Writer

Pro-Israel forces have structural position inside US government

Rasa - Pro-Israel forces have a very powerful structural position inside the US government, according to American writer and academic James Petras.

News ID: 441812

Date: 01 December 2018 - 09:44

RNA - President Donald Trump has said US military forces will stay in the Middle East to ensure the security of its close ally, Israel, days after he suggested that the Zionist regime will have to “leave” the region without Riyadh’s support.

“We have reached a point where we don’t have to stay in the Middle East. One reason to stay is Israel,” Trump said in an exclusive interview with The Washington Post published on Wednesday.

According to Press TV, Trump said that oil production was no longer a reason to stay in the region as lower oil prices lead to reduced reliance on Saudi Arabia.

“Oil is becoming less and less of a reason because we’re producing more oil now than we’ve ever produced. So, you know, all of a sudden it gets to a point where you don’t have to stay there,” he explained.

“First, we have to recognize the fact that President Trump is very inconsistent and contradictory from day to day. He says things one day, he says the opposite the next day. His advisers may take a position on an issue that he disagrees with or doesn’t understand,” Petras said.

“So there are multiple sources that are feeding into President Trump’s opinion, and they change according to the events of the day. The striking thing about the US relation with Israel is not the US interest to say but the fact that the pro-Israel forces have a very powerful structural position inside the US government. And that is a decisive fact,” he said.

“Independently, what Trump says about the reasons for US involvement in the Middle East is largely determined by the representatives of Israel in the Congress, in the government, in the administration itself, and the appointments which they are able to extract from the government,” he stated.

“[It’s] very much evident in the use of his son-in-law who has been involved in negotiating the Palestinian issue according to Netanyahu,” he said.

“So I think Trump’s position on Israel which he emphasizes the military dimensions of US commitment are not simply out of his own will. It’s also direct influence that the Israeli government has within the administration,” the analyst said.

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