When voters in Pennsylvania head to the polls this November to elect a new senator, Bill Kristol and his newly launched outfit want to make sure that the issue uppermost in the voters’ considerations is how great a friend of Israel their next senator will be — this is the first assignment adopted by the Emergency Committee for Israel (“we’re the pro-Israel wing of the pro-Israel community,” says Kristol) which is running this ad on Fox News and CNN:
This ad follows in the footsteps of an ad run earlier this year (before Congressman Joe Sestak won the Democratic primary) which says “keeping Israel safe helps keep America safe.”
For people like Bill Kristol and the rest of the gang that makes up the Israel lobby, keeping Israel safe keeps America safe, is a strong expression of the unbreakable bond that Israel’s Democratic and Republican subordinates all like to celebrate. Yet for others — and this may turn out to include a plurality of Pennsylvania voters — this is a message that has more than a hint of a mafia protection racket threat. If you want to sleep comfortably in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, you’d better take care of Israel. It’s quite a sinister message.
Meanwhile, as Kristol’s emergency committee works to shore up the unbreakable bond between Pennsylvania and Israel, it seems like another bond — one they might have imagined would need no defense — is showing signs of disrepair.
In a report on discrimination against Palestinians in Jerusalem, Fox News veered dangerously off message. (H/t Matt Duss at Think Progress.)
When Joe Sestak won the Democratic primary in May, Jon Delano, political director of KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, noted: “Sestak has done this all on his own. He has had no support from the Washington crowd. None whatsoever. This is a victory that he can savor all by himself.”
As the mid-term elections approach, the Israel lobby imagines it can leverage disenchantment with Obama in support of its cause, yet to the extent that the election is a contest between Washington insiders and outsiders, the lobby, as a pillar of the Washington establishment, will find itself on the wrong side of the divide.
I questioned then Admiral Sestak about Israel back on October 7th, 2006, at an on-line forum at firedoglake. Here’s our exchange:
“Ed*ard Teller @
56
“Adm. Sestak said in # 34: we can bring the parties together… but without negotiating with any terrorist government.
ET (me): “First of all, I find this characterization of the current Palestinian government highly offensive, let alone inaccurate. The Palestinian people voted for what they perceived to be the only viable alternative to the corruption of the relic of Arafat’s rule. What would you have had them do back last winter, Admiral?
“Secondly, every day in Southern Lebanon another kid is going to have his or her hands and arms blown off by a cluster sub-munition left behind by our “valued ally” – as you characterize Israel, a country with whom we have no alliances. Had you been in the House last September, Admiral, would you have voted to replenish the cluster bomb arsenal of Israel with no hold on how such weapons will be used in the future?”
SESTAK: “I do find Israel a valued ally. I believe that once Israel and Palestine come together in a peaceful accord both together will be valued allies. I believe Israel has the right to exist, and negotiations cannot proceed with a government that says no to that. But I do believe that the people of Palestine, who have shown their frustrations with their conditions… are people that we must support until we can bring together those parties in the Middle East that are willing to work towards a just peace.”
link:
http://firedoglake.com/2006/10/07/blue-america-joe-sestak-knows-how-to-make-america-stronger-and-safer/
The best honest way to protect the Jewish People is to hold those that commit crimes against humanity responsible for their crimes, regardless of their ethnic calling. Any supposed representative of the People of the United States that support the obvious crimes of the government of Israel is not worthy to hold any US representative office and should be banned from holding future office. The Israel government should be censored for it’s very many crimes against humanity beginning with their attacks on our USS Liberty, investigated for any part they had in the attacks of September 11, 2001, as well as their crimes against the People of Gaza and the West Bank. They will continue their outragious crimes against humanity until they are held responsible for their crimes.
All my friends and I will be there to clear Kristol’s BS through MEANINGFUL DIALOGUE, I assure you. He has reached Horowitz’s low level of get paid to play the reckless opportunist hyper-Zionist for tips. This is a criminal act against American Jews for it aggravates the suspicions of others when a man who served his nation in the military and Congress should now be denied a Senate seat because “Israel is our ally”? The ad is made by a pro-war in Mideast chickenhawk who, every time he gets on call-in shows, is attacked as a sunshine warrior by vets and their families. His stock answer is “that’s obscene.” Well he should know what obscene is better than anyone. Let’s recall that Sestak is running for the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Senate, not for the Knesset. Because Kristol is unemployable, he is now running mailbox orgs for Saban’s hyper-Zionism. For this his plump little man CREATING anti-Semitism is his only employment. Some day someone is going to really get past his lack of dignity, show him up and make him get a REAL job as a dishwasher in a Kosher restaurant. The only thing left for Kristol that he hasn’t done yet is porn!
kristol another one for w, sarah, and t baggers
Sestak is a good man, one who wants peace. He knows that the current government of Israel is a rightwing one, and wants to get it to stop building settlements, and negotiate. That’s going to help Jews, Palestinians and America.
This despicable ad is another example of the Israel Lobby thinking it can walk into a situation and speak for all Jews, and intimidate people. That doesn’t fly anymore, and it could provoke a dangerous reaction.
Kristol needs to be defeated soundly. I’m going to send money to Sestak. I’m tired of big lobbies intimidating everybody. Kristol is playing with fire, he is misrepresenting and outright lying, and Americans need to defeat him.
Sestak for the Senate! Peace in Israel/Palestine is in America’s interest! Sestak has presidential potential someday, and I want to see him get a chance in the Senate!