Zionist lobby group AIPAC puts US govt. in chokehold: Ex-congressional staffer
By Press TV Staff Writer
Former US congressional staffer and political commentator Rodney Martin says the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other pro-Israel lobby groups in the United States have successfully put the US government in a chokehold.
Martin, who is based in Scottsdale, Arizona, the US, made the remarks in an exclusive interview with the Press TV website on Wednesday while commenting on Washington’s policy of providing weapons to Israel in its genocidal war in Gaza.
More than five months into the Israeli war on the besieged Gaza Strip, the death toll of Palestinians has just crossed 31,000, with thousands more still trapped under the rubble.
Almost 14,000 of those killed by the Israeli military, using sophisticated American weapons, are children and approximately 9,000 are women. More than 72,000 others are wounded.
“The United States flooding and supplying Israel with weapons is nothing new. The Israeli lobby, AIPAC for instance and other Zionist groups in the United States have successfully placed a chokehold on the United States’ government, primarily historically on the Congress,” said Martin.
“However, that’s beginning to break up. We’re now seeing open dissent within the Democratic Party regarding Israeli policy. That is a new phenomenon and a very positive development,” he stated.
“However, the Republican Party is dominated by rabid, racist Zionists as is the administrative state which people don’t really think about when they are thinking about the United States’ unbending support for Israel regardless of its criminal conduct,” he noted.
“This is going to continue at least until next year. I suspect that Donald Trump will put an end to this in some form and that could be a surprise to many. While Biden has a dispute going on with Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump has not been happy with Netanyahu either, nor the fact that Donald Trump having been the most pro-Israeli president in terms of the policy, the moving of the US embassy to Jerusalem (al-Quds) and the recognizing the illegal annexation of the Golan Heights, sine he has left office Donald Trump has been outspoken in his criticism with the fact that the Jewish vote did not support him in the 2020 election. That is something that might be significant and come into play,” Martin noted.
“I suspect that given the state of the US economy Donald Trump will use the excuse that the United States does not simply have the money to be supporting all these counties, such as Ukraine and Israel,” he stated.
“But until then the United States is willing t even o strip bear thin its own armament sand supplies and send them to the Zionist state, so they may rapidly finfish their ethnic cleansing campaign that has been taking place since 1948,” he said.
Meanwhile, prominent progressive organizations in the United States are forming a coalition to defend those lawmakers targeted by AIPAC and counter its sway in Congress.
On Monday, more than 20 advocacy groups announced the launch of the “Reject AIPAC” coalition.
The coalition includes mainstream left-wing groups as well as organizations focused on the Palestinian rights.
They seek to organize against the AIPAC’s campaign to silence what the lobby group terms as the “growing dissent in Congress” against Israel’s war in Gaza.
“The emerging coalition opposing AIPAC is a new phenomenon in American politics. It’s interesting because AIPAC has dominated the US Congress on both sides of the political spectrum,” said Martin.
“However, when it comes to particularly Progressive and moderate Democrats, that stranglehold has been shaken off particularly due to Israel’s complete overreaction in Gaza which they transformed as an excuse to finish their ethnic cleansing campaign,” he added.
“The fact that the progressive left and some moderate Democrats – and there are a handful of Republicans – that have shaken off the immense pressure of the Zionist lobby and have formed this coalition. In many respects the coalition involves people that just fundamentally disagree on almost everything else but this. And that is a good thing in terms of an American political spectrum,” he stated.
“However, until that coalition broadens and transforms their opposition into electoral wins beyond three or four outspoken members Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, until that the coalition expands Israel still enjoys an unlimited blank checks and excuses from American politicians,” the analyst said.
“It’s interesting because throughout the time since 1948 any opposition to Israeli policy would be met one by being declared anti-Semite - that no longer works,” he said.
“Actually there is large segment of Jews in the United States that has joined in the chorus of condemning Israel. That too is a positive development,” Martin said.
“But against this movement has to develop into a significant electoral success particularly in the Senate and a few more in the House before they will be an effective check on the dominance of AIPAC and many other Israeli lobby groups, from American Jewish Committee to Jewish Federations. They all work in unison in different facets. And that can be a significant hurdle (for Israel) in the United States,” he concluded.
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