And here I was wondering if I should post this article from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency about how Dick Cheney‘s pitch to AIPAC “Garners Few Plaudits”:
Cheney’s appeal is part of Bush-administration efforts in recent months to shore up support for the Iraq war in quarters it once took for granted: Republicans in Congress, the Christian right and now the pro-Israel community.
His message was not received enthusiastically: Only about one-third to one-half of the audience in the cavernous Washington Convention Center hall applauded politely.
Behind Cheney, some AIPAC board members sat stone-faced, including Amy Friedkin, a past AIPAC president who is close to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a fierce critic of the administration’s handling of the war.
It’s not just that three-quarters of American Jews — more than any other religious group — now think the Iraq war was a mistake. That’s partly due to perceptions that the war’s failure has emboldened Iran and its nuclear ambitions, which AIPAC considers the gravest challenge to Israel….
Cheney’s tepid reception — barely two or three standing ovations during his speech — was in sharp contrast to the sustained applause he earned last year, or even the sharp applause the mere mention of President Bush’s name still conjures at this event.
In fact, according to the JTA, the relationship goes the other way from the one Ezra describes. It is not that the Jewish lobby controls American government, but that the American government dictates to Israel and the pro-Israel lobby:
AIPAC never explicitly supported or lobbied for the Iraq war, but some in the pro-Israel community once saw the war as an effort that would more closely align the United States and Israel against a common enemy: Arab and Muslim radicalism.
Additionally, it was considered churlish to deny support to the Middle East policy of a president who is so profoundly pro-Israel.
Those views are now unraveling with the ongoing violence in Iraq. Participants attending an AIPAC session on the “global reach of the terrorist network” said that Brookings Institution expert Daniel Benjamin drew applause when he blamed the war for opening up the gates of terrorism.
Consider also the
