Glenn Greenwald points out that the leader of the lynch mob was Steve Rosen, who is awaiting trial for being an Israeli spy:'Israel lobby' blamed as Obama's choice for intelligence chief quits
Veteran diplomat attacks wilful distortions that 'plumb the depths of dishonour'
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
Fears over the Jewish lobby's excess influence on US foreign policy flared anew yesterday after a former diplomat and strong critic of Israel backed out of a key national intelligence post, saying his appointment by President Barack Obama had been torpedoed by a campaign of lies against him.
Charles Freeman, a veteran diplomat hugely experienced in Middle Eastern affairs, had been chosen to head the National Intelligence Council, the body that delivers to the White House influential and highly sensitive reports synthesising the views of the country's 16 intelligence agencies.
But, on Wednesday, he withdrew his name from consideration, declaring he had fallen victim to what he called the "Israel lobby". Its campaign, he charged, had "plumbed the depths of dishonour and indecency," including "wilful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods, and an utter disregard for the truth".
The lobbying against his appointment included a phone call from Charles Schumer, a Democratic Senator, to Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff, reminding him that Mr Freeman had shown "an irrational hatred of Israel" in past comments. Mr Emanuel is a strong defender of Israel's interests.
The loss of Mr Freeman, a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia under the first president Bush, suggests that Mr Obama's ability to make significant changes in US policy in the Middle East will be severely limited by domestic political reality. As such, it raises the question of how far Mr Obama will be able – or willing – to stand up to Benjamin Netanyahu, the hardline Likud party leader who is all but certain to become Israel's next prime minister. Their relationship will be crucial for the important decisions looming over the Palestinian conflict and Iran's suspected nuclear weapons programme.
Yesterday, supporters of Israel, even as they quietly revelled in Mr Freeman's departure, claimed the most important objections to him were his links to Saudi Arabia and some past expressions of support for repressive policies by China's leadership. His true sin, however, was to have spoken out against Israeli policies with a forthrightness almost never heard in Washington. Indeed, one top pro-Israeli activist recently described his views on the Middle East as "what you would expect in the Saudi foreign ministry".
A trenchant critic of the harsh Israeli responses to attacks from Hizbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, Mr Freeman has long maintained that the Jewish state's policies were self-defeating. Yesterday, he repeated that charge in an interview with The New York Times, saying Israel was "driving itself towards a cliff". It was "irresponsible to not question Israeli policy and to decide what is best for the American people," he said.
Those words exactly reflect the thesis of the 2007 book The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy that generated huge controversy by asserting that American policy was slavishly aligned to Israel thanks to the efforts of the Jewish state's supporters, to the detriment of underlying US interests.
For Stephen Walt, one of the book's authors, the Freeman row has proved the point. As he put it yesterday: "For all of you out there who may have questioned whether there was a powerful "Israel lobby," or who admitted that it existed but didn't think it had much influence, or who thought that the real problem was some supposedly all-powerful "Saudi lobby," – think again."
The victory of Mr Obama, who as a child lived in a Muslim country, raised hopes that he would see the Middle East through radically different eyes. But the new administration's deeds have been cautious. The Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has hewed to a conventional line, while Dennis Ross, her special adviser for Iran and Gulf issues, is seen as sympathetic to Israel.
Congress unfailingly supports Israel. Pat Buchanan, a right-wing commentator and erstwhile presidential candidate, once described Capitol Hill as "Israeli-occupied territory".
And like the vultures they are, Greater Israel's fanwhores are jumping for joy that their hit job worked, while hinting that anyone who points out the Israel Lobby pulled a train on Freeman is an anti-Semite. Greenwald has more on this here.Prior to the announcement that the Freeman appointment was terminated, Max Blumenthal documented that the man leading the anti-Freeman assault was Steve Rosen, the long-time AIPAC official currently on trial for violations of the Espionage Act in connection with the transmission of classified U.S. information intended for Israel.
Imagine if Alger Hiss, awaiting trial on charges that he was a Russian spy, had led a media lynch mob against a government appointee on the grounds that the candidate was anti-Soviet. Imagine that any mainstream media outlet would run a piece by another Stalinist hack calling the smear job "patriotic". Imagine that other media outlets smugly pooh-poohing the idea that it was a Soviet hit job. Can't do it, can you?
Yet that's EXACTLY what we have here: Steve Rosen, under indictment as a traitor and Israeli spy led the smear campaign against Freeman on the grounds that Freeman was "anti-Israel", and along comes IDF camp follower Alan Dershowitz, who recently praised the murder of children in Gaza, calling the smear campaign "patriotic". Maybe if your first loyalty is to Greater Israel.
