviv is enforcing a tedious inspection regime of all aid trucks entering Gaza through the Egyptian crossing, causing delays. 

Several Israeli officials have boasted that the operations in Gaza amount to an ethnic cleansing campaign.

All that brought in our names courtesty of the Israel Lobby.