In his cover story for Prospect this month, Gershom Gorenberg writes that a new “dovish” Israel lobby is on the verge of being formed in the US to counter the hawkish views of the likes of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac). This new grouping, writes Gorenberg, would be likely to support an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and the creation of a Palestinian state, and to urge the US government to take a more active role in promoting these ends.
Now it seems the “liberal Israel lobby” is about to be unveiled, according to a report in the Jewish Week News. As yet unnamed—it currently goes by the name “J Street Project,” and if you get that gag you probably know too much about American politics—the group is due to hold a fundraiser today, before a formal public launch in the middle of April. None of the individuals behind the new group will speak publicly before then, but the JWN reveals that it will be headed by Jeremy Ben-Ami, who served as a policy adviser under Bill Clinton. The board of advisers will include several names with links to Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama, as well as a former deputy head of Mossad.
This news is enough to make me want to vomit!
Dear Sir:
It is easy for us all to be hawks in a comfortable West, when we can generally finish our lunches without being blown up, but a friend of mine, Ellie, who is a soldier in Israel, says that hawks don’t have to man volatile frontiers.
Maybe it is time to release some doves, as all warring nations eventually tire of endless invective.
The samurai tradition reminds us that no nation profits from a long drawn out war. Wars are just too expensive and long wars can ruin the fittest and the most wealthy of economies - caveat emptor.
Apollo