Israel Lobby Strikes Again - Junketing Congressmen Eye New Sanctions on Iran

[Mike Ellis]

After special summer recess "fact finding" trips to Israel, American Congressmen have developed a new appreciation for why the USA must throw its dollars and its children's lives into defending Israel from Iran.

The Israelis have apparently bought off on the aid agreement with the Gulf oil states, with the understanding that Israel will maintain a qualititative edge courtesy of the US Taxpayer. This will mean of course that Uncle Sam absolutely MUST give Israel the JSF and/or F-22, which will in turn mean that our latest and greatest stealth technology will be sold to China.

it's always good to have your government priorities in order I guess.

JTA.org -- Hoyer to push Iran law

Lawmakers return to U.S. and pledge tougher Iran sanctions
By Ron Kampeas Published: 08/23/2007

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Fresh off summer-recess visits to Israel, several key lawmakers are intensifying the push to pass legislation aimed at isolating Iran.

U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who led a trip to Israel last week involving 18 members of Congress, told JTA that Israeli leaders depicted the Iran issue as most urgent. The delegation met with Israel's prime minister, foreign minister, defense minister, opposition leader and president.

"All of us came back with a renewed sense of the importance of dealing with Iran, of the dangers that a nuclear armed Iran would pose to the region and the international community," Hoyer said. "There is a sense that Ahmadinejad is one of the few world leaders who expresses the possibility of the elimination of another sovereign nation -- Israel -- and hopes to eliminate from the Middle East the United States of America."

(snip)

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the House's minority deputy whip and its sole Jewish GOP member, said the Republican caucus was also committed to the Lantos legislation. Cantor led 17 other Republicans on his own Israel tour a week before Hoyer's delegation.

"There is overwhelming bipartisan support for that legislation," Cantor told JTA. "The sense in Congress is that we've got to do everything we can to isolate the clerics in Iran from global finance."

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee welcomed the accelerated push for tougher sanctions on Iran. "By strengthening the sanctions against Iran, Congress is sending a strong message that America and our allies will use all economic pressures available to encourage the regime to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons," AIPAC spokesman Josh Block said.

(snip)

It is critical, Hoyer said, to make certain that Iran know all options are on the table. Stressing that he was speaking for himself and not his Israeli interlocutors, he added: "Clearly no one believes that you can take the military option off the table given the serious threat that would exist to the region and the international economy of a nuclear armed Iran."

Cantor and Hoyer also met with Palestinian Authority leaders. Cantor said he was stung when he learned that the authority had released funds to 3,500 Hamas fighters a day after P.A. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad had assured him that his government was maintaining no contacts with the terrorist group now running the Gaza Strip. Cantor wrote Fayyad demanding an explanation.

(snip)

In his interview with JTA, Hoyer discussed Bush's push to increase annual U.S. military assistance to Israel from $2.4 billion to $3 billion and to sell Saudi Arabia and Persian Gulf states $20 billion in arms.

The Israeli component would sail through Congress, he predicted.

Israelis supported the Saudi package, with reservations engendered by fears that the pro-Western Saudi leadership could one day lose its hold on power.

"Let us presume for a moment that the Saud family would not use those weapons offensively, but there are Islamic radicals who want to overthrow the Saudis," Hoyer said. "You're not always sure they control the weapons."

Hoyer said he was told that top Israeli security officials had reviewed the sale's particulars, although these have not yet been released by the Bush administration. Israelis sought assurances that the weapons would be defensive. One view expressed by Israeli President Shimon Peres was that since the Saudis would ultimately get the weapons, it was better that they come from the United States than from elsewhere.

"Their major concern was maintaining a qualitative edge," Hoyer said. "There was a conclusion the edge would be maintained."

The Israeli with the greatest reservations, he said, was opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Netanyahu expressed the worry about guided missiles that could be more precise," he said.