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http://www.counterpunch.org/lamb11052010.html
Did Anyone Really Think They Would Lose?
Israel Claims Victory in US Midterm Elections
By Franklin Lamb
Counterpunch: November 5-7, 2010
Beirut
The Republican party's gain of 60 plus House Seats (10 seats, all held by
Democrats, are still undecided at press time) and six Senate seats, is the
largest Congressional increase for either party since 1948 when the
Democrats gained 75 seats in the lower chamber and Harry Truman won the
White House. Next January's 112th Congress is already receiving rave advance
reviews, some coming from the more than half a million Jewish settlers in
more than 100 illegal colonies in occupied Palestine who are pleased to see
President Obama emasculated and the sentiments expressed in his June 2008
Cairo speech long forgotten. Many are hoping he will be replaced by likes of
Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, or a Mike Huckabee in 2012. Danny Dayan, head
of the Yesha Council, which represents Jewish settlers in the West Bank, and
whose representatives are increasingly on the rampage, by word and by deed,
spoke for many when he told a post election news conference that he expected
the new Congress "will facilitate a more open-minded approach to Israel's
needs [i.e., yet more Palestinian land] than what we've experienced over the
last two years."
AIPAC, as it does after every Congressional election, offered pro forma
congratulations to the winners: "It is abundantly clear that the 112th
Congress will continue America's long tradition of staunch support for a
strong, safe and secure Israel and an abiding friendship between the United
States and our most reliable ally in the Middle East." No sooner had the
election results been declared than key winners received what for decades
has been a post election ritual, bestowed on new Members of Congress. That
would be the delivery of US taxpayer subsidized invitations for all expense
paid junkets to Israel. Of this year's batch, Florida's new Senator, Marco
Rubio, who considers himself a Tea Party leader and who has been called
"America's great Right hope' will lead the flock and arrive in Israel on
this Sunday, November 7.
As Rubio and other members of Congress board planes to fly to Israel they
may actually near-miss Israeli officials, including PM Netanyahu, who will
be coming the opposite direction for a five day US visit to meet with his
personal choice to replace Obama for US President in 2012, Hilary Clinton.
Netanyahu will also talk Congressional strategy with key Israeli lobby
agents. Those listed on the various passenger manifests between the US and
Israel will share the common objective of making sure Israel's interests are
preserved and "remain eternally paramount" to borrow a phrase from VP Joe
Biden. They will also try to assure and that the 112th Congress brooks no
Obama administration unpleasantness such as increased demands for a broader
freeze on Jewish settlements.
The post Congressional election euphoria has not extended to Lebanon and
this region. This is because over here it is widely believed that the new
Congress, with respect to Lebanon's arch foe Israel which has committed
serial aggressions against it for half a century, will pick up right where
the old Congress left off without missing a beat.
Many in Lebanon view Obama's repudiation in the polls as a sign that he will
be unable to pressure Israel into concessions in stalled peace talks. They
expect the Congressional drum beat for war with Iran, pressure on Syria,
deference to Netanyahu-Lieberman, and interference in Lebanon's internal
affairs including the targeting of the national Lebanese Resistance led by
Hezbollah to increase.
The morning after the US election, at the open-air Café Younnes Coffee Shop
off Hamra Street, some Lebanese students were explaining to foreigners, with
remarkable grasp of the electoral details, their take on the US midterm
election results. One student explained that she expects the soon to be
Speaker of the House, wildly pro-Israel John Boehner (R-Ohio), with Eric
Cantor as Majority Leaders and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) Chair of the
House Foreign Affairs Committee, will anchor Israel's Congressional rule.
Ros-Lehtinen, the all time Congressional record holder for all manner of
anti-Arab congressional initiatives' over the past two decades. Yesterday
she called for all Members of Congress to sign her latest letter to
President Obama opposing his administration's proposed $60 billion arms deal
to Saudi Arabia, by the end of business on 11/6/10. Ros-Lehtinen is also
expected to renew her call to cut off all aid to the Palestinian Authority
in Ramallah. She has also expressed her intention to maintain what are
essentially US sanctions against Lebanon by extending her predecessor Howard
Berman's ban on grants to the Lebanese Armed Forces until Hezbollah is
disarmed to prevent it from benefiting from the military aid.
Other key committees chairmanships held by Israel loyalists are believed
here to mean an even stronger choke hold on the US government starting
January. One Palestinian student who used to live in Nahr al Bared Camp near
Tripoli before it was destroyed in 2007, explained how Cantor has already
drawn pro-Israel skeptical reaction with his proposal that American
assistance to Israel be taken out of the annual foreign aid bill and be
passed separately, on its own. Cantor's thinking is that, given his party's
intention to heavily cut foreign aid, he wants Israel's annual $ 3 billion
US taxpayer gift to remain untouched even as foreign aid to other nations
get slashed.
Some pro-Israel lobbyists worry that Cantor's "going public" with his plan
may result in the American public noticing how much aid Israel gets and
begin to wonder why Israel's aid is so sacrosanct. Voters might notice that
Israel has received more foreign aid from the United States than any other
country since World War II, according to a recent report compiled by the
Congressional Research Service.
Voters may begin to learn about and perhaps even question the fact that over
the years, multiple lobbying efforts have added countless perks to Israel's
special aid package such that Israel is the only recipient allowed to spend
a portion of its military aid on purchases within Israel itself. Usually
this kind of aid is designed for procurement of American-made weapon
systems. Israel also receives its aid in the first month of the fiscal year
as a deposit in an interest-bearing account. Aid to all other recipients is
spread out throughout the year. The Lebanese students verdict on the 2010 US
midterm election: Netanyahu and Israel won again. Obama and America lost
again.
Franklin Lamb is doing research in Lebanon and can be contacted at
fplamb@gmail.com
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