Chuck Hagel And Israel: The Wrong Question
December 27, 2012 by Mitchell Plitnick
I weigh in on the controversy over Barack Obama’s possible nomination of Chuck Hagel to the post of Secretary of Defense in a guest post at Muzzlewatch, Jewish Voice for
Senator Chuck Hagel
Peace’s blog. On the issue of Israel and the Middle East, rarely has there been a more important moment for US policy. This is a moment where the Israel Lobby could well suffer a significant defeat, and that matters.
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Posted in US-Israel Lobby | Tagged AIPAC, Americans for Peace Now, Andrew Sullivan, Anti-Semitism, Anti-Zionism, Barack Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu, Cato Institute, Chas Freeman, Chuck Hagel, democracy, Elliott Abrams, Israel, Israel Lobby, J Street, James Besser, James Hormel, Jeffrey Goldberg, Jewish Voice for Peace, Lindsey Graham, Log Cabin Republicans, Middle east, Peace Groups, pro-Israel, Tom Friedman, Two-state solution, William Kristol | 1 Comment
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You write that Hagel opts for an interest-based rather than for an ideology-based F/P. Well, for ideologues, ideology IS an interest: protectors of Israel of the AIPAC stripe are sincere in their desires and in their promotion of their desires as THEIR “interests”. And US F/P can only be “interest-based” if it respects everybody’s interests, even the noxious (to me) interests of AIPAC.
So my question to you and to Walt and Mearsheimer and to Hagel is this: what, precisely, do you consider to be American “interests” which our policy of subservience-to-Israel runs contrary to? Spell it out! Whose “interests” are they? Why do they trump AIPAC’s “interests”? I don’t care what your answer is, I’d like to hear your answer. (My personal answer would be: [1] my interest in the rule of law (international H/R and humanitarian law especially); [2] my interest in Palestinian H/R and national rights; and [3] my interest in American democracy and the empowerment of the generally kindly passions of Americans which IO believe are being trashed by the government’s AIPAC-motivated subservience to Israel (especially its protracted occupation and policies and practices of occupation and settlement).