WASHINGTON WATCH
A combination of pro-Israel advocacy groups and political action committees, including right-wing Christian fundamentalists, neoconservative hawks, and weak-kneed liberals, have not only enabled Israel’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians— they’ve done so much more.
They’ve silenced congressional debate on decades of Israel’s illegal policies toward Palestinians. Pro-Israel groups and political action committees cry foul whenever their role in this regard is noted. But the tens of millions they’ve spent to punish critics and create a climate of fear— and their own gloating over their successes— are too well-documented to ignore. The result has been that too many members of Congress have either been cowed into silence or motivated to pass excessively bizarre legislation singling out Israel for special treatment in budgetary matters or for political favors.
This same coalition of groups from the right and left of American politics has also pressed successive US administrations not only to turn a blind eye to Israeli actions that violate US laws, but also to take an aggressive posture toward other nations which are critical of Israel. These acts have contributed to dismantling the architecture of international diplomacy, laws, and covenants developed in the aftermath of the two world wars and have done grave damage to the stature of the USA in the world community.
US presidents from Ford to Obama have been pressured by pro-Israel group-inspired congressional letters calling on them to back away from positions critical of Israeli policies. Successive administrations have thus been cowed into silence in the face of Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied territories and other well-documented Israeli violations of international law and human rights.
This pressure has resulted in US denunciations of UN reports on Israeli violations, the US withdrawal of funds from various UN agencies over actions critical of Israeli behaviour, and repeated US vetoes of Security Council resolutions— even when those resolutions simply affirmed policy positions supposedly reflecting stated US policies
More recently, this same practice could be observed in sanctioning by both Congress and the administration of the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court and individuals and countries who participated in decisions that were critical of Israel. These actions contributed to dismantling guardrails put in place to promote world peace, enforce international law, and protect vulnerable populations against abuse— and have left the USA increasingly isolated.
And so, while Palestinians are paying with their lives because pressure from pro-Israel groups has silenced criticism of Israeli policies, the damage done by this pressure grows. It has discredited the structures of the international order, humiliated and isolated the US in the eyes of the world, and is now eating away at many of our much-cherished freedoms.
This same collection of groups and the pressures they create to distort US policies have also done incalculable damage to Palestinians and Israelis, and the prospects for Middle East peace. Annually the US Department of State reports on the performance of other countries’ human rights policies. Congressional legislation mandates these reports so that US assistance is not awarded to countries that violate human rights.
The State Department Human Rights report on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories is ignored, even when it has been accurate in its reporting. As a result: tens of thousands of Palestinians have been tortured or detained for extended periods without being charged with any crime; and violations of international laws prohibiting seizure of Palestinian lands, evictions from their homes, and mass transfers of Israelis into settlements in illegally seized Palestinian lands have continued unabated.
With no restraints on their actions, Israel’s military and civilian settlers operate with a sense of impunity. While Gaza was destroyed in a 16-month genocidal war, the West Bank and East Jerusalem were being ravaged by the massive demolition of Palestinian neighborhoods and the terrorizing of Palestinian villages and farmlands. The number of Israelis living on Palestinian lands has more than quadrupled in this century, and settlements and Israeli-protected “state lands” and “military zones” and secured infrastructure for settlements now carve the territories into ever smaller areas in which Palestinians can operate. Discussions of a two-state solution have become difficult to entertain. The US has enabled it all by doing nothing to stop it.
One further byproduct of this US acquiescence to Israel’s behaviour has been the decline of Israel’s peace movement. Once fairly vibrant, these Israelis used to be able to make the case that settlement expansion or violations of rights would damage Israel’s relationship with the USA. After decades of evidence that there would be no such repercussions, this movement has faded into irrelevance. In their absence the hard right has become the dominant force in Israel, leaving the only serious divisions in Israeli politics being whether the next coalition government will be formed with or without the Ultra-Orthodox or Netanyahu in command. Palestinians or matters of peace and justice are not on the agenda.
Since 7 October 2024, the coalition of pro-Israel forces, led by right-wing Christian Ideologues and pro-Israel groups in the USA, have accelerated their efforts on the home front using congressional pressure and Presidential Executive Orders to dismantle constitutionally protected free speech and academic freedom on college campuses. The expanded definition of antisemitism to include legitimate criticism of Israel is now being enforced to threaten federal funds to universities who don’t punish students and faculty for what are now deemed antisemitic activities.
The Department of Justice has launched a task force to identify groups and individuals who participated in anti-Israel actions. And right-wing groups have undertaken to identify foreign students and faculty who have been involved in pro-Palestinian protests or against whom Jewish students have issued complaints for anti-Israel remarks. They are reporting them to authorities for deportation, as per another of President Trump’s Executive Orders.
What is deeply disturbing is that equating “anti-Israel” and “pro-Palestinian” with “antisemitism” has created a climate of fear on campuses, impeding free speech and academic freedoms on campuses and public discourse.
And so, while Palestinians are paying with their lives because pressure from pro-Israel groups has silenced criticism of Israeli policies, the damage done by this pressure grows. It has discredited the structures of the international order, humiliated and isolated the US in the eyes of the world, and is now eating away at many of our much-cherished freedoms.
