There is another view that suggests that the Pro-Israel lobby takes complete control of US politics from the top-down and possibly with the blessing of autocratic regimes in the Middle East who’s main purpose in life is to maintain power. The US is the a great example of what it means when foreign conflicts/influence start infecting the national agenda/policy – pure & simple. I have written plenty of posts about the threat of political lobbies/special interest groups on our Democracy. For us in the UK BREXIT also means being more open to these kinds of influences (national & foreign) more than ever before. So for the people complaining about EU influence pre-BREXIT wait until you see how post BREXIT Britain will look like, and while waiting look at the credentials of those who championed BREXIT and the actions/history of the funders that where involved in the referendum campaign. In actual fact I believe that being in the EU is kind of a buffer that protects – to a degree – from these kinds of influences because of the collective nature of the decision making process and the coordination that happens within the EU especially on foreign policy issues – it is much easier to influence governments; which is the reason why many of our foreign adversaries and some of our partners along with their “sympathisers” are keen to break up the EU. Even at the heart of political parties in the UK – like the Liberal Democrats where I once was a member – there were Pro-Israeli & Pro-Palestinian groups (or more like factions) – something that shocked me to the core and led me to suggest to influential party members that such groups had no space in national parties who should focus on national interest from a purely national perspective and more importantly based on national Values. Particularly in regions of conflict the priority has to be to resolve conflict not exacerbate them by being affected by them. Lobbies it seems have been normalised in our political landscape but there is nothing normal about them existing in a Democratic system. So we are in a dangerous spot in the UK – and across Europe – and I do hope we begin by taking some action to prevent a similar scenario/outcome to the one we see across the Atlantic albeit in different “tempo”. We can disagree about BREXIT but let’s agree that our political system needs a complete overhaul to rid it from all forms of corruption as well as influence from lobbies & special interests.
Immigration/Border Controls maybe the convenient excuse but it is just that – an “Excuse” for more sinister objectives. Fueling xenophobic tendencies is the starting point but definitely NOT the end game.
That’s my view anyway.