Whenever warmonger Benjamin Netanyahu, (a/k/a “Bend-the-Truth Yahoo”), lands in Washington, D.C., he heads straight for Capitol Hill. Since 9/11, the former Israel’s Prime Minister has been repeatedly called as a “friendly” witness before House legislative committees, and senatorial forums, which all tend to display a pro-Israeli tilt.
The House’s Government Reform Committee is his favorite. Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA), who also co-chairs the House’s Human Rights Caucus, is one of the ranking Democrats on it.
On Sept. 12, 2002, Netanyahu gave that committee its marching orders, when he ranted, “I speak for the overwhelming majority of Israelis in supporting a preemptive strike against Saddam’s regime.” His theme, before the Congress, is always the same: “Israel and the U.S. must jointly stand” against terrorism. Keep in mind, that this was weeks before President George Bush (a/k/a “Little Bush) submitted, and the Congress approved, the notorious pro-Iraq War Resolution.
Netanyahu also suggested, at that same hearing, that U.S. made television programs, whose contents depict sexually explicit material and crass materialism, be broadcast via satellite, to Iran to undermine its conservative social, moral and religious foundations. “This is pretty subversive stuff,” he told the committee, according to a UPI report. He mentioned two shows that run on Fox TV, “Melrose Place” and “Beverly Hills 90210” for transmitting. No congressmen took exception to his gross vulgarity. It is all enough to make a Jeffersonian Republican, like myself,want to throw up knowing that a foreign national is manipulating the Congress to suit his Israel First agenda.
Additionally, I also wonder, “Shouldn’t Netanyahu be required to register as an agent of a foreign principal with the Justice Department before giving the Congress his biased spiel?” He claimed he was speaking “as a private citizen” on behalf of the “overwhelming majority of Israelis.” If that’s true, and if he isn’t otherwise exempted under the law, (see, Title 22 . 611, et seq., the “Foreign Agent Registration Act”), then why hasn’t the Likud Party partisan registered?
It’s a sad truth that the slippery Netanyahu, whose roots are in Tel Aviv, can gain instant access to the Congress. Meanwhile, the gallant demand by survivors of the USS Liberty (which was deliberately attacked by the Israelis, on June 8, 1967) for a congressional inquiry into that premeditated and murderous incident, are blocked by the Israeli Lobby. This damnable fact speaks volumes about the moral cowardice of the Congress and the awesome power of the Zionist cartel.
As for the preachy Lantos, he has been in the Congress for eleven terms, where he is a recognized expert on human rights, except for human rights violations by (Guess who?) Israel! Embarrassing topics, like the systematic torture of Palestinian detainees by Ariel Sharon’s goon squads, never come up on his legislative watch. It’s strictly a no-no. He was also one of the chief pushers of the pro-Iraq War Resolution in the House. When Bush signed the measure, on Oct. 16, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), another of Netanyahu’s favorite lawmakers, and the prime endorser in the Senate of the Resolution, could be seen smirking, in the photo op, over the president’s left shoulder.
If Lantos permitted Israeli’s human rights violations to be addressed, in any unfavorable light, before a committee he influences, I’m sure the B’nai B’rith organization would immediately yank that humanitarian award it gave him on April 26, 2002. It was at that get together, that Lantos blasted the U.N. Conference Against Racism, held in Durban, South Africa, as a “forum for lynching Israel.” Even though he was at the Durban conference in his official capacity as an American lawmaker, he walked out in support of Israel, falsely claiming the event had been “hijacked by a group of Arab and Muslim nations.” This is truly bizarre behavior for a member of the Congress. Lantos took an oath of office to uphold the Republic and its values, so why is he walking out of an important international meeting on human rights because of criticism of Zionist Israel? Was he in Durban as a representative of the Knesset?
Netanyahu, too, loathes the U.N. He labeled it “a house of lies.” When teamed together, Lantos and Netanyahu resemble a 3rd rated 1920s vaudeville act. Lantos is the straight man in the orchestrated Capitol Hill gigs, while Netanyahu usually gives the punch lines. Both are masters of the Arab-bashing sound bites that lackeys in the media, such as William Bennett, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly, parrot ad nauseam.
At the mentioned B’nai B’rith affair, held in San Francisco, Lantos prophesied that the “next five years will demand a cost in trauma and blood, it will not be easy.” Whose blood was old Tom talking about? Iraqis? Iranians? Palestinians? Americans? Huh?
Unlike vaudeville, however, the Lantos and Netanyahu Political Show is for real. As expected, the controlled media maintained its vow of silence about these slick Zionist propaganda side shows. I could laugh about it all, but as a taxpayer I remind myself, I’m helping to pay for this Israeli pro war virus, that is leading the Republic down the path to perdition.
WILLIAM HUGHES is the author of Baltimore Iconoclast. He can be reached at liamhughes@mindspring.com.
WILLIAM HUGHES 2002