March 28
GUEST: Philip Giraldi, former CIA counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer now serving as the Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, talks about his Washington-based advocacy group that seeks to promote a U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East that is consistent with American values and interests.
Our guest, Philip Giraldi, is a long time counter-terrorism expert who doesn't much like Israel's power over Congress and the executive branch. The Council for the National Interest maintains that it puts America first by opposing our military adventures in the Middle East that seem invariably traced to Israeli influence and money. That is why Giraldi writes so much for the conservative press. The left and the right often come together in opposing U.S. militarism abroad. God knows, the Democrats and Republicans come together year after year to accept millions from the weapons makers, the big oil companies, and the Israel Lobby. Both parties seem to share the same enthusiasm for endless war for endless profit. If anything is going to challenge the militarization of the world, it will be the left and the right combining to rein in the empire.
What didn't sit well was the use of "Jewish" and "Zionist" as interchangeable words. Yes, a high percentage (over 40%) of American Jews support Israel no matter what heinous crimes it happens to be committing on any given day. But about the same percentage of evangelical Christians hold the same view, that Israel can do no wrong. Do we conflate the term "Christian" with "Zionist"?
In fact, Jewish activists are at the forefront of Palestinian rights in the Middle East and Muslim rights in the U.S. Jews are an extremely important ally in achieving a just peace in the Middle East. I think the Council for the National interest must respect the millions of Jews who refuse to condone and protect what we all can see by now is an apartheid state.
Here is a local example of Jewish Voice For Peace's campaign to fight Islamophobia.
