Israeli documents show expansive government effort to shape US discourse
theguardian.com
theguardian.com
>“There’s a built-in assumption that there’s nothing at all weird about viewing the US as sort of an open field for Israel to operate in, that there are no limitations,”
Why does Israel have such a privileged status with respect to other nations? If it were any other country, US news organizations and politicians would be up in arms about a foreign government directly manipulating US public opinion. But this one country is special. Why?
>Georgia’s governor, Brian Kemp, signed legislation that revised Georgia’s hate crime statute to include the IHRA definition of antisemitism in January, making it possible for certain criticisms of Israel to lead to increased prison sentences.
Isn't this eroding free speech in the US? How is it constitutional that saying something about the politics of a foreign government could lead to increased prison sentences for US citizens?
Would there be politicians changing laws, flags of these countries being displayed around major cities, etc.?
Religion, mostly. Despite its secular and liberal pretenses, the US and in particular the US government is deeply influenced by Conservative and Evangelical Christian interests, among which support for Israel is seen as a necessity to bring about the apocalypse and second coming of Jesus. Many Americans see themselves and their nation as metaphysically blessed, founded by and given a destiny by God, and see Israel with a similar metaphysical lens. Therefore, Israel can never been seen as merely a state. Everything it does is entangled in America's own sense of cosmic self-importance and destiny.
Also, Israel is good money for the American military industrial complex. Setting aside the many Americans who ultimately believe a global war allied with Israel against the Islamic world is inevitable (as per their interpretation of the Book of Revelations) and their influence on American foreign policy, the mere presence of Israel as an ally creates enough chaos and discontent to fund America's war racket in that part of the world indefinitely.
>Isn't this eroding free speech in the US? How is it constitutional that saying something about the politics of a foreign government could lead to increased prison sentences for US citizens?
It's particularly weird when you consider that antisemitism and racism are often given a full-throated defense by Americans in the name of freedom of speech, a nation that proudly declares the Klan can march in the streets and Mein Kampf can be bought in bookstores, but public opposition to the policies of the state of Israel - opposition by a public which includes many Jews - results in the swiftest and most pervasive crackdown on free speech that I've seen in my lifetime. Or at the very least since right after 9/11.
Okay so I buy this premise for sure, but what about the other part of the political spectrum? Why aren’t CNN, MSNBC, ABC etc covering this? And why aren’t liberal politicians up in arms about it?
Conservatives are only half of the spectrum and I understand their religious motivation, but the other half also seems to be extremely pro-Israel. All except maybe that one senator from Minnesota seem fully in agreement with the conservatives on the issue.
We all live in our bubbles and I can't speak to what the mainstream media is doing because I don't really interact with it. On the other hand I see plenty of leftists online who are staunchly anti-Israel, for whatever that's worth.
But speaking of the American left, there seems to be a deep seated fear of being seen as anti-Semitic that causes a lot of people to hold off on expressing themselves, when they don't have the internet between themselves and social consequence. Unfortunately, criticism of Israel does tend to overlap with anti-Semitism so many people simply may not want to take the risk.
Uh oh, someone's trying to think! You know why. We all know why. But stating it out loud makes you a bad man.
Better to just nod along and pretend it's all OK, especially at work, especially if you're not posting anonymously. And remember to be extra furious at Russia in your comments when someone reminds us that Russia spent 100k in "both sides" Facebook ads in 2015 (an act of foreign interference so ignominous, MSM ink will never stop spilling ink about it). It's what's expected of all of us.
That I can tolerate but I found the same account promoting outrage about US campus protests to be distasteful. That’s a domestic US issue and trying to influence it from the outside feels inappropriate, not to mention leans into a bunch of antisemitic tropes!
But... (and I'll go to the other article)... "But that isn’t a new story. People have been trying to have affairs with strangers for thousands of years. Ashley Madison was never really about that. Avid Life Media, its parent company, wasn’t in the business of sex, it was in the business of bots. Its site became a prototype for what social media platforms such as Facebook are becoming: places so packed with AI-generated nonsense that they feel like spam cages, or information prisons where the only messages that get through are auto-generated ads."
All foreign powers will try to do the same thing, through the legal channels, and the not so legal channels. The current order enforced on the back of the US dollar is simply too powerful to not do that. Americans are broadly naive about this, so it's relatively easy to "shock" them into caring about it.
The “Concert” remark referred to a sprawling relaunch of a controversial Israeli government program initially known as Kela Shlomo, designed to carry out what Israel called “mass consciousness activities” targeted largely at the US and Europe. Concert, now known as Voices of Israel, previously worked with groups spearheading a campaign to pass so-called “anti-BDS” state laws that penalize Americans for engaging in boycotts or other non-violent protests of Israel.
Its latest incarnation is part of a hardline and sometimes covert operation by the Israeli government to strike back at student protests, human rights organizations and other voices of dissent."
To me, the article is littered with detailed concrete examples of how Israel has sought to suppress and manipulate US public opinion and prevent or dampen normal democratic discussion, protest and actions. The above quote is in the opening few paragraphs.
What kind of groups did they work with? What kind of work did they do with them? For all I know they're funneling money to non-profits owned by family members of government officials.
There is nothing concrete here.
There are several examples in the article that answer your earlier questions.
https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-97...
Now that it exists though, I'm afraid we must accept that and work with the new status quo. We can't just displace or kill a couple of thousands people for historic justice, right?
Edit: Downvote me, I'm endlessly pissed over the hypocrisy of my own country on the matter.
Your claim is vague and spooky. Please clarify what you think “they” have been doing.
Context is terrible for the boogeyman narrative, so it’s usually left out.
In this case, the accusation is that Israel attempts to influence US opinion. Do other countries do this? In 2020 the US department of education said it uncovered ‘$6.6bn in previously unreported gifts from countries including Qatar, China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. It said this figure could be "significantly underestimated".’[0] $6.6b in secret funding from mostly anti-democratic countries, just to a few universities. How does this story about Israel sound now, in the light of more context? Context tends to disrupt the “Israel the unique boogeyman” narrative.
Does the guardian story include any context about how other countries try to influence US opinion, or what is typical? If not, why not?
tl;dr: seek context, especially in stories about boogeyman Israel.