An Israel Accountability Act

In a little noticed, totally unexpected and uncharacteristic act of
moral indignation, the Congress passed the “Israel Accountability Act”
(HB 666) at noontime the day before spring recess, 373-27, with the
Jewish Caucus standing firm against the Act despite the documented
evidence that clearly called for such censure, as the full Congress
gathered in the Old House Office basement closet used by Rep.Conyers
when he sought to investigate the torture crimes of the Bush
administration a few months ago. The pre-arranged gathering in this
undisclosed location sought to avoid the prying eyes of the pro-Israeli
press. The legislation, allegedly written according to AIPAC by APPAC
(the American Palestine Public Affairs Committee), followed a prolonged
prayer breakfast where numerous Christian Tele-evangelist ministers
castigated the Congress for moral “cowardiceness” in performance of
their duties regarding the people of Palestine.

However, AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee), the
fourth branch of the United States government of checks and balances,
the Implementation Branch, created about 53 years ago as the American
Zionist Committee to circumvent the logjams caused by the checks and
balances, threatened, within minutes of its passage, to expose the
surreptitious action of the Congress to FOX News thereby threatening all
373 representatives with the loss of their House seats. HB 911 was
quickly rescinded and all members slunk down the hall to the elevators.
Paul Findley, once a long-time and respected member of the House,
commented on this turn of events, “For one brief moment the United
States Congress had regained the moral high ground it has abdicated
since AIPAC was installed as the fourth branch of government,” a comment
Irving Kristol, AIPAC’s Supreme Commander of Political Discord,
dismissed as “sour grapes.”

The House Bill, modeled on the one designed by AIPAC against Palestine,
HB4681 (the Palestine Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006) would have imposed
measures to “defund” the newly elected government of Israel (once it is
formed with Kadima as the party in control) unless it met the following
requirements:

* The government of Israel has recognized publicly and before the United
Nations the right of Palestine to exist as a nation state;

* renounced all actions it has taken in defiance of the “Road Map,”
actions that include expansion of settlements, continued confiscation of
Palestinian land, and violence against the civilians of Palestine;

* abjured all agreements it has made with the “irrelevant” PA since it
has made moot all such agreements by unilateral actions taken since they
were signed;

* formed a government that cannot contain any members from parties that
call for or contain platforms that imply or deny the rights of
Palestinians under international law or suggest other terrorist actions
such as ethnic cleansing, transfer or forced removal of Palestinians
from their indigenous homeland;

* taken effective steps and made demonstrable progress toward (a).
removing its troops from the illegally occupied land of the
Palestinians; (b). dismantling all terrorist operations that are cloaked
in euphemistic military jargon like “security checkpoints” that prohibit
freedom of movement by Palestinians, “security strips” that permit
illegal home demolition, “clearing actions” that allow destruction of
Palestine farm lands, “absentee property laws” that provide for illegal
confiscation of Palestinian homes and properties, and all other
insidious actions of like kind; c). halting all anti-Palestine
incitement in Israel, especially in the Knesset, including school books
which should include true information on the Nakba and Israeli massacres
and ethnic cleansing carried out in 1947; (d). providing to the new
democratically elected government in Palestine the tax revenues
collected by Israel on its behalf;

* and, finally, produce after 59 years, a constitution that guarantees
the equal rights of any and all citizens that reside in the boundaries
of the state of Israel, including right to property and right of return.

Should the new Israeli government consent to these measures, funding
would continue based on a new formula consistent with all other support
provided to foreign countries. This alteration in dispensing foreign aid
to Israel is long overdue since US aid to Israel accounts for one third
of the international aid provided by the US to only .001% of the world’s
population, 5.8 million, and that the 16th wealthiest in the world,
while a much smaller amount goes to more than 350 million people living
in sub-Saharan Africa.

Should the new government refuse to accept these terms, the new law
would

* Bar all direct aid to the Israeli government and not provide the
President with any leeway to funnel funds through AIPAC or any of its
500 affiliate national and local organizations even if Israeli security
is deemed at risk;

* Bar all Senators and Congressmen from giving speeches at AIPAC, AEI,
JINSA or CSP;

* Bar all aid to NGOs except to B’tselem since it is the one
organization Israel wishes to eradicate;

* Hold back owed dues to the UN in proportion to the UN’s direct support
for the government of Israel;

* Bar all Senators and Congressmen from interviews with far right
magazines and radio talk shows like “Commentary,” "National Review,"
“The Weekly Standard,” "The New Republic," “The National Interest,”
etc.;

