From JFK to Donald Trump: How the USA Became Wedded to Zionist Israel
by Rick
Sterling Posted on March 28, 2025
There are many contrasts between the 35th president,
John F. Kennedy, and the 45th and 47th president, Donald J. Trump. One
extreme example is regarding U.S. policy toward Israel.
JFK and Israel/Palestine
Unknown to many people today,
JFK supported Palestinian rights and sought a sustainable peace in the region.
In 1960, when JFK was
campaigning to be president, he spoke at the convention of the Zionists of
America. In his speech, Kennedy was complimentary about Israel but frankly
said, “I cannot believe that Israel has any real desire to remain
indefinitely a garrison state surrounded by fear and hate.” That
warning, issued when Israel had only existed for 12 years, was ignored.
Kennedy did not just issue
warnings. To the chagrin of the Israelis, JFK established friendly relations
with Egypt’s President Nasser. The Kennedy administration provided loans and
aid to Egypt.
The JFK administration
supported UN
resolution 194 which called for the right of return for Palestinian
refugees driven out of their homeland. Although Israel committed to
abide by UN resolutions when it was admitted to the United Nations in 1949, the
Israelis reneged on this commitment and were hostile to the resolution. The day
before JFK was assassinated, the New York Times reported (p
19), “Israel Dissents as U.N. Group Backs U.S. on Arab Refugees” and “U.S.
Stand Angers Israel.” The second item begins, “Premier Levi Eshkol
expressed extreme distaste today for the United States’ position in the
Palestinian-refugee debate.”
John Kennedy’s brother Robert
was Attorney General and headed the Department of Justice. For two years, up
until the end of 1963, the DOJ made increasingly strict demands that the
American Zionist Council (AZC) register as agents of a foreign country. In
response, the AZC stalled, delayed, and created the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
The most intense disagreement
between Tel Aviv and Washington was regarding the nuclear site under
construction at Dimona. JFK was intent on stopping the expansion of countries
which possessed nuclear weapons. Although Israeli Prime Minister Ben-Gurion said
the nuclear site was for peaceful purposes, JFK insisted that the US needed to
inspect and confirm this. The inspection deadline was December 1963.
In each of these four areas of
contention, US policy changed dramatically after JFK was assassinated and
Lyndon Johnson became president. Dimona was never properly inspected, and LBJ
did not object to Israeli acquisition of nuclear weapons. The demand that the
American Zionist Council register as an agent of a foreign country was dropped.
Over time, the US withdrew their support of UN resolution 194, and LBJ was
hostile to Nasser and ended US loans and support. Details of this process are
described in this article
and this book.
Israel Policy since JFK and
Today
With few exceptions, US policy
has been subservient to Israel’s wants ever since JFK. An extreme low
point was the treachery of President Johnson in covering up the Israeli attack
on the USS Liberty during the
June 1967 “Six Day War”. News about the Israeli killing and injuring of over
200 US sailors was suppressed for decades.
Now we are in a new extreme
low point. In his first presidency, Trump flouted international law and
longstanding US policy by moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The
significant move was driven by
mega donor Sheldon Adelson who wanted it announced on Trump’s first day in
office. Another prime concern of Adelson was to torpedo the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran. Trump responded as expected and
withdrew the US from the agreement, effectively killing it.
Now President Trump’s
administration is trampling on the right to free speech and aggressively
suppressing critics of Israel. This repression on behalf of Israel was taking
place under Biden but has escalated dramatically. Authorities have imprisoned a
perfectly legal resident, Mahmoud Khalil. They have forced Columbia University
to punish students without just cause and to impose obvious restrictions and
prohibitions on speech and opinion. Why did they do this? It appears to follow
the wishes of megadonor Miriam Adelson. She is president and chief funder of
the Maccabee Task Force,
which has campaigned on these issues for months.
As reported at
Responsible Statecraft, “Adelson’s support for the administration’s
campaign to stifle criticism of Israel on college campuses isn’t a new focus
but her alignment with the levers of state powers to implement her vision are
unprecedented. In fact, tax documents reveal that she is directly overseeing a
social media campaign
targeting Khalil and Columbia University.”
In addition to suppressing
free speech and punishing critics of Israel, the Trump administration has
bombed and attacked Yemen. They are doing this despite the fact that Yemen did
NOT threaten U.S. ships in the region. The Houthi government only threatened
Israeli ships after Israel unilaterally broke the ceasefire and prevented food
and other necessary humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel, with U.S.
support, is blatantly defying the International Court of Justice
which ordered Israel
to “Maintain open the Rafah crossing for unhindered provision at scale of
urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance” and “Immediately
halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate,
which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that
could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” Israel is in
violation of this order and the US is complicit by providing most of the
weapons.
President Trump, who
campaigned and won election on the pledge to STOP needless wars, has started a
new war with Yemen which is of no benefit to the US but serves the interests of
Netanyahu’s Israel. Will he authorize attacks on Iran, in further subservience
to Bibi?
Corruption of the political
process
When Jewish donors to JFK’s
1960 campaign suggested they should determine his Mideast policy, JFK was
shocked and definitively said NO. As reported by Seymour Hersh in “The
Samson Option”, Kennedy talked with a friend who described what happened: “As
an American citizen he (JFK) was outraged to have a zionist group come to him
and say, ‘We know your campaign is in trouble. We’re willing to pay your bills
if you’ll let us have control of your Middle East policy.” At that time, JFK
vowed to change the US electoral system to prevent this corruption if he got
elected. As president, he tried,but
faced big hurdles and did not succeed.
Ever since JFK’s death,
pro-Israel forces have had undue influence on U.S. policy. If the
International Court of Justice decides that Israel is committing genocide, as
seems likely, the U.S. will be the primary collaborator in the war crimes. The
US is increasingly alone in
supporting the zionist state as it practices apartheid within
Israel, theft of land in the West Bank, and massacres in Gaza. Fourteen
countries now support South Africa’s charges of genocide against Israel.
Under Democratic President Joe
Biden, U.S. policy to Israel was unwaveringly obsequious. Despite 70% of
Democratic Party voters wanting the U.S. to get a ceasefire in Gaza, the
Biden/Blinken team refused to do this. The zionist ideology combined with
zionist financial influence superseded their party members’ wishes. Netanyahu
ignored Biden’s “red lines” with impunity.
Republican President
Trump has taken this to a new level. His zionist donors determine his Israel
policy. To protect Israel, Trump issued an executive
order which weaponizes antisemitism. Universities are being compelled
to implement a new definition of antisemitism which conflates criticism of
Israel with ethnic discrimination. Trump’s campaign to “Make America
Great Again” has evolved into “Miriam Adelson Gets All”.
It is a remarkable descent
from the days when JFK did what was best for the U.S. as well as being best for
Palestinians and non-zionist Jews.
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