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Israeli Journalist reports that Israel Is Pushing US into War with Iran

Alison Weir
Council for the National Interest
June 18, 2012

Israel and its lobby in the U.S. "have been leading the charge" for an American war against Iran for years, Israeli journalist Larry Derfner reports, "and they're hardly hiding it."

In an article today on the Israeli website +972 Mag, Blame Israel and AIPAC for a U.S. war in Iran, Derfner writes: "If America ends up bombing Iran first (unlikely), or being drawn into a war as a result of Israel’s bombing Iran first (much more likely), that American war will be stamped “Made In Israel�... by everyone with eyes and ears in his or her head."

Derfner goes on to state that the U.S. military establishment doesn't want to fight in Iran, but "Israel and AIPAC have been dragging them toward it with all their might."

Derfner claims that pushing the U.S. into a war that it doesn't want is "unprecedented," and blames the Republican Party for today's situation. However, there is compelling evidence that Israel has played a role in previous American wars. Numerous analysts have described the decisive role played by pro-Israel neocons in pushing the U.S. to invade Iraq. Among those detailing the pro-Israel motivation are former CIA analyst Kathleen Christison, author Stephen Green, journalist Jeffrey Blankfort, analyst Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, authors Dr. John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Dr. Stephen Walt, of Harvard, and, most thoroughly, Dr. Stephen Sniegosky in his book The Transparent Cabal.

Regarding the first Iraq War, former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin wrote: "Because of a miracle, a foreign army is fighting our worst enemy for our sakes." There are also indications that individuals active in Israel's founding movement, Zionism, played a role in the U.S. entering World War I, a war that Americans voted resoundingly against joining.

Derfner is greatly concerned that today's push for a war against Iran, which is being promoted in such a blatant fashion, will create a backlash against Jewish Americans. He writes: "If Israel hits Iran and Iran hits back at American targets and draws the U.S. into a war, and that war doesn’t go well for the U.S. – if American troops start getting killed, if the U.S. economy suffers, if the U.S. finds itself stuck in a war it doesn’t want and doesn’t know how to get out of – then not only Israel, but American Jews, too, are likely to be blamed by the U.S. public at large."

Derfer continues, "I want to stress here that blaming American Jews in general for 'wagging the dog' would be totally wrong and unfair - most of them are liberal doves. However, blaming AIPAC, the rest of the Israel lobby and, above all, Israel for wagging the dog would be like adding two and two."

Derfner does not define "the Israel Lobby," though it seems to encompass virtually all the large, mainstream Jewish institutions in the U.S. (A number of Jewish individuals and dissenting organizations actively oppose it.)

An anti-Iran ad in the New York Times on April 30, 2010 was sponsored by The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), The Jewish Federations of North America, American Jewish Committee (AJC), Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Union for Reform Judaism, Orthodox Union, The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, Hadassah, National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), American Jewish Congress, Women's League for Conservative Judaism, B'nai B'rith International, Jewish War Veterans of the United States, Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life.

Derfner, referring to AIPAC, Israel, and the Israel lobby, writes: "These people, these 'leaders' of ours, are playing with fire. Today the third and probably last round of talks between the U.S.-led six world powers and Iran begin in Moscow, and the Israel/AIPAC/GOP alliance has intimidated Obama, who is worried about the election, into a negotiating stance that seems doomed to failure."

Derfner points out that "the U.S. is demanding Tehran’s surrender – Tehran’s agreement to defang its nuclear program without the West’s agreement to lift or even delay the harsh economic sanctions due to start very soon. The U.S. has turned Clausewitz’s famous saying on its head – this is not a case of war being diplomacy by other means, but of diplomacy being war by other means.

"The worst thing," Derfner writes, " is that many 'realists' believe Iran would agree to decisive nuclear concessions if the West agreed to lift sanctions in return – but Israel, its Washington lobby and the Republicans have branded this approach as weakness, appeasement, and Obama can’t afford to look like an appeaser with an election coming up."

Derfner is a columnist for the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post, as well as the correspondent in Israel for the U.S. News and World Report, and for many years wrote feature articles for the Sunday Times of London. He describes himself "an ultra-liberal Zionist," though this is not disclosed in his articles for American publications.

He was was born in New York, grew up in Los Angeles and moved to Israel in 1985.

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