MEDIA ROOTS – At Ground Zero this past September 11, a more docile crowd congregated at the site for eternal mourning. The number of family members and protestors were generally smaller and most in the 9/11 Truth movement honored a four-hour silence out of respect for the victims and their families. What ensued was a gathering of people from across the 9/11 landscape with several constructive conversations and very few emotional diatribes.

The goal for this year’s annual gathering of 9/11 questioners was to capture activists’ collective experience. Several individuals from around the country were featured, some whom made the pilgrimage from as far as the state of Georgia. New York City is the de facto home of the 9/11 Truth movement where weekly street actions continue at Ground Zero every Saturday for several hours each afternoon.

Reflections from the 9/11 Truth movement after 11 years.

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Oscar Mosko is a producer at truth-march and is managing editor at Media Roots.

Read part one of this series about Israeli espionage and part two about UN colonialism.

MEDIA ROOTS – When making decisions about Middle East policy, the U.S. Congress and the Executive Branch frequently bow to the whims of a foreign nation in order to remain in AIPAC’s good graces. Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars are up for grabs if AIPAC can properly manipulate U.S. foreign policy, at which it excels with unparalleled fluency through intimidation and legalized bribes.

As the Salon explains, “the sight of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu who, having defied and insulted the American president, addressing a joint session of Congress with congressmen and senators of both parties jumping to their feet like jack-in-the-boxes to show their support, was all anyone needed to understand Israel’s power in the American Congress.”

U.S. Senators and Representatives prioritize Israel

Almost all U.S. Senators and Representatives prioritize Israel’s interests over the United States’ when bowing to AIPAC’s persistent circulation of many harmful resolutions throughout the U.S. Congress. It is incumbent upon Republicans and Democrats, as self-proclaimed patriots, to shun the lobby of any foreign nation in favor of true U.S. interest. Yet the status quo, under which the Israeli Prime Minister receives 29 bi-partisan standing ovations compared to the U.S. President’s 25 partisan standing ovations, remains woefully askew. Former Senator Charles Mathias (R – MD) cautions us to draw distinction “between ethnicity, which enshrines American life and culture, and organized ethnic interest groups, which sometimes causes that derogate from the national interest” (Blitzer: 134).

Wolf Blitzer also counsels, “those American Jewish political activists who are the most successful in supporting AIPAC are those who are Zionists first, Democrats or Republicans second” (Blitzer: 132). This describes Eric Cantor (R – VA) perfectly. When President Obama offered Tel Aviv lucrative incentives in order for them to temporarily halt colonization of the West Bank, Cantor pledged to support the Israeli Prime Minister over the U.S. President. Cantor effectively vowed to protect Israeli interests against U.S. interests. One can think of no other historical example of a Congressional representative pledging loyalty to a foreign leader on an issue of such international significance, in direct opposition to his own President. Even Ronald Reagan, the mythical idol of all Republicans, had told Israeli proxies to mind their own business and stop interfering with the United States’ own self-interest (Blitzer: 135-136).

American gifts to Israel remains top priority, despite own financial crisis

Lately, Cantor has attempted to hide the United States’ annual $3 billion gift to Israel within the Department of Defense budget, in an effort to safeguard it from fiscal oversight. Wolf Blitzer explains that this move is unlikely to happen because the State Department counts on the gift to Israel in order to finagle the State Department’s foreign aid bill through U.S. Congress each year; foreign aid is not a strong issue in many lawmakers’ eyes, but giving money to Israel is (Blitzer: 7). Throughout such twisted maneuvering, no elected U.S. official possesses the temerity to even question the illogic of aiding Israel at all.

Another AIPAC Congressman has assured Israel that the United States’ worst financial crisis since the Great Depression will have no impact on aid to Israel. The United States is rife with unemployment, attempting to recover from a mortgage crisis, struggling with decrepit infrastructure, and waging global war, yet subsidizing the Israeli military remains a top priority with the U.S. Congress. The historical record has taken note.

