How Netanyahu Pulls Trump’s Strings

Special Report: It turns out that Hillary Clinton was partly correct: President Trump is a “puppet,” but his puppet master isn’t Russian President Putin but Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, reports Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry

In the final presidential debate of 2016, Hillary Clinton famously called Donald Trump the “puppet” of Russian President Vladimir Putin. But what’s increasingly clear is that Trump has a more typical puppet master for a U.S. politician – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

President Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York on Sept. 18, 2017. (Screenshot from Whitehouse.gov)

Since Sept. 18, when the two men met in New York around the United Nations General Assembly, Netanyahu has been pulling Trump’s strings on almost every foreign policy issue. Arguably, the puppet/puppeteer relationship began much earlier, but I’ve been told that Trump bridled early on at Netanyahu’s control and even showed a few signs of rebellion.

For instance, Trump initially resisted Netanyahu’s demand for a deeper U.S. commitment in Syria by ordering the shutdown of the CIA operation supporting anti-government rebels, along with the Trump administration’s statement that U.S. policy no longer sought “regime change” in Damascus.

Immediately after that announcement, Netanyahu had some success in getting Trump to reverse direction and fire 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian air base on April 6. The attack followed what one intelligence source told me was a staged chemical weapons incident by Al Qaeda operatives in the rebel-controlled town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province, possibly using sarin delivered via drone from a Saudi/Israeli special operations base in Jordan. Yet, although apparently duped by the subterfuge into the missile strike, Trump still balked at a complete reversal of his Syrian policy.

Then, in May, Trump picked Saudi Arabia and Israel as his first overseas trip as president – essentially following the advice of his son-in-law Jared Kushner – but I’m told he came away feeling somewhat humiliated by the over-the-top treatment that involved him getting pulled into a ceremonial sword dance in Saudi Arabia and facing condescension from Netanyahu.

So, over the summer, Trump listened to advice about a possible major overhaul of U.S. foreign policy that would have checked Israeli/Saudi regional ambitions, opened diplomatic doors to Iran, and addressed the Korean crisis by brokering negotiations between the North and the South over some form of loose confederation.

There was even the possibility of a Nixon-goes-to-China moment with tough-guy Trump meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the two countries restoring diplomatic ties, a process that could have given U.S. companies a better chance to compete in the Iranian market.

Those proposed moves had the advantage of reducing international tensions, saving the U.S. government money on future military adventures, and freeing U.S. corporations from the tangle of economic sanctions – exactly the “America First” strategy that Trump had promised his working-class base.

However, instead Netanyahu succeeded in pulling Trump’s strings during their conversations on Sept. 18 in New York, although exactly how is still a mystery to some people close to these developments. One source said the Kushner family real-estate company has exposure to substantial Israeli financing that could be yanked, although Jared Kushner’s financial disclosure form only lists a $5 million unsecured line of credit, held jointly with his father, from the Israel Discount Bank.

Trump also has major pro-Netanyahu donors to his political war chest and his legal defense fund who are strong advocates for war with Iran, including casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson, who has plowed $35 million into the pro-Trump Super PAC Future 45 and has publicly called for dropping a nuclear bomb on Iran as a negotiating tactic. So, Netanyahu had a number of potential strings to pull.

Going on Rants

Whatever the precise reasons, on Sept. 19, Trump turned his maiden speech to the U.N. General Assembly into a war-like rant, personally insulting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as “Rocket Man,” threatening to “totally destroy” his nation of 25 million people, and parroting Netanyahu’s calls for another regime change project aimed at Iran.

President Trump speaking to the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 19, 2017. (Screenshot from Whitehouse.gov)

Most diplomats in the audience sat in stunned silence as Trump threatened aggressive war from the podium of an organization created to prevent the scourge of war. The one notable exception was Netanyahu who enthusiastically applauded his  success in jerking Trump into the neocon camp.

So, rather than shift U.S. policy away from confrontation, Trump jettisoned the diplomatic strategy although it already had dispatched intermediaries to make contacts with the Iranians and North Koreans. Instead, Trump opted for the classic neocon approach favored by Netanyahu, albeit with Trump dressing up his neocon surrender in some “America First” rhetoric.

The U.N. speech left some of the U.S. intermediaries scrambling to explain to their contacts in Iran and North Korea why Trump had repudiated the messages that they had been carrying. Privately, Trump explained to one that he just liked to “zigzag” and that the intended end point hadn’t change.

Some of these tensions surfaced in late September when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson took the extraordinary step of announcing the behind-the-scenes contacts with North Korea during a state visit to China.

“We are probing, so stay tuned,” Tillerson said. “We ask, ‘Would you like to talk?’ We have lines of communications to Pyongyang — we’re not in a dark situation, a blackout.” Tillerson added, “We have a couple, three channels open to Pyongyang … We do talk to them. ,,, Directly. We have our own channels.”

In reaction to Tillerson’s efforts to salvage the backchannel initiatives, Trump showed that his obeisance to Netanyahu and the neocons outweighed loyalty to either his Secretary of State or the intermediaries who had ventured into dicey situations on Trump’s behalf.

In Twitter messages, Trump belittled the idea of a dialogue with North Korea, tweeting: “I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man.”

“Save your energy Rex,” Trump added, before slipping in another thinly veiled threat of a military strike: “we’ll do what has to be done!”

While on the surface, Trump’s repudiation of Tillerson might have been viewed as another “zigzag,” it is now clear that Trump’s “zigzag” explanation was just another lie. Rather than zigzagging, he is instead following a straight line marked out by Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, in Syria, Netanyahu seems to have won more concessions from Trump. The U.S. military appears to be helping the remnants of Islamist forces still fighting the government, according to Russian officials. Their accusation is that the U.S. is secretly aiding the Islamist terror groups with weapons, tactical advice and aerial reconnaissance.

In other words, Trump appears to be continuing U.S. military intervention in Syria – just as Netanyahu desires.

Falling in Line

Trump further showed that he is following Netanyahu’s marching orders with the extremist speech about Iran on Friday, essentially repeating all the Israeli propaganda lines against Iran and burning whatever bridges remained toward a meaningful diplomatic approach.

President George W. Bush announcing the start of his invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003.

Trump’s Iran speech was so ludicrous it almost defies serious analysis. It ranks with the reckless rhetoric of President George W. Bush when he pronounced an “axis of evil,” with the incongruous linking of Iraq and Iran (two bitter enemies) and North Korea accompanied by Bush’s bogus claims about Iraq’s WMD and Iraq’s alleged collaboration with Al Qaeda.

In Friday’s speech, which looked like the handiwork of John Bolton, one of Bush’s neocon advisers who was seen entering the White House last week, Trump repeated all the nonsense tying Iran to Al Qaeda, presumably thinking that the American people still don’t understand that Al Qaeda is a fanatical Sunni terror group that targets both the West and Shiites, the dominant Muslim faith in Iran, as heretics deserving death.

The inconvenient truth is that Al Qaeda has long been connected to Saudi Arabia, which has supported these fanatics since the 1980s when Saudi citizen Osama bin Laden was supported in his jihad against Soviet troops in Afghanistan, who were there trying to protect a secular regime.

Though officially the Saudi monarchy insists that it is opposed to Al Qaeda, Saudi intelligence has used Al Qaeda as essentially an unconventional fighting force deployed to destabilize and terrorize adversaries in the region and around the world. [For details, see Consortiumnews.com’s “The Need to Hold Saudi Arabia Accountable.”]

As the Israelis have developed a de facto alliance with Saudi Arabia in recent years, they also have expressed a preference for an Al Qaeda victory in Syria if necessary to destroy what Michael Oren, former Ambassador to the U.S. and now a deputy minister under Netanyahu, has described as the Shiite “strategic arc” running from Tehran through Damascus to Beirut.

One of the frequent Israeli complaints about Iran is that it has assisted the sovereign government of Syria in defeating Al Qaeda and its militant allies (as well as Al Qaeda’s spinoff Islamic State), which should tell you a lot about where Netanyahu’s loyalties lie.

A Compromised Media

Yet, as dishonest as Trump’s Iran speech was, the U.S. mainstream media won’t criticize it as harshly as it deserves because virtually all the important journalists and talking heads have swallowed Israel’s anti-Iran propaganda whole. They have frequently repeated the canard about Iran as “the world’s chief sponsor of terrorism” when that title clearly should go to the Saudis and the Qataris if not others.

The New York Times building in Manhattan. (Photo credit: Robert Parry)

The West’s major news outlets also have ingested all the sophisticated propaganda against the Assad government in Syria, particularly the claims about chemical weapons attacks while ignoring evidence that Al Qaeda’s operatives and their “civil defense” collaborators have staged attacks with the goal of provoking a direct U.S. military intervention. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “A New Hole in Syria-Sarin Certainty.”]

In his Friday speech, Trump also touted one of the earliest canards about Iranian “terrorism,” the attack by Lebanese Shiite militants on the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 killing 241 Americans.

When that attack happened, I was working at The Associated Press as an investigative reporter specializing in national security issues. While the precise Iranian role was not clear, what should have been obvious was that the attack was not “terrorism,” which is classically defined as violence toward civilians to achieve a political goal.

Not only were the Marines not civilians but the Reagan administration had made them belligerents in the Lebanese war by the decision to order the USS New Jersey to shell Muslim villages. Reagan’s National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane, who often represented Israel’s interests inside the administration, was the spark plug for this mission creep, which killed Lebanese civilians and convinced Shiite militants that the United States had joined the war against them.

Shiite militants struck back, sending a suicide truck bomber through U.S. security positions, demolishing the high-rise Marine barracks in Beirut. Reagan soon repositioned the surviving U.S. forces offshore. At the AP, I unsuccessfully argued against calling the Beirut attack “terrorism,” a word that other news organizations also sloppily applied. But even senior Reagan officials recognized the truth.

“When the shells started falling on the Shiites, they assumed the American ‘referee’ had taken sides,” Gen. Colin Powell wrote in his memoir, My American Journey. In other words, Powell, who was then military adviser to Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, recognized that the actions of the U.S. military had altered the status of the Marines in the eyes of the Shiites.

(Although this “terrorism” is always blamed on Hezbollah, the group did not officially come into existence until 1985 as a resistance movement against the Israeli occupation of Lebanon which did not end until 2000.)

Opposed to Putin

So, Trump is now on the path to wars with both North Korea and Iran, neither of which Russian President Putin favors. Putin, who played a key role in helping President Obama achieve the Iran-nuclear agreement, now sides with the Europeans in opposition to Trump’s decertification.

President Barack Obama meets with President Vladimir Putin of Russia on the sidelines of the G20 Summit at Regnum Carya Resort in Antalya, Turkey, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015. National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice listens at left. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Putin also favors a prompt end to the Syrian conflict with the defeat of Al Qaeda and its allies, and he wants peaceful negotiations with North Korea over its desire for security against threatened American aggression. Trump is on the opposite side of all these Putin priorities.

In other words, not only does the Russia-gate hysteria have core evidentiary problems – both on the issues of “hacking” Democratic emails and claims about suspected “Russia-linked” entities paying for an infinitesimal number of ads on social media (including some about puppies and another promoting a critical documentary about Donald Trump’s golf course in Scotland) – but Trump is behaving in ways that are directly contrary to Putin’s desires and interests.

If indeed Clinton were right that Trump was Putin’s “puppet,” then he would have agreed to negotiations to address the North Korean crisis; would have accepted constructive diplomacy toward Iran; and would have ended all U.S. support for the Syrian militants and encouraged a quick end to the bloodletting.

Instead, Trump is moving in opposite directions, lining up with Netanyahu and the neocons, whom some European allies refer to as “America’s Israeli agents.” Although dressing up his capitulation to Netanyahu in tough-guy phrasing, Trump is doing what most U.S. politicians do – they grovel before Bibi Netanyahu.

And, if you have any doubts about that reality, you can watch how often both Republicans and Democrats jump to their feet when Netanyahu addresses a joint session of Congress, an honor that he has received three times, tying him with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Those moments of American humiliation – as almost all 535 members of Congress act like puppets on invisible strings – represent the actual subservience of the U.S. government to a foreign power. And that power is not Russia.

President Trump is just the latest American politician to have his strings yanked by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America’s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com).

138 comments for “How Netanyahu Pulls Trump’s Strings

  1. bill
    October 21, 2017 at 17:15

    911 is still the Biggy

  2. GeorgeNotBush
    October 20, 2017 at 21:10

    Putin is happy not having Hillary, even happier watching Trump drive the US into a ditch.

    But Bibi is Ventriloquist in chief.

  3. Zachary Smith
    October 20, 2017 at 11:54

    “You can get hurricane relief money — if you don’t boycott Israel, Texas town says”

    The city of Dickinson, Texas, located about 30 miles southeast of Houston, recently posted applications online for relief grants “from the funds that were generously donated to the Dickinson Harvey Relief Fund,” the city’s website says. The application, however, includes a provision requiring applicants to promise not to boycott Israel.

    Section 11 of the four page document is titled, “Verification not to Boycott Israel.”

    The text reads: “By executing this Agreement below, the Applicant verifies that the Applicant: (1) does not boycott Israel; and (2) will not boycott Israel during the term of this Agreement.”

    What will the Zionists do next? Make me sign such a form at the doctor’s office? At the BMV to get my license plate? Why not put this in the fine print on the State and Federal tax forms?

    Anybody claiming that Holy Israel hasn’t made a power grab in the entire US is either a clueless idiot or a propagandist for the cesspool little nation.

    h**p://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article179915446.html#storylink=cpy

    • bill
      October 21, 2017 at 17:18

      this to me shows the complete control Israel now has over ALL aspects of the USA s political system . AIPAC is your real enemy , 911 is still the Biggy.

  4. October 19, 2017 at 15:05

    It is a sad and bitter irony indeed that perhaps the most dangerous, vicious, evil and vile criminal leader in the Middle East wasn’t from Iraq, or Libya, but in fact from Israel. Clearly so much of the violence and hatred and terrorism is a direct result of the crimes and atrocities committed by Israel. It would have been far better to have removed the nuclear weapons from Israel in 2001 and forced Israel back to the Pre1967 borders as mandated by international law instead of destroying 2/3’s of the entire Middle East killing millions, turning 10’s of millions into refugees, reducing entire cities to rubble, spending more than 7 Trillion dollars. The world in general and America in particular would have become a far better place than it is today.

    • bill
      October 21, 2017 at 17:19

      I’m %100 in agreement with you , AIPAC is the enemy with in the USA , 911 is still the Biggy.

