NEW YORK- Ralph Nader’s statement that the White House and Congress are “puppets” of Israel echoes classic anti-Semitic rhetoric about Jews secretly controlling governments, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has pointed out.
In an interview in the June 2004 issue of Pat Buchanan’s magazine, The American Conservative, Nader said: “The subservience of our congressional and White House puppets to Israeli military policy has been consistent … Both parties concede their independent judgment to the pro-Israeli lobbies in this country because they perceive them as determining the margin in some state elections and as sources of funding.”
Nader then quoted a statement by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman that “Ariel Sharon has Arafat under house arrest in Ramallah and Bush under house arrest in the Oval Office.”
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “Since the first publication of the classic anti-Semitic forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, more than a century ago, bigots have frequently alleged that Jews secretly control various governments. Ralph Nader’s allegation that the Jewish State secretly controls U.S. policy resurrects that vicious racist” stereotype. The ZOA president added: “Anyone with even the slightest knowledge of America-Israel relations knows that throughout the more than fifty years since Israel’s creation, the U.S. and Israeli governments have occasionally differed on policy matters, and there have been instances in which the U.S. administration unfairly criticized or pressured Israel, or supported Arab positions—hardly what one would expect if Israel controlled U.S. policy.”
The ZOA notes that Nader’s statement is the latest in a long series of anti-Israel or pro-Arab statements that he has made, including:
“ALL ARAB REFUGEES MUST RETURN TO ISRAEL”: Nader’s spokesman told the Jerusalem Post (June 22, 2004) that “No diplomatic plan can be acceptable unless it allows for the right of return for Palestinian refugees and a full Israeli withdrawal to 1967 borders.” (That would mean flooding Israel with millions of Arabs and turning it into an Arab state instead of a Jewish state.)
“ISRAEL CONTROLS THE WHITE HOUSE”: “In a statement to the Emirate al-Khalij newspaper, Nader said that Israeli officials ‘control’ the White House, and coerce American leaders to supply them with billions of dollars in arms and support.” (Jerusalem Post, June 22, 2004)
“GORE IS A COWARD FOR SUPPORTING ISRAEL”: “Ralph Nader accused Democratic presidential rival Al Gore of being ‘cowardly’ in his stated support for Israel…” (NewsForChange.com – October 23, 2000)
“ISRAEL IS TO BLAME FOR MIDEAST VIOLENCE”: “When you look at the violence, where is most of the violence? It’s in the Palestinian territory. Who are the victims of the violence? Mostly Palestinian young men throwing rocks. Who are the forces that are producing most of the violence? The overwhelming excessive use of force is by the Israeli military … [Israeli soldiers are] killing innocent children … The Palestinians have got a lot of reasons for their rage.” (NewsForChange.com – October 23, 2000)
ISRAEL IS RUN BY “A MILITARY GOVERNMENT”: “Don’t confuse Israel with the military government now on top of Israel.” (Nader on CNN Crossfire, March 30, 2004)
IMPLIES THAT SOMEONE IS PREVENTING AMERICANS FROM DISAGREEING WITH ISRAELI POLICIES: “The Israeli peace movement is the way to go. They’ve been connecting with the Palestinian peace movement. They’ve had two-state solutions. They’ve had various agreements. And there’s more freedom to discuss this issue inside Israel and the freedom of the press and debate and discussion on all issues than there is in the United States.” (Nader on CNN Crossfire, March 30, 2004)
“ISRAEL IS DESTROYING PALESTINIAN CHILDREN”: “[W]ith the violence flaring, with most of the casualties being Palestinians in Palestinian territory, between Palestinian youths throwing ancient rocks against modern Israeli armor-jif we’re going to be an honest broker, we cannot take sides … [Y]ou saw Al Gore say that the Syrian-controlled militias should return the three captured Israeli soldiers, but he somehow couldn’t find a few words to the Palestinian children and youngsters who were destroyed by Israeli armaments for protesting, with rocks, inside Palestinian territory.” (Project Vote Smart, October 30, 2000)
“IF YOU’RE A GOY, YOU CAN’T WRITE ABOUT ISRAEL”: In a speech on April 4, 2004 (text made available on the Al-Jazeera-affiliated web site The Hand Stand), Nader said:
* The Israeli government is “the Israeli present day military government” …
* The conflict “between Israel and the Palestinians” is “between prehistoric stones with a few rifles, and tanks and jets and artillery and helicopter gun ships and all kinds of other super modern techniques of warfare.”
* “A high official of the Clinton administration walked up to me at some meeting, I’d never met him before, and out of the blue he said the following, quote, if you’re a Goy you can’t get an Op ed in the major newspapers criticizing Israel. I said, you don’t even know, what are you saying? He said you only can criticize Israel if you’re Jewish.”
* Israel is to blame for suicide bombers: “Several years back less than 20% of the Palestinians supported suicide bombings. Today it is hard to find someone among them who will denounce this phenomenon. The current policy of the I.DF. in the occupied territories is a great hot house for terror.” (http://www.thehandstand.org/archive/april2004/articles/ralphnader.htm)