The U.S. Senate operates in lockstep with the Israeli political right. In June 2011, a resolution promising to halt aid to the Palestinian Authority if it seeks statehood in the UN General Assembly passed unanimously in the U.S. Senate. Senator Ben Cardin (D – MD) summarized the Senate’s position: “The Senate has delivered a clear message to the international community that the United Nations recognition of a Palestinian state at this time does not further the peace process… A permanent and peaceful settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be achieved through direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.” AIPAC issued a statement “applauding the resolution.” On the bright side, Israel finally allowed a shipment of cars into Gaza for the first time since 2007. As Wolf Blitzer reminds, Israeli residents “of course, have a well-earned reputation for being charitable” (Blitzer: 125).

What happens to Palestine?

Prior to the U.S. Senate’s ugly display, half of U.S. Democratic Senators urged President Obama to suspend assistance to the Palestinian Authority if Fatah continued to participate in a unity government with Hamas. One week later, the House Republican Majority Leader and Democratic Minority Whip circulated a resolution calling for sanctions against the Palestinian Authority if it pursued statehood recognition in concert with the unity government. AIPAC’s efforts paid off. In July 2011, the House of Representatives passed Resolution 268, urging President Obama to suspend financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority if it proceeded with efforts to achieve statehood at the United Nations. Professor Zunes, of the University of San Francisco, puts Congress’ actions in perspective:

“Congress went on record reiterating their ‘strong opposition to any attempt to establish or seek recognition of a Palestinian state outside of an agreement negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians.’ It called on Palestinian leaders to ‘cease all efforts at circumventing the negotiation process, including through a unilateral declaration of statehood or by seeking recognition of a Palestinian state from other nations or the United Nations.’ It called upon President Obama to ‘announce that the United States will veto any resolution on Palestinian statehood that comes before the United Nations Security Council which is not a result of agreements reached between the Government of Israel and the Palestinians’ and to ‘lead a diplomatic effort to oppose a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state and to oppose recognition of a Palestinian state by other nations, within the United Nations and in other international forums prior to achievement of a final agreement between the Government of Israel and the Palestinians.’

“Reread the above paragraph and replace ‘Palestinians’ with ‘Namibians’ or ‘East Timorese’ or ‘Kenyans’ or ‘Algerians,’ or any other people under foreign occupation in recent decades, and replace ‘Israel’ with the respective occupying power, and the implication of this resolution becomes clear: Both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party are still trapped in an early 20th century colonialist mindset which believes that colonized people should only be allowed independence under the terms and conditions granted them by their occupiers. Not a single member of the U.S. Senate and only a handful in the House were willing to consider the idea that, as a territory under foreign belligerent occupation, the Palestinians of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip have a legal right to self-determination under international law, and that not Israel, the United States or any other government can legally deny that to them. Yet, both major parties are still blinded by a pre-Wilsonian belief in the right of conquest, whereby political freedom can only be allowed to the extent of what may be voluntarily granted by the conqueror (which both Republicans and Democrats have repeatedly referred to as potential ‘painful concessions’ by Israel).”

Even a majority of Israelis think the Israeli government should accept a UN resolution recognizing an independent Palestinian state. Despite this reality, AIPAC’s hard-right stance forces the corrupt U.S. Congress and the Executive branch to facilitate colonialism. Even a former Israeli Defense Minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, acknowledges it is in Israel’s best interest to recognize a Palestinian state. In sum, AIPAC has pulled U.S. policymakers farther right than most Israelis.

Consider HR 4133, which demands: the U.S. veto any UN resolutions that are remotely critical of Israel; give Israel all “necessary” military support; throw even more money at Israel’s military occupation; give the Israeli government greater access to U.S. intelligence, including classified satellite imagery; allow Israel to participate more in NATO activities; tie Israel and the U.S. so closely together that the Pentagon is forced to back Israel regardless of U.S. strategic interests; allow the Israeli Air Force to train with greater frequency on United States soil; and supply Israel with more sensitive weaponry [read: bunker-busting bombs and cluster munitions]. Israel already possesses nuclear weapons, some of the world’s finest special operations forces, the most ruthless intelligence service, disciplined infantry units, and a top-notch Air Force. So why pepper them with more gifts?