  5. george Archers
    October 19, 2017 at 09:25

    Donald Trump’s strings are not pulled by anyone. He is an elected stooge for the so called God’s Chosen ones. Poor decent Jimmy Cater got the boot one term because he did not go along with the Zionist dream.
    If a president does not go along, finished in one term or worse JFK hit.

  6. ed
    October 19, 2017 at 00:51

    I believe you overstate your, theories.

    It is the Jesuits and the Fascist International, that control CIA and Israel, not to mention the United States.

    Borman Financial Network, pulls the corporate strings for Fascist structure that has the World in hand.

    The United Nations is the Administrator for the New World Order….Agenda 21.

    It is important to know the Players and not point to the usual suspects.

    • bill
      October 21, 2017 at 17:21

      well stated sir . 911 is still the Biggy & Israel was the perpetrator’s no matter who was behind them.

    • Abe
      October 24, 2017 at 14:01

      Inverted Hasbara (false flag “anti-Israel”) propaganda trolls “ed” and “bill” obviously enjoy their orgy of “conspiracy theory”.

      Hasbara “ed” gets off on Lyndon LaRouche’s loquaciousness.

      Hasbara “bill” gets jiggy (7 times and counting) with “911 is still the Biggy”.

      Predictably, Hasbara “bill” thinks that La Rouche conspiracy bilge from Hasbara “ed” is “well stated”.

      Even more predictably, Hasbara “bill” is certain that “Israel was the perpetrator’s [sic]” of “the biggy”.

      Conspiracy theories blaming Israel began to appear within 24 hours of the 9/11 attacks.

      Contrary to conspiracy theories about Jews being warned not to go to work that day, a number of Jews died in the attacks.

      The 12 September 2001 internet edition of the Jerusalem Post had stated, “The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem has so far received the names of 4,000 Israelis believed to have been in the areas of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon at the time of the attacks.” Unknown conspiracy theorists apparently seized upon the 4,000 figure, transforming it into the false claim that 4,000 Jews did not report for work at the World Trade Center on September 11.

      Other conspiracy theorists claimed that no Israeli nationals died in the September 11 attacks. In his 20 September 2001 “war on terror” address to a joint session of Congress, president George W. Bush claimed “more than 130 Israelis” died in the attacks. In fact, only 5 Israelis died.

      There are many factual reasons to doubt numerous aspects of the official account the the 9/11 attacks.

      However, the claim that “Israel did 9/11” is an Inverted Hasbara (false flag “anti-Israel”) propaganda meme used to divert investigation of facts concerning Israel.

      Israel is implicated in several controversies associated with the 9/11 attacks, including extensive evidence of Israeli espionage activity in the United States.

      In March 2001, the Office of Security of the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a 61-page report describing in some detail the attempts of approximately 125 or more nationals of a foreign country, most posing as art students, “to penetrate several DEA Field Offices in the continental United States.” Many of these individuals also visited the residences of numerous DEA officials and “other agencies’ facilities and the residences of their employees.” The DEA Report states that “these incidents have occurred since at least the beginning of 2000, and have continued to the present.”

      These were ongoing activities in the summer of 2001 and by the date of 9/11, 140 Israelis had been arrested. Some of them were posing as Art students. Most of the suspects served in military intelligence, electronic surveillance intercept units of the Israeli army.

      The DEA’s Office of Security concluded that the Israelis “may well be engaged in organized intelligence gathering.”
      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/1387069/US-arrests-200-young-Israelis-in-spying-investigation.html

      An Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) spokesman stated that dozens of these Israelis were expelled from the United States (from California, the Midwest, Florida and other states), usually for visa violations.

      There are many other concerns about the 9/11 attacks that involve Israel.

      But the Inverted Hasbara propaganda trolls “ed” and “bill” aren’t interested in any fact-based discussions.

      There’s an investigation of how Netanyahu pulls Trump’s strings, so “ed” and “bill” are eager to change the subject.

  7. Typingperson
    October 17, 2017 at 19:35

    So usually I avoid talking to my sister about politics, but last night she brought up and criticized a Smirnoff vodka ad poking fun at Russiagate. I’d just read this piece, was pissed off, and couldn’t help challenging her.

    BTW, she is pro-Clinton liberal and stays abreast of MSM–reads NYT and The Nation, watches MSNBC.

    Odd, I said, that people are so in a lather re nonsense of Russia influencing U.S. foreign policy and politics–and none of these same people are concerned re Israel’s actual powerful influence. They are freaking out that Trump is a puppet of Putin when really he’s a puppet of Netanyahu!!

    Huh?, she responded. I gave examples-US wars in ME cause that’s what Israel wants, Trump trying to back out of Iran deal cause that’s what Netanyahu wants, and I explained Israel’s motivation–wants to sabotage all other powers in the region. Noted that Trump and Clinton’s biggest backers are Zionist billionaires and it’s bi-partisan subservience ETC.

    She told me that my belief that Israel controls US foreign policy and politics in major ways “sounds like a conspiracy theory.” She still buys Russiagate, btw.

    You can’t make this up. This country has jumped the shark.

    • bill
      October 21, 2017 at 17:22

      she needs help, quickly.

  8. Michael K Rohde
    October 17, 2017 at 15:17

    It is hard to disagree with this assessment. I still get angry when I think about Bibi addressing our Congress without being invited by our elected president. Even Tom Friedman manned up and admitted it was AIPAC humiliating our CEO for the benefit of Israel. I could have been persuaded to oil up the ole M-14 and charge that day. I simply couldn’t believe that elected American congress people of both parties could conspire to do such a thing. Foreign influence? This is way beyond simple influence. This is the elected president of our country which has given that country 300 billion and counting coming here and embarrassing a sitting president. Against our president’s wishes. When you are comfortable with that foreign influence but are ready to go to war over this fabricated Russia-gate nonsense, I question your attachments. Because you seem to be more concerned about israel than the U.S. And I live here and fought for that privilege. These people seem to think that supporting foreign intervention at the behest of israel is proper American patriotism. I will be polite and say I disagree rather than call them traitors.

    • bill
      October 21, 2017 at 17:30

      AIPAC IS THE REAL ENEMY , 911 is still the Biggy & Israel was perpetrators of the largest attack on the USA in history, that sir to me as a NZer this is the most pressing subject that the US MSM seems to bury at all costs. Get to the truth & I see the USA come back to what I believe all Americans want as citizens in a FREE country, A proud leading light to the world not a puppet tp Israel’s agenda

  9. October 17, 2017 at 08:39

    RE: “You can watch how often both Republicans and Democrats jump to their feet when Netanyahu addresses a joint session of Congress . . . Those moments of American humiliation – as almost all 535 members of Congress act like puppets on invisible strings – represent the actual subservience of the U.S. government to a foreign power.” ~ Parry

    SEE: “Bibi and the Yo-Yos”, by Uri Avnery, Antiwar.com, 05/26/11
    [EXCERPT] It was all rather disgusting.
    There they were, the members of the highest legislative bodies of the world’s only superpower, flying up and down like so many yo-yos, applauding wildly, every few minutes or seconds, the most outrageous lies and distortions of Binyamin Netanyahu.
    It was worse than the Syrian parliament during a speech by Bashar Assad, where anyone not applauding could find himself in prison. Or Stalin’s Supreme Soviet, when showing less than sufficient respect could have meant death.
    What the American Senators and Congressmen feared was a fate worse than death. Anyone remaining seated or not applauding wildly enough could have been caught on camera – and that amounts to political suicide. It was enough for one single congressman to rise and applaud, and all the others had to follow suit. Who would dare not to?
    The sight of these hundreds of parliamentarians jumping up and clapping their hands, again and again and again and again, with the Leader graciously acknowledging with a movement of his hand, was reminiscent of other regimes. Only this time it was not the local dictator who compelled this adulation, but a foreign one.
    The most depressing part of it was that there was not a single lawmaker – Republican or Democrat – who dared to resist. When I was a 9 year old boy in Germany, I dared to leave my right arm hanging by my side when all my schoolmates raised theirs in the Nazi salute and sang Hitler’s anthem. Is there no one in Washington DC who has that simple courage? Is it really Washington IOT – Israel Occupied Territory – as the anti-Semites assert? . . .
    ENTIRE COMMENTARY – http://original.antiwar.com/avnery/2011/05/25/bibi-and-the-yo-yos/

    • Joe Tedesky
      October 17, 2017 at 09:48

      Very good comment, J Lewis Dickerson. Joe

    • bill
      October 21, 2017 at 17:35

      %100 agree, if ever there was proof of AIPACs corrupt,bribing,blackmailing control over the US Congress there it was . As a NZer I was embarrassed for all Americans at the ars licking spectacle of the power of Israel’s influence on the USAs political agenda .God help the USA. ..911 is still the Biggy.

  10. Abe
    October 16, 2017 at 23:56

    Israeli leaders, starting with the first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, have been telling Jews that the “Arabs” want to “drive the Jews into the sea” in order to maintain a state based on ethnic cleansing that makes non-Jews second-class citizens under the law.

    Most people around the world agree that it is wrong for a state to discriminate against an ethnic group. When they become aware of the basic facts of the situation in Israel-Palestine, they have no problem understanding that the Palestinian refugees should be allowed to return, even if that means Jews are no longer a majority.

    However, every nation is ruled by a wealthy and privileged dominating elite.

    Ruling elites in the United States and Israel, Saudi Arabia and the other monarchies of the Persian Gulf, and Europe are deeply invested in international financial institutions and transnational corporations that benefit from the prevailing conflict in myriad ways.

    Here’s a globalization perspective on the Israel Lobby:

    “the reason the Israel lobby is powerful and has so much support from American politicians is because the American ruling class WANTS it to be powerful; it uses the lobby to punish any aspiring politician who might wander off the approved path and say something critical about Israel’s ethnic cleansing. The fact that the entire U.S. ruling class wants Congress to be pro-Israel is the CAUSE, and the fact that virtually all its members are pro-Israel is the EFFECT, not the other way around […] if any billionaires wanted to destroy the Israel lobby they could, and would, Congress be damned! They simply don’t want to. They have no reason to. The lobby is doing their bidding. And Congress is just the way they like it.

    “The Dog That Didn’t Bark

    “The fact that not a single American billionaire has lifted a finger (‘barked’) to destroy the Israel lobby–even though they could easily do so by just telling the public the sordid truth about Israel’s ruling class–is the dog that didn’t bark”

    Why U.S. Billionaires Could Destroy the Israel Lobby, But Don’t
    By John Spritzler
    https://www.opednews.com/articles/Why-U-S-Billionaires-Coul-by-John-Spritzler-Class_Israel-And-Palestine_Israel-And-Us-Relations_Israeli-Racism-171016-725.html

    • Vesuvius
      October 17, 2017 at 06:59

      Abe, thanks for the link to John Spritzler’s homepage.

      Mr Spritzler develops his theory in many words, maybe too many.
      However, applying Occam’s razor-theorema I believe the more simple theory, or rather simple observation, is better and quite valid: The ruling Zionists in Israel have managed to create a situation in which little Israel can control Mighty Uncle Sam in many ways, and at will. In USA, they have a formidable “fifth-column” doing their everyday work.

      Professors Mearsheimer and Walt were quite right in the 2007 book “The Israel Lobby”, and they are even more right today. The relation between Israel and USA is an exact description of the saying “tail wagging the dog”.

      Also, I want to refer to Alison Weir’s “If Americans Knew”. Ms Weir’s book “Against Our Better Judgment” gives the story on how the Zionists managed to create this absurd situation — costing US taxpayers dearly.

      • bill
        October 21, 2017 at 17:42

        Formidable is not the word I would use – ‘complete control’ is more to the point , Bribery, assassinations , blackmail I could go on…911 is still the Biggy . As the retired General said ” If the American public really new what happened on 911 Israel would cease to exist “…AIPAC is the real enemy within.

  11. Alireza
    October 16, 2017 at 23:13

    Good Job! Keep Going!

  12. Zachary Smith
    October 16, 2017 at 20:01

    I’ve known for years that Israel OWNs both houses of the US Congress, and it is becoming increasingly clear that Trump is a pet poodle too. I guess I ought not be surprised to find out that at the US State level the same thing is true.

    “ACLU sues over Kansas law banning contracts with Israel boycotters”

    The American Civil Liberties Union is asking a federal court to strike down a new Kansas law banning state contracts with anyone who boycotts Israel.

    House Bill 2409 prohibits state agencies and departments from contracting with any person or company who is boycotting Israel. The state requires written certification from service, supply, IT and construction contractors that they aren’t boycotting the Jewish state.

    Are the Kansas legislators Zionists themselves? Or are they just on the payroll? The US taxpayers fund a multi-billion dollar Annual Allowance for Israel. The loathsome little state recycles a few percent of that (US legislators aren’t expensive!) to buy what we thought were people working for us, the voters. The money keeps rolling in for Israel, and the politician-critters continue to line up to kiss the heiny of the Zionist Apartheid state.

    Sweet deal, if you leave out US taxpayers, US soldiers, and the Palestinians.

  13. Abe
    October 16, 2017 at 16:23

    “the US State Department itself reported to the US House Speaker Paul Ryan in April 2017 that ‘Iran is compliant through April 18th with its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.’ That Iran has been meeting all conditions set by the deal has also been verified by IAEA six times since January 2016. What is even more significant to note here is that the US’ major political, defence and intelligence officials have said that there has not been a single violation of the deal’s terms by Iran, confirming their intelligence reports that suggest that no breach has taken place. Even if there had occurred some violations, the outcome of these violations actually proved the accord’s efficacy: the IAEA quickly detected each and Iran remedied it accordingly. Even the US president hasn’t said a word about Iran breaching the deal’s terms. Instead his emphasis has been on Iran being a ‘sponsor’ of terrorism in the region—something that the US sees is due to Iran’s economic recovery after sanctions were lifted, and its ability to translate its re-gained economic wealth into direct and indirect military power.

    “Not only is this claim unfounded and a part of malicious Saudia-Israeli propaganda, but also self-contradictory. Iran has been on the forefront of war against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, knowing very well that if these terror outfits are not defeated, their next target will very well be Iran. This is why Iran has even ‘wrecked’ its economy to fight this war. Certainly, Russia and China have helped Iran fight this war because of the high possibility of the US and Saudia funded Sunni jihad spreading its tentacles from Syria to East Asia, thus putting the Russia and China led programmes of Eurasian integration and New Silk Roads into serious jeopardy.

