The previously secret emails of former U.S. secretary of state and current favorite to be the Democratic contender for the U.S. president Hillary Rodham Clinton are a bonanza for those seeking to discern her non-public face and those of her closest advisers with respect to Israel.
With more than 30,000 emails released, drip, drip, drip since December, 2014, there’s a lot to plow through.
But one omnipresent correspondent of Clinton’s, her former advisor Sidney Blumenthal, stands out as he harps away at two issues close to his heart: one, Israel, the object of deep hostility, and the other, his son Max, a source of immense pride. That one’s son is a source of pride to a father is neither surprising nor shameful. But most of what Blumenthal promotes about his son Max is the never-ending fusillade of hate screeds written by the son in frequently obscure outlets which are directed at the other Blumenthal obsession: Israel.
In the batch released over the weekend, several Blumenthal emails attacks on Israel stand out in particular. One offers advice to Clinton on how to make both the Jewish State and the largest American pro-Israel organization, AIPAC, bend to her will.
In an email dated March 21, 2010, Blumenthal tells Clinton how she should optimize the speech she was about to give to the American Israel Public Action Committee. It is all about bringing the dog to heel.
First, Blumenthal admonishes Clinton to “[h]old Bibi’s feet to the fire.” He suggests that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must be reminded that “Israel has no oil,” all it has it values, and by failing to pursue peace with the Palestinian Arabs, Blumenthal urges Hillary to tell the Jews, Israel is squandering that.
Blumenthal also has his needle stuck on the Wye Plantation Agreement, and he is convinced that only one person is responsible for the breakdown in the peace process: Bibi Netanyahu. Blumenthal cannot find a single fault on the Arab side worth identifying as even one cause among many for the lack of a resolution to the decades-long conflict.
He sees the U.S. as the creator of peace between Israel and Jordan, and Israel and Egypt, and he actually believes and writes Wye was a success. He urges Hillary to build on it so the U.S. can make peace really happen this time with “Palestine.” But, he insists, that means overcoming one obstacle: Bibi.
Blumenthal’s emails reveal a conviction of Zionists (he thinks they are all Likudniks) in control of American policy-making organs that would shame Lindbergh, while at the same time he instructs Hillary to fight back against this monster by threatening it with recognition for a more pliable competitor: J Street.
He urges Clinton:
remind [AIPAC] in as subtle but also a direct way as you can that it does not have a monopoly over American Jewish opinion. Bibi is stage managing USJewish organizations (and neocons, and the religious right, and whomever else he can muster) against the administration. AIPAC itself has become an organ of the Israeli right, specifically Likud. By acknowledging J Street you give them legitimacy, credibility [one wonders why they didn’t have these things before being given a bracha by the U.S. Secretary of State’s advisor] and create room within the American Jewish community for debate supportive of the administration’s pursuit of the peace process. Just by mentioning J Street in passing, AIPAC becomes a point on the spectrum, not the controller of the spectrum.
There’s a good deal more in this treasure trove that the Jewish American public should know about, and the JewishPress.com will continue publishing on this important topic. Our grandmothers warned us (or was it that famous TV commercial for an insurance company?) that people are known by the company they keep. Hillary kept company with Sidney for a very long time, and paid him for years to send her emails just like this one. His views tells us a lot about hers.