AIPAC flies U.S. Congress to Tel Aviv for their summer vacations

Vociferous advocacy for hard-right Israeli policies extends to state and local legislatures

The Colorado Senate and House of Representatives recently passed Senate Joint Resolution 27, recognizing Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people, inaccurately commending Israel as the lone democracy in the Middle East, and affirming a “close affinity” between Colorado residents and the Israeli people.  

Florida’s House Federal Affairs Subcommittee passed HR 1447 unanimously, which commends Israel on the “cordial and mutually beneficial relationship with the United States and with the state of Florida and supports Israel in its legal, historical, moral, and God-given right of self-governance and self-defense upon the entirety of its own lands, recognizing that Israel is neither an attacking force nor an occupier of the lands of others, and that peace can be afforded the region only through a whole and united Israel governed under one law for all people.”

The state of Florida recognizes Israel’s inherent right to Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem and unanimously commends Israel as “the greatest friend and ally of the United States in the Middle East.” Embracing ignorance, Florida legislature affirms “haters of Israel also hate, and seek to destroy, the United States of America.”

According to the Executive Director of Florida’s Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) branch, “the strong and honest language used in the [Florida] resolution recognizes the rights of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, and that Jerusalem and the so-called West Bank must remain united under Israeli sovereignty for the sake of peace and security.” Hundreds of Christian Zionists joined ZOA in lobbying for Resolution 1447. The ZOA national president stated:

“It is imperative to note the particularly important role played by Israel’s Christian friends who joined with the Jewish community to urge the passage of this resolution… The Land of Israel is the rightful homeland of the Jewish People, and the enemies who seek Israel’s destruction are also self-avowed enemies of America.”

The South Carolina General Assembly recently passed Resolution 4339, which commended “the nation of Israel for its relations with the United States of America and with the state of South Carolina.” Resolution 4399 clings tightly to religious fervor:

“The roots of Israel and the roots of the United States are so intertwined that it is difficult to separate one from the other under the word and protection of almighty God; Those same haters of Israel also hate, and seek to destroy, the United States of America; Recognizing that Israel is neither an attacking force nor an occupier of the lands of others, and that peace can be afforded the region only through a united Israel governed under one law for all people.”

The Utah legislature unanimously affirmed “cultural, economic, military and security bonds to Israel” and encouraged the Governor to visit Israel on a trade mission.

The flagrant falsehoods, which are perpetuated by the Centennial State, the Sunshine State, the Palmetto State, and the Beehive State in pseudo-solidarity with Israel, are contrary to humanity’s common decency. However, they’re quite rational expressions when one considers how AIPAC “has sought out younger Jewish political activists in local city councils, state legislatures, and the better law firms.” “Whenever they cooperate with AIPAC,” “both the Jewish Lobby on Capitol Hill and the local Jewish organizations benefit.” As a result, Jewish communities around the country “are constantly approaching their representatives and senators. They stay on top of the issues. By doing so, they become politically persuasive” (Blitzer: 133).

On the municipal level, the Philadelphia City Council, which should be tackling issues of poverty, education, and budgetary woes, voted to oppose Palestinian efforts of independence at the United Nations. The City Council, which has passed three other resolutions relating to Israel since 2000, neglected to see the irony in their symbolic suppression of Palestinian self-determination: Philadelphia was the birthplace of the United States’ unilateral independence.

Colorado, Florida, South Carolina, Utah, and Philadelphia are just a few examples of an invasive phenomenon. AIPAC is increasingly targeting state and local legislatures, with the explicit intent of spreading disinformation and dragging U.S. communities into the bellicose side of a distant fight.

The U.S. Legislative and Executive branches treat Israel like the fifty-first state.

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Christian Sorensen for Media Roots

Photo by Flickr user IsraelinUSA.

MEDIA ROOTS — Whether for healing, meditation, or recreation, psychoactive substances have played a significant role in most cultures throughout human history. The United States is of no exception.

In 1895, the Bayer aspirin company used to market Heroin as an over the counter cough syrup. Up until the 1930s, opium tincture, morphine and heroin were available over-the-counter and millions of Americans were becoming addicted. In contrast, many of these same substances are now considered highly dangerous by the Drug Enforcement Agency and in many cases are illegal altogether.