    “Decertification of the nuke-deal is, therefore, a step towards re-imposition of sanctions to prevent Iran’s economic recovery and restrict its ability to project power directly and indirectly in the Middle East. As such, while the relaxation of US, European Union and UN nuclear-related sanctions has allowed Iran to regain oil market share, recover billions in frozen assets and attract foreign direct investment, implementation of this part of the deal has been even more problematic. While Iran committed some violations and was accordingly corrected, violations committed by the US remain, to date, un-corrected. According to a report of International Crisis Group, ‘there have been more serious problems with sanctions relief. Iran still lacks normal international banking ties, as major financial institutions remain circumspect, hampering its reintegration into the global economy and dashing inflated public expectations of rapid economic recovery.’

    “As such, if there is one fundamental reason for the deal’s inability to reduce Iran-US enmity, it is the US’ inability to allow for Iran’s integration into global economy. Who could benefit from such restricted integration isn’t hard to guess. The Saudia-Israel nexus has not only accordingly welcomed the US’ tough talk on Tehran, but also speaking the same language and even using the same words vis-à-vis Iran and the deal. […]

    “Europe is likely to remain in the deal because Iran has committed no violation, because Europe is leaping forward with investment in Iran and because Europe is not speaking, at least at this stage, the Saudi-Israeli language.”

    How Decertifying Iran Deal is Trump’s Stupidest Decision?
    By Salman Rafi Sheikh
    https://journal-neo.org/2017/10/16/how-decertifying-iran-deal-is-trump-s-stupidest-decision/

  14. Glib
    October 16, 2017 at 14:17

    Nah, even SG Nasrallah has admitted that US runs Israel, not the reverse.

    • Abe
      October 16, 2017 at 16:47

      On August 31, 2017, Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of the Hezbollah party in Lebanon, stated that “Israel and the US’s dreams in the region are based on ISIS and they are collapsing” and that resistance to the terrorist assaults on Syria, Iraq and Lebanon has “thwarted the American-Israeli plan in the region”.

      The “Glib” claim “US runs Israel, not the reverse” is pure Hasbara monkeyshine.

      The swipe at Nasrallah is telltale given the announced Israeli plan to attack both Lebanon and Syria.

      Hasbara propaganda desperately attempts to divert attention from the workings of the Israel Lobby, which admittedly is deeply embedded in the US military–industrial–congressional complex (MICC). The U.S. Congress forms the third side of the iron triangle.

      The Israel Lobby influences the entire network of contracts and flows of money and resources among individuals as well as corporations and institutions of the defense contractors, private military contractors, The Pentagon, the Congress and executive branch.

  15. Vesuvius
    October 16, 2017 at 12:30

    Alas, the years are long gone since the British Colonies on the North-Eastern rim of the North-American Continent made a rebellion against their King in London, George III, to form a New, Independent State. But how did this new State of the Free assume in its turn, a colonial situation — and why? — under a new and quite different Master, situated in a world even more ancient than Old Britain?

  16. October 16, 2017 at 12:12

    Well, it has been one of the big surprises for people who had some limited hopes for Trump.

    He seemed a maverick independent who might just make a few important changes in the years of Neocon madness in American foreign policy.

    But, no, there’s no chance of anything like that.

    Trump has jumped in with both feet into the Neocons’ pool party, a pool kept filled with fresh human blood.

    He really has proved the most remarkable coward, at least as great as the smiling Nobel Peace Prize winner who bombed people every day for 8 years.

    Noise and blubbering and threats – that’s all this mediocrity seems capable of.

  17. Hide Behind
    October 16, 2017 at 10:26

    Having no loyalty to any singular nation, Theology, monetary system or race and creed, I find much to admire in the acts of self advancement and protection of the Israeli/Jewish peoples.
    The continuity of Judaism, you cannot have Zionism as a stand alone, stems from knowing human fragility and exploiting it; and while doing so they never seem to enrich a singular personage but spread their successes among all of their followers.
    Who singular or grouping as national leaders, does not owe and dispense favors, that is what politics is.
    In US today when true small buisness are necoming almost extinct, that to advance ones personal station, especially in corporate, educational and military fields does not depend upon the art of politics.
    Israels’Judaic roots wether true or built upon false memes implanted in generations upon generations of minds matters greatly as to explaining their success in a dog eat dog world.
    The concepts of leadership is far different in cultures outside the Euro Centric nations, and those attached to the Israeli/ Judaic/Zionist following are masters of art of leadership.

    • anon
      October 16, 2017 at 19:28

      If zionist Jews had a culture of efficient self-protection, they would not have put Israel in Palestine, would not take self-protection to the point of injuring others and creating enemies, would not adopt a fascist theocracy in Israel, would always ensure neighborly conduct, would not outrage Americans by taking over mass media and elections, etc.

      Zionism is fascism, not self-protection. They are just as admirable as Nazis.

    • Michael K Rohde
      October 17, 2017 at 15:42

      It is nice to hear about your lack of loyalty to anything. But I think you misstate your true position. It is as clear as your words. You clearly attach your loyalty to another country and creed. You just don’t have the courage to admit it.

    • Abe
      October 17, 2017 at 17:38

      Israel’s “masters of art [sic]” of corrupt leadership

      Netanyahu scandals reflect corruption at the heart of Israeli society
      By Jonathan Cook
      http://mondoweiss.net/2017/02/netanyahu-scandals-corruption/

  18. Joe Tedesky
    October 16, 2017 at 09:34

    Possibly we should be speculating a Mike Pence Presidency, or at least that’s what Eric Zuesse does here.

    http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2017/10/mike-pence-become-president-2.html

    Apparently this 25th Amendment thing is still in play, if Eric Zuesse has it right. Zuesse goes into detail with a lot of references to how very right wing Pence is, and Zuesse also warns us of how stupid Pence is as well, besides Trump’s VP being ultra-Conservative.

    If all of this is true, and Zuesse got it right, then it only makes me wonder to when the Democrates will wise up, and get off of this Russia-Gate bull to build a platform reflective of their voters needs. Although Zuesse does make mention of Sanders, or Gabbard, going outside of the Democratic Party with a Third Party candidacy, since both major parties are two birds of the same feather.

    This is how it is in ‘America Reality TV’, and us extras just need to wait for our cue….lights, camera, action, now scream.

  19. Stefan
    October 16, 2017 at 06:08

    Than you Mr Parry, great piece indeed.

  20. exiled off mainstreet
    October 16, 2017 at 01:05

    Bottom line is that Trump was too weak not to be coopted by the Israeli dominated yankee deep state despite some intelligent noises he made during the campaign which separated him from the other GOP rabble. Our best hope is that Trump is so despised by the democrats that they will resist upending the Iran deal in congress despite their also being lackeys for the Jewish state.

  21. J. Longhi
    October 16, 2017 at 00:40

    There was a discernible “about face” in the language of candidate Trump vis-a-vis Israel, after he went to Las Vegas and met with Adelson. That’s when the shift that Robert Parry references occurred. I still find it awesomely hypocritical that we do not refer to Adelson as an agent of a foreign government, just as I find it incredible that a Jarrod Kushner, who walks the walk of a Modern Orthodox Jew (and whose Zionism awaits the realization of a “Greater Israel”) is sent by Trump to mediate between Israel and Palestine as an “honest broker”. The fact that no major news outlet will dare to oppose, let alone examine, these nonsensical pro-Israeli/Saudi policies is enough to make me, a Jew, scream. Where are the feisty progressive Jewish-Americans of yesteryear?

    • Abe
      October 16, 2017 at 21:18

      Trump’s purported “deviation from foreign policy orthodoxy” was a propaganda scam engineered by the Israel Lobby from the very beginning.

      Trump received the “Liberty Award” for his contributions to US-Israel relations at a 3 February 2015 gala hosted by The Algemeiner Journal, a New York-based newspaper, covering American and international Jewish and Israel-related news.

      “We love Israel. We will fight for Israel 100 percent, 1000 percent.”
      VIDEO minutes 2:15-8:06
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiwBwBw7R-U

      After the event, Trump did not renew his television contract for The Apprentice, which raised speculation about a Trump bid for the presidency. Trump announced his candidacy in June 2015.

      Trump’s purported break with GOP orthodoxy, questioning of Israel’s commitment to peace, calls for even treatment in Israeli-Palestinian deal-making, and refusal to call for Jerusalem to be Israel’s undivided capital, were all stage-managed for the campaign.

      Cheap theatrics notwithstanding, the Netanyahu regime in Israel has unconditional support from the Trump regime.

      1000-percenter Trump’s “erratic behavior” is a Hasbara propaganda script.

  22. Curious
    October 16, 2017 at 00:12

    Mr Parry, finally you articulate the truth between the US ‘puppets’ and Israel who, for some reason, have the weight and the strings to pull our politicians away from their US responsibilities and focus primarily on what is best for Israel. Thank you for the analysis. The network between Israel and the US has to be clarified, analyzed, and defeated if the US has a chance for relevance and a measure of ethics and authority.
    This is the first article I’ve seen from you where you try to blow off the roof off of the Israeli lies. Maybe the next article should be about ‘how many congressional people have dual citizenship in an advanced country and what are the conflicts of interest which may develop as a result?’
    How many “democracies” the US promotes through wars and criminal procedures also create a political system of dual citizens? I would enjoy that analysis as well. Thank you for the article.
    It is seriously time for the the US to stop the billions feeding Israel. When the politicians talk about “entitlement” or the mythical Reagan “welfare queen” every media person should ask about the entitlement Israel receives from the US. It will shut them up in a NY minute.

    • Antares
      October 16, 2017 at 01:44

      “This is the first article I’ve seen from you where you try to blow off the roof off of the Israeli lies.”
      Otherwise you would not have taken him seriously. Mr. Parry became who he is by writing what others didn’t want to hear. Read the reactions below to see what makes someone hated and mocked by intellectual Americans that read Consortiumnews.

      Let’s imagine that the USA defies the Israeli influence, rethinks its foreign strategy and takes care only to support what is in the best interest of the USA. They will ally with Israel and shoot the hell out of the Arabian peninsula.

      I am still waiting for an alternative version that is not delusive nor the result of wishful thinking.

      • anon
        October 16, 2017 at 19:20

        Your claim that zionism is in the US interest is unsupportable and you offer neither evidence nor argument. That is the mark of the zionist troll.

      • Abe
        October 16, 2017 at 20:13

        Back in June 2017, “Antares” popped up in the CN comments to declare “Don’t blame Israel when you have McCain and Graham.”
        – Deep History of America’s Deep State (June 23, 2017)

        Now “Antares” declares that if “the USA defies the Israeli influence” and takes care of its “best interest” then it will “ally with Israel” and go on yet another military rampage in the Middle East.

        “Antares” showed the hand by repeating the rhetorical phrases “still waiting” and “wishful thinking”.

        So what’s going on here?

        The recent Hasbara troll army propaganda carpet bombing of CN has flopped.

        Conventional Hasbara troll “Vincent Calba” already blew it with the phrases “stlll waiting” and “wishful thinking”
        – Israel’s Stall-Forever ‘Peace’ Plan (September 23, 2017)
        https://consortiumnews.com/2017/09/23/israels-stall-forever-peace-plan/

        Then Conventional Hasbara troll “WC” slid in and tried to mix it up a bit, loudly complaining about “idealistic remedies”, demanding “solutions” for purported “real world” issues, and insisting that the US “depends on a strong Israeli presence”

        The favorite Hasbara phrase of “WC” was “La La Land idealism”
        – How 2nd Amendment Distortions Kill (October 3, 2017) –
        – Challenging the Saudi Air War on Yemen (October 4, 2017)
        – President Zigzag (October 6, 2017) it morphed to “pie in the sky”

        That effort was a flop too.

        Now we have “Antares” ‘splainin’ something about “what makes someone hated and mocked”.

        So what’s going on here?

        Hasbara propaganda trolls just can’t understand why “haters” have to go and mention Israel’s constant military threats against neighboring nations (Lebanon, Syria, Iran), illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, Zionist claims of an “unconditional land grant covenant” for Israel, Israeli support for terrorism in Syria and Iraq, and the workings of the Israel Lobby.

        Specific actors and organizations are responsible for key sectors of the Israel Lobby. To mention one example, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson has been a major donor to Republican candidates up and down the ballot. He spent about $100 million on Republicans in 2012.

        Lindsey Graham ‘kicked off’ the 2016 political season with Adelson at a March 3rd speech-watching luncheon for Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to the US Congress – the event also served as a fundraiser for Graham’s political committee.

        In November 2016, Adelson made a $1.2 million donation to a super PAC linked with John McCain.

        So go blame Graham and McCain and Trump. And please stop all the “hate”.

        What’s really going on here?

        One of the latest Hasbara propaganda tacks is to flaunt Israel Lobby influence as unassailable, claiming that it’s impossible to “imagine” otherwise, and that any talk of an “alternative” is “delusive”.

        Tired of seeing “someone” be “hated and mocked” by those mocking haters “that read Consortiumnews”, “Antares” is “still waiting” and sincerely wishing for an end to “wishful thinking”.

        There is one thing we must admit: “intellectual Americans” sounds a lot nicer and less “anti-Semitic” than the typical Hasbara complaint about “New York Jews” and their “liberal bourgeoise” brand of “paranoia”.

        • Antares
          October 17, 2017 at 10:33

          Thanks for proving my point. I could not have done any better.

          The point that I expressed is more or less what the author has written for years. Did you ever call him a zio-troll?

          Your scape coating is the prime example of Judaist thinking but you dare to call me the zio-troll. You really don’t deserve any better than the lies in the article. I can’t blame Parry at all. He has to make a living in the USA, the most stupid country that the world has ever witnessed.

        • Abe
          October 17, 2017 at 17:23

          Thanks for proving my point. Give Hasbara trolls enough rope and they always hang themselves.

          The point that “Antares” has “expressed” is identical to what other Hasbara troll army members have so fervently “expressed” over the past few weeks.

          The Hasbara propaganda assault on CN remains a flop.

          An interesting side note is use of the phrase “Judaist thinking” (analagous to references about diabolical “New York Jews) inserted by “Antares”.

          Hasbara propaganda operatives, particularly those most affiliated with Revisionist Zionism, use the word “Judaist” as a term of derision against born Jews who don’t buy their propaganda.

          To briefly summarize, a terminological distinction exists in discourse about Jews and “Israel” whereby born Jews are deemed to be either secular “Jews” (who are “Jewish” by way of ethnicity and political sentiment) or religious “Judaists” (who are “Judaic” by way of religious belief and devotional practice).

