Opinion Editorials, November 2012

No More Wars for Israel:

Countering The Zionist Campaign For A New Middle East War

By Mark Weber

IHR, Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, November 19, 2012

 
Dear Friends,

Israel's prime minister has been loudly threatening Iran with war if it develops even the capability of producing a nuclear weapon.

President Obama and other prominent American politicians, together with much of the US media, have been echoing Israel's threats and alarmist claims. Obama even says that "all options are on the table" -- including a full-scale US military attack -- if Iran does not halt its civilian nuclear energy program.

Behind this campaign is shameless hypocrisy and brazen gall, because Israel itself has a large, secretive stockpile of illicit nuclear weapons, routinely defies international law, occupies conquered lands, and oppresses millions.

Ignored amid the clamor for a new war are the sober warnings of informed military leaders, scholars, historians, and specialists, who point out some basic, key facts: Iran is not building nuclear weapons. (As even senior US and Israeli officials have quietly acknowledged, Iran has not even made a decision to develop a nuclear arsenal.) Iran is not a threat to the US. And Iran's leadership is not irrational or suicidal.

In fact, the so-called Iran "crisis" is artificial. It's every bit as phony as the one manufactured to provide a pretext for the calamitous war against Iraq, which took thousands of American lives and cost hundreds of billions of dollars, and brought untold destruction, suffering and death to many hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

Israeli leaders hate Iran because it steadfastly opposes Zionist repression and aggression and strongly supports resistance to Israeli hegemony, especially in its support for Palestinian freedom and self-determination.

Just as the 2003 Iraq war was, above all, a war for Israel, a new US or Israeli war against Iran would likewise serve only narrow, Zionist interests. For everyone else - including Americans - such a war would be calamitous.

All this is especially dangerous for America because US policy in the Middle East is not driven by what's best for Americans and the world, but rather - as even the US ambassador to Israel has acknowledged - by concern for Israel's security and identity as a Jewish ethno-religious state. "The test of every policy the Administration develops in the Middle East," says ambassador Daniel Shapiro "is whether it is consistent with the goal of ensuring Israel's future as a secure, Jewish, democratic state. That is a commitment that runs as a common thread through our entire government."

America's unique, blank-check support for Israel is the result of the Jewish-Zionist grip on our nation's mass media, political life and educational system.

For many years now the American public has been systematically misinformed by a minority dominated media, and misled by political leaders who put partisan interests ahead of what's good for Americans and the world. So blatant have politicians become in their scrambling for Jewish-Zionist support that even a prominent New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman, was recently moved to comment on how US politicians, of both major parties, "grovel for Jewish votes and money.".

We're working hard to counter the push for a new war by raising public awareness about this dangerous campaign, and the malevolent power behind it.

In lectures, interviews, meetings, and broadcasts, as well as through books, discs and leaflets, we've been highlighting the formidable power that's pushing for a new war, and its harmful hold on our political and cultural-educational life.

My recent visit to Iran was part of this effort. Among the highlights of this visit was a guest appearance on an influential prime-time public affairs television show, a meeting with the nation's President, and a well-received two-hour lecture on "The Zionist Lobby in America" given to a gathering of several hundred Tehran university students.

This expense-paid visit -- which helped me to much better understand a badly-maligned country -- also included many interviews, informative talks with writers and film-makers from different countries, and useful discussions with Iranian journalists, scholars, students and officials.

Contributing significantly to our effectiveness in countering the campaign for a new war in the Middle East has been our success in building the IHR into an important online source of reliable information and sound perspective.

We never forget that what we accomplish depends on the generous support of men and women who appreciate our work and understand what's at stake.

Faithfully yours,

Mark Weber

Director, Institute for Historical Review

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