Zionist power or window-dressing?

["LouPaulsen" <LouPaulsen@xxxxxxxxx>]

A left Jewish response to the theory that the US is making war on Iraq on
behalf of Israel, "Jewish interests", etc.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/633/op13.htm

To My Former Dean and Other 'Court Jews'

Dear Assistant Secretary of Defence Paul Wolfowitz, .[...]

Lately I have come to the disturbing conclusion that the Bush administration
is using you as its "court Jew" par excellence. Rest assured, this is not a
term that I learned during my studies at SAIS. Rather I picked it up in the
course of my involvement with the Jewish peace movement which is calling
simultaneously for an end to Israel's self-destructive military occupation
of Palestine and is helping to mobilise the millions of good-hearted
Americans who have taken to the streets to protest the war of aggression
that the Bush administration is pedaling.

"Court Jew" is a term that originates in the context of anti-Semitism in
"enlightened" Europe. On that blood- soaked continent, the reigning monarchs
and other despotic rulers thought up an ingenious system to perpetuate their
oppressive systems of government. These shrewd, Machiavellian rulers made a
psychologically brilliant pact with an elite, assimilationist group of
Jewish subjects who craved nothing more than acceptance by the power
structure of society. Often, these ambitious Jews were so eager to serve the
interests of the rulers so that they could ease their feelings of
internalised self- hatred. They viewed serving the power structure as a way
to overcome the marginality and stigmas associated with being Jewish which
were built into the very fabric of society by the power structure to begin
with. The rulers understood this yearning to enter the halls of power and
took advantage of it by dangling a carrot of illusional power before the
hungry eyes of this wayward Jewish elite.

These "court Jews" were given politically unimportant, yet highly visible
positions within the regime. Why? So that when the subjected masses rose up
from time to time in justified outrage at the oppressive nature of the
regime under which they lived, there was a convenient, ready-made scapegoat
in place. The "court Jew", as a highly visible symbol of the regime, served
as the lighting rod to bear the brunt of the blame and deflect criticism
from where it belonged rightfully.  [...]

It pains me that so many of my fellow citizens are falling into this age-old
trap of blaming the powerless Jews who seem so powerful because of the
existence of a handful of "court Jews" who front for the power structure.
This doesn't mean that the "court Jews" of the unelected Jewish
Establishment haven't been hawking for this war. They have been. There is no
denying that Israel sent Benjamin Netanyahu to Capitol Hill to testify for
the war in Iraq and "convince" members of Congress that it was in the
interests of the United States to let loose the dogs of war (as if they
needed much convincing anyway). All of this is true. This is the beauty of
how the system works. Take a few "court Jews" and give them unimpeded access
to the mainstream media and, voila, you create the impression among the
masses that "the Jews" are spoiling for a war.  [...]

Please, before it is too late, tell the world that it is not the powerless
Jews who are pushing for this war, but the greedy, venal barons of corporate
America who stand to profit while cowering behind the myth of the all-
powerful Jew.

Tell everybody what you and I both know. That the real interests hawking for
this war are the defence contractors and the oil industry who will make
billions of dollars to first destroy Iraq and then "rebuild" it under the
protective wing of American "democracy". And, while you're at it, please
tell the world that the $100 billion the Bush administration will require to
pay the military-industrial complex to finance this war of aggression will
be sucked from the wallets of the impoverished American working class which
is systematically being stripped of government services by this rapacious
regime.  [...]

Josh Ruebner

* The writer is the co-founder of Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel
(JPPI) and a former analyst in Middle East Affairs at the Congressional
Research Service (CRS).