This is why we need good quality investigative journalism to shine a light on how countries/parties, organizations who feel threaten will use all available means to influence us. I don’t necessarily fault Israel for doing so, but we need journalists like Lee to keep us honest with ourselves.
You don’t fault Israel, a genocidal ethno-theocratic apartheid state, for using all available means to influence us? You sound quite influenced yourself.
I think Hamas is detestable. Can you say the same thing about Likud? Hamas is filled with terrorists. Can you say the same thing about the IDF? A person doesn’t need to support Hamas to oppose Zionism anymore than a person needed to be a Soviet to oppose Nazism. Pernicious ideologies and contemptible regimes often attract a diverse pool of detractors.
Tell me your calculation: how many Gazan infants and toddlers can Israel predictably kill, maim, or torture, to save an Israeli hostage before it is deserving of your denunciation? 1? 10? 100? 1000? 1 million? Maybe you have no red line like the war criminals in the Biden administration supplying weapons for the abomination.
Likud is the bird droppings of the terrorist organization Irgun that existed before the conquest and ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
Israel, and Likud even more specifically, cultivated Hamas. The IDF knew of the detailed plans of Hamas’ attack before it happened.
Yet, despite all that, some Americans struggle to find fault in their hearts. There is a perverse cultish loyalty to Israel among some Americans. Where does it come from? Where does yours come from?
Zionism is a noose around the neck of America, and it tightens as the American government supports Zionist atrocities.
When Israel is committing a genocide and Israeli agents are clandestinely and illegally attempting to influence American politics, not finding fault, is a fault. It seems like some Americans are more loyal to Israel than the US. “Israel first” seems to be their motto.
If Americans do not wrest the reins of US foreign policy from Zionists, it will be disastrous for America,
possibly much of the world, and of course innocent Gazans trapped in a decimated ghetto facing famine.
I am so tired of being disappointed - and surprised - because I do have expectations of goodness and honor out there in the netherlands of humanity, and then we learn of more betrayals, backroom deals and dishonorable people in charge of nations who claim to be enlightened, working for the good. And not once have I considered myself naive, flat out naive, until the cumulative affect of now.
Thank you for what you do. You are a good man who never disappoints.
The use of “Antisemite” has become little more than a marker for fascism. When Norman Finklestein, whose family was decimated in the holocaust, can be canceled as a “Holocaust denier” we come to a place where we need to free ourselves from the Israeli narrative and cling to reason at all costs. Like Finklestein, we are all being attacked with poisonous lies, and the costs are mounting.
The question is whether I mind more that you call me a supporter of antisemitism, or that you call me a supporter of genocide. The first I can reluctantly tolerate, the second I cannot.
I have never been able to understand why college students protesting the disaster in Gaza are also called Pro Hamas supporters. Of course, I do understand. It is the same way that anyone can be called an anti-semite if one objects to the murder of women and children. In Gaza.
The term "antisemitism" is not even applicable here, because both the Israelis & the Gazans are Semites. It's just a convenient devil word to silence debate.
Well, if you call it a genocide, they will call that anti-semitism. It seems like anti-semitism is beginning to mean a person is opposed to a genocidal apartheid ethno theocratic state. Are Americans going to submit to being ruled by that state out of fear?
Rest easy, Kathy. I'm sure Lee & Jack will let us know when that massive Iranian influence network pushes legislation in our Congress that criminalizes teachings from the New Testament.
Thanks for the great work, and for collaborating with other investigative reporters. The thing that strikes me about the Israeli government, and it's allies, meddling with the public discourse in America is the incredible audacity (chutzpah) to think they have a right to do so.
Relatedly, where are the Democrats who were so up-in-arms about the so-called Russian meddling through social media in the U.S. elections -- where is the outrage now when Israel is clearly meddling? Why are they so quiet? AIPAC got their tongue?
