Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Another great interview by George Kenny on Electric Politics : "Whither the Israel Lobby?"

George Kenny is clearly on a roll! Only a week ago he had a fantastic show about Bosnia (which I hope you all listened to) and now he follows up with yet another truly excellent interview with Jeffrey Blankfort on the topic of the Israel Lobby. Listening to these two interviews, I was reminded of the words of George Orwell "In a world of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act". By this criteria, George's "Electric Politics" clearly deserves the honor of being called a "revolutionary" podcast.

In this latest interview, George and Jeffrey Blankfort touch on a painful subject for many progressives, including myself: the fact that Noam Chomsky has a totally mind-boggling "blind stop" on two of the most important, I would even say *defining*, issues determining the nature and goals of the US Empire: the role of the Israel Lobby (or "Zionist Power Configuration" or ZPC as James Petras refers to it) and the truth about 9/11. In this interview, George and Jeffrey do not touch upon the issue of 9/11 (although George himself fully understands that 9/11 was an 'inside job"), but only on the first 'blind spot' of Chomsky. Both George and Jeffrey Blankfort clearly have a great deal of admiration for Noam Chomsky, as do I, but they value the truth and the voice of their own common sense and conscience even more and they refuse to simply bow to Chomsky's otherwise undeniable moral authority.

Interestingly, both George and Blankfort also clearly understand that the only a "One State" solution can truly bring piece to the Middle-East and that this means a total defeat of the Zionist ideology.

George Kenny is doing a fantastic job with his podcast and website. If you appreciate his work and if you can afford to, please drop by on his website and donate a little something (or a big something!) to support him and his work. And if you cannot, then send him a little note of gratitude and of support.

Fighting against empire is an often discouraging activity, and those who do have the courage to do so need all the kinds words and support we can give them!

The Saker

PS:
Jeff Blankfort is a radio program producer with KPOO in San Francisco, KZYX in Mendocino and KPFT/Pacifica in Houston. He is a journalist and Jewish-American and has been a pro-Palestinian human rights activist since 1970. He was formerly the editor of the Middle East Labor Bulletin and co-founder of the Labor Committee of the Middle East. He was also a founding member of the Nov. 29 Coalition on Palestine. He won a sizable lawsuit against the Jewish Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in February 2002 for its vast illegal spying against him, as well as other peaceful political groups and individuals (including anti-Apartheid groups/activists). Blankfort sends out an influential annotated/commented emails of articles appearing mostly in the US press about Israel, Palestine, Middle East, Neocons, and the Zionist lobby. Many of his articles can be found here.