In 2016, Trump promised his voters to withdraw U.S. troops from the Middle East. Whenever Trump says he will pull U.S. troops out of Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, some at home take action. These groups, including the “Israeli Lobby,” are blocking Trump by putting his Republican and Democratic party supporters in the U.S. Congress on trial. Although campaigns for the 2020 election have started, Trump is still in the same spot. Even under Trump, the number of U.S. troops in the Middle East increased. Since May, the number of U.S. troops has swelled by 14,000. There are more than 60,000 U.S. soldiers in the region. The Pentagon recently announced that 1,800 more soldiers would be dispatched to Saudi Arabia.
Ben Rhodes, one of Obama's foreign policy advisers, describes the forces that prevented Trump from pulling out troops as "The Blob." Rhodes was inspired by a film called ”Blob” is a jelly-like alien creature that grows by swallowing everything. Rhodes uses "Blob" for two-party foreign policy elites. Politicians who rely on the support of the “Israeli Lobby”, which is part of The Blob that is activated automatically on every issue that touches Israel. Israel's $38 billion aid package passes through bipartisan agreement in Congress is the ingenuity of this environment. Senator Rand Paul, who objected to this package, became the target of the “Lobby”. Paul is one of the few Republicans to advocate Trump's withdrawal of troops from northern Syria before the Turkish Armed Forces’ “Operation Peace Spring.”
The Blob reacted violently to Trump's attempt to withdraw troops from northern Syria. Those who wanted to impose sanctions on our country to stop operation Peace Spring were mobilized. Because Israel does not want U.S. troops to withdraw from Syria, Israel has been trying for years to establish a "corridor of easing" on the Syrian borders. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen drafted the law for sanctions. Likewise, a number of Republican deputies from the House of Representatives also took action.
Senator Graham is one of the most prominent figures behind the Trump administration’s recognition of the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights occupied in 1967. His tough man pose with Netanyahu on the Golan Heights is still fresh in our memory. Hollen, who was elected to Congress in 2002 with the support of the “Lobby”, supported Israel's incursion into Lebanon in 2006 and its attacks on Gaza in 2009. Hollen was also the co-sponsor of the 38-billion-dollar aid package to Israel that was passed in the Senate.
It is no coincidence that the names supported by the “Israel Lobby” kick into gear to sanction our country. These include Republican Liz Cheney of the House of Representatives, Marco Rubio and Senator Mitt Romney, and Nikki Haley, former Trump Ambassador to the UN. Cheney is the daughter of Neocon Vice President Dick Cheney, who played a key role in the invasion of Iraq.
Neocon Republican Florida Senator Rubio was running for the U.S. Presidency in 2016. Right-wing billionaire members of the Israeli Lobby Sheldon Adelson, Paul Singer and Norman Braman supported Rubio in the nomination race. Rubio accused Trump, among other candidates, of not being pro-Israeli enough. Rubio, who was defeated by Trump in Florida's primary election, withdrew his candidacy. Nikki Haley worked as if sje were the Ambassador of Israel to the UN. So much so that Netanyahu and his party said, "Israel has two ambassadors to the UN, one of them is Haley." It's no secret that Haley wants to run for president in the future.
In the elections, the donor lists linked to the Israeli Lobby include almost all of the bipartisan leadership teams. It is no surprise that the names on these lists take action to sanction our country. We have been watching for months how politicians, who have been granted lobby support, are trying to stymie the rising chorus of Israeli criticism among young Democrats in Congress. The same names are now have taken the lead in inciting hostility against Turkey.
