inside the glass house

Bush, Kerry, Nader and the Israeli factor
NEW YORK -- Pat Buchanan, a onetime presidential aspirant and a frequent talking-head on US television networks, is contemptuous of the US Congress for being so politically intimidated by the pro-Israeli lobby in the United States.

Buchanan once had the courage to describe the US Congress -- both the Senate and the House of Representatives in Capitol Hill -- as "Israeli-occupied territory". But his forthrightness and his openly anti-Israeli sentiments have virtually doomed his political career.

The moral of the story is that if you refuse to play ball with Israel, you just don't survive in American politics. Period. Any US politician who challenges America's unbridled loyalty to Israel -- be it George Bush or his current opponent in the November presidential elections John Kerry -- is bound to fail because of the tremendous influence wielded by the pro-Israeli lobby.

And critics of Israel have also been silenced by accusations that when they speak against Israel they are also necessarily anti-Semitic in their sentiments. Ralph Nader, one of America's best-known consumer advocates and a perennial third party candidate at presidential elections, is as outspoken as Buchanan.

Nader, who once took on the powerful US automobile industry by advocating the cause of the hapless motorist at the mercy of American auto giants, has dismissed President Bush and the US Congress as "puppets" of the Israeli government.

"The days when the chief Israeli puppeteer comes to the United States and meets with the puppet in the White House and proceeds to Capitol Hill where he meets with hundreds of other puppets, should be replaced,'' Nader said.

But despite a strong rejoinder from the Anti-Defamation League, which represents Israeli interests in the US, Nader has refused to retract his statement.

When Nader made his statement several weeks ago, the mainstream US media did not think it newsworthy to run the story. But it thought it fit to publicise his statement only after the Anti-Defamation League wanted to publicise its own statement -- proving once again the power the Israeli lobby exerts even in the mainstream media in this country.

Nader has challenged the League to come up with an example of any US administration that pursued a policy vehemently opposed by the Israeli government. In the current presidential elections, both Bush and Kerry are strong supporters of Israel. And they cannot afford not to.

The two candidates from the Republican and Democratic Parties -- Bush and Kerry respectively -- are trying to outdo each other as to who remains the stronger supporter of Israel. Economically, Israel continues to survive as a nation state primarily because of the staggering $3 billion (not $3 million) in American economic and military aid doled annually from taxpayers money.

Israel remains the largest single recipient of American aid and has received over $81 billion in economic and military assistance since its creation in 1948. Until and unless the Arab-Americans in the US emerge as a powerful voting bloc in the country, Israel will continue to exert its influence in American foreign policy.

Nader, a full-blooded American of Lebanese origin, has little chance of making his way to the White House. But he has played the role of a spoiler drawing votes away from Democratic candidates. Bush's victory in the last presidential elections in November 2000 is partly attributed to Nader's presence as a third party candidate pulling votes away from Al Gore who lost to Bush.

Last week, one of Bush's campaign supporters Richard Egan was accused of contributing money to Nader's presidential campaign -- an attempt to strengthen Nader and weaken Bush's opponent Kerry.

A report from the Associated Press said, "Bush backers are hoping Nader will siphon enough votes from Kerry to tip the election to President Bush." Both Nader's potential influence in swinging the elections in Bush's favour and Bush's intellectual capacity to grasp the nuances of foreign policy are now an integral part of the election campaign.

Jay Leno, the late night stand-up comedian, came up with a gem last month. Kerry, after meeting with Nader and failing to convince him to withdraw from the presidential race, made a statement urging Americans not to vote for Nader.

"Every vote for Nader," Kerry declared, and rightly so, "is a vote for Bush." And Leno said, with tongue firmly entrenched in cheek, that when this message was conveyed to Bush at a White House meeting, Bush thought for a while and said: "Then, I am going to vote for Nader."

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