From Newsgroup: aus.politics

Two major stories regarding the United States and Israel in recent
days represent profound watershed moments in the history of the
relationship between both countries.

The first incident occurred on July 8 when US Congressman Ro Khanna
(D-CA) and his delegation were detained by armed, illegal Israeli
settlers in the occupied West Bank.

"These hoodlums come in with machine gunsuan M4, an American-made
machine gunuand they detain us," Khanna recounted in a stunning
statement. "They block off the road. And then they call the IDF, and
the IDF is on their side, not on the side of the Americans."

Equally shocking to the congressmanAs direct encounter with the raw,
lawless reality of the occupation was the response of US Ambassador to
Israel, Mike Huckabee. Rather than defending an elected American
lawmaker, Huckabee dismissed Khanna's harrowing experience as a mere
"stunt."

This defiance of old taboos, however, is not confined to progressive
factions. In an even more unprecedented development on July 15, US
Vice President JD Vance used an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience
to deliver some of the sharpest criticism of Israel ever uttered by a
sitting, top-tier US official.

Addressing a reported Israeli government-funded online influence
campaign aimed at sabotaging the administrationAs diplomatic efforts,
a furious Vance accused "certain elements within the Israeli
government" of actively trying to derail peace negotiations and
manipulate American public opinion. He went so far as to target the
operators behind the foreign-backed campaign, telling them directly to
"go to hell."

Yet, even as fierce criticism of Israel reaches the very apex of
American politics, a profound, schizophrenic rupture divides
Washington. While the American public, influential media
personalities, and top-tier politicians are openly turning against
IsraelAs unbridled violence, the traditional power structures continue
to toe the line.

This is explicitly evident in Congress, where establishment
politicians remain busy acting as defense contractors for Tel Aviv.
Lawmakers are quietly pushing forward with Section 219 of the National
Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2027. Far from
distancing the US from the ongoing regional bloodbath, this
legislation aims to permanently integrate and synchronize the US and
Israeli militaries under a joint "Defense Technology Cooperation
Initiative."

This institutional blind spot is why the entire alliance is beginning
to look utterly ridiculous.

Traditional foreign policy theory views Israel as an American avesselA
or aunsinkable aircraft carrierA\ in the Middle East, policing the
region on behalf of Western hegemony. Whether that was ever true is
highly debatable. Today, the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the relentless
war on Iran, and the escalating aggressions against Lebanon and Syria
have yielded zero strategic value to the American people. Instead, the
United States has paid a massive financial and moral largesse to fund
bloody regional wars that disrupt the global economy and make
Washington a direct, complicit partner in the destruction of the
Palestinian people.

Yet, the American administration continues to offer unquestioning
support, with the exception of occasionally leaked, manufactured
accounts of atenseA phone calls between Donald Trump and Benjamin
Netanyahu. No matter the physical, economic, or reputational damage
inflicted on the US, Washington continues to march blindly toward the precipice.

To believe this subservience is a recent phenomenon is to
misunderstand history. For many, the physical detention of Congressman
Khanna by Israeli forces evokes the memory of Rachel Corrieuthe
23-year-old American peace activist who was brutally crushed to death
by an Israeli military bulldozer in Rafah on March 16, 2003, while
peacefully shielding a Palestinian family home from demolition. In
both cases, the message from Tel Aviv was clear: American status
offers no protection.

Yet, this dependency runs deeper, rooted in the 1967 USS Liberty
incident. During the Six-Day War, Israeli forces launched a relentless
two-hour attack on an unarmed US intelligence ship, killing 34
American sailors and wounding 171. Instead of demanding
accountability, the Johnson administration accepted Israel's excuse of
a "mistake" and covered up the truth to protect its ally. This
established a decades-long precedent: Washington would act as a
political and military shield for Israeli actions, even at the cost of
American lives.

It is often argued that IsraelAs stranglehold on American policy stems
entirely from the financial power of its lobby in Washington,
particularly the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Conventional wisdom holds that AIPACAs true dominance as the ultimate
kingmaker began in 1981, when it waged a historic, ferocious battle to
block President Ronald Reagan's proposed sale of AWACS early-warning surveillance aircraft to Saudi Arabia.

But the USS Liberty incident occurred long before the lobby wielded
such immense power. The truth is that the US government has simply
lost control of the very creature it has nurtured and shielded for
decades. Blaming this dependency solely on campaign contributions no
longer suffices; the rot is far deeper. It is driven by a deep-seated
fear and trepidation among American politicians who have spent their
entire careers learning that political survival requires absolute
obedience to Tel Aviv.

This is precisely why JD VanceAs recent remarks are so critical. It
proves that the armor of absolute impunity is cracking, and the
language of genuine, systemic criticism of Israel has officially been normalized in mainstream political discourse.

There must be a profound political awakening in America. If the
American public and its leaders fail to reclaim their foreign policy
from this destructive alliance, the only path forward will be one of
perpetual conflict, economic ruin, and endless war.

- Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the Editor of The
Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of eight books. His latest book,
aBefore the Flood,A was published by Seven Stories Press. His other
books include aOur Vision for LiberationA, aMy Father was a Freedom
FighterA and aThe Last EarthA. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior
Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His
website is www.ramzybaroud.net

https://freepress.org/article/it-just-about-aipac-s-money-or-does-us-israel-rot-run-far-deeper


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