By Magan Singodia
This is a brilliant book for anyone trying to establish the truth of the political history of America’s unwavering support for Israel. It is an eye-opening account of the lengths the Zionists were and are prepared to go to to secure the claim to the land between River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea. The significant time period that the book concentrates on is from the last decades of the 19th century until the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
People around the world are staggered at the unconditional support of the US towards Israel, even at the cost of global democracy being undermined. The book traces the role of the United States in the creation of Israel. It highlights the early warnings against creating a Jewish state on land already inhabited by Palestinians, and against the long-term harm it might bring to the US and all Western interests in the region. Despite these warnings, President Truman supported establishing a Jewish state on land primarily inhabited by Muslims and Christians for many centuries past.
Unfortunately, finds Weir, a majority of the American population do not know that the creation of modern-day Israel came about as a result of US politicians forcing through a policy which was opposed by top diplomatic and military experts at the time. The policy of creation of a Jewish state was influenced by a large pro-Israel lobby funded by powerful Zionist organizations working through an “elitist secret society” which had penetrated the inner workings of the political structures of the American government. The book, with thoroughly sourced evidence, exposes the truth, which differs from the prevailing narratives and shows that pro-Israel American Zionists over the years have influenced, some may go as far as saying dictated, US policy; and have also highjacked the media to promote the interests of Israel over the interests and ideals of America.
For many, the thought of an unknown power manipulating governments through lobbying in America and Britain is a new perspective; and many who are aware of the phenomenon are frightened to challenge it. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the Israel/Palestine conflict. It sets out to expose what it calls the illegalities of the past and the present. It is meticulously documented, and reveals what it claims to be evidence of the deceptive, illegal, and criminal behaviour of the Zionist movement in America, Europe and Palestine.
The author has researched extensively the history of Zionism in the world in general, and in America in particular. The book’s strength is the absence of any antisemitic references, which makes it harder for pro-Israel sympathizers to object to Weir’s findings. The author points out explicitly that ‘diverse documentary evidence shows that Zionists pushed’ for the US to enter the First World War on Britain’s side as part of the deal to gain ‘British support for their colonization of Palestine’. The method used was devious. A Zionist leader who worked to persuade British officials at that time wrote that the Allied cause in 1916 had been convinced that ‘the best and perhaps the only way to persuade the American President to come into the war was to secure the cooperation of Zionist Jews by promising them Palestine, enlist and mobilize the powerful forces of Zionist Jews in America and elsewhere in favour of the Allies on a quid pro quo contract basis’. In other words, an unnecessary war that had gone badly required America’s intervention in order to secure the support of the British government in establishing a Jewish state in Palestine.
The author notes that the Americans had strongly opposed entering the war and that President Woodrow Wilson had won the presidency with the slogan ‘he kept us out of war’.
The Zionist plot, writes Weir, becomes clearer, that from the start the creation of a Jewish state on land inhabited by non-Jews required the backing of a stronger power. This was provided by America and Britain in World War I to meet their goal of having British support for Zionism leading to the drafting of the Balfour Declaration of 1917. The book spells out the rise in support for Zionism in America. It shows the roles of Louis Brandeis, Felix Frankfurter and others in establishing, within the American hierarchy, Zionism ideology.
At the same time, it was important to divert the American Jewish populations’ loyalty not just towards America. With the help of the Zionist lobby, Weir says, the movement succeeded in indoctrinating, cajoling and threatening American Jews to be loyal to the Zionist cause. Other Zionist groups set out to establish a firm grip on the American media. This has become a major manifestation of their success amongst the American public to date. The book quotes Professor Richard P. Stevens, who says ‘Zionists early on learned to exploit the essential nature of the American political system—that policies can be made and unmade through force of public opinion and pressure’.
One main point the book makes is that Israel/Palestine history is known but has been kept hidden from the general public. The public has to rely on the mainstream media. Meanwhile, while historians are becoming almost exclusively dependent on their work being produced by small publishers–often of a scholarly bent, and read by only by a few. The author points out that those who have tried to bring the truth about Israel/Palestine to the general public have suffered both venomous verbal attacks and economic threats that quickly silence the message and often destroy the messenger. At the same time politicians have become almost totally dependent on the Israel lobby to secure their election. The American public, Weir concludes, must restore their position by insisting that their elected officials place the interests of the United States before those of Israel.
This book is a must read in understanding the geo-political dilemma in which the US plays such a crucial part.
Magan Singodia is a member of the Executive Committee, a Trustee, and Secretary of the Balfour Project.