* Designate all areas occupied by Israel as “terrorist” territories
since they are illegal, contrary to International Law and the UN
Charter, and areas of violence perpetrated by the IDF;

* Ban the issuance of Visas to anyone affiliated with the Israeli
government;

* Bar the Israeli government from maintaining or establishing offices
within the territories controlled by the US, including all 145 nations
where the US maintains bases to secure its interests;

* Require the President to direct US representatives at International
Financial Institutions (e.g. the World Bank, IMF) to use the voice,
vote, and influence of the US to block any aid to Israel, this measure
to require the removal of Paul Wolfowitz from his position at the World
Bank before its implementation;

* Bar all display of the Israeli flag on US soil as is required of other
nations whose illegal immigrants have attempted to thwart House Bills
favored by the Congress and Senate;

* Require the President to direct all US representatives associated with
the state of Israel to publish their defense of this rogue state in the
Internet pages of liberal publications like Counterpunch;

* Bar all diplomatic contact or negotiation with any member of the
Israeli government or its sympathizers;

* Bar US visas and restrict travel for Israeli government officials with
the exception of Peretz representing the Labor Party;

* Designate the state of Israel as “Terrorist Sanctuary.”

Each of the above items parallels the points contained in the Palestine
Anti-Terrorism Act voted by the Congress just before the spring recess.
However, unlike that document, that passed unanimously, this one
contained a cover document that established the reasons for putting
forward the Israel Accountability Act. In keeping with congressional
duplicity, it appears that this document is a forgery since it is signed
by Senator Joe Lieberman, an unlikely candidate to support the following
“Rationale for Moral Action,” as the document is labeled. No one, of
course, could take seriously the charges made here or consider for one
moment that Israel is more repugnant than the newly installed Hamas
government. Nonetheless, it’s important to report all the news, good and
bad, as we must remain obsequious to our meticulous leader in this
regard, FOX News.

The document begins with the following appeal: "As we all sat in stunned
silence this morning at our prayer breakfast, listening to the dire
words of our religious leaders, the doctors of divinity from Trinity
Broadcasting Corporation, as they excoriated us for moral laxness
regarding Palestine, I had to lift my pen and itemize the reasons they
proffered for taking action against Israel. I enclose with this
document, this “Rationale for Moral Action,” the text of the “Israel
Accountability Act.”

The items that follow are arranged in the order of greatest iniquity as
they inflict injury on the American people.

* As John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt establish in their recent work,
The Israel Lobby, we are the victims of a foreign power that has
established its control over our political lives (as our former
colleagues Senator Charles Percy, Paul Findley, Pete McCloskey, Earl
Hilliard and Cynthia McKinny can testify), forcing us to act on behalf
of the state of Israel, even against the security interests of the
United States, and contrary to the desires of the American people, whom
we represent, as recent polls make all too obvious.

* We have allowed the Lobby to which they refer (AIPAC) to be exempt
from the “Foreign Agents Registration Act” required of all other lobbies
as a means of avoiding reporting actions done on behalf of a foreign
state while requiring us to grovel before them at annual celebrations
held on public grounds while the Israeli flag flies in equal numbers
with that of the US.

* We stand before the world as the Vichy government of the US, a
collaborationist regime in bed with a power that illegally occupies
another land, defies 165 UN Resolutions, and writes and prepares
legislation drafts that propel America into acts contrary to its
foundational documents and the international agreements it is a party to
like the UN Charter, the Nuclear Non-proliferation Agreement, and the
justice that can be attained through the International Court of Justice.
Our National Security Strategic Report is a document that was prepared
by agents of this lobby and amounts to a revision of “A Clean Break: A
New Strategy for Securing the Realm,” a document prepared for Benjamin
Netanyahu in Israel. Its precepts of preemptive strike and world
hegemony are anathema to America’s principles and stated values.

* We provide Israel with more than 3 billion dollars of taxpayer money
per year, an amount that now exceeds $134 billion, including
approximately $800 million to bring Jews from foreign nations to the
foreign nation of Israel, construct infrastructures for illegal
settlements on Palestinian land, settlements with new town homes, pools,
lush lawns and greenery, while our own poor in New Orleans and elsewhere
have no support, no resettlement monies, no infrastructure support, and
no medical care. We are in effect the beholden puppets of a foreign
nation.

