A heavenly match: Bush and the Christian Zionists

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion/11_10_03_d.asp

... As Falwell said: “The Bible Belt is Israel’s safety net in the US.”
Christian Zionist organizations and the pro-Israel lobby are among the significant special interest groups whose interests have converged since Bush’s election to shape the administration’s policy toward the Middle East. In some respects, most of these groups and political tendencies were lined up and waiting to merge their ambitions even before the election. The tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, provided the spark for this.

Among these interest groups, of which we can broadly identify six, is, first of all, the right wing of the Republican Party. During his election campaign, Bush, with the help of former members of the Reagan administration, discarded the Middle East strategy of the first Bush administration, which advocated a more nuanced, multilateral and collaborative approach to the UN and to international law in resolving conflicts. By 2000, a shift had taken place in the Republican Party. It began embracing the doctrines of neoconservative ideologues who advocated US unilateralism and favored military solutions over diplomacy. This more aggressive approach was put into action after Sept. 11, and to no one’s surprise, Israel’s war against the Palestinians and its other enemies was soon linked to the US “war on terrorism.”

Today, Christian Zionists form the largest base of support for pro-Israeli interests in the US. Working since the late 1970s, the pro-Israel lobby has mobilized both economic and political support for Israel among fundamentalists. For example, a relatively new organization, Stand for Israel, has emerged in the past two years to work closely with AIPAC, the leading pro-Israel lobby, to support and hold rallies on behalf of Sharon’s policies. Last April 2, Stand for Israel held a convention and lobbying day immediately after the annual AIPAC convention, inviting many of the same speakers and adopting several of the same policies. Former US Presidential candidate Gary Bauer, a co-founder of Stand for Israel, addressed the convention and urged attendees to oppose the Palestinian-Israeli “road map” and an exchange of land for peace.

aligned with the dominant military power in the region, the Palestinians should access their ability to make demands.

"The Palestinians should access their ability to make demands"???

This doesn't make any sense.

that means they should be meek little serfs, suffer shit with a smile, and be glad for it.

No, that doesn't make any more sense, but I think that was the base sentiment.

i think it is sadly ironic that a great number (but still a minority IMO) of the so called 'christian zionists' are actually anti semetic.

they support the state of israel, for the sole reason that they believe that it will hasten the second coming (as if you can rush G-d along). when the second coming does happen all the nonbelievers (jews, muslims) will be killed.
so they support israel so the jews will end up dead

peace
david
:hippie:

Since they're saying the jewish religion is all wrong, that jews go to hell if they don't convert to some particular brand of christianity.
That's very jew-unfriendly if you ask me, yet it goes uncritisized.

whereas for instance even mentioning zionist infuence in the media is usually condemned as being anti-semitic.

In the end however absurd it may seem now, the Palestinians and Arabs will be Israel's only real friends and people they will be living with then those that currently support them yet have that conversion in mind. It may be a daring statement, but I can bet I will be proven right in some 10 years or so...

Sorry, those hatreds go too deep on both sides.

Israel has friends -- American friends on both the left and the right. The Palestinians and Arabs are not likely to join that list in 10 or 20 or 30 years.

Israel's thieves, warmongers and racist religious nutcases also have as many American friends on both sides of the official political aisle. This is where I have a problem.

but I really don't believe even Falwell and Robertson could motivate that much grass roots activism on this issue. It isn't there concern.