Lee, I really appreciate your detailed reporting on the inner-workings of the social media influence apparatus. In addition, I appreciate your dogged defense of First Amendment rights. While perhaps not the focus of your article, it would be nice to hear about the various journalistic propagandist work that is being accomplished "on the other side" as well-- i.e., what kind of messaging (government-sponsored, special interest group-sponsored or not) is being undertaken by Israel's adversaries? For those who are convinced that Israel is facing an uphill battle against, for example, Hamas propaganda, what beast do they perceive they are fighting? How would they better prepare their marketing campaign to combat enemy messaging, other than attempting to create conditions that restrict personal liberties and viewpoint expression (censorship)? If you do not acknowledge this very real struggle, your article could seem unfairly biased in this centuries-old conflict catapulted into the modern age of information warfare.
Washington is and will always be a shell game. It’s why we need to get back to following the constitution and let states take the lead in our everyday lives as it was intended. Israel in my opinion knows how we are nothing but a bunch of lemmings over here and can influence many with what just happened over there. Netanyahu has said it on multiple occasions. The Jews run everything if you really look it up and into the major companies in the US. I’m basically OK with the push back on these morons on campuses screaming intifada. They should all go and live under the rule of these Muslim countries and they quickly would see (unless you’re devout) how quickly you’d be looking to get back to the US even with all its faults. Love the reporting as it shows how fucking corrupt everyone is even if you happen to agree with the message. Kill Social Media and our lives would get better immediately.
Unfortunately, the Global North is run by multinational corporations and their puppet governments including ours. They have already infected the once relatively transparent operations of state governments as well. It's tragic that in allowing our democracy to be destroyed by corporate greed (unregulated capitalism), we've emboldened authoritarian regimes. China and Russia are now the "grownups" and we are the spoiled children. It's ironic that we did this by threatening their sovereignty—forcing them into a confrontation they did not want. The word's future now depends on the balance to unipolarity provided by BRICS.
Funny you mention BRICS. If they ever get a bond market for that currency we will be beyond screwed here with our 35 trillion national debt. Biden also pissed off the Saudis over Kashoggi and basically destroyed the whole Petro dollar deal that’s been in place since Nixon. Our government either doesn’t understand this or just doesn’t care about the well being of its citizens and I fear it’s the latter
It sounds like you are suggesting that people opposing Israel’s genocide think that living in Iran would be nice? Perhaps you didn’t consider it, but it’s possible to oppose the US support of Israel *and* Hamas. As for being a lemming, speak for yourself — It seems like you support Israel’s genocide?
Damn fucking right I support Israel to do whatever is needed to destroy Hamas Hezbolah and any other shit bag terrorists that pose a threat to their country and people. The Palestinian people did this to themselves. They were given their country and voted Hamas to lead them. You reap what you sow.
Likud is a terrorist organization, and has roots in the Irgun. It even cultivated Hamas itself. And currently commits genocide. And Israelis chose Likud to lead. Doesn’t mean any country is justified to wantonly and starve the Israeli population. At least that is my opinion, maybe you feel otherwise.
The Palestinians were never "given their country." When they are not permitted to control their own borders, fish their own waters, or leave their country when they choose, they are prisoners, not citizens of a sovereign nation.
And here is my ritual denunciation of Hamas: I thoroughly condemn all atrocities committed by Hamas before, during, and after Oct. 7th, 2023.
My sympathies lie with the Palestinian civilians, who are caught in the middle -- especially the children.
Nothing in this story surprises me. It's just the details about what is already painfully obvious to some of us. In the last couple of days there's a story circulating that I do find alarming. I've read four different reports about this event and not one discloses how these texts were acquired. A vomit emoji is hardly an indication of an imminent terror attack, yet these people have been suspended. I'd love to know more details about how these texts were acquired. Perhaps you guys could look into that?
Great journalism! Follow the money. Amazing how they manage to funnel money to politicians to promote causes. We need transparency for all organizations that fund politicians.
Will you be doing a deep dive on Qatar and how they've influenced campus discourse (I mean really Lee?), Pro arab PACs, US philanthropy and campus protests? Surely you must, right???? Perhaps it may be even more shocking. But since they're not Nefarious Jews or Bad Israelis, it may not be of interest to the anti-Zionist crowd.
lol how many Congress members are clamoring to designate criticizing Qatar as racist today? Do you think the general reader here thinks fondly of Qatar the way Zionists think about Israel? The reason your comparison doesn’t interest this anti-Zionist is because the US government isn’t sending billions of dollars of tax money to Qatar, no strings attached, and passing bills to intimidate people into not criticizing Qatar as it carries out a genocide. Why is it that you seem to think the reason people are anti-Zionist is only because they have some kind of sinister collective bigoted hatred toward Jews?