* We are responsible for accepting the Israeli occupation of the
Palestine land despite the actions of the world communities to condemn
that occupation, more than 160 times since 1948. We accept Israeli
designation of Palestinians as terrorists despite the reality on the
ground where Israeli terrorist activities far exceed anything
perpetrated by Hamas or Fatah. MIFTAH’s facts show that over 4140
Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, 887 children and 272
women, 117 caused by intervention by IDF against medical personnel while
1113 Israelis have been killed during this Intifada. In addition,
233,875 dunams have been confiscated, 73613 dunams of land razed,
1,186,742 trees uprooted, and over 7,762 homes demolished. Our financial
support for Israel allows this wanton slaughter to take place; our
silence guarantees that it will.

* As we have become the puppets of Israeli influence, we have permitted
the American people to fall prey to their insidious power in the main
stream press. “In 2004, when 8 Israeli children were killed and 179
Palestinian children were killed, NBC reported on 100% of Israeli
children’s deaths and on 10% of Palestinian children’s deaths.”
(ifamericansknew.org) ABC on 100% and 11%. The New York Times on 50% and
7%. We have prevented Americans from knowing the truth.

* We know Israel spies on the US, on us through employees at AIPAC, but
we say nothing. None of us speaks out about the three indicted and
convicted spies who are currently before our courts. We fear AIPAC’s
power and we return to grovel before them in return for jaunts to
Israel, awards bestowed, and contributions to our campaign chests. Our
hypocrisy has brought us world condemnation, foreign policy of benefit
to Israel but not the US, and contempt for our form of “democracy” by
nations in the mid-east, Asia, and South America.

* Speaking of hypocrisy ... we have bought into the President’s most
recent rationale for his wars in the mid-east, “spreading democracy to
all countries as God’s gift” to them, yet we have just passed “the
Palestine Anti-Terrorist Act” that effectively nullifies the will of the
Palestinian people despite the fact that it was monitored by outside
agents and declared a model of the democratic election process,
something we can’t even accomplish in our own country. And to what end?
A certain future of continued deprivation, human suffering, and death
for thousands of Palestinians; a certain continuation of instability in
all of Palestine including a resurrection of suicide bombing from those
who now have reason to know peace will not come and in absolute
desperation resort to that action rather than total capitulation, and
all of this courtesy of our “cowardiceness” as the good ministers have
told us this morning.

* And, finally, let me remind you that we have skirted the most obvious
hypocrisy of our responsibility to the American people, indeed to the
entire world when it comes to Israel, the reality that they have nuclear
weapons, WMD, that elusive item that has brought us to war in Iraq, that
we use at every turn to justify our “Accountability” acts like those
against, would you believe mid-east countries, Syria, Palestine and
Iran, but not Israel, the only nation in the mid-east that has them.
Why? Why this silence? We know the world knows we know. We know they see
the control Israel has on our government. This is the elephant that
causes America to be the target of terrorists, yet we do nothing about
it. Why? Why not a non-nuclear mid-east zone? Why not take action that
might bring a real peace in the mid-east?

Investigative reporters who have read this document note how closely it
parallels the action taken in the Palestine Anti-Terrorist Act.
Provisions in that document effectively destroy the will of the
Palestinian people by undermining the ability of that government to
carry forward its responsibilities. Its primary basis seeks from the
Hamas government acceptance of the state of Israel, acceptance of
agreements made by Israel with the former PLO authority, and cessation
of violence against Israel, yet nothing is required of Israel, not
acceptance of a Palestine state, not cessation of violence against the
Palestinians and not recognition that Israel has broken the very
agreements it wants Hamas to accept. The passage of the act makes moot
America’s purported interest in creating democracies in the mid-east and
ensures the continuation of instability for years to come. In short, it
appears that the US and Israel intentionally want to maintain a constant
condition in the mid-east that will ensure not just the continuation of
terror by insurgents and nation states in that area, but a legacy of
unending war.

While the above document carried the signature of the Senate’s “moral
guide,” Senator Joe Lieberman, two things suggest that this was only a
ruse: “the Israel Accountability Act” arose in the Congress not the
Senate, and most observers believe that Senator Lieberman would find
objection to some, if not all, of the rationale itemized above. However
that may be, it is newsworthy that this clandestine action by the
Congress be made available to the people if only to offer them a glimpse
of hope that there is some degree of human warmth left in their
representatives.

William Cook is a professor of English at the University of La Verne in
southern California and author of Tracking Depception: Bush’s Mideast
Policy.

He can be reached at: cookb@ULV.EDU