          “Judaist” is a slur leveled at Jews who dare to raise concerns about Israel’s revisionist history, the ongoing illegal occupation of Palestinian territory, Zionist “settler” violence, Hasbara propaganda worldwide, Israeli segregationist policies, militarism and state terror.

          Contrary to the “resistance is futile” bloviation of Hasbara trolls like “Antares”, the Israel Lobby is not invincible.

          In fact, sectors of the Israel Lobby are enormously anxious about media exposure.

          That why it’s 24/7 Hasbara whack-a-mole in the comments at CN. They keep sending in the clowns.

          • Antares
            October 18, 2017 at 15:27

            Best Abe,

            I am not a troll, let alone a hasbara troll. You are making yourself ridiculous. You say precisely what hasbara trolls told me when I discussed their country.

            Back about the Israeli clout over the USA:
            Then why did the Israeli’s order the F-35?

            (To be honest, they started to wonder whether it was really such a good procurement, recently.)

          • Abe
            October 18, 2017 at 21:29

            American taxpayers fund Israel’s “procurement” of the F-35
            http://mondoweiss.net/2016/12/israels-free-ride/

            The only thing the Israelis are wondering about is how to wring even more military and economic “aid” from the United States.

            Wondering precisely how much longer the US can afford to “ally with Israel”?

            Well, all you ridiculous “haters”, don’t blame Israel for all that Israel Lobby “clout”.

            Next time the US shoots the hell out of everything north of the Arabian peninsula except Al Qaeda and ISIS, blame it on McCain and Graham.

            Best back at you, “Antares”.

            Be sure to “comment” again after you discuss “their country” with those Hasbara trolls in the next cubicle.

  23. D.H. Fabian
    October 15, 2017 at 22:48

    This is even more irrational than the “Russia stole the election” theme — something our liberal bourgeoisie swore was true. Obviously, Trump has shone his contempt for Israel since the time of his campaign. But our liberal bourgeoisie now try to link him with the shady Netanyahu the way they spent the last year trying to link him to the shady Putin. (Either way, be sure to send your urgent donation to the DNC!)

    Take some time to learn about the long history and the people of the Mideast. Israel is the historic and the modern Jewish nation. Jews are indigenous to this bit of land, and no question, Americans have trouble with that whole “indigenous rights” concept. (Both Jews and Arabs are Semites, so the “racist” theme doesn’t work in this case.) Israel is a tiny country, roughly the size of New Jersey, one of our smallest states. It’s the sole Jewish nation, surrounded by vast, oil-rich Arab countries, some of which seek a 100% “pure” Moslem Mideast. Each of these Arab nations are armed to the teeth by Russia, China, and the US. Many people a round the world do not agree that a “fair partitioning” of Israel would be: 100% for the Arabs, 0% for the Jews.

    Want peace in the Mideast? Then get US oil corporations out of the region.

    • Zachary Smith
      October 15, 2017 at 23:30

      Our latest propagandist for the murderous and thieving little hemorrhoid of an apartheid state is much more comfortable with lies than with the truth. And the sheer number of them is daunting.

      This piece reminds me of what’s done on the Creationist front during “debates”. The Gish Gallop involves a flood of verbal diarrhea designed to flood the opponent with an impossible task of refuting the crap. Here the effort involves the written word, but the effect is the same. A remark attributed to W. C. Fields was “‘If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.'”

      The propagandist for the Zionist swine is doing a combination of Gish and Fields here – a flood of lies which will impress the gullible, and overwhelm those who would refute those lies. Either way, the troll wins, for he merely keeps repeating the lies and ignores all the evidence that they are lies.

      h**ps://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Gish_Gallop

      https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Gish_Gallop

      • Sam F
        October 16, 2017 at 19:15

        Well said. The same techniques are used in courts by crooked lawyers.

  24. October 15, 2017 at 22:36

    Article of interest at link below:
    —————————————————-
    Iran Must Be Destroyed
    By Eric Margolis
    October 14, 2017
    https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/10/eric-margolis/iran-must-be-destroyed/

  25. October 15, 2017 at 21:57

    Tweeting and tweeting towards disaster?
    ————————————————–
    October 14, 2017
    The Tweetaholic

    Is there a Tweetaholic in charge of the “free world”?
    Could this twit of a tweeter get us all killed?
    He is the kingpin and chief, of nuclear weapons
    He says he will teach, some countries a lesson

    He tweets and he tweets about this and that
    He tweets and tweets, about “tit for tat”
    He tweets in the morning and tweets at night
    He tweets when it’s dark and during daylight

    This tweeter “supreme” is in charge of it all
    Tweeting, and tweeting, to “build the wall”
    He talks about eating “beautiful chocolate cake”
    And fires 59 missiles: was that a deadly mistake?

    Syria was the target of this illegal war crime
    Some people were killed, was that just fine?
    This powerful tweeter is “capable” of anything
    Will a horrific nuclear war be his last mad fling?

    Will he start a war with the country of Iran?
    If he does, will the poop hit the fan?
    Iran signed a deal, done in good faith
    Will this tweeter do a double crossing, “about face”?

    Should a Tweetaholic control the nuclear button?
    Could he end this world, all of a sudden?
    Are we all in danger: is this tweeter psychotic?
    Are we in the hands of an unstable Tweetaholic?

  26. mike
    October 15, 2017 at 20:15

    Search on YouTube : ‘ Trump Is A Zionist Puppet ‘

  27. October 15, 2017 at 20:10

    On Trump and Netanyahu and the Deep State. . However first the American public is being subjected to a psy-ops operation to get them on the side of either impeachment or congressional removal. At this point in time to remove him would raise the real danger of a revolution, and one thing about Americans they do have the guns. Now you can see it every day in the MSM , and every news outlet, the demonization of Trump. I think this is to a great extent the reason for his irratic and ill thought out behaviour. He is making some bad moves. but is he doing it out of spite of the Deep State? Is he just plain ignorant? Is he just plain stupid? Even the manager or CEO of a private company need to have their people on side or the company will go belly up. Sabotage from within is a lot worse than sabotage from outside the organization. Trump first instinct was peace with Russia and negotiating deals with China etc. the Deep state killed that baby at birth. ( Everyone must remember Sen John McCain stating even before Trump´s inauguration ” That he had better not try and normalize relations with Russia.”) Now you have the guy thrashing around and lost at sea. Is he as bad as appears at this moment? I don´t think so. i do think he is reacting to the situation he is in , more in desperation than anything else. His Presidency is doomed. It was from the start. He is outside the Beltway Club that rules the USA. They will get rid of him as soon as it is safe to do so. But as I said first they have to prepare the American public to accept the coup.

    • Brad Owen
      October 16, 2017 at 09:56

      Russia attributes it to “sloppy management” on the part of Trump. They recognize a Deep State/Shadow Government feature, steered by powerful monied interests, to our system of governance (as planned by the Dulles brothers and McCLoy, Harriman, Brown Brothers, their Prescott Bush bagman-for-fascism, and Co., Inc., on Wall Street, immediately after FDRs death), untouched by anything our elected officials seem to be able to do about it (most of whom are probably “black-mailable” anyway).

      • Abe
        October 20, 2017 at 11:00

        LaRouche head buzz
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrm-rPSCIBw

        “It’s all waaaaay bigger!”

        So knock it off with all those “intense negative opinions” directed towards “Fall Guy” Israel.

  28. Panskeptic
    October 15, 2017 at 19:13

    Nice try at misdirection, but Putin remains still America’s greatest enemy, and Netanyahu is small change on his way out of power on multiple corruption charges.

    Russia-gate is real according to 17 American intelligence agencies and half a dozen foreign ones. By temperament and self-selection, they tend not to be liberals.

    I understand the emotional relief at blaming the Jews for the evils of the world, but it won’t work. The Man of Power most devoted to the destruction of American democracy is Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump is his poodle.

    • Druid
      October 15, 2017 at 19:34

      Zio-alert!

    • October 15, 2017 at 20:27

      The Man of Power most devoted to the destruction of American democracy is Vladimir Putin,…

      zio-alert!

    • Tiu
      October 20, 2017 at 23:47

      Personally I wouldn’t believe anything a Clinton says. Although I’d love to hear their explanation for selling the Russians all that Uranium.

  29. pablo diablo
    October 15, 2017 at 17:04

    Gotta keep the War Machine well fed. It seems Israel has carried out some unsavory actions on behalf of U.S. interests in the past, so we need to keep them as our ally.
    BDS NOW. Give Netanyahu his day before The World Court.

  30. rg gaylor
    October 15, 2017 at 16:59

    Netan should be replaced with Trump — thus Trumpanyahu.

    Of course then we’d have had an ‘Bamanyahu; a Bushanyahu; etc.

    I wonder how would TheRUMP react to being called the Trumpanyahu?

    If enough people did that, as sensitive as he is, the reaction would be fun!

  31. Stephen Merrill
    October 15, 2017 at 15:33

    If the US stopped fighting Israel’s wars would Bibi help China and Russia dump the USD?

  32. rosemerry
    October 15, 2017 at 15:20

    Correct, but of course nobody could be more completely taken over by the Zionists, Israel and Netanyahu than Hillary Clinton, whose written policy statement early on in the campaign last year was the most obsequeous and revolting that I have encountered. Sorry not to have the link, but I could hardly bear to read it, let alone keep in to dwell upon, but it was published widely at the time.

    • Zachary Smith
      October 15, 2017 at 17:27

      I agree that even now, Hillary is probably worse than Trump. But Trump is surely closing the gap. From the Saker site – one which I used to read regularly – is an inflammatory piece.

      “Trump goes full shabbos-goy”

      As I mentioned, this article is dated. It is dated because since 2007 Iran has only become stronger, while the USA has become much, much weaker: not only has the USA been defeated in Syria, but the election of Trump has resulted in such a crisis inside the USA that at this point in time the USA does not even have a foreign policy of any kind and that the various branches of the US government are basically doing whatever the hell they want. As for Trump, he has become AIPAC’s “p u n k-a s s_ b i t c h” (sorry for the rude expression, but in this case I cannot think of any combination of words which could more accurately illustrate Trump’s status).
      .
      .
      .

      The only good news is that once the Neocons fail, there will be political hell to pay for them. Oh sure, their plan is not even to win. What they want is inflict as much damage as possible on Iran (like they did in Lebanon and Gaza), kill as many Iranians as possible, destroy as much of the Iranian infrastructure as they can, before dumping Trump and blaming it all on him. Their hope is that the US Ziomedia will then lynch Trump for starting an unwinnable war against Iran while they, the Neocons, quietly slip away and let Trump face the music. Trump will be impeached, possibly jailed, while Bibi Netanyahu will either get reelected personally, or appoint the next guy in charge. Let the goyim kill each other while we reap the benefits from it all.

      Trump is an old man who has lived a very wild life. It’s possible that Israel has enough serious dirt on the man that he feels he has no choice but to obey. I suppose it’s also possible that he’s just on another of his crazy things, and neither knows nor cares about the consequences of what he’s doing.

      h**p://thesaker.is/trump-goes-full-shabbos-goy/

      • Joe Tedesky
        October 15, 2017 at 21:25

        Zachary I think I agree with the Saker, but I have thought that possibly Trump’s downfall would be his ordering an attack on N Korea, and then do the blame game. Why, the carnage would be so horrific if Trump did order an attack on N Korea, that Trump’s impeachment would be a kind gesture compared to those who would want to lynch him. So I thought this, but after reading what the Saker has to say, and realizing how badly Israel wants to destroy Iran, I think that terrible plan, has faster legs to run with. Joe

      • Taras 77
        October 15, 2017 at 23:29

        Thanks for this post, Zachary! (I tried to post the link with some commentary yesterday to Pillar’s article but for some reason it was “moderated” out.

        My point was that the list of attendees to the 2007 was extremely interesting in that it illustrated the zio con plan for an attack on iran -seemingly led by israel but fully supported by its lacky the US. (Anyway, thanks again and I would highly recommend at least a perusal of the linked article).

        The one point I would disagree with in that article is the assertion that “once the neocons fail, there will be political hell to pay for them.” Wow! That has been proven to be so demonstrably false that it should be ignored. When, if ever, have the neo cons been held accountable for their horrendous policies and military catastrophes?

  33. zingraomaxil
    October 15, 2017 at 14:09

    “There was even the possibility of a Nixon-goes-to-China moment with tough-guy Trump meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the two countries restoring diplomatic ties…” Really? There seems far more chance trump will don a space suit and join a mineral exploration joint venture to uranus. i mean anything is possible, right?

  34. Vivek Jain
    October 15, 2017 at 13:25

    Hillary Clinton deserves to be on trial for her life.

    from Aug 2016
    Trump, Clinton meet separately with Netanyahu in New York
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/09/25/trump-and-netanyahu-have-closed-door-meeting-at-trump-tower/

    • Joe Tedesky
      October 15, 2017 at 13:42

      Vivek, as much as I too don’t care for Hillary I think that us keeping an eye on Trump overrides our concerns about the glass ceiling crasher Hillary. Hillary needs at this moment to feel recognized for something, and I can’t wait until this Russian thing of hers ends, but Hillary will eventually just burn out and fade away in our news. Now, I can’t promise she won’t return, but for now there are more important things to worry about, and it’s all happening inside of our chaotic Trump White House. For the record I’m not a Trump, nor Hillary supporter. So, I’m suggesting we cool it for awhile with Hillary, and pay attention to the Donald.

      Other than that I do agree with you Vivek, Hillary is a scary politician. Joe

      • October 15, 2017 at 18:24

        Hillary is seriously considering taking legal action to undo the last election:

        http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/18/politics/hillary-clinton-2016-trump/index.html

        • Joe Tedesky
          October 15, 2017 at 20:00

          Thanks Miranda for getting me up to speed, but after hearing of Hillary’s attempt to rework the system, I can only encourage Vivek to take the gloves off and go after this sore loser Clinton, and apologize for my chastising Vivek for bringing up Hillary’s name.

          My reason for telling Vivek how we got to move along, was bore from the urgency I feel that must be spent on criticizing Trump for everything he’s has done, and is still doing.

          David Swanson wrote it up pretty well, read this….

          http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2017/10/letter-larry-flynt-trump-impeachment.html

          Again Miranda thanks for the link. Joe

          • October 15, 2017 at 23:15

            Joe,

            You’re welcome.

            I figure that we must not stop critiquing Clinton and her NeoLiberal/NeoCon wing of the Democrats, even if she wasn’t considering contesting the last election.