Today, there are new names for nearly equally powerful and addictive substances like Vicodin, Oxycontin, Dilauded and Fentanyl. Fentanyl, a drug far more potent than heroin or Morphine comes in convenient lollypop and patch form for easy consumption which is distributed legally by pharmaceutical companies.

Most pharmaceutical production facilities do not start with pure chemicals when manufacturing these medicines. They instead use opium latex derived from poppies to produce drugs such as Vicodin. India and Nepal, for example, maintain opium latex factories to export this material globally. This practice remains legal while natural opium consumption and distribution can carry a ten-year prison sentence in most states.

With the war in Afghanistan continuing to rage on, heroin production has actually increased because of the continued presence of the United States military. Additionally, President Obama’s recent healthcare legislation has only stimulated opiate production anddistribution by mandating consumers to buy into the health insurance industry. Consequently, profits of large pharmaceutical companies continue to grow while the ubiquity of painkillers for future Americans is ensured.

Robbie Martin for Media Roots

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Abby Martin on RT, ‘Painkiller Nation’

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RT – Approximately 100 million working American are uninsured in the US and lack of health care ranks as the seventh cause of death. President Obama has attempted to reform healthcare, but has only fallen short. Many critics believe Obama forcing people in America to obtain healthcare is a power grab from pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Darcy Smith, a licensed clinical social worker, joins us to discuss this growing trend of pill popping.

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Read part one of this series about Israeli espionage against the U.S.

MEDIA ROOTS – The United States boasts a storied history of protecting Israel on the United Nation Security Council (UNSC) and was the lone dissenter against the most recent UN resolution that condemned Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The fourteen other Security Council members backed the resolution. One could almost hear the global community’s collective wheeze when U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice voiced the United States’ incongruence on 18 February 2011.

While claiming the United States strongly opposes Israeli settlement activity, Rice still refused to vote in line with the decency of the international community. Instead, she opted to pepper the world with diplomatic platitudes, as if that lessened the blow. By claiming her actions are somehow helpful to the peace process – although one cannot be sure how voting to perpetuate colonization in violation of international law is helpful – Susan Rice vetoed the resolution and continued the U.S. tradition of irresponsibility. Employing the utmost diplomatic circumlocution, Secretary of State Clinton deemed the colonies “illegitimate,” not illegal.

Reaction to the February 2011 veto was enlightening:

“The Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, B’nai B’rith International and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee all issued statements expressing appreciation for the veto. “Exercising the veto is a painful decision, particularly for an administration with a deep and sincere commitment to multilateralism,” said David Harris, the executive director of the American Jewish Committee. “That is why we salute President Obama and his team for their courage in vetoing this mischievous resolution, which would have caused irreparable damage to the future prospects of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.”

Contrary to David Harris’ assertion, the only mischievous behavior is the United States’ tradition to abuse its power. From 1972 – 2006, the U.S. vetoed over forty UN Security Council resolutions that criticized or condemned Israel’s actions.

Russia and China have vetoed a series of UN Security Council resolutions, which condemn Syria over its harsh crackdown on anti-government protestors. Susan Rice condemned the Russian/Chinese October 2011 veto, saying it was a “cheap ruse by those who would rather sell arms to the Syrian regime than stand with the Syrian people.” She then concluded “the United States is outraged that this council has utterly failed to address an urgent moral challenge and a growing threat to regional peace and stability.” Surely she sees the irony in her words. Firstly, USA’s use of the veto to protect Israel from criticism is also a “cheap ruse,” whereby the United States government prefers to bow to AIPAC pressure and give Israel weaponry (paid for by the U.S. taxpayer) rather than stand with the Palestinian people and the Israeli citizens who want justice. Secondly, the council’s failure “to address an urgent moral challenge and a growing threat to regional peace and stability” is precisely what the United States does each time it vetoes resolutions critical of Israel’s destructive policies. Israeli foreign policy can easily be categorized as a “growing threat to regional peace and stability, yet the U.S. government continually blocks any progress confronting this particular “urgent moral challenge.” Syria’s brutal internal crackdown and Israel’s ethnic cleansing of historical Palestine are worthy of international condemnation. To condemn the former while protecting the latter exposes the United States’ double-standards and failed policies.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s words are an accurate reflection of the international community’s frustration in dealing with Israel’s obstinacy and the United States’ complicity. She reportedly communicated to Prime Minister Netanyahu, after Germany voted in favor of condemning Israel’s settlement activity: “How dare you? You haven’t made a single step to advance peace.” The Chairman of the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee clarified Chancellor Merkel is “trying to explain to the Israeli government that with the extraordinary changes taking place across the Middle East, time is not on its side when it comes to resolving the conflict with the stateless Palestinians.” British politician Lord Dykes acknowledged the United States’ tradition of harm by stating: “a seemingly unanimous decision in a moderately worded resolution asking Israel to obey its international law duties in occupied Palestine was deliberately – I am sad to use the verb – wrecked by the U.S.” Notably, Netanyahu’s former colleagues, such as Ehud Olmert and Ariel Sharon, have referred to him as a liar (Sharon). The former French President Nicolas Sarkozy also referred to Netanyahu in one word: “liar.” The list goes on, as even the former chief of Shin Bet has no confidence in Netanyahu as a leader.

