Israel’s Foreign Policy

Sometimes it seems quite strange the way that the US conducts it’s affairs with other nations, especially with the Middle East and other Islamic states. Our policies have a strange mixture of friendship and belligerence, always overlayed with our near unconditional and total support for Israel. It sometimes seems as if the United States is the agent of Israel’s foreign policy instead of it’s own policies.

The odd behavior of the US in regards to Israel and its Arab and Persian neighbors makes a great deal more sense when one learns that a large number of very important people either in the US government or advising the US government hold dual Israeli-American citizenship!

The follow is a list of key US officials who hold Israeli citizenship in addition to American citizenship:

  • Attorney General – Michael Mukasey
  • Head of Homeland Security – Michael Chertoff
  • Chairman Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board – Richard Perle
  • Deputy Defense Secretary (Former) – Paul Wolfowitz
  • Under Secretary of Defense – Douglas Feith
  • National Security Council Advisor – Elliott Abrams
  • Vice President Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff (Former) – “Scooter” Libby
  • White House Deputy Chief of Staff – Joshua Bolten
  • Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs – Marc Grossman
  • Director of Policy Planning at the State Department – Richard Haass
  • U.S. Trade Representative (Cabinet-level Position) – Robert Zoellick
  • Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board – James Schlesinger
  • UN Representative (Former) – John Bolton
  • Under Secretary for Arms Control – David Wurmser
  • Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board – Eliot Cohen
  • Senior Advisor to the President – Steve Goldsmith
  • Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Christopher Gersten
  • Assistant Secretary of State – Lincoln Bloomfield
  • Deputy Assistant to the President – Jay Lefkowitz
  • White House Political Director – Ken Melman
  • National Security Study Group – Edward Luttwak
  • Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board – Kenneth Adelman
  • Defense Intelligence Agency Analyst (Former) – Lawrence Franklin
  • National Security Council Advisor – Robert Satloff
  • President Export-Import Bank U.S. – Mel Sembler
  • Deputy Assistant Secretary, Administration for Children and Families – Christopher Gersten
  • Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Public Affairs – Mark Weinberger
  • White House Speechwriter – David Frum
  • White House Spokesman (Former) – Ari Fleischer
  • Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board – Henry Kissinger
  • Deputy Secretary of Commerce – Samuel Bodman
  • Under Secretary of State for Management – Bonnie Cohen
  • Director of Foreign Service Institute – Ruth Davis

I have absolutely no issue whatsoever with the quite trivial fact that these people are Jewish. I don’t even have a problem with the idea that some people in America are both citizens of the US and citizens of another nation. That has been determined by the US Supreme Court to be legal and constitutional. I do, however, have grave concerns over anyone holding high office in one nation while holding citizenship in another nation.

Where do these people’s loyalties lay? To which nation do they hold allegiance, America or Israel? What is good for Israel is not necessarily – or even probably – good for America. When conflicts arise, which one of these people’s divided loyalties takes precedence?

My concern is that America has become the strong arm of Israel’s foreign policy instead of our own.

With a huge and grateful h/t to Sopan Greene and his Source!

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22 Responses to “Israel’s Foreign Policy”

  1. Sopan Greene Says:

    Thanks for the link and for spreading good information to help educate more people. Your murky pond is clearer than the murky matrix-like world we live in.

  2. jonolan Says:

    No problem! Thanks for posting your article and linking to the original source. It provided me with the material to support a hypothesis that I’d been working on for some time.

  3. Steph Says:

    I agree, the fact that these people are Jews is irrelevant, the problem is they are Israelis and they can’t serve two masters. American pro Israeli foreign policy is heavily tied up to financial bribery too, there are far more non Jews with links to Israel and Zionism than there are Jews. In fact, Jews make up a disproportionate number of white Europeans opposed to the Jewish State as is.

  4. Saturday Quickies « WORLD GONE MAD Says:

    […] has this excellent post up showing all the the members of this administration that hold both US and Isreali citizenship. It […]

  5. expatbrian Says:

    Nice post Jonolan, I linked it over on my blog.

  6. jonolan Says:

    Thanks, Brian. It was something I felt should be disseminated to as wide of an audience as possible.

    I’m very uncomfortable with the idea of people with seriously clouded allegiances controlling US foreign policy and domestic affairs.

  7. www.buzzflash.net Says:

    Israel’s Foreign Policy…

    It sometimes seems as if the U.S. is the agent of Israel’s foreign policy instead of it’s own policies.The odd behavior of the US in regards to Israel and its Arab and Persian neighbors makes a great deal more sense when one learns that a large num…

  8. expatbrian Says:

    If it is true as commented over at The Impolitic, that those with Jewish heritage are automatically given Isreali citizenship without having to go through the normal application processes, then this is really a non story. However, it does leave open the question of priorities of loyalty and these folks should at least recuse themselves from policy decisions having to do with Isreal.

