AT THE heart of the long-established structure of US foreign policy are powerful special interests (lobbies). Interests that are capable of substituting their parochial interest for national interest. The most powerful and successful of these special interests is the Zionist lobby. This is so despite the fact that the Zionists act as agents of a foreign power to assure American support for the national interests of Israel. Their influence with both US political parties is well entrenched. Therefore, no one should be surprised when many Democrats discreetly supported Republican President Donald Trump鈥檚 attack on Iran (arguably, Israel鈥檚 enemy, not America鈥檚). Or, at best, confined their objections to procedural matters, such as the sadly enfeebled 鈥榃ar Powers Act.鈥�
For all too many US politicians, the only 鈥榝acts鈥� worth attending to were those that conform to Israeli propaganda. Such politicians will always proclaim, quoting Senator Chuck Schumer, 鈥榠ronclad support鈥欌�� implying support of the Zionist state whatever the overall circumstances. A ubiquitous corollary to this position is the claim that Israel鈥檚 surprise attack on Iran of 13 June 2025 was an exercise of the 鈥榬ight to self-defence.鈥� This, despite the fact that, in reality, Iran was not threatening Israel (their nuclear program has, by the evidence, always been a peaceful one) while, in reality, Israel was threatening Iran鈥攈aving talked itself as a national collective into a paranoid fear of what the Iranians might do with their nuclear knowhow (an Israeli Holocaust?) in the unknown future. Of course Israel鈥檚 sneak attack can only push Iran鈥檚 leaders to consider fulfilling that Israeli nightmare.
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Money supports the narrative
HOW is it that the Israeli narrative can erase the criminal reality of the Gaza genocide or the consistently non-threatening nature of Iran鈥檚 nuclear program, from the minds of two American electoral bodies (House and Senate) that have access to vast research and intelligence facilities? And how is it that the Democrats can hold to a position of 鈥榠ronclad support of Israel,鈥� that much of their voting base is, at last, questioning? The answer to these two questions is the same.
Success and failure in American politics comes down to winning elections. Winning elections rarely turns on foreign policy issues of which the public knows little. It does, however, turn on the raising of money. The Zionist lobby has, for generations, been a major source of money for all manner of elections and for both parties. The money has facilitated more than electoral wins. It has created an alliance of convenience between politicians and the Zionists. This alliance has led American politicians to accept the Zionist historical narrative as a financial imperative.
Thus, just as the Israeli citizens have been raised up to see the world only through their national narrative, so have most American politicians, when it comes to the Middle East in general and the Palestinians in particular, spent their entire careers immersed in the Zionist narrative鈥攁cceptance of which is one important foundation of their careers.
The same can be said for most American mainstream media personalities, from owners of TV and radio outlets to the reporters who work for them. This is not only a function of money. It has to do with the wider effects of a prevailing narrative and, again, the career enhancing acceptance that supports it. Since 1917 and the Balfour Declaration this narrative has, if you will, 鈥榗olonized鈥� the American mind. It has done so through repeated telling鈥攍argely through the media鈥攗ntil it is a facet of the nation鈥檚 own international worldview. Only now, with the wholesale slaughter of the Palestinians televised on alternative media, is the popular acceptance of the Zionist narrative eroding.
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The narrative erodes
WHAT happens if and when that popular acceptance of the Israeli narrative erodes enough to frighten the politicians who have taken it for granted for so long? Tradition might lead them to believe that money for counter propaganda will take care of the problem, but that may not be sufficient under the present genocidal circumstances.
Israel can no longer hide its inherent racist nastiness. The Gaza episode has made this clear. The public display of Israeli crimes has provided room, not only for second thoughts among politicians, but for a counter narrative to grow. If a new, pro-Palestine narrative takes hold, what might it ultimately call for? Perhaps the same thing that the Jews demanded in compensation for the genocide they suffered: accountability, security and lots of money. At least that is a most likely model.
As to the money and security, Israel, the United States, and most of the Western world owes the Palestinians compensation. This goes beyond rebuilding Gaza to the creation of a Palestinian state and the securing of its borders against any future Israeli pique.
As to accountability, consider the following: UN Human Rights Council: 鈥極ur finding that the basic military strategy used by the Israelis Since 7 Oct. 鈥�23 leads to the inevitable conclusion that all those who have played a role in any way in the implementation of this strategy are suspected of the Commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity.鈥�
The report goes on to itemize those culpable:
听The air crew in the bombers that are dropping the bombs and the rockets.
听The crews of ships off the coast that are shelling parts of Gaza, destroying fishing boats and the livelihood of fishers, the Palestinian people who depend on the sea.
听The soldiers on the ground who are implementing the strategy of destruction of infrastructure and killing of people in their thousands.
Those who are far away from Gaza, who are piloting and controlling the drones that are inflicting slaughter on the Gazan people.
Those who man the checkpoints to implement a strategy of starvation against the Palestinian people of Gaza.
There is not much more to say, except that the likelihood of the Western nations, particularly the US, coming through with a justice based solution to the present genocidal problem will be, if at all, slow in coming. It will probably take years for a pro-Palestinian narrative to take hold at a governmental level, and by then the Palestinians might well be dead or scattered.
Finally, it is worth noting the irony that it is a country that claims to represent the Jewish people that has committed the present genocide. The Zionist Jews believed that only by possessing their own nation state could they be safe鈥攁 belief seemingly affirmed by the Holocaust. The result was a colonial nation state that led the Zionists to replicate the imperialist behaviour of those who helped introduce Europe鈥檚 Jews into Arab Palestine. And, et sequitur, here we are playing out an historical colonial tragedy.
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CounterPunch.org, July 18. Lawrence Davidson is a retired professor of history at West Chester University in West Chester, PA.