A leading Zionist pundit unintentionally describes Netanyahu’s view with alarming candor: “Israel, of course, says it’s all the Palestinians’ fault. It says their UN gambit is just the latest move in their campaign to isolate and delegitimize Israel, proving again that they won’t accept Israel’s existence. Israel has no choice but to resist their assault using the tools at its disposal, including the American veto.”

This pundit’s view is enlightening in many ways. Firstly, Netanyahu and many in the Israeli government view the U.S. veto as a “tool at its disposal.” Israel uses the United States’ position on the UN Security Council as an instrument to be manipulated, similar to the manner in which AIPAC views the U.S. Congress. During a 2006 interview with Bill Maher, Netanyahu insinuated as much when he noted: “the secret is that we have America.” In his capacity as Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon had conveyed a similar, disturbing view during a 3 October 2001 interview with Kol Yisrael radio. Secondly, instead of viewing the Palestinian bid for statehood as an attempt at self-determination, the Israeli propaganda machine spins it as a refusal to accept Israel’s existence. Israel and the United States both declared independence unilaterally but the populaces seem quick to forget. Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy underscored this severety from the Holy Land: “Five million Israelis are deeply convinced today that they are right and seven billion people of the world are wrong.”

Continued Colonialism

The Israeli government persistently colonizes the West Bank, facilitated by the U.S. government’s unconditional, unapologetic support. In referencing the war of 1967, former Israeli Attorney General Michael Ben Yair concedes the war “continues to this day and is the product of our choice. We enthusiastically chose to become a colonialist society, ignoring international treaties, expropriating lands, transferring settlers from Israel to the occupied territories, engaged in theft and finding justification for all this” (Stern: 103). Yair frames the situation well.

This sad political reality, implemented by a relentless ideology, has moved roughly half a million Israelis into more than 100 colonies across the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967, amounting to a de facto annexation of land for Israeli use. Over 20,000 Israeli colonists now live in the Golan Heights alone, which was Syrian territory prior to 1967. Meanwhile, Israel’s separation barrier in the West Bank, which many refer to as an apartheid wall, carves chunks out of the future de facto Palestinian state and places favorable amounts of water resources on Israel’s side of the wall. Israeli colonies, which Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D – Florida) prefers to call “suburbs,” elsewhere receive a disproportionate share of the water supply.

USA and Israel walk hand in hand. For example, Shimon Peres’ April 2011 visit to Washington, D.C., coincided with a Jerusalem planning committee’s approval of 942 housing units in the Gilo neighborhood, south of Jerusalem, which the international community considers illegal. On 4 August 2011, the Israeli Interior Ministry approved of 900 new homes to be built in the Har Homa area, amounting to a de facto slice between Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Less than two weeks later, Israeli officials approved 277 new homes in the West Bank colony of Ariel. One month later, Israel’s government approved 1,100 additional housing units to be built in the Gilo area of occupied east Jerusalem. Another 2,600 housing units were given the green light two weeks later. After Palestine received membership in UNESCO, Israel expedited construction of roughly 2,000 homes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, all of which would “remain in Israeli control under any future peace agreement,” according to Prime Minister Netanyahu. One month later, the Israeli government approved more colonial construction in the dead center of a Palestinian neighborhood in Jerusalem. In April 2012, the Israeli government threw its full weight behind this misery and authorized the West Bank colonies of Bruchin, Rechelim, and Sansana. Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank in 2011 rose eighty percent when compared to 2010 rates, while the Israeli government increased its spending on West Bank colonies by 38 percent over the same period. 600 Palestinians lost their homes in the first five months of 2012. Israeli officials cite lack of “proper permits” as one pretext for bulldozing Palestinian homes, restaurants, schools, and even demolishing residential solar panels. On 6 June 2012, Netanyahu ordered the construction of 300 new homes in the West Bank colony of Beit El.  Zionism marches on, enabled by the U.S. government.

