A most important vote is coming before Congress in September. Whether I am for or opposed to the Iran nuclear deal is still open to question for me. My concern is will the “tail wag the dog?”

During the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel decimated the Egyptian military. On June 8, 1967, Israel knowingly bombed, napalmed and torpedoed the U.S.S. Liberty, a spy ship monitoring the war assumingly in support of Israel. Two hundred United States sailors died. If anyone other than those in Israel’s “war room,” were responsible, it has yet to be revealed.

In our possession were the taped conversations of Israel’s “war room” between their pilots and torpedo boat captains. We know their actions were intentional. Why? Who knows for sure? But, how would the U.S. respond with the information in hand?

At that time President Lyndon B. Johnson was considering whether to run for a second term. Jewish voters traditionally voted Democratic. In the upcoming election, 270 electoral votes were up for grabs. One hundred sixty-nine of those votes would be determined by Jewish voters.

Several influential members in the Jewish community lobbied President Johnson to cover up the incident. Among them were: Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas, U.S. Representative to the United Nations Arthur Goldberg, influential Washington attorney and representative of the Israeli embassy David Ginsberg and Abe Feinberg, a million dollar donor to the Democratic Party.

The result of the political pressure was that the taped conversations from the Jewish “war room” were “buried,” and the incident was deemed an accident. There were no serious Congressional hearings concerning the incident. Successfully, the “tail” had wagged the “dog.”

The Republican Party appears focused on winning over the Jewish vote, a legitimate tactic in politics. Several Democrats are concerned over the possibility of losing donor support.

My concern is: What influence will Israel’s prime minister, Netanyahu, and his supporters have on Congress? There are reasons to support to reject the proposed treaty. Will fear of losing the next election prevent members of Congress from being objective and consulting with other members of the G-5 plus one? Or will the “tail” once again “wag” the dog? Stay tuned.

 

Kenneth Jensen

Albert Lea