I don’t like the US government’s support of theocracies period, and that includes Qatar. Let us know though when the US government starts to pay tribute to it like it does Israel so that it can help fund its apartheid state. I’m pretty confident that the espionage, subterfuge, and attempts to affect American policy *without congressional condemnation or action* will not be nearly as shocking as with Israel if any such expose on Qatar is carried out. After all such an expose would validate their propaganda that students are being brainwashed by terrorists, and they would immediately condemn it for interfering with the interests of Israel’s genocide.
Are you a Zionist? Do you think Jews have the right to rule, as a majority, a “Jewish State” in Palestine?
Oh stop it. You and your "Are you a Zionist and Jewish state" litmus test; just lost my respect while proving my point. We're getting sick and tired of the litmus tests. "Jewish State in Palestine"? Last I checked Israel is a sovereign country recognized by international bodies. The world is obsessed .2% of the world's population.
Your initial comment was expressing scorn toward “anti-Zionists”. Why are you salty that I asked if you are a Zionist, and narrowed the definition? You brought up Zionism. Who is “we” by the way? I’m now guessing you are a Jew? I hadn’t even inferred that you were a Jew. I asked if you were a Zionist, not a Jew. How is it a “litmus test”? You are aware that in the US there are more Christians who are Zionist than Jews right? And do you think you represent all Jews? Don’t you know some Jews are virulently anti Zionist? It looks as the obsession lies with you, and it’s toward yourself. You should be using “I”, not “we.”
Israel is a sovereign country recognized by international bodies? Yup. International bodies also recognize that Israel is plausibly carrying out a genocide, has arrest warrants for some of its leaders, and views the IDF as one of the most criminal armies in the world. Do you care about that or just the hasbara that you think will legitimize the genocidal ethno theocratic apartheid state of Israel?
Personally I don’t put much stock in international bodies, although it is nice to see that they are recognizing the atrocities the state of Israel are carrying out. Unfortunately , the United States continues to fund the genocidal state. Personally I think *Palestine* should be one state, a republic. with equal rights for all citizens, regardless of whether they are Jewish, Christian, Muslim, or other. And its military should be neutered like Germany and Japan after Ww2. I think that is the only kind of state that the United States should diplomatically or financially support at the moment. It should also be actively using its power to end the genocide and the apartheid, which at the absolute minimum means complete defunding and blocking any weapons sales from US corporations, as well as delivering more aid with or without Israeli cooperation.
I’ve never understood the trope about Israel being a small percentage of the world’s population. It seems to imply that there is something necessarily irrational and sinister about showing interest or concern about the activities of a small population simply because it’s small. Or that somehow because a population is small it must not have any meaningful power. But that is entirely contrary to the history of the world. For most of human history, most power has been held by very very very very few people. Power has been concentrated.
Spartans subjugated and terrorized a larger population, the helots. Aristocracies and Priesthoods through Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas ruled over large populations. The British empire, spanned across the world in the early 20th century, its colonies subjugated and controlled by a tiny island off the coast of Europe. Hundreds of millions of people were controlled by a much much smaller population. South African apartheid was partially defined by the fact that the ruling population was smaller than the population that was subjugated. There is absolutely nothing unique or surprising or special about the fact that Israel may have more power relative to its population size. Its banal.
But for the population that it is influencing the most, the US, it should be of utmost importance to its citizens because Israel, and Zionists specifically (primarily Christian and Jewish), have captured the levers of US foreign policy and are now using them to create a humanitarian catastrophe. The population size of Zionists (or Israel) is irrelevant with regard to their (or its) power. Your statement is as irrational and contemptible as if a British colonist had told an Indian “last time I checked England is a tiny Island with a small population and India is huge with a massive population, don’t be so obsessed with England!” Do you think just Americans shouldn’t care about what tiny Israel does with billions of our taxes or are you just as contemptuous toward the Gazans who the Israeli government is currently systematically starving?
