5 ms·

On AIPAC in the US: 1. “How the Israel lobby moved to quash rising dissent in Congress against Israel’s apartheid regime” 2. “Top Pro-Israel Group Offered Oca

On AIPAC in the US: 1. “How the Israel lobby moved to quash rising dissent in Congress against Israel’s apartheid regime” 2. “Top Pro-Israel Group Offered Ocasio-Cortez $100,000 Campaign Cash” 3. “Senate Candidate in Michigan Says He Was Offered $20 Million to Challenge Tlaib” [1]: https://theintercept.com/2023/11/27/israel-democrats-aipac-book/ https://theintercept.com/2023/11/27/israel-democrats-aipac-b... [2]: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ocasio-cortez-aipac-offer-conversation-ryan-grim-book_n_656ee39ae4b07b937ff5eab0 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ocasio-cortez-aipac-offer-con... [3]: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/22/us/politics/hill-harper-rashida-tlaib.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/22/us/politics/hill-harper-r...

gryzzly 3y ago
hm, and how do you feel about Qatar sponsoring higher education in the US? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatari_involvement_in_higher_education_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatari_involvement_in_higher_e... Not sure these three links show that "supposedly morally superior western world is entirely bribed and blackmailed". Especially on the "entirely" and "blackmail" parts.
- hikingsimulator 3y ago
  > hm, and how do you feel about Qatar sponsoring higher education in the US? Focusing on international interference by one state does not reduce the blame that can be thrown at another. There's no limited reserve of blame that requires to be cleverly distributed. The undemocratic influence over public institutions by lobbies, like Qatar's (see Qatargate in Europe) or Israeli-linked ones alike and many more, are the death of our societies.
  - Adverblessly 3y ago
    Surely if Israel is bribing in one direction and Qatar is bribing in the other direction, someone is not getting their money's worth? That is, the final result is either that the "western world is entirely bribed and blackmailed to stand behind Israel" or that they don't stand behind Israel.
    - hikingsimulator 3y ago
      That's a dumb argument. It's not like Qatari money is trying to buy the mathematical inverse of Israeli money in a game of tit-for-tat.
      - gryzzly 3y ago
        [flagged]
        wahnfrieden 3y ago
        [flagged]
        luketaylor 3y ago
        Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism. I do not believe that “Jews as a collective” are “bribing and blackmailing the whole Western world.” I do believe that American lobbying groups—including but not limited to those that support Israel—use money as a tool to influence American politics in a manner akin to bribery, including in the few examples I linked about AIPAC. Your casual conflation “Israel (Jews)”—as if the two were a single group with congruent interests—is misleading, dangerous, and antisemitic. Not all Jews are Israeli, and not all Jews are pro-Israel.
        gryzzly 3y ago
        [flagged]
- pphysch 3y ago
  Foreign influence from Qatar is another serious case, but still small fries compared to malign foreign influence from Israel.

gryzzly 3y ago

hm, and how do you feel about Qatar sponsoring higher education in the US? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatari_involvement_in_higher_education_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatari_involvement_in_higher_e... Not sure these three links show that "supposedly morally superior western world is entirely bribed and blackmailed". Especially on the "entirely" and "blackmail" parts.

hikingsimulator 3y ago
> hm, and how do you feel about Qatar sponsoring higher education in the US? Focusing on international interference by one state does not reduce the blame that can be thrown at another. There's no limited reserve of blame that requires to be cleverly distributed. The undemocratic influence over public institutions by lobbies, like Qatar's (see Qatargate in Europe) or Israeli-linked ones alike and many more, are the death of our societies.
- Adverblessly 3y ago
  Surely if Israel is bribing in one direction and Qatar is bribing in the other direction, someone is not getting their money's worth? That is, the final result is either that the "western world is entirely bribed and blackmailed to stand behind Israel" or that they don't stand behind Israel.
  - hikingsimulator 3y ago
    That's a dumb argument. It's not like Qatari money is trying to buy the mathematical inverse of Israeli money in a game of tit-for-tat.
    - gryzzly 3y ago
      [flagged]
      - wahnfrieden 3y ago
        [flagged]
      - luketaylor 3y ago
        Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism. I do not believe that “Jews as a collective” are “bribing and blackmailing the whole Western world.” I do believe that American lobbying groups—including but not limited to those that support Israel—use money as a tool to influence American politics in a manner akin to bribery, including in the few examples I linked about AIPAC. Your casual conflation “Israel (Jews)”—as if the two were a single group with congruent interests—is misleading, dangerous, and antisemitic. Not all Jews are Israeli, and not all Jews are pro-Israel.
        gryzzly 3y ago
        [flagged]
pphysch 3y ago
Foreign influence from Qatar is another serious case, but still small fries compared to malign foreign influence from Israel.