Tornado Alley (PROG)

[StephanieVanbryce]

One problem Obama faces is that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a coordinating body for the Israel lobbies, has successfully mobilized both houses of Congress against him with regard to putting further pressure on far rightwing Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to stop building settlements. Congress decides on how much money to give Israel annually, and how many weapons to sell it. Obama cannot effectively threaten Netanyahu with a reduction in the billions of dollars a year in aid, trade privileges, loan guarantees, and military equipment sent to Israel by the US. Those goods are in the gift of Congress, and Congress typically yields to AIPAC and its colleagues. As John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt have demonstrated in The Israel Lobby, these lobbies cultivate congressmen and senators from the beginning of their careers. The Christian Zionists, who form a significant movement within US evangelicalism, probably number some 10 million, and it is not hard to get them to write their senator on behalf of Israeli expansionism. Pro-Israel organizations and individuals are disproportionately politically active and likely to give to political campaigns. [ http://www.juancole.com/2010/04/obama-hints-that-two-state-solution-may-be-impossible.html ]

REferenced Letter .......

76 Senators Sign Israel Letter »

By Michael McAuliff

More than 300 House members already signed a letter reaffirming America’s close relationship with Israel — in spite of the recent tensions with the Obama administration over settlements. Now 76 senators have followed suit.

Organized by AIPAC, the letter to Secretary of State Clinton can be seen as chiding the Obama administration over the flare up that erupted when Israel announced new construction in East Jerusalem, even as Vice President Biden was visiting. But it also admits that announcement was “untimely.”

The letter is broadly bipartisan, signed by 37 Republicans.

“We write to urge you to do everything possible to ensure that the recent tensions between the U.S. and Israeli administrations over the untimely announcement of future housing construction in East Jerusalem do not derail Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations or harm U.S.-Israel relations,” the letter says.

“We also urge you to reaffirm the unbreakable bonds that tie the United States and Israel together and to diligently work to defuse current tensions,” it continues. “The Israeli and U.S. governments will undoubtedly, at times, disagree over policy decisions. But disagreements should not adversely affect our mutual interests.”

“We recognize that our government and the Government of Israel will not always agree on particular issues in the peace process,” it says in perhaps the strongest rebuke of the jabs that went back and forth around Biden’s visit. “But such differences are best resolved amicably and in a manner that befits longstanding strategic allies.”

Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer are among the signatories,

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dc/2010/04/76-senators-sign-israel-letter.html#ixzz0l5qv7xJJ