".. Noam Chomsky is an icon of what stands for the US anti-war movements and intellectual dissent. That he has chosen to absolve the pro-Israel lobby and its affiliated groups and media auxiliaries is an important political event, especially when questions of war and peace hang in the balance, and when the majority of Americans oppose the war. Giving a 'free ride' to the principal authors, architects, and lobbyists in favor of the war is a positive obstacle to achieving clarity about whom we are fighting and why. To ignore the pro-Israel Lