Good Job, Israel Lobby
AIPAC & Its Allies: This is on them.
Waking up to see places I know well in Israel—places I’ve loved, where I’ve laughed, eaten, enjoyed the company of friends and family—turned into smoking ruins, miniature versions of Gaza, is sickening. And it all could have been prevented—if the critics of Israeli policy since 1967 (and before too) had been heeded rather than called “anti-Israel” and now “antisemites.”
The rockets raining down on Israeli cities today—like the October 7 massacre, like the broader Gaza war, like the Yom Kippur War of 1973, and so many smaller wars—all trace back to the same refusal: Israel’s unwillingness to end its occupation and to treat the people in the region in which they live with anything resembling fundamental respect.
Iran is another case. The nuclear deal was working—verifiably. Iran halted its weapons program, sanctions began to lift, and for once, that arena edged toward stability. But Israel hysterically opposed the deal, not because it was failing, but because it was succeeding. Netanyahu and his allies lobbied Trump and Congress to kill it, and the U.S. obliged. Why? Because AIPAC and its donor network made it politically dangerous to do otherwise.
And then there’s the Yom Kippur War—the clearest parable of all.
In 1971, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat made a serious offer: Sadat said that if Israel withdrew four miles from the Suez Canal (allowing Egypt to reopen it), Egypt would begin talks to end the conflict once and for all. The US administration urged Israel to consider it. But Israel, loving its expanded post-’67 borders and hold tight to the belief that it could easily defeat Egypt in any war, refused. Defense Minister Moshe Dayan said openly that he'd rather have Sinai without peace than peace without Sinai.
AIPAC and its allies in the U.S. sprang into action—not to encourage diplomacy, but to block it. They mobilized Congress to back Israel’s stance, framing any pressure as “anti-Israel,” a slur they’ve perfected over decades. The Israeli government laughed in the face of the Americans, with full knowledge that the lobby would shield it from consequences.
Two years later, a humiliated Sadat launched a war. Israel was caught flat-footed. It lost 2,656 soldiers. Only after the carnage did it finally give up every inch of the Sinai, not just the small slice Sadat asked for in 1971. Everything Sadat had asked for before the war, and much much more, Israel handed over after it. Egypt paid a terrible price, but it achieved its goals. And Israel, in the end, gained only funerals and trauma it could’ve avoided by yielding a four miles in Sinai.
That was fifty years ago. And nothing has changed. Israel is still led by men who mistake obstinacy for strength. The United States Congress is still owned by a lobby that punishes those who dare to say NO. And ordinary Israelis—many of whom long for peace—are still the ones who pay with their lives.
The Gaza war is the latest tragedy in this cycle. Nearly 60,000 Palestinians dead. Global sympathy for Israel—gone. In its place, worldwide outrage. And yet Washington still refuses to act. Why? Because the same lobby (in reality, not a mass movement of Jews but a few hundred billionaires and millionaires) is still calling the shots. And they still won’t allow even the mildest pressure on Israel let alone the arms cutoff that would send a clear message: STOP. They’ve turned the US-Israel “special relationship” into a suicide pact.
For nearly 60 years, AIPAC has told Israel: stand firm, reject compromise, and we’ll handle Washington. We’ll keep the money flowing, we’ll fund the primaries against your critics, and above all, we will preserve the status quo.
It’s been great for them. High salaries. A fabulous building overlooking the Capitol. Political clout. Grovelling senators and every president since Eisenhower (exceptions JFK and Carter. ) And now, bombs on Tel Aviv. Do they care? Of course not. They’ll be fine. It’s Israelis, Palestinians, and now Iranians who’ll pay, as always. For the record, they don’t “love” Israel; they love the power the “Israel issue” gives them.
They are the National Rifle Association of foreign policy—always wrong, never accountable. The blood is never on their suits, only on the dead.
There’s still a sliver of time to stop this nightmare, but barely. Biden was scared to do anything. Congress is dominated by psychopaths like Lindsey Graham who responded to the news that the war had begun with the words, “GAME ON.” And now, unbelievably, we have to hope that Donald Trump—ignorant, bombastic, but sometimes unbound by donor constraints—might do something sane. He probably won’t, not with the lobby begging him to bring the US military in to save the day.
But maybe, just maybe, he’ll see the fire and try to put it out. God knows it’s too late for tens of thousands. But not for the rest. And, ultimately, Israel itself.