The world is certainly not obsessed with Israel; if it were, Israel’s genocide would have been stopped already. The world should pay a lot more attention to it. I’ll help with that. Thanks for inspiring me more.
Mary, the only reason the "world is obsessed" with Israel is because it is evident that Israel is committing war crimes & acts of war. Israel has bombed a refugee camp, bombed aid workers, & bombed a foreign embassy. Israel is in the wrong here.
Israeli settlers regularly take their entire families along to block aid from Gaza (See Jeremy Loffredo's Grayzone "Kill Them All" video.) There have been additional videos of Israeli settlers actually destroying aid by dumping it out on the ground or setting it on fire.
There are already so many interlocking organizations that we mostly left out the private financing side of the public-private partnership. But the Israeli-American Council (IAC) has historically been much closer to Concert than AIPAC. IAC's first CEO, Sagi Balasha, was also the first CEO of Concert, circa 2016 to 2018, and subsequently the CFO of CyberWell. And Adam Milstein, a co-founder of IAC, is a CyberWell board member and a funder and/or board member of many Concert partners.
Very detailed and informative. Yeah, it's the Russians who influence American elections. I was thinking about foreign influence years ago, before Oct 7th. The members of Congress(whores) took an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution. Not serve foreign governments. Inforturnately, most members of Congress ought to be impeached due to helping a foreign power control the American people.
This is why we need good quality investigative journalism to shine a light on how countries/parties, organizations who feel threaten will use all available means to influence us. I don’t necessarily fault Israel for doing so, but we need journalists like Lee to keep us honest with ourselves.
You don’t fault Israel, a genocidal ethno-theocratic apartheid state, for using all available means to influence us? You sound quite influenced yourself.
And you sound influenced by the hamas/palestine propaganda machine
That is absurd.
I think Hamas is detestable. Can you say the same thing about Likud? Hamas is filled with terrorists. Can you say the same thing about the IDF? A person doesn’t need to support Hamas to oppose Zionism anymore than a person needed to be a Soviet to oppose Nazism. Pernicious ideologies and contemptible regimes often attract a diverse pool of detractors.
Tell me your calculation: how many Gazan infants and toddlers can Israel predictably kill, maim, or torture, to save an Israeli hostage before it is deserving of your denunciation? 1? 10? 100? 1000? 1 million? Maybe you have no red line like the war criminals in the Biden administration supplying weapons for the abomination.
Likud is the bird droppings of the terrorist organization Irgun that existed before the conquest and ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
Israel, and Likud even more specifically, cultivated Hamas. The IDF knew of the detailed plans of Hamas’ attack before it happened.
Yet, despite all that, some Americans struggle to find fault in their hearts. There is a perverse cultish loyalty to Israel among some Americans. Where does it come from? Where does yours come from?
Zionism is a noose around the neck of America, and it tightens as the American government supports Zionist atrocities.
When Israel is committing a genocide and Israeli agents are clandestinely and illegally attempting to influence American politics, not finding fault, is a fault. It seems like some Americans are more loyal to Israel than the US. “Israel first” seems to be their motto.
If Americans do not wrest the reins of US foreign policy from Zionists, it will be disastrous for America,
possibly much of the world, and of course innocent Gazans trapped in a decimated ghetto facing famine.
Excellent job Lee!
Oh, but it’s Russia, Russia, Russia that interferes with our elections and domestic politics. Don’t look over there, we need to look over here.
Oh, Lee! Yet more exposed …
I am so tired of being disappointed - and surprised - because I do have expectations of goodness and honor out there in the netherlands of humanity, and then we learn of more betrayals, backroom deals and dishonorable people in charge of nations who claim to be enlightened, working for the good. And not once have I considered myself naive, flat out naive, until the cumulative affect of now.
Thank you for what you do. You are a good man who never disappoints.
The use of “Antisemite” has become little more than a marker for fascism. When Norman Finklestein, whose family was decimated in the holocaust, can be canceled as a “Holocaust denier” we come to a place where we need to free ourselves from the Israeli narrative and cling to reason at all costs. Like Finklestein, we are all being attacked with poisonous lies, and the costs are mounting.
The question is whether I mind more that you call me a supporter of antisemitism, or that you call me a supporter of genocide. The first I can reluctantly tolerate, the second I cannot.
