To clarify further, I do not think that Israel makes the US into its pawn through some means *other* than lobbies, e.g., mind control rays. I think US mistakenly believes that supporting Israel is in its interest, and therefore supports Israel. I attribute this mistaken belief, not to Israeli manipulation, but to an outmoded perspective inherited from the days when Israel actually did serve the US as a counterweight to Soviet influence in the Middle East.
Hochman says:
> Neumann posits that US support for Israel is against the interests
> of the US ruling class. I disagree but at least it is arguable that he
> knows the true intrests of the rulers better than the rulers do. His
> lesson from that, however, is that the left could and should help the
> Palestinian cause by lecturing the US ruling class on how it can best
> reinforce its empire - that, to me, is patent nonsense.
There is a shift within this passage. What I claim is that US policy is against the interests both of the American people and of the American 'ruling class', or, I'd prefer to say, the preponderance of American corporations. I also, unsurprisingly, claim that those who formulate and execute US policy (re Israel) are mistaken about US interests. I do *not* claim that the American *ruling class* doesn't know its own interests, or needs lecturing. I am not privy to the views of the American ruling class. I don't even know if they *have* a view on US Israel policy, let alone a unanimous one. I know that some of them are big Israel backers, and some, in public anyway, are not. In other words, what I claim to know is that US policymakers aren't acting in US interests. If Mr. Hochman sees an unusual arrogance in this, perhaps he has never read a newspaper editorial or opinion piece, or perhaps he holds the acumen of his rulers in higher regard than do many millions of his fellow-citizens.
As for whether the left ought to try and change America's misguided Israel policy, Hochman professes bafflement: should we be trying to help the US ruling class? Part of the answer is that, in my view, this is one case in which the interests of the US ruling class, the American people, and indeed the Palestinians coincide. If I didn't think that, I wouldn't be making the proposal; it would be impractical. And I am not so creepy as to abandon the Palestinians because helping them might benefit the US ruling class. Presumably Hochman is simply trying to be cute: presumably he doesn't really think we should let things get worse and worse so the revolution will come.
As for tactics, I propose nothing unusual, simply a change of message. The old tactics didn't seem to work so badly, and would work better, I assume, if the left had something to offer, for example the notion of switching sides. I did not suggest that some message should be directed particularly at some 'ruling class'. At this point, it would be merely pretentious to think one could target certain groups; why not run up the flag and see who salutes? I do suggest that, if you don't even ask for what you want, you are unlikely to get it.
In discussing the left's 'support' for the Palestinians, Hochman retails the same old crap. Yes, the left is very critical of Israel. In fact it has made criticism of Israel into the last refuge of a scoundrel - a spectacular achievement.
I have been utterly and repetitively plain about what the left does *not* do: ask for anything that might actually stop Israel's crimes. My questions to Hochman, to Chomsky, and to any other critic of Israel are these: do you or do you not support a total embargo on Israel - not just cutting off aid, but cutting off all trade and all transfer of funds, both public *and private*? Do you or do you not want the US to join the Muslim world and the UN in demanding immediate and unconditional Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories? Most important, do you or do you not support the only thing that would give such a demand some teeth: a US military alliance with Syria, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon? (This is not a call for war, but for what it would take to bring Israel to its senses.) If not, I am not interested in how often you condemn Israel. Such condemnations are nothing but an excuse for the refusal to back any serious actions against what you condemn. It is as if leftists were watching someone being kicked to death on the subway, and masked their refusal to help with ringing denunciations of the crime.
Michael Neumann