US politics makes definite impressions upon those of us who follow its meanderings nowadays. A case in point is the vote by the US House of Representatives a week ago to deny all aid to Saudi Arabia. This in spite of assurances from the Bush administration that the Saudis are their partners in the war on terror.
The primary dynamo behind this bill, New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner from the exclusive conclave of Forest Hills and a fervent supporter of Israel, stated, “None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available shall be obligated or expended to finance any assistance to Saudi Arabia” or “used to execute a waiver.”
For the past three years, Weiner has been pushing forth legislation that would ban US aid to Saudi Arabia, but President Bush has disregarded the legislation and sent aid to the Saudis in 2005 and 2006.
Trying a different approach this year, Weiner, joined by another New York Congressman Joseph Crowley, introduced a bill, which closes the loophole that allowed the president to override Congress. That loophole was a waiver provision in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. The Weiner-Crowley amendment sealed that loophole by adding a clause to trump the Foreign Assistance Act provision.
Aid from the United States in the past constituted an amount of just $2.5 million to the Saudis in 2005 and 2006. To a country whose natural resources bring in anywhere from $100 million to $500 million daily to the national treasury, that amount is deemed very insignificant. And although the total aid bill pushed through stood at $34.2 billion, we heard very little of how much of it was appropriated toward Israel.
So here we have a New York congressman whose clear loyalty is to Israel and its interests and who steers US politics toward a noticeable Israeli position. And those congressmen and women who jumped on the bandwagon with him with their votes obviously were convinced by his arguments that the Saudis were not toeing their line of endorsing everything Israel does in occupied territories.
Why is it that Israeli interests are so often placed above that of US by American lawmakers? Other than powerful lobbies like AIPAC who promote an Israeli agenda, there are Americans in disguise who cross their own lines based on their religious convictions. And to them it is Israeli interests that dominate the party agenda.
Such actions obviously are very transparent to those of us who live in the region and witness them. Why the US is no longer considered an honest broker is primarily because of its lawmakers’ blind allegiance to Israel. And if one dares not to follow the party line then they are either not elected or allowed to complete their terms because of some scandal or the other.
We in this part of the world know how the same lawmakers denied Dubai World the opportunity of managing US seaports. Cries of national security and threats of terrorism quickly put an end to that deal. Now they are targeting our sympathies toward the people of Palestine facing Israeli bullets. Why are we supporting those who resist Israeli aggression, they want to know. And they aim to punish us with this message.
The few Congress people I have personally met have not impressed me with their knowledge of history or politics of the Middle East. Most have provincial backgrounds and their education is what their media touts. That is why at the height of the invasion of Iraq by the US, there was strong support for Bush’s policies. It was only later when the reality of body bags rather than garlands of flowers hit them, that some US lawmakers began to educate themselves about the true nature of their country’s disastrous adventure into the region.
The collective ignorance of US lawmakers cunningly channeled into a full-blown support of Israel, right or wrong, by those with strong religious ties to Israel has demeaned long-valued American ideals such as “democracy,” “justice” and “human rights.”
We see all those values continuously violated by the Israelis while America stays mum.
And until America wakes up and frees itself from such control from within, we shall expect more of the same.