I have never been able to understand why college students protesting the disaster in Gaza are also called Pro Hamas supporters. Of course, I do understand. It is the same way that anyone can be called an anti-semite if one objects to the murder of women and children. In Gaza.
The term "antisemitism" is not even applicable here, because both the Israelis & the Gazans are Semites. It's just a convenient devil word to silence debate.
Well, if you call it a genocide, they will call that anti-semitism. It seems like anti-semitism is beginning to mean a person is opposed to a genocidal apartheid ethno theocratic state. Are Americans going to submit to being ruled by that state out of fear?
I’m looking forward to your investigation of the Iranian influence campaign next!
Yes then do Qatar!
A timely release of a speech by Gad Saad that relates to this article…
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-saad-truth-with-dr-saad/id1516343565?i=1000660083854
Oh, FFS.
Rest easy, Kathy. I'm sure Lee & Jack will let us know when that massive Iranian influence network pushes legislation in our Congress that criminalizes teachings from the New Testament.
Thanks for the great work, and for collaborating with other investigative reporters. The thing that strikes me about the Israeli government, and it's allies, meddling with the public discourse in America is the incredible audacity (chutzpah) to think they have a right to do so.
Relatedly, where are the Democrats who were so up-in-arms about the so-called Russian meddling through social media in the U.S. elections -- where is the outrage now when Israel is clearly meddling? Why are they so quiet? AIPAC got their tongue?
Lee, I really appreciate your detailed reporting on the inner-workings of the social media influence apparatus. In addition, I appreciate your dogged defense of First Amendment rights. While perhaps not the focus of your article, it would be nice to hear about the various journalistic propagandist work that is being accomplished "on the other side" as well-- i.e., what kind of messaging (government-sponsored, special interest group-sponsored or not) is being undertaken by Israel's adversaries? For those who are convinced that Israel is facing an uphill battle against, for example, Hamas propaganda, what beast do they perceive they are fighting? How would they better prepare their marketing campaign to combat enemy messaging, other than attempting to create conditions that restrict personal liberties and viewpoint expression (censorship)? If you do not acknowledge this very real struggle, your article could seem unfairly biased in this centuries-old conflict catapulted into the modern age of information warfare.
Washington is and will always be a shell game. It’s why we need to get back to following the constitution and let states take the lead in our everyday lives as it was intended. Israel in my opinion knows how we are nothing but a bunch of lemmings over here and can influence many with what just happened over there. Netanyahu has said it on multiple occasions. The Jews run everything if you really look it up and into the major companies in the US. I’m basically OK with the push back on these morons on campuses screaming intifada. They should all go and live under the rule of these Muslim countries and they quickly would see (unless you’re devout) how quickly you’d be looking to get back to the US even with all its faults. Love the reporting as it shows how fucking corrupt everyone is even if you happen to agree with the message. Kill Social Media and our lives would get better immediately.
Unfortunately, the Global North is run by multinational corporations and their puppet governments including ours. They have already infected the once relatively transparent operations of state governments as well. It's tragic that in allowing our democracy to be destroyed by corporate greed (unregulated capitalism), we've emboldened authoritarian regimes. China and Russia are now the "grownups" and we are the spoiled children. It's ironic that we did this by threatening their sovereignty—forcing them into a confrontation they did not want. The word's future now depends on the balance to unipolarity provided by BRICS.
Funny you mention BRICS. If they ever get a bond market for that currency we will be beyond screwed here with our 35 trillion national debt. Biden also pissed off the Saudis over Kashoggi and basically destroyed the whole Petro dollar deal that’s been in place since Nixon. Our government either doesn’t understand this or just doesn’t care about the well being of its citizens and I fear it’s the latter
It sounds like you are suggesting that people opposing Israel’s genocide think that living in Iran would be nice? Perhaps you didn’t consider it, but it’s possible to oppose the US support of Israel *and* Hamas. As for being a lemming, speak for yourself — It seems like you support Israel’s genocide?
Damn fucking right I support Israel to do whatever is needed to destroy Hamas Hezbolah and any other shit bag terrorists that pose a threat to their country and people. The Palestinian people did this to themselves. They were given their country and voted Hamas to lead them. You reap what you sow.