  9. Adam Says:

    This list is largely inaccurate and has been bouncing around in written and internet form as an urban legend for years. For instance, Ruth Davis, the last person on the original list from the original post, is an African American woman, as well as having no background, specialty, or interest in the Middle East. The earliest internet source for this list I found was on a reactionary Islamic website, that had reposted the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and linked to, among other sites, the Aryan Nations main website. Here is the link to the page on Radioislam.net: http://www.radioislam.org/islam/english/toread/frnklin.htm

  10. jonolan Says:

    Adam,

    It is possible that the list is inaccurate, an “urban legend” as you put it. I tend to doubt that it’s wildly inaccurate though. Both my source and I did some research on this before we each posted the article and found references of dual US-Israeli citizenship for many people on the list. I admit though that I didn’t do exhaustive research into every name I posted, though I did remove names that had no other corroboration than the original source.

    If it’s an urban myth, then it’s a well entrenched one that has grown it’s own false corroboration and never been denied by the parties in question. Snopes is completely silent on the topic.

  11. Nabiha Meher Says:

    What I’d like to know is why an American can have a dual nationality with an Israeli passport and not with some other. Pakistani Americans have to give up their Pakistani citizenship. Many of my Paki-American friends live in Pakistan on a visa!

    Great post 🙂

  12. jonolan Says:

    The US has special rules for Jews and for Israel.

  13. in2thefray Says:

    Looks a lot like the British born an Englishman thing to me. The Chertoff case specifically seems to be that he doesn’t hold a pursued citizenship but that it was granted unto him due to his mother.
    I know a number of people that mirror my best friend. A naturalized citizen w/ a US passport whose birth country had no issue w/ issuing him a passport. When he travels he takes both and depending on locale it has it’s benefits.

  14. Aafke Says:

    I agree with your concerns here, I have often wondered too about this subject. Can I post a link to this post in my own humble blog?

  15. jonolan Says:

    Sure, Aafke – I’d be proud for you to link to this post. Be warned though, this is a sensitive topic and posts like this can generate a lot of rude commentary from rabid anti-Israel types, Zionists, Islamaphobes, and anti-American types. I’ve been lucky here so far…

  16. Aafke Says:

    Thank you.
    So I can expect a lot of flak?
    Great, I had allready planned a ”Trash” page, but all my visitors are such lovely people… 😀

  17. jonolan Says:

    I would expect so. Anytime anyone says anything about Israel it seems that a lot of vociferous idiots come out of the woodwork to comment / flame / rant.

  18. Why America supports Israel « Clouddragon Says:

    […] Blog-friend Jonolan has posted an interesting list of key US officials who hold Israeli citizenship in addition to American […]

  19. P.Cash Says:

    I don’t know if we can consider the U.S. to be the strong arm of Israel’s foreign policy, because Israel’s foreign policy is problematic to the U.S. in many ways. (Their spy activity in the U.S. and continued settlement building are an example) However, we do offer them protection because they are a valuable window to the middle east region.

    What’s ironic about Israel is that they are now falling victim to the same terrorism that they used to gain their freedom. Is this a case of the end justifying the means? Is so, then is the Arab usage of terror justified? This is a slippery slope. I hate the use of Terrorism, but it will always be aroung as long as a minority feels that they have no other way to respond to force from a larger entity. There’s a huge Catch-22 in Palestine, and I don’t know how we can get everyone there to at least respect one another, and vow to live in Peace. IMHO, Israel will need to give up or at least share their possesion of the Golan Heights, but with the current climate of mistrust, that’s impossible.

  20. jonolan Says:

    P.Cash,

    Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I had hoped that you’d get around to it at some point.

    I’m pretty sure that we can consider the U.S. to be the strong arm of Israel’s foreign policy because Israel’s foreign policy is problematic to the U.S. in many ways – yet we still put forward a U.S. policy that unconditionally supports Israel.

    Israel is a window into the Middle East, but I question it’s value, or at least its Return On Investment (ROI). Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait are more stable and do not present the socio-political problems that Israel does.

  21. P.Cash Says:

    You are correct that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait are more stable, but the simple fact is that they don’t need the U.S. like Israel does. Israel is dependent on the United States for their survival. Therefore they will be willing to go further for us than any other of these nations. Can you picture Saudi Arabia or Bahrain bombing a Iranian Nuclear facility?

  22. jonolan Says:

    Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Bahrain are all both Arab and Sunni, so I could see them allying with us against the Persian, Shiite Iran if it was needful, though I doubt it would be that needful except for the Iranian-Israeli tensions.

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