            I figure if we don’t that if we survive Trump that we’ll just end up with the more effective evil if we haven’t kept opposing the Clinton wing.

            Meanwhile, I think we can speak out against Trump too.

          • Joe Tedesky
            October 16, 2017 at 00:00

            Miranda the reason I took it upon myself to lecture to Vivek (I now wish I hadn’t) was because I know on this site we have some Hillary supporters, and I also know we have some who think Trump is being abused and wrangled, so my thought process was to slow down on the Hillary complaints long enough for us to all get together so as to concentrate on the Donald.

            Miranda this country’s population needs to somehow pull together. I mean we all need to focus on one thing at a time, and put priorities where they belong. Only now a days we are all at each other throats, and something tells me this is exactly what the Shadow Government wants. I sincerely regret telling Vivek Jain to settle down, because I can clearly see that Hillary is begging to be in the mix of the Donald bashers.

            Someone a while back made a funny statement on this site, and maybe this says it all, and that statement was this; ‘if Hillary doesn’t run in 2020 then how will Trump win? Sorry Hillary supporters, but there is some truth to this statement, although Hillary did win the popular vote polls (for what polls are worth these days) do show that Bernie would have beat any Republican running. Or so it goes. Thank you Miranda for hanging in there with me, it means a lot, and again sorry Vivek Jain. Joe

            Ps I’d quit commenting on geopolitics and pick up following sports more often, but that would mean I jumped from the pan and into the fire, considering how American sports are no longer an escape from our sad societal reality. Oh and I do take a knee.

      • Realist
        October 15, 2017 at 18:45

        Columbia University is going to allow her to play “professor” (probably at ten-times the salary of a tenured professor who earned the job) and run some kind of seminar course. If she does the job right, that should keep her too busy to make a lot of trouble. If she just uses her aids to line up a bunch of partisan speakers, contributing little herself but a bit of self-serving propaganda, it could simply be the start of her 2020 campaign.

        • Joe Tedesky
          October 15, 2017 at 20:06

          Read what I wrote to Miranda. I guess when it comes to Hillary, we should never suspect her of quitting. See you later Realist. Joe

  35. Zachary Smith
    October 15, 2017 at 12:41

    However, instead Netanyahu succeeded in pulling Trump’s strings during their conversations on Sept. 18 in New York, although exactly how is still a mystery to some people close to these developments. One source said the Kushner family real-estate company has exposure to substantial Israeli financing that could be yanked, although Jared Kushner’s financial disclosure form only lists a $5 million unsecured line of credit, held jointly with his father, from the Israel Discount Bank.

    Mr. Parry is correct that Netanyahu has somehow gotten the “upper hand” with Trump. As others have pointed out, he even demonstrates his dominance in the handshake picture attached to this essay. Upper hand, literally!

    In a business interaction, if you notice that your companion is trying to give you a handshake with their palm facing downwards, you should immediately strategize on how to get out of this.

    Why?

    Because a handshake is supposed to be a greeting gesture that symbolizes both parties are on equal grounds, yet allowing your palm to face upward while your companion’s palm is facing downward is basically allowing them to have the upper-hand, meaning they are now in control and you are not.

    This is a bad move during negotiations.

    Trump has folded, and become a meek *ss sniffer of Israel. I’ve no idea how it was done, but the fact is the US of A remains the pet poodle of the little cesspool state.

    • Joe Tedesky
      October 15, 2017 at 13:34

      I picture Trump in the locker room at one of his plush resorts, him being the loudmouth bragger shouting out all sorts of profoundly stupid baloney, while the real leader sits in the back row giving Trump the go ahead with his smiling eyes. The best part is, dumb ass Trump doesn’t even realize how he is being used. Netanyahu isn’t an NBC programming director, but Trump thinks everyone is, and there in lies Trump’s biggest problem, is he thinks he thinks smarter than everyone else in the room. Trump likes to say how he hasn’t changed since the age of seven, and I’m trying to figure our what’s good about that. In reality I’m only one of many extras appearing in Trump’s new reality tv show, and I don’t like the consequences one bit. I’m truly upset, because the catering truck doesn’t come to us extras.

      Zachary your comments are always fun and informative, I’m glad you stuck with this site as long as you have, you help make consortiumnews great. Joe

    • Realist
      October 15, 2017 at 18:35

      Right now, Trump seems to be “winging it,” without any rhyme or reason to what he says or does… as long as he sounds tough. Maybe he’s following the dictum once expressed by Bill Clinton that “it is better to be wrong and strong than right and weak.” That’s sure to get us all killed.

    • October 15, 2017 at 20:23

      I don’t think Trump had any idea how ruthless The Lobby can be. No doubt, the relentless attacks on him, his family, and their business interests have taken a toll. I’ve noticed that since Trump’s speech to the U.N., the MSM has softened a bit, and I’ve seen no more talk about impeachment.

  36. mike k
    October 15, 2017 at 12:33

    Like all fascist authoritarian movements Zionism is essentially evil presenting itself as good.

  37. MichaelAngeloRaphaelo
    October 15, 2017 at 12:14

    What’s Up? Another War? Isreal, Palestine, Iran, Trump, Clinton, Netanyahu and Sanders Opinions
    Clinton’s speech on AIPAC alarms Larry Wilkerson
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEiePCGui7g

    Hillary Clinton speaks at AIPAC conference 2016
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtfxZT_lqv8

    Watch Donald Trump speak at AIPAC 2016
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZGgMJ3QDAQ

    Is Clinton Moving to the Right of Trump on Israel-Palestine? A Debate on the Candidates & AIPAC
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KU7oz3EmSw

    Sanders on Netanyahu’s Speech to Congress
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsr8pNO5kSk

    Benjamin Netanyahu commends Trump’s decision on Iran
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKXz-Om5uRc

  38. Skip Scott
    October 15, 2017 at 12:06

    Another clear-eyed view of US foreign policy from Mr. Parry. I hope that viewership of this site continues to grow until it is a major counterpoint to the MSM drivel so many US citizens are doused in daily.

    • Vivek Jain
      October 15, 2017 at 13:26

      from Greenwald:

      Hillary Clinton, With Little Notice, Vows to Embrace an Extremist Agenda on Israel

      https://theintercept.com/2016/02/18/hillary-clinton-with-little-notice-vows-to-embrace-an-extremist-agenda-on-israel/

    • Joe Tedesky
      October 15, 2017 at 13:48

      Yeah Skip now that your back posting it’s even better, I hope you don’t mind me calling you shipmate since we’ve both been to sea, and I promise not to over use it, okay shipmate. Anyway good to read you comments. I’m hoping F.G. soon appears, because I like him, and I miss reading his unique comments…no one says it quite like F.G.. I look forward to reading your comments Skip, because to me your words are well thought out, and you sound real. Joe

      • Skip Scott
        October 15, 2017 at 15:43

        Thanks Joe. I always value your input as well. As for going to sea, I have found it amazing that in about 3/4’s of my dreams I’m still aboard ship. I’ve been retired for 11 years.

        • Joe Tedesky
          October 15, 2017 at 16:49

          The last time for me at sea, was back in 2010 when my wife and I took one of those four day cruises. My wife who had never been to sea wasn’t all that keen with it. I on the other hand found nothing to be like being on a U.S. Naval ship. I guess I missed chipping paint, or going on hunting sprees looking for a skyhook, or something, but the thrill was missing. In the end both my wife and I decided we are not cruise people. A cruise is good if you like gambling, purchasing tax free products, eating, and of course drinking, so if it’s your bag then enjoy it.

          Getting back to the subject at hand, it is apparent that Tel aviv is calling the shots when it comes to our current White House. In all fairness to this current White House, this administration is not much different than any other before it, but the real angst is to be found in Trump’s immensely large bombastic ego. My hope is that those around Trump, can yank him in, and away from starting somekind of global catastrophe.

          Anchors away Skip. Joe

          • evelync
            October 16, 2017 at 20:29

            Lol, Joe!
            Thanks for your cruise story.
            My husband and I also tried our first cruise – first and last…..lol

            I guess we’re landlubbers…..
            yeah the eating and the drinking are relentless…

          • Joe Tedesky
            October 16, 2017 at 20:54

            I rather go for a ride on an old ocean liner, these cruise ships are too big. You see evelync I have a problem with too big. I like little old hardware stores, if you can still find them. So, the cruise ship which to me looks to top heavy isn’t my kind of sea going vessel. Joe

          • evelync
            October 17, 2017 at 11:43

            yes, indeed, Joe, they are way too big…..
            they’re not even like a boat which IMO should be the least infrastructure necessary between the sea/sky/land and a human – instead these huge ships encase their passengers in a food and drink cocoon.
            I’m not a sailor, but in spite of that, when I was young I imagined how cool and liberating it would be to work on a cargo ship…
            with just a few hard working people and the open sea and lot’s of challenging work surrounded by nature….

            There’s something delusional about these ships, not sure exactly what:)

          • evelync
            October 17, 2017 at 12:02

            you’re not kidding about the top heavy wrt these cruise ships….
            I watched a documentary on public tv about the building of one of these ships – it was to be the most luxurious, expensive, elite cruise ships around….
            too bad (and this sounds ridiculous but I remember watching this) they decided to have the most luxurious cabins on the highest cabin deck. They decided to schlep in very heavy marble for the expensive floors and countertops to be installed on the highest deck.
            Turned out this marble was soooooo very heavy that it made the ship unstable – top heavy – I don’t remember if it tipped over or not but it was clearly unsafe and very foolishly designed – decorators and business people were making decisions instead of physicists and engineers…..

            I think we’ve gone off the deep end in this culture and now we have the “malignantly narcissistic” emblem of this culture running amok in the oval office….

            And the most disturbing thing about it is that he is ordering his handlers to make public statements about how everything is copacetic and under control – he even had Kelly come out and say so…..
            No one surrounding Mr. Trump will come out and say the truth but
            “the rhino is out of control” (see the 2002 film: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_to_Smoochy )

            hoo boy….we’re in a world of hurt….

            cheers

    • Realist
      October 15, 2017 at 18:27

      Indeed. Mr. Parry has it all there, explained in the most lucid terms, as always.

      Too bad some of the tiny alternative media could not include a bit of television exposure, as most Americans undoubtedly watch more than they read. We need the Fairness Doctrine back and Mr. Parry offering counterpoint to the usual neocon propagandists.

      (And probably most of the MSM should be forced to register as foreign agents. The NYT and WaPo are just the local arms of Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post.)

  39. Abe
    October 15, 2017 at 12:05

    Trump’s puppet antics are driven by the specific Zionist ideology embraced by Benjamin Netanyahu, mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, and major sectors of the Israel Lobby that wield enormous influence over the outcome of presidential and congressional elections in the United States

    Netanyahu leads the Likud Party, which is rooted in the land grab ideology of Revisionist Zionism.

    Revisionist Zionists advocate the creation of a Jewish state on both sides of the Jordan River, that is, a state which would include the present-day Israel, as well as West Bank, Gaza and all or part of the modern state of Jordan.

    The majority of 350,000 “settlers” illegally transferred to Palestinian territory in the West Bank, under Israeli military occupation since 1967, claim their presence is not about Israel’s “security” but a divinely inspired project to reunite the Jewish people with their biblical homeland.

    After World War I, Revisionist Zionist ideologist Ze-ev Jabotinsky was elected to the first legislative assembly in the Yishuv, and in 1921 he was elected to the Executive Council of the Zionist Organization (known as the World Zionist Organization after 1960). He quit the latter group in 1923, due mainly to differences of opinion with its chairman, Chaim Weizmann.

    In 1925, Jabotinsky formed the Revisionist Zionist Alliance, in the World Zionist Congress to advocate his views, which included increased cooperation with Britain on transforming the entire Mandate for Palestine territory, including Palestine itself and Transjordan, on opposite sides of the Jordan River, into a sovereign Jewish state, loyal to the British Empire.

    A staunch anglophile, Jabotinsky wished to convince Britain that a Jewish state would be in the best interest of the British Empire, perhaps even an autonomous extension of it in the Middle East. To this end, Jabotinsky advocated for mass Jewish immigration from Europe.

    By the late 1930s, Revisionist Zionism was divided into three distinct ideological streams: the “Centrists”, the Irgun, and the “Messianists”.

    Up to 1933, a number of Revisionist Zionism “Messianist” wing members were inspired by the fascist movement of Benito Mussolini.

    Abba Ahimeir joined the Revisionist Zionist movement in 1930. Achimeir’s basic assumption was that “liberal bourgeois” European culture was degenerate, and deeply eroded from within by an excess of liberalism and individualism. Fascism, like Zionism, was a return to the roots of the national culture and a glorious historical past.

    Achimeir developed a favourable attitude toward fascist psycho-politics, including the principle of the all-powerful leader, the use of propaganda to generate a spirit of heroism and duty to the homeland, and the cultivation of youthful vitality (as manifested in the fascist youth movements).

    When Ahimeir was on trial in 1932 for having disrupted a public lecture at Hebrew University, his lawyer, Zvi Eliahu Cohen, argued “Were it not for Hitler’s anti-Semitism, we would not oppose his ideology. Hitler saved Germany.”

    An editorial in the Revisionist Zionist newspaper Hazit Haam praised Cohen’s “brilliant speech.” In 1933, when Hitler came to power, Hazit Haam praised Nazism as a German national liberation movement and said that Hitler had saved Germany.

    When, in 1935, the Zionist Organization failed to accept Jabotinsky’s Revisionist Zionist program, he and his followers seceded to form the New Zionist Organization.

    Until Israel achieved statehood, Revisionist Zionists became known for belligerent opposition to both the British and Arab presence in the region. The British establishment of Transjordan (the modern-day state of Jordan) adversely affected the Revisionist Zionist’s territorial goals and was a great set-back for the movement.

    Revisionist Zionism’s foremost political objective is to establish a Jewish state with a Jewish majority on both sides of the River Jordan. Jewish statehood was always a major ideological goal for Revisionist Zionism, but it was not to be gained at the price of territorial ambitions.

    The founder of Revisionist Zionism, Ze’ev Jabotinsky, and his followers consistently rejected proposals to partition Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state. Menachem Begin, Jabotinsky’s successor, opposed the 1947 United Nations partition plan. Revisionist Zionists considered the subsequent partition of Palestine following the 1949 Armistice Agreements to be illegitimate.