Likud is a terrorist organization, and has roots in the Irgun. It even cultivated Hamas itself. And currently commits genocide. And Israelis chose Likud to lead. Doesn’t mean any country is justified to wantonly and starve the Israeli population. At least that is my opinion, maybe you feel otherwise.
The Palestinians were never "given their country." When they are not permitted to control their own borders, fish their own waters, or leave their country when they choose, they are prisoners, not citizens of a sovereign nation.
And here is my ritual denunciation of Hamas: I thoroughly condemn all atrocities committed by Hamas before, during, and after Oct. 7th, 2023.
My sympathies lie with the Palestinian civilians, who are caught in the middle -- especially the children.
Nothing in this story surprises me. It's just the details about what is already painfully obvious to some of us. In the last couple of days there's a story circulating that I do find alarming. I've read four different reports about this event and not one discloses how these texts were acquired. A vomit emoji is hardly an indication of an imminent terror attack, yet these people have been suspended. I'd love to know more details about how these texts were acquired. Perhaps you guys could look into that?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/3-columbia-university-administrators-put-on-leave-over-alleged-text-exchange-at-antisemitism-panel/ar-BB1oKuA0?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=3e4886771e6c4866c2170f1686fa6226&ei=30
Great journalism! Follow the money. Amazing how they manage to funnel money to politicians to promote causes. We need transparency for all organizations that fund politicians.
Will you be doing a deep dive on Qatar and how they've influenced campus discourse (I mean really Lee?), Pro arab PACs, US philanthropy and campus protests? Surely you must, right???? Perhaps it may be even more shocking. But since they're not Nefarious Jews or Bad Israelis, it may not be of interest to the anti-Zionist crowd.
lol how many Congress members are clamoring to designate criticizing Qatar as racist today? Do you think the general reader here thinks fondly of Qatar the way Zionists think about Israel? The reason your comparison doesn’t interest this anti-Zionist is because the US government isn’t sending billions of dollars of tax money to Qatar, no strings attached, and passing bills to intimidate people into not criticizing Qatar as it carries out a genocide. Why is it that you seem to think the reason people are anti-Zionist is only because they have some kind of sinister collective bigoted hatred toward Jews?
I don’t like the US government’s support of theocracies period, and that includes Qatar. Let us know though when the US government starts to pay tribute to it like it does Israel so that it can help fund its apartheid state. I’m pretty confident that the espionage, subterfuge, and attempts to affect American policy *without congressional condemnation or action* will not be nearly as shocking as with Israel if any such expose on Qatar is carried out. After all such an expose would validate their propaganda that students are being brainwashed by terrorists, and they would immediately condemn it for interfering with the interests of Israel’s genocide.
Are you a Zionist? Do you think Jews have the right to rule, as a majority, a “Jewish State” in Palestine?
Oh stop it. You and your "Are you a Zionist and Jewish state" litmus test; just lost my respect while proving my point. We're getting sick and tired of the litmus tests. "Jewish State in Palestine"? Last I checked Israel is a sovereign country recognized by international bodies. The world is obsessed .2% of the world's population.
Your initial comment was expressing scorn toward “anti-Zionists”. Why are you salty that I asked if you are a Zionist, and narrowed the definition? You brought up Zionism. Who is “we” by the way? I’m now guessing you are a Jew? I hadn’t even inferred that you were a Jew. I asked if you were a Zionist, not a Jew. How is it a “litmus test”? You are aware that in the US there are more Christians who are Zionist than Jews right? And do you think you represent all Jews? Don’t you know some Jews are virulently anti Zionist? It looks as the obsession lies with you, and it’s toward yourself. You should be using “I”, not “we.”
Israel is a sovereign country recognized by international bodies? Yup. International bodies also recognize that Israel is plausibly carrying out a genocide, has arrest warrants for some of its leaders, and views the IDF as one of the most criminal armies in the world. Do you care about that or just the hasbara that you think will legitimize the genocidal ethno theocratic apartheid state of Israel?