Israeli officials point to symbolic, menial efforts as proof they care to comply with international consensus. As of 1 March 2011, the Israeli government began dismantling all “illegal settlement outposts built on privately-owned Palestinian land.” Such a concession sounds tremendous, but it only applied to three outposts. Moreover, Israeli authorities simultaneously began to “legalize” illegal colonies built on state land, and even going so far as confiscating an olive grove for “agricultural cultivation” and granting the plot of land to a colonist “with no known farming skills.” Overall, the Israeli government stripped almost 250,000 Palestinians of their residency rights from 1967-1994, a figured which doesn’t include the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were driven from their homes around 1948. As a result, Israel gains far more than it loses.

Israel’s colonial obstinacy manifests itself in many forms. As President Obama delivered a major speech on events in the Middle East on 19 May 2011, the Israeli government approved plans to build more than 1,500 new homes on two settlements around East Jerusalem. Arieh Eldad, a member of the Israeli Knesset and head of the Hatikva faction, stated “I hope that [this] sends a clear message to the American administration. I hope that the new building of new settlements next week will send a similar message.” Contrary to Mr. Eldad’s assertions, the United States’ active role in perpetuating Israeli colonization of the West Bank has aligned criminally with Israeli deviance:

“The endorsement of ‘land swaps’ by President Obama, which is a euphemism for the annexation by Israel of major Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank, is one demonstration of the unquestioning acceptance by the United States of the Israeli narrative of the conflict. By accepting the ‘land swap’ argument, President Obama has in effect declared that it is legitimate for the occupying power to settle and colonize occupied lands. This suits the settler-colonial mentality of the Israeli establishment for, despite arguments to the contrary, Israel itself is a product of settler colonialism with the British mandate over Palestine acting as its midwife. It was British rule that facilitated Jewish migration from Europe to Palestine and laid the basis of the demographic transformation of the mandated territory with the Jewish population in Palestine rising from approximately 10 percent at the beginning of the mandate to roughly 30 percent at its end. An American position endorsing Israel’s annexation of settler colonies is bound to put it at odds with the majority opinion in the international system.”

The modicum of pressure, which President Obama placed on Israel to freeze settlement expansion, was neither laudable nor realistic without proper confrontation of AIPAC. Backing down only days later, President Obama looked like a clown in front of the international community, further undermining the United States’ arrogation of global leadership. Wolf Blitzer foretold of such an occurrence in the event a U.S. administration got tough with Israel on any number of issues:

“If the U.S. administration did pressure Israel and was subsequently forced to back down in the face of reactions from Congress, the Jewish community, and others in the United States as well as Israel and around the world, there would be another price to pay. The limits of U.S. policy would be advertised for all to see. No president wants to show off American impotence” (Blitzer: 14).

According to Blitzer, such pressure would stem from a comprehensive Israeli mobilization against the U.S. presidential administration, an anti-administration enterprise directed by the Jewish community and allegations of anti-Semitism (ibid: 13-14). The Oracle at Blitzer’s predictions came true.

The U.S.-Israel relationship is one of paradox. Israel spies ferociously against the United States, while the U.S. Congress and Executive Branch work overtime to support Israel “unconditionally.” (President Obama even awarded Israeli President Shimon Peres the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom). Meanwhile, U.S. public is sound asleep. Until we wake up, the Israeli government will continue to capitalize upon this lopsided relationship.

Christian Sorensen for Media Roots

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Photo by Flickr user lilivanili.