    The Revisionist Party, Herut, began to revise its ideology in an effort to change this situation and gain political power during the first two decades after Israel declared itself an independent state. While Begin maintained the Revisionist claim to Jewish sovereignty over all of Eretz Israel, by the late 1950s, control over the East Bank of the Jordan ceased to be integral to Revisionist ideology.

    Following Herut’s merger with the Liberal Party in 1965, references to the ideal of Jewish sovereignty over “both banks of the Jordan” appeared less and less frequently. By the 1970s, the legitimacy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was no longer questioned.

    In 1994, the complete practical abandonment of the “both banks” principle was apparent when an overwhelming majority of Likud Knesset Members (MKs) voted in favour of the peace treaty with Jordan.

    On the day the Six-Day War started in June 1967, the Revisionist Zionists, as part of the Gahal faction, joined the national unity government under Prime Minister Levi Eshkol. Begin served in the cabinet for the first time. Ben-Gurion’s Rafi party also joined. The war brought to an end Labour’s previous efforts to undercut Revisionist Zionism because on the eve of the war, the dominant party believed it had to include the Revisionist Zionist opposition in an emergency national unity government. This action helped legitimize the views of the Religious Zionist opposition.

    Following Israel’s capture of the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 war, the Revisionist Zionist’s territorial aspirations concentrated on these territories. These areas were deemed far more central to ancient Jewish history than the East Bank of the Jordan and most of the areas within Israel’s post-1949 borders.

    In 1968, Begin defined the “eternal patrimony of our ancestors” as “Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem, Judea, [and] Shechem [Nablus]” in the West Bank.

    Begin and Gahal left the national unity government in August 1970. Some sources indicate that Begin’s resignation was due to disagreements over the Rogers Plan and its “in place” cease-fire with Egypt along the Suez Canal; other sources, including William B. Quandt, note that Begin left the unity government because the Labour party, by formally accepting UN 242 in mid-1970, had accepted “peace for withdrawal” on all fronts.

    Begin himself explained before the Knesset why he was resigning. He said, “As far as we are concerned, what do the words ‘withdrawal from territories administered since 1967 by Israel’ mean other than Judea and Samaria. Not all the territories; but by all opinion, most of them.”

    In 1973, Herut’s election platform called for the annexation of the West Bank and Gaza. When Menachem Begin became leader of the broad Likud coalition and, soon Prime Minister, he considerably modified Herut’s expansive territorial aims. The party’s aspiration to unite all of mandatory Palestine under Jewish rule was scaled down. Instead, Begin spoke of the historic unity of Israel in the West Bank, even hinting that he would make territorial concessions in the Sinai as part of a complete peace settlement.

    When Begin finally came to power in the 1977 election, his overriding concern as Prime Minister (1977–83) was to maintain Israeli control over the West Bank and Gaza. In 1981 he declared to a group of Jewish settlers: “I, Menachem, the son of Ze’ev and Hasia Begin, do solemnly swear that as long as I serve the nation as Prime Minister we will not leave any part of Judea, Samaria, [or] the Gaza Strip.” One of the main mechanisms for accomplishing this objective was the establishment of Jewish settlements.

    Under Labour governments, between 1967 and 1977, the Jewish population of the territories reached 3,200; Labour’s limited settlement activity was predicated upon making a future territorial compromise when the majority of the territory would be returned to Arab control.

    The Likud Party was founded in 1973 by Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud’s landslide victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country’s political history, marking the first time in Israel that a right-wing party won the plurality of the votes.

    Aligned with the ideology of Revisionist Zionism, Likud’s settlement plan aimed to settle hundreds of thousands of Jews all over the territories in order to prevent a territorial compromise.

    Begin signed the Camp David Accords (1978) removing Egypt, the most powerful Arab state, from conflict with Israel. The accords referred to the “legitimate rights of the Palestinians”, but Begin insisted that the Hebrew version referred only to “the Arabs of Eretz Yisrael” and not to “Palestinians”).

    By signing the agreement, which reduced international (mainly American) pressure for Israeli concessions on the issue of the territories, and prolonged inconclusive talks on Palestinian autonomy, Begin was buying time for his government’s settlement activities in the territories.

    Begin promoted the idea of autonomy for the Palestinians, albeit only a “personal” autonomy that would not give them control over any territory.

    Begin continued to vow that territory which was part of historic Eretz Israel in the West Bank and Gaza would never be returned. His adamant stand on the territory became an obstacle to extending the 1979 peace treaty.

    After ruling the Israel for most of the 1980s, the Likud Party lost the Knesset election in 1992. Nevertheless, Likud’s candidate Benjamin Netanyahu did win the vote for Prime Minister in 1996 and was given the task of forming a government after the 1996 elections. Netanyahu’s government fell apart after a vote of no confidence, which led to elections being called in 1999 and Likud losing power to the One Israel coalition led by Ehud Barak.

    In 2001, Likud’s Ariel Sharon, who replaced Netanyahu following the 1999 election, defeated Barak in an election called by the Prime Minister following his resignation. After the party recorded a convincing win in the 2003 elections, Likud saw a major split in 2005 when Sharon left to form the Kadima party. This resulted in Likud slumping to fourth place in the 2006 elections and losing twenty-eight seats in the Knesset.

    Following the 2009 elections, Likud was able to gain fifteen seats and, with Netanyahu back in control of the party, formed a coalition with fellow right-wing parties Yisrael Beiteinu and Shas to take control of the government from Kadima, which earned a plurality but not a majority. Netanyahu has been Prime Minister since and Likud has been the leading vote-getter in each election.

    Like the European fascist parties that inspired its political discourse, the Likud Party emphasizes use of the national flag and military victories in Israeli wars in 1948 and 1967.

    • Daniel
      October 15, 2017 at 19:50

      Amazing detail, Abe. I’d add that the Polish Jew, Vladimir (Ze-ev) Jabotinsky, who founded Revisionist Zionism had a primary aide (also a Polish Jew) named Benzion Mileikowsky, who later changed his last name to Netanyahu, and whose son is the Prime Minister today.

      And Bibi Netanyahu gained enormous influence after Yitzhak Rabin had negotiated towards a peace for land agreement by leading a series of very militant rallies across the area denouncing Rabin. Some think his fiery condemnation encouraged the murder of Rabin .

    • Abe
      October 16, 2017 at 14:40

      Benzion Netanyahu was a right wing extremist whose militant views and anti-Arab racism persisted throughout his life.

      During his studies in medieval history at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Netanyahu became active in Revisionist Zionism.

      The Revisionist Zionist movement espoused a more militant, right-wing, overtly racist version of Jewish nationalism than the one advocated by the Labour Zionists who led Israel in its early years.

      The Revisionist Zionists were led by Ze’ev Jabotinsky, whose belief in the necessity of an “iron wall” between Israel and its Arab neighbors had influenced Israeli politics since the 1930s. Netanyahu became a close friend to fascist-enthusiast Abba Ahimeir.

      Benzion Netanyahu was co-editor of Betar, a Hebrew monthly (1933–1934), then editor of the Revisionist Zionist daily newspaper Ha-Yarden in Jerusalem (1934–1935) until the British Mandate authorities ordered the paper to cease publication. He was editor at the Zionist Political Library, Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv, 1935–1940.

      In 1940, Netanyahu went to New York to be secretary to Jabotinsky, who was seeking to build American support for his militant New Zionists. Jabotinsky died the same year, and Netanyahu became executive director of the New Zionist Organization of America, the political rival of the more moderate Zionist Organization of America. He held the post until 1948.

      As executive director, Netanyahu was one of the Revisionist movement’s leaders in the United States during World War II. At the same time, he pursued his PhD at Dropsie College of Hebrew and Cognate Learning in Philadelphia (now the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania), writing his dissertation on Isaac Abrabanel (1437–1508), a Jewish scholar and statesman who opposed the banishment of Jews from Spain.

      Netanyahu believed in Greater Israel. When the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was published (November 29, 1947), he joined others who signed a petition against the plan. The petition was published in the New York Times. During that time, he was active in engaging with Congress members in Washington, D.C..

      In 1949, the relentlessly hawkish Netanyahu returned to Israel, where he tried to start a political career but failed. He advocated the idea of Arab transfer out of Palestine and claimed that the Israeli Arabs were out to “exterminate” Jews.

      In fact, despite the crime of displacing 700,000 of their fellow Arabs in 1948, there were hardly any acts of violence committed by Arabs against Palmach forces. Aside from a few incidents which stand for their being exceptions rather than the rule, there have been almost no Israeli Arab acts of terror since. Right wing Israeli Jews like Netanyahu like to point to those few incidents to claim they represent the “true views” of their Israeli Arabs, but there is no evidence that is the case.

      The Israeli Arab community is surprisingly loyal and every poll indicates that Arabs wish to be included within the overall Israeli polity, despite the overt segregationist policy of the state government in Israel.

      In a 2009 interview with Maariv, a leading national Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in Israel, Netanyahu’s racist hatred for Arabs in general, and Israeli Arabs in particular, were abundantly evident.

      The elder Netanyahu gave the interview without informing the Israeli Prime M’s office. Benjamin Netanyahu tried to prevent the publishing of this interview, and even called Maariv’s publisher, Ofer Nimrodi, on the matter.

      Benjamin Netanuyahu’s brother, Ido was assigned to go over their father’s answers, so the text accurately reflected their father’s extremist views.

      The interview was translated into English by Noam Sheizaf and published in 3 parts at his Promised Land blog
      http://www.promisedlandblog.com/?p=803

      The elder Netanyahu was a proponent of Israeli state terror and ethnic cleansing. From part 1:

      Benzion Netanyahu: “The Jews and the Arabs are like two goats facing each other on a narrow bridge. One must jump to the river – but that involves a danger of death. The strong goat will make the weaker one jump… and I believe the Jewish power will prevail.”

      Q: What does the Arab’s jump mean?

      Benzion Netanyahu: “That they won’t be able to face [anymore] the war with us, which will include withholding food from Arab cities, preventing education, terminating electrical power and more. They won’t be able to exist, and they will run away from here. But it all depends on the war”

      Despite his purported “pragmatism”, Benjamin Netanyahu carries forward the legacy of his father’s right wing extremism.

  40. October 15, 2017 at 12:01

    I think one way for the president to to help and track down illegal aliens and drug trafficing and people trafficing would be when these people are caught put a chip in the the reif rdif chip to keep trak of them,find them and put personal history on these chips to track them!!!!!!!

    • Joe Tedesky
      October 15, 2017 at 13:53

      I think the DEA tried that, and it didn’t work, because border agent guys were getting shot. Although, maybe by thinking that your idea is different, then you should go give it a shot. Embedded microchips into humans, I think they have that now, and I’m sure the Silicone Valley nerds would love your idea…so who am I to stand in the way of so much progress. Good luck.

    • Druid
      October 15, 2017 at 15:36

      Slippery slope. First they’ll start with illegals, then the undesirables of the day, then eventually you and I.

  41. D.H. Fabian
    October 15, 2017 at 11:57

    Anti-Israel ideology is trendy, and we often see it in the form of portraying tiny Israel as a military behemoth invading the Arab nations that surround it. It’s even less credible than the anti-Russian ideology, but in the interests of scapegoating (far easier than delving into complex issues), the notion is pursued in spite of all logic.

    Efforts are made to show Trump as a sinister benefactor of Israel. Never mind the fact that the US is one of the top three providers of weapons to the Arab nations, some of which seek to establish a 100% “pure” Moslem Mideast. Never mind that this administration has issued a string of insults and ultimatums against Israel.
    Propagandists rely on the fact that the average American knows little to nothing about Israel and the Mideast.

    I get the whole “Palestinian underdog” thing, and this, too, is an issue where the media sells only one side of the story, from a very narrow perspective. Note that Israel is both the historic and modern Jewish nation. Jews are indigenous to this bit of land (roughly the size of New Jersey, one of our smallest states). “Palestinians” is the name given to Israeli Arabs who are recruited to work toward eradicating the Jewish nation. Every Israeli Arab lives within easy traveling distance of an Arab border. The popular call is to establish yet another Arab nation for the “Palestinians” — not within the vast Arab lands, but by carving away another piece of Israel.

    Many of us do not agree that a “fair partitioning” of the Mideast would be: 100% for the Arabs, 0% for the Jews.

    • turk151
      October 15, 2017 at 12:07

      How many Muslim countries does the US have to destroy before the facts get in the way of your ideology?

      • Abe
        October 15, 2017 at 12:42

        HASBARA TROLL ARMY

        “D.H. Fabian” offers up a rapid-fire barrage of Hasbara (pro-Israel) propaganda canards.

        The online Hasbara troll army tries desperately to deceive, distract, divert and disrupt discussion of the workings of the Israel Lobby and Israeli influence on American foreign policy, Israel’s illegal military occupation of Palestinian territory, and Israeli collusion with terrorist forces operating in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.

        The Israeli government, major pro-Israel media organizations, Hasbara troll army “commenters” online weave a dense fabric of deceit.

        In 2009, Israel’s foreign ministry organized volunteers to add pro-Israeli commentary on news websites. In July 2009, it was announced that the Israeli Foreign Ministry would conduct “internet warfare” to spread a pro-Israel message on various websites.

        The program has expanded to a real Hasbara troll army that promotes pro-Israel policies in the press and online media.

        US/Israel-backed al-Qaeda terrorists in Syria advance key geopolitical goals of Israel, including permanent annexation of Syria’s resource-rich Golan Heights area.

        The illusion of a “threat” to Israel guarantees an ever greater cascade of military and economic aid supplied by slavishly pro-Israel politicians in the United States.

        Hasbara propaganda additionally aims at promoting fake news and conspiracy theories to divert attention from an actual and very public conspiracy: the efforts of the Israel lobby to manipulate politics in the United States.

        HASBARA PROPAGANDA FUNDAMENTALS

        The basics of Hasbara propaganda are easy to identify: simplistic phrases, repeated over and over, designed to engage emotions rather than produce rational arguments, all shaped to fit into a narrative of good (Western-oriented Israel, the Middle East’s only true democracy) versus evil (Arab/Muslim terrorists who seek not only to destroy the Jewish state but kill all Jews).

        To persuade Americans to accept this impoverished account of the conflict, Hasbara propaganda rewrites history, rejects international law and ignores the struggle over land and resources that is at the heart of the conflict.