Personally I don’t put much stock in international bodies, although it is nice to see that they are recognizing the atrocities the state of Israel are carrying out. Unfortunately , the United States continues to fund the genocidal state. Personally I think *Palestine* should be one state, a republic. with equal rights for all citizens, regardless of whether they are Jewish, Christian, Muslim, or other. And its military should be neutered like Germany and Japan after Ww2. I think that is the only kind of state that the United States should diplomatically or financially support at the moment. It should also be actively using its power to end the genocide and the apartheid, which at the absolute minimum means complete defunding and blocking any weapons sales from US corporations, as well as delivering more aid with or without Israeli cooperation.
I’ve never understood the trope about Israel being a small percentage of the world’s population. It seems to imply that there is something necessarily irrational and sinister about showing interest or concern about the activities of a small population simply because it’s small. Or that somehow because a population is small it must not have any meaningful power. But that is entirely contrary to the history of the world. For most of human history, most power has been held by very very very very few people. Power has been concentrated.
Spartans subjugated and terrorized a larger population, the helots. Aristocracies and Priesthoods through Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas ruled over large populations. The British empire, spanned across the world in the early 20th century, its colonies subjugated and controlled by a tiny island off the coast of Europe. Hundreds of millions of people were controlled by a much much smaller population. South African apartheid was partially defined by the fact that the ruling population was smaller than the population that was subjugated. There is absolutely nothing unique or surprising or special about the fact that Israel may have more power relative to its population size. Its banal.
But for the population that it is influencing the most, the US, it should be of utmost importance to its citizens because Israel, and Zionists specifically (primarily Christian and Jewish), have captured the levers of US foreign policy and are now using them to create a humanitarian catastrophe. The population size of Zionists (or Israel) is irrelevant with regard to their (or its) power. Your statement is as irrational and contemptible as if a British colonist had told an Indian “last time I checked England is a tiny Island with a small population and India is huge with a massive population, don’t be so obsessed with England!” Do you think just Americans shouldn’t care about what tiny Israel does with billions of our taxes or are you just as contemptuous toward the Gazans who the Israeli government is currently systematically starving?
The world is certainly not obsessed with Israel; if it were, Israel’s genocide would have been stopped already. The world should pay a lot more attention to it. I’ll help with that. Thanks for inspiring me more.
Mary, the only reason the "world is obsessed" with Israel is because it is evident that Israel is committing war crimes & acts of war. Israel has bombed a refugee camp, bombed aid workers, & bombed a foreign embassy. Israel is in the wrong here.
Israeli settlers regularly take their entire families along to block aid from Gaza (See Jeremy Loffredo's Grayzone "Kill Them All" video.) There have been additional videos of Israeli settlers actually destroying aid by dumping it out on the ground or setting it on fire.
Please enlighten us all to Qatar's influence over Congress Critters sufficient to inspire a bill that criminalizes the teachings of the New Testament.
We're all ears, Mary.
Where does AIPAC fit in all of this?
There are already so many interlocking organizations that we mostly left out the private financing side of the public-private partnership. But the Israeli-American Council (IAC) has historically been much closer to Concert than AIPAC. IAC's first CEO, Sagi Balasha, was also the first CEO of Concert, circa 2016 to 2018, and subsequently the CFO of CyberWell. And Adam Milstein, a co-founder of IAC, is a CyberWell board member and a funder and/or board member of many Concert partners.
Thank you. For the past 30 years or so all I was really aware of was AIPAC and some nebulous concept sometimes I’ve heard referred to as “J Street”.
I am under the impression that Pat Buchanan was destroyed by AIPAC but I could be wrong.
Thanks again, this is a frighteningly informative piece.
Wait - I thought it was the Russians...
“Small suggested one line of argumentation, that political Islam "wants to kill Jews, it wants to subjugate women, it wants to kill all gay people."”
If a person were to suggest that “political Judaism” wanted to subjugate all gentiles, I’d wager Small would call that anti-Semitism.
Very detailed and informative. Yeah, it's the Russians who influence American elections. I was thinking about foreign influence years ago, before Oct 7th. The members of Congress(whores) took an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution. Not serve foreign governments. Inforturnately, most members of Congress ought to be impeached due to helping a foreign power control the American people.
We have morphed into the United States of Israel.
Oy vey!