C’è una discussione in corso, dall’altra parte dell’Atlantico, che riguarda in tutto e per tutto il Medio Oriente. E’ una discussione aspra, che si concentra sull’indipendenza dei think tank americani, quando i think tank americani si occupano del conflitto israelo-palestinese.
Il dibattito si concentra su uno solo, di centro studi. E cioè il WINEP, accusato di essere legato, molto legato allo AIPAC. A parlarne è Stephen M. Walt, autore di uno dei blog più seguiti su Foreign Policy, cominciando dalla polemica sulla ‘doppia lealtà’ (a quale paese? Agli Stati Uniti o a Israele?) che ha coinvolto Dennis Ross.
Ma è soprattutto M. J. Rosenberg che sul TPM Cafè, spiega la nascita del Washington Institute for Near East Policy e il ruolo della più importante lobby ebraica in USA (prima, certo, della nascita della progressista J Street).
I already wrote once about Bob Satloff and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. It is, and always has been, an extension of AIPAC, created by AIPAC.[...]
In my piece yesterday, I pointed out that I was in the room when the plan for WINEP was first drawn up. I was working at AIPAC and it was Steve Rosen who cleverly came up with the idea for an AIPAC controlled think-tank that would put forth the AIPAC line but in a way that would disguise its connections.
There was no question that WINEP was to be AIPAC’s cutout. It was funded by AIPAC donors, staffed by AIPAC employees, and located one door away, down the hall, from AIPAC Headquarters (no more. It has its own digs). It would also hire all kinds of people not identified with Israel as a cover and would encourage them to write whatever they liked on matters not related to Israel. “Say what you want on Morocco, kid.” But on Israel, never deviate more than a degree or two.
E’ verosimile che questa polemica non si concluderà qui, ma avrà altre puntate…