        Hasbara propaganda relies on public ignorance of basic facts about international law, the history of Zionist land grab efforts in Palestine, and Israel’s wars of aggression in the Middle East

        Conventional Hasbara (pro-Israel) propagandists works in tandem with Inverted Hasbara (false flag “anti-Israel” and fake “anti-Zionist”) propagandists

        PRO-ISRAEL PROPAGANDA MANUAL

        Back in 2009, a propaganda organization known as “The Israel Project” published a manual titled “Global Language Dictionary”

        https://www.transcend.org/tms/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/sf-israel-projects-2009-global-language-dictionary.pdf

        Written by Republican pollster and political strategist Frank Luntz, the Hasbara handbook of “The Israel Project” was labeled “Not for distribution or publication”.

        The manual published by “The Israel Project” is a treasure trove of scripted propaganda canards. For example, page 96 of the manual recommends: “‘Defensive’ and ‘preventative’ are the words that best describe Israeli military action.”

        “The Israel Project” is managed by an American-born Israeli, David Hazony, whose brother is an advisor and speech writer for Benjamin Netanyahu.

        Registered as an NGO, “The Israel Project” does not report any details of the origins of its funding.

        In addition to managing “The Israel Project”, Hazony is editor for the online propaganda site “The Tower” and a frequent contributor to major pro-Israel media and neoconservative organs like the New Republic, The Forward, Commentary Magazine, Moment, the Jerusalem Post, the Jewish Chronicle, the New York Sun, and Jewish Ideas Daily.

        In 2004-2007, Hazony served as editor in chief of the Israeli Zionist journal Azure. He has also appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News.

        Hasbara outlets like “The Tower” produce scripted articles, while “staff” from the “The Israel Project” write op-eds and make television appearances to disseminate pro-Israel propaganda.
        HASBARA PLAYGROUND ON THE INTERNET

        The comment sections of internet sites that post articles critical of Israel and Zionism are infested by pro-Israel Hasbara propaganda trolls.

        Hasbara propaganda has two forms:

        – Conventional (“pro-Zionist / “pro-Israel”) Hasbara

        – Inverted or “false flag” (“anti-Zionist” / “anti-Israel” / “anti-Jewish or ‘anti-Semitic”) Hasbara

        In the face of a sustained intellectual critique of conventional Hasbara propaganda claims of a “new anti-Semitism”, the inverted Hasbara propaganda activity was developed.

        Inverted Hasbara operates based on false arguments advanced by individuals who masquerade as “harsh critics of Zionism and Israel” while spewing “anti-Semitic” epithets and abusive rants about “the Jews”.

        The internet is a playground for both conventional Hasbara and inverted Hasbara trolls.

        • turk151
          October 15, 2017 at 13:11

          Thanks Abe, I respect your depth of knowledge in ME foreign affairs and always look for your perspectives on CN.

          However, in fact, I was previously accused of being a Hasbara troll as well (I had to look up what I was accused of being). I like to wrap my head around an opposing view to avoid making one sided judgements, so I read the The War on Jews by Loftus. Its themes are often repeated by DHF as the last word on the subject, but there is one that I agree with and that is that the Saudis,Texas Oil and British Intelligence aligned against Israel during the cold war years and I expressed that view on CN. Whether DHF is a Hasbara troll or just another brianwashed stooge suffering from confirmation bias, just like the vast majority of the American public has yet to be determined.

          What I have found so far in DHF is someone who uses his truth to explain all of the truth. Hasbara, a plausible explanation, but I have no proof of that.

        • Abe
          October 15, 2017 at 15:45

          Thanks back at you. It is curious that you can’t remember the title of a 658 page book you read just because you “like to wrap my head around an opposing view to avoid making one sided judgements”.

          Let me help you out.

          The title of the tome wasn’t a sinister “The War on Jews”.

          The title was the purportedly more sinister “The Secret War Against the Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed the Jewish People”

          The book appeared in 1994 when Israel was making intensive efforts to secure the release of Jonathan Pollard, an American convicted of spying for Israel.

          Pollard was a United States Navy intelligence employee in the Naval Antiterrorist Alert Center in Washington, D.C. He was paid for delivering large amounts of classified documents to Israeli intelligence agents. Pollard was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

          John J. Loftus (and co-author Mark Aarons) claimed that Pollard was working for a group of right-wing Israeli politicians, rather than an Israeli intelligence service.

          Israel’s official position until 1998 was that Pollard worked for an unauthorized rogue organization.

          In May 1998, Prime Minister Netanyahu admitted that Pollard had in fact been an Israeli agent, answering directly to high-ranking officials of the Israeli intelligence agency Lekem, then headed by Rafi Eitan (1981–1986).

          Lekem collected scientific and technical intelligence abroad from both open and covert sources, particularly for Israel’s nuclear program.

          Lekem was disbanded in 1986 following the arrest of Pollard for espionage on behalf of Israel.

          The Israeli government paid at least two of the attorneys—Richard A. Hibey and Hamilton Philip Fox III—working for his release.

          The high-profile Pollard case was not the only case of covert Israeli activities against the United States by Israeli intelligence in service to Israel’s secret nuclear weapons program.

          In 1985, a California aerospace engineer, Richard Kelly Smyth, the President of a company called MILCO, was indicted for smuggling over 800 krytron switches (a component used in nuclear weapons) to Israel without the required US State Department Munitions Export License.

          Just before trial, and facing a possible 105 years in prison, Richard Kelly Smyth and his wife suddenly disappeared. Sixteen years later they were discovered and arrested while living as fugitives in Málaga, Spain, and extradited back to the United States where he was convicted in the case.

          The krytrons shipped by Smyth were sent to an Israeli company called Heli-Trading Ltd. owned by notable Israeli movie producer Arnon Milchan. Before his prominent Hollywood career, Mr, Milchan had served for decades as a Lekem agent, under the direct command of Lekem spy-master Benjamin Blumberg. It later became clear that the company MILCO served as a Lekem front company for obtaining sensitive equipment, technologies and materials for Israeli secret defense-related programs, and in particular its nuclear program.

          The Israeli government asserted that the Krytron incident was a simple mistake by the “exporter” Milco, and that the Pollard operation was an unauthorized deviation from its policy of not conducting espionage in the United States before an admission in 1998 of Israeli responsibility. In 1987 the Israeli government set up a commission to investigate the Pollard affair, which found it would be in Israel’s interest to take responsibility for the case.

          In 1987 following the difficult Pollard and Milco cases, the Israeli government decided to disband Lekem, whose functions were assigned to the Director of Security of the Defense Establishment, adding technical and scientific intelligence to its responsibilities which include internal investigations of the Israeli Defense Ministry.

          Speaking of confirmation bias, Loftus was past president of the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg and author of books on Nazi war criminals. Loftus’ now-expired Web site claimed, “As a young U.S. Army officer, John Loftus helped train Israelis on a covert operation that turned the tide of battle in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.”
          https://web.archive.org/web/20030604055731/http://john-loftus.com/bio.asp

          • Joe Tedesky
            October 15, 2017 at 21:16

            Abe add to what you wrote here, and it was very revealing by the way, Grant Smith’s exposure of the Apollo Affair Operation Numec, coupled with the 1967 attack upon the lightly defended USS Liberty, makes me wonder to why we consider Israel a friend….oh yeah money, and blackmail could be it, sorry I answered my owned question. Take care Abe, you are a treasure to providing us all with great information. Joe

        • Quintus Sertorius
          October 15, 2017 at 16:23

          Very enlightening comments, Abe, thanks for the link.

    • Adrian Engler
      October 15, 2017 at 12:17

      “Efforts are made to show Trump as a sinister benefactor of Israel. Never mind the fact that the US is one of the top three providers of weapons to the Arab nations, some of which seek to establish a 100% “pure” Moslem Mideast.”

      Under Netanyahu, Israel has de facto become an ally of Saudi Arabia – even though both governments of that alliance cannot state that openly for internal political reasons. From that perspective, US weapons for Arab nations (Saudi Arabia and its allies) are hardly a contradiction to the idea that current US policies are closely aligned with those of the Netanyahu government.

      Whether these policies are really in Israel’s interest is another question. I personally don’t think so. Israel probably has good secret relationships with Saudi Arabia at the moment, but it should not be ignored that in Arabic countries there is a very high level of antisemitism, and from a long term perspective, it is not so unproblematic when Saudi Arabia received so many weapons (who knows who will be in power there in the future). On the other hand, I also doubt that the extreme demonization of Iran makes sense. Polls show that there is much less antisemitism in Iran than in Arabic countries – in fact less than in some European countries. Of course, a complete normalization of relations between Israel and some of the Muslim countries will be difficult, as long as no peaceful solution with Palestinians has been found, but I think that a more balanced approach would be more in Israel’s interest than the current de facto alliance with Wahhabi extremists. But Netanyahu thinks differently, and Trump’s foreign policy is closely aligned with his.

      “Every Israeli Arab lives within easy traveling distance of an Arab border. The popular call is to establish yet another Arab nation for the “Palestinians” — not within the vast Arab lands, but by carving away another piece of Israel.”
      So what are you suggesting? If you say that Gaza and the West Bank (perhaps you call the latter Judea and Samaria) are a part of Israel, then, of course, the inhabitants of these areas have to be recognized as Israeli citizens, and that is one of the possible solutions. Many Israelis would not like the fact that then, only about half of Israel’s citizens would be Jewish, therefore the other democratic solution that has more support in Israel is that there should be a separate Palestinian state. Both is possible, and it is up to Israelis and Palestinians to decide whether they want one common state, two separate states or something in between. But what you seem to advocate is ethnic cleansing, so you are clearly outside the consensus of most of the civilized world, and in Israel, only a small minority on the far right has views that are similar to yours.

      • richard vajs
        October 19, 2017 at 09:03

        Adrian Engler,
        Your comment “in Arabic countries, there is a very high level of anti-Semitism” is amusing; did you mean it to be? I guess also that “in France, Frankophobia is quite high”.

    • mike k
      October 15, 2017 at 12:17

      Well DH, we can count on you for the Zionist perspective. The more you make it clear, the more disgusting it is.

    • mike k
      October 15, 2017 at 12:24

      DH – Your presenting the Zionist point of view is enlightening, and disgusting. You are an obvious troll, so this will be my last communication to you.

    • Lee Francis
      October 15, 2017 at 12:32

      ”Many of us do not agree that a “fair partitioning” of the Mideast would be: 100% for the Arabs, 0% for the Jews.”

      Of course not, you’d rather it be the other way around. A greater Israel from the Euphrates to the Nile. The Infamous “Oded Yinon Plan”

    • October 15, 2017 at 15:40

      @ “Anti-Israel ideology is trendy, and we often see it in the form of portraying tiny Israel as a military behemoth invading the Arab nations that surround it.”

      Facts: In its 1967 Six-Day War, Israel invaded the Palestinian Mandate Territory and portions of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. It was forced to give back the Egyptian portions by President Eisenhower. Israel still occupies the illegally seized portions of Palestine, Jordan, and Syria, despite numerous U.N. Security Council Resolutions calling for it to withdraw to its pre-war borders. Moreover, since 1967, Israel has repeatedly invaded Lebanon and Syria. During the same time frame, no nations have invaded Israel.

      @ ” Israel is both the historic and modern Jewish nation. Jews are indigenous to this bit of land (roughly the size of New Jersey, one of our smallest states)”

      The “historic” fact you raise is highly questionable. See e.g., https://consortiumnews.com/2015/01/03/israeli-founder-contests-founding-myths/ and https://consortiumnews.com/2015/01/03/israeli-scholar-disputes-founding-myth-4/ and https://consortiumnews.com/2012/11/19/challenging-israels-myths/

      @ “Palestinians” is the name given to Israeli Arabs who are recruited to work toward eradicating the Jewish nation.”

      “Palestinians” is the name given to all indigenous residents of the former British Mandate Territory of Palestine, regardless of religion.

      @ “The popular call is to establish yet another Arab nation for the “Palestinians” — not within the vast Arab lands, but by carving away another piece of Israel.”

      Incredible. The proposal is to create a Palestinian State within the boundaries of the territory Israel has illegally occupied since the Six-Day War in 1967. Even the Israel Supreme Court recognizes that territory as “occupied” territory, not part of Israel.

      @ “Propagandists rely on the fact that the average American knows little to nothing about Israel and the Mideast.”

      Here we are in complete agreement. Your own appeal to ignorance is undeniable proof of that fact.

      • Abe
        October 15, 2017 at 18:11

        “D.H. Fabian”, our latest Hasbara propaganda troll, is disappointed that Revisionist Zionism isn’t more “trendy” for some reason.

        Reality has a well-known “liberal bourgeoisie” bias.

    • occupy on
      October 15, 2017 at 17:48

      DH Fabian…Enough with the “’Palestinians’ is the name given to Israeli Arabs who are recruited to work toward eradicating the Jewish nation.” Read the 64 words of the Balfour Declaration, November 2, 1917. “Palestine” is specifically written as the land from which Israel was to be formed with Britain’s blessings as a homeland for Jews and that no Muslims, Christians, nor persons of other religions should be denied equal rights of Jews.

      Zionists and and their Washington DC neocons are hurting the Jewish name more than anything with their warped rationale of Jews’ divine right to that land in the Middle East which has been consistently inhabited and nurtured for thousands of years by Arab peoples. There’s a terribly myopic and insensitive nature being revealed in you.

    • Curious
      October 16, 2017 at 00:24

      “Palestinian underdog?” Grouped in the largest open air prison in the world. Read, get your fact in line. And produce something that bears fruit rather than your propaganda. Did you know DNA tests show most of the Israelis are not even Semite, but rather from Eastern European stock? Try and get a clue whoever you are.

    • evelync
      October 16, 2017 at 20:08

      D.H. Fabian,

      Rick Sterling’s October 11, 2017 CN piece “A Silenced Israel Critic”
      https://consortiumnews.com/2017/10/11/a-silenced-israeli-critic/

      features Miko Peled, the son of an Israeli General, the surviving uncle of a 13 year old girl killed by a suicide bomber and the grandson of a signer of Israel’s founding documents.
      Peled writes and speaks of the real painful history he uncovered vs the myths we hear in this country.
      When his niece was killed, her mother, Peled’s sister blamed Israel’s policies against Palestinians for the child’s tragic death.

      In his comment on Sterling’s piece, yesterday Todd Boyle posted a link to Peled’s talk in Seattle, see below.
      Peled is a courageous writer whose life story is closely intertwined with Israel. It’s a very interesting poignant talk:

      “Todd Boyle
      October 15, 2017 at 12:03 am
      More than 3 million people have viewed this talk by Miko Peled in Seattle. It has been downloaded and re-used in educational settings and broadcasts, worldwide. It’s very clear, well organized, and honest. Please commit an hour, to see with friends.”
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOaxAckFCuQ

      It does not serve Israel very well, IMO, to continue these horrific policies towards Palestinians.
      A democracy cannot continue to violate democratic principles and maintain it’s self respect.
      Our own dangerous regime change policies undermine our own human rights principles and our self respect, IMO.
      Peled’s talk is very hopeful on that front.
      On an interesting side note, during the Q&A Peled responds to a question on Iran and says that BIBI Netanyahu is not really concerned about Iran but uses fear mongering on Iran to distract Israels from his horrific anti Palestinian land, food and water and justice policies.

      This talk by a knowledgeable man who was born in Israel is remarkable and very informative.
      As Todd Boyle said, I hope people take the time to watch it. It’s honest and realistic, IMO.

      Cheers.

    • Tiu
      October 20, 2017 at 19:23

      Garbage. You need to read some history books!

  42. Hank
    October 15, 2017 at 11:53

    Spot On-nothing more to add….

  43. Lolita
    October 15, 2017 at 11:44

    “Those moments of American humiliation – as almost all 535 members of Congress act like puppets on invisible strings – represent the actual subservience of the U.S. government to a foreign power. And that power is not Russia.”

    When Obama visited Ottawa in June 2016, the same shameful spectacle saw an entire Parliament and PM Justin Trudeau stand up and chant “four more years” to their Gauleiter… A few months forward, Miss Freeland was later named Foreign Affair Minister after US VP Biden’s last state visit to Canada…
    This is the difference between ally and vassal.

  44. THOMAS E JACKSON
    October 15, 2017 at 11:44

    Thanks Robert, clear vision is hard to come by these days

    • D.H. Fabian
      October 15, 2017 at 11:59

      “Clear vision” usually means, “something I agree with.”

      • Abe
        October 15, 2017 at 13:41

        “trendy” means clear fact and obvious reality that the Israeli government and the Israel Lobby does not “agree with”

        We see it’s “really not so complicated” for the Hasbara troll army.

        For example, Inverted Hasbara (false flag “anti-Israel” / “anti-Zionist”) propagandist “Paranam Kid” popped up from the hole to “comment” on a recent “comment” Conventional Hasbara (pro-Israel / pro-Zionist) propagandist “D.H. Fabian” here:
        https://consortiumnews.com/2017/10/12/how-trumps-iran-decision-invites-war/

        “D.H. Fabian” and “Paranam Kid”, and their many Hasbara team mates, all embrace the ideology that drives US wars for Israel.

        • Druid
          October 15, 2017 at 15:31

          And our so-called leaders and public fall for it. I see the ignorance every day. The MI Media complex is in full control. What a sad state!

      • Carl Schubert
        October 15, 2017 at 19:01

        DHF we all travel in that same caravan.

  45. Adrian Engler
    October 15, 2017 at 11:42

    I think it is important to note what some people try to disguise with their evidencefree Russiagate smokescreen: Trump’s foreign policy is in no way aligned with Putin’s foreign policy, but it is closely aligned with Netanyahu’s, there are hardly any significant differences between them.

    So, not only is there no evidence of Trump somehow being linked with Russia, but during his presidency, US-Russian relations have become worse than they had been for decades, and in many conflicts (North Korea, the Iran deal) the positions of Trump and the one of the Russian government are diametrically opposed.

    One idea some people had promoted was that by deteriorating the relations between the US and its Western European allies, Trump allegedly acts in Russia’s interests. Indeed, under Trump, US relations with Western Europe have suffered, and the reputation of the US in Europe is on such a low level as it had never been at least since George W. Bush. But that whole narrative does not make much sense because in relation to many international conflicts, the positions of the EU countries and the one of the Russian government are relatively close to each other and it is the US under Trump that has a completely different position.

    The EU, Russia, and China strongly support upholding the agreement with Iran. There were also relatively clear statements from the German foreign minister and other EU politicians supporting a diplomatic solution with North Korea, and although they did not outright endorse the Russian-Chinese proposal (halting nuclear and missile tests by North Korea and military maneuvres in South Korea, then aiming for a peaceful diplomatic solution and a peace treaty), they were much closer to it than to Trump’s belligerent rhethoric.

    I think it is important to condemn those “liberals” and pseudo-progressives who have based their opposition to Trump on an alliance with neoconservative extremists. I don’t know whether Trump is a moron or if he applies a version of Nixon’s madman theory, but if these “liberals” think that Trump is unhinged and crazy, it is completely irresponsible that they egg him on to more aggressive kinds of foreign policy and to pretend that the great danger is allegedly that Trump might co-operate too much with other countries like Russia, not that he might act in a dangerous aggressive way, not co-operating with the rest of the world. If those “liberals” really believe the best thing to do with a president they consider impulsive and unhinged is to accuse him of co-operating too much with other countries and to push him towards more aggressive and bellicose policies to prove that he is not a puppet, these “liberals” have reached such a degree of irresponsibility that they are hardly a lesser problem than Trump.

    • dfc
      October 15, 2017 at 13:38

      Not to be the slightest bit anti-Semitic, but I pointed this out a long time ago: If you believe a State Actor was even remotely responsible for the DNC / Podesta hacks, Netanyahu and the Mossad have way better cause than Putin & the FSB. Netanyahu supported Romney publicly in 2012, so maybe in 2016 he wised up? And having Russia scapegoated as Iran’s top ally also suits. If Israel thinks an Iranian bomb is an existential threat, it is totally plausible they wanted Hillary and the Democrats out – or severely damaged in the event they won.

      • Chet Roman
        October 15, 2017 at 20:18

        The problem with you assessment is that Hillary and the Democrats are solidly in the pockets of the Zionist Warhawks. Hillary would be more than willing to bomb Iran if it meant that she would be president. I’m not sure of the 2016 election but in previous presidential campaigns 50% to 60% of Democrat campaign contributions came from Jewish sources. The Jews groomed and put Obama into the White House and he obeyed their orders not to prosecute the bankers and increase the tribute payments to Israel. Both parties are obedient to the Zionist power controlling the U.S. I just hope the public realizes it when we enter into a catastrophic war with Iran.

        • tina
          October 15, 2017 at 22:24

          What evidence does anyone have? Do not forget Jared Kushner Is Jewish , and has allegiances to his family, state , and religion. I do not know in what order. So is henry Kissinger, and he works on all sides. My question is this , we are so concerned that nobody gets nuclear weapons, but Israel , can get all the weapons, they want, why? So if Israel wipes out Iran, and Lebanon, and Syria, then what? We will have to live with and accept many war refugees. I just do not understand the plan, what do they want? Someone, enlighten me. And exactly why are the Clintons or Obamas involved? I believe it was George W Bush who said , “The axis of evil is Iran, Iraq, and North Korea.” Do you remember March 2003? We bombed Iraq, shock and awe , this was going to be easy-peasy.. And you have the nerve to blame Clinton and Obama. Whoever you are, study recent history, meaning post world war two going to 9/11/2001.

        • tina
          October 15, 2017 at 22:34

          You must be really naïve. Look up Shel Adelson, Las Vegas, Koch brothers, Kansas. The Bradley foundation, the heritage foundation, and especially for you, ALEC, that is ,the American Legislative Council. These people dictate the agenda. You are welcome

        • Dave P.
          October 15, 2017 at 22:39

          Chet Roman,

          Your comments: “Both parties are obedient to the Zionist power controlling the U.S. ” .

          Yes, Zionist power controls both the Parties, and the whole U.S. And I may add that they control the Western European States as well. That is what the Great Western Civilization has come to – what an end!

          • Brad Owen
            October 16, 2017 at 04:04

            The “Zion Card” is a cover&deflection operation, cooked up by the Cecil Rhodes people in the late 19th century in anticipation of securing the Eastern flank of the various Euro-Empires (mainly Brits and French) controlling the whole of Africa against the rise of another Muslim Empire to threaten Europe. It also serves as the spear point for the final push into the “Eurasian Quarter”. Ukraine and Korea are other Vectors, Af/Pak is like a “parashoot drop” into the middle of enemy territory to stir up trouble in the rear (Uighers, Chechens and such). America, Israel, SA, are all primarily controlled by London-via-Wall street (a similar potential op is probably on the drawing board for China-via-Hong Kong). All of this while Synarchist Movement for Empire (SME) works on drawing Russia into its ranks(they already have Ukraine, the Baltics and Eastern Europe) South America all the way up to the Rio Grande is already under control because of the fascist pasts of Spain and Portugal, controlling the puppet ruling class there on the Continent (it was the easiest port-of-entry for the ratlines because of their fascist-friendly circumstances). America was Cecil Rhodes primary goal: to recapture and re-integrate the “Rogue Colony” into the British Empire Canada, Australia, and NZ never left it), now called the Anglo-American Establishment. This is all WAY bigger than a tiny desert country of a few million Jews, or the relatively minor participation of some Jewish actors in this SME/Cecil Rhodes Plan for global Empire, hence the deflection of attention upon the Jewish faction involved.

          • Brad Owen
            October 16, 2017 at 04:48

            This is all countered by the New Silk Road, which changes the very nature of humanity, like transforming a carivore into an herbivore, and geopolitics is displaced by joint-pursuit of universal interests common to all of humankind.

          • Brad Owen
            October 16, 2017 at 06:48

            One must have “Fall Guys” ready: SA, Israel, and America are the designated sacrifices, should all Plans go south, leaving the “blameless” European Home Lands intact for another try. All one has to do is track the intense negative opinions directed towards the Fall Guys.

          • Dave P.
            October 16, 2017 at 11:33

            Brad Owen,

            Yes . You in your comments provide very good information on the Anglo/American/Zionist Empire. I am not much familiar with Lyndon LaRouche movement and writings. But I have read here and there a few published articles.

            However, it seems to me the nature of the Global Financial Power; who control it and run it has changed. There were Rothchilds and others century ago and earlier, but the Zionists did not control the political machinery of the Imperial Powers. And they did not control the Media or the Foreign Policy as much. Now, What we observe today is that the Zionists have complete control over the Finance, all the Media, Entertainment Industry, Congress, Foreign Policy . . . Just about everything in this Country and to a great extent in other Countries of The West as well.

            They, the Zionists decide what news Americans should be allowed to get. They are in control of all the written and spoken word in this Country. They have and they are rewriting History. It seems to me that they have complete control over the minds of the Americans.
            Yes, there are alternate websites like this one. But their influence is only marginal.

            The result of this all is that all what was achieved in terms of human thought/progress over many centuries has been and is being run over and extinguished. I hope that influential voices in Jewish Community raise their voices against what is happening. But so far, I do not see many doing it.

          • Brad Owen
            October 16, 2017 at 12:20

            To Dave P. Not much has changed, Refer to “Inter-Alpha Group” and “Permindex” on EIR search box. Some of the powerful Dynastic families trace their roots to the surviving oligarchs of the Roman Empire who retreated to the swamps of Venice. Then there is the Black Nobility (self-named). Their descendents are very much alive. If you choose to go to EIR search box, check out: “Henry Luce”, “Return of the Monarchs”, “Count Codenhouve-Kalergi”, “Synarchy against America”, “Synarchy/NAZI-Communist”, “CCF”, “Cecil Rhodes”, “SME”. Basically it is the revival and continuation of the Holy Roman Empire, in all of its varying European Factions, in modern fascist clothes…and yes the Zion Movement is a part of it. They are like “Tracer Rounds”: follow the tracer rounds and you’ll know where those other unseen rounds are going to. I just wanted to make the point that this is an orchestra, NOT a one-note kazoo. It actually is Class Warfare (NOT religious, Tribal, nor even economic as there of plenty of billionaire capitalists who see things like Nick Hannauer…FDR was the most famous of this class)., with the old Owning/Rentier Class seeking to make a comeback, and “Put the peasants back in their proper place”. The “Henry Luce” entry makes it pretty clear.

          • Brad Owen
            October 16, 2017 at 14:11

            To Dave P. Also; “Unmasking the Zionist Myth” is worth checking out, in EIR search box.

          • Abe
            October 20, 2017 at 02:21

            Brad Owen goes “full retard” Larouche with all caps galore and endless alibis for that “tiny desert country”.

            Definitely a cover & deflection operation.

        • Tiu
          October 20, 2017 at 19:15

          The problem with getting distracted by the latest US president and recent inventions like Israel is that it doesn’t get to the heart of the problem (“problem” being dependent on your position in the power-chain… personally I’m not even on it, so it’s a problem).
          There is a long history of citizens being corralled into wars, and mind-control operations to change societies behaviours and opinions that seem to all lead back to a small group of synarchists (similar to oligarchy, except the people at the top appear to be bankers, mostly controlled from Switzerland who I personally suspect are controlled by an ancient blood-line which straddles Europe and the Middle East [Synarchy: control over the peasants by the bankers, AKA Marburg in the US and Common Purpose in Europe]).
          To keep the comment brief I’d like to quote Sun Tzu: “Know your enemy.”
          If you shoot at the wrong enemy, you might end up serving the real enemy.

    • Erik G
      October 15, 2017 at 22:41

      Yes, “Russia-gate” = “Israel-gate” covering up control of the Dems by zionists, who also control the Reps. Once more an essential counterpoint to the mass media propaganda.

      Those who wish to petition the NYT to make Robert Parry their editor may do so here:
      https://www.change.org/p/new-york-times-bring-a-new-editor-to-the-new-york-times?recruiter=72650402&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink
      While Mr. Parry may prefer independence, and we all know the NYT ownership makes it unlikely, and the NYT may try to ignore it, it is instructive to them that intelligent readers know better journalism when they see it. A petition demonstrates the concerns of a far larger number of potential or lost subscribers. We have 677 signatures so far.

    • Peter Loeb
      October 16, 2017 at 06:30

      SINGLE SOURCES…

      This admirable piece by Robert Parry would be more
      persuasive if multiple sources and analyses had been
      cited. Mr. Parry (referring to “Sy” Hersh) has previously
      informed me that in investigative reporting this is not always
      possible. I defer, of course. But previous articles by Consortium
      have provided stronger bases . Two, in particular, are cited
      above and can be referred to (in blue providing way to link)..

      [See Consortiumnews.com’s “A New Hole in Syria-Sarin Certainty.”]

      [For details, see Consortiumnews.com’s “The Need to Hold Saudi Arabia Accountable.”]

      Such an approach is more persuasive in my opinion that “someone told me”.

      —Peter Loeb, Boston, MA

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