The recent struggle over the nomination of Chuck Hagel for defense secretary is highly  instructive and demands some attention from every responsible American citizen.  Hagel is a Republican, but members of his own party, operating on the principle that they must oppose everything Obama does, savaged Hagel. Their excuse was primarily that Hagel has been “soft on supporting Israel.”

The fact is, he really never has—he has merely pointed out that he was elected to serve US interests, NOT Israeli interests. It is a distinction that is apparently  lost on many of his GOP colleagues, especially those who vacuously preach that there should be “no daylight” between the US and Israel. Hagel might be a good pick at defense precisely because he can (and does) make that distinction. Of course he also said that AIPAC “intimidates” those it disagrees with. While they fiercely objected to this, they then showed their displeasure by a very public demonstration of intimidation. Ironic. It rather proves Hagels’s point.

Oddly (because he has been so idiotic over Susan Rice and the Benghazi affair),  John McCain, while criticizing Hagel, made a distinction that is even more noteworthy—he said that the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC) wasn’t a “Jewish lobby” but an “Israeli Lobby.” This is a rare grain of truth—and one with huge implications.

As a lobby for a foreign country, AIPAC would normally have to play by the strict rules that restrict lobbyists from foreign countries from gaining undue influence in the US. But by posing for years as a generic “Jewish Lobby” (representing American Jews) AIPAC has always been oddly exempted from  that requirement. The result is something every American should worry about.

But there is another, even more important distinction that must be made. Just as AIPAC doesn’t represent all American Jews, the state of Israel also doesn’t represent all of the world’s Jews.  Further, the  current government of Israel doesn’t even represent all Israelis. Outside these exclusionary perimeters, of course, are the nearly 1 million Arab Israeli’s (Palestinians) many of whom are Christians Then there are all the other Israelis who want a real and lasting peace with their neighbors and who are willing to meet the obligations to that end that Israel has previously agreed to (obligations which current Israeli PM Netanyahu is clearly trying to renege on).

When all is said and done, the current Israeli government, led by Likud and made possible by support from small extremist Zionist parties (and by continued support from the US), is the main reason that there is no progress towards peace in Palestine/Israel. All together, the ruling coalition in Israel actually speak  for a minority of Jews—and even Israelis.  In other words, AIPAC doesn’t really represent World Jews, American Jews, or even Israeli Jews—they really represent the fraction of Jews who support the Likud Party and some other small ultra right or religious parties.  So how does AIPAC (and therefore Likud) get their way?

To put it simply, they continue to trick American politicians into the mistake of believing that AIPAC speaks for all Jews—that is why Hagel unthinkingly called them a “Jewish lobby.” What a horrific crime! Thanks Mr. McCain, for pointing that awful error out!

Of course Hagel was also criticized for violating other principles that AIPAC endorses—he sees little real reason for a US war with Iran and has questioned whether we should refuse to talk to either Hamas or Hezbollah. He is right on all three counts. If communicating with enemies in the hope of preventing war is preferable to starting wars without even understanding the adversary’s position, then the choice is clear. As we have seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, wars, launched without a clear understanding of the adversary’s  aims, or their determination, are seldom successful. The truth is, if there were a comprehensive peace in Israel/Palestine (a development which AIPAC shuns and militates against above all others) Hamas would quickly abandon its militancy, Hezbollah would become irrelevant outside of Lebanon and Iran would rapidly lose influence in the area.

To avoid any such development AIPAC has launched an  initiative that is a step towards locking the US into backing a war against Iran whenever Israel’s Netanyahu decides to pull the trigger. This initiative is called S. RES  65. The resolution is based on an embarrassing set of irrelevant, egregiously misleading, or simply false “whereas”  statements. Today, a day after the death of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, we might pause to consider whether we shouldn’t simply wait a few months until Iranian President Ahmedinejad term expires. The Iranian supreme leader (Ayatollah Khamanei) could (like Chavez just did) drop dead any minute.

But no. Over 40 senators have put their name down as cosponsors of this absurd legislation. They include the usual Republican suspects, but also such leading Democratic Senators as Wyden, Schumer, Boxer, Menendez, and Lautenberg (to name just a few). Forgive me for noting the simple fact that all of the latter are indebted to AIPAC.

For myself, if these Senators continue to sponsor such abject nonsense as S RES 65 while they are unable to find a way to pay for our ongoing or recently “ended” Middle East Wars, and while our country faces defense massive sequesters of social and defense programs, then NONE of them will get ANY support from me in ANY coming elections EVER. In fact, I will work actively against them. I know just how much that will hurt certain truly valuable Democratic agendas, but enough is enough. These senators continue to give AIPAC a destructive say over US policy—if they persist the consequences of their actions will surely be domestic as well as international. That is the whole problem with giving a foreign lobby such enormous power over our own policy.

So I applaud Hagel for his position that he was elected as a Senator of the US, NOT of ANY foreign country. Until more senators come to see our “special relationship”  with Israeli the way Hagel does, American policy will apparently remain at the mercy of a small, fanatical, foreign, religious minority.

Gee. I thought that’s what we were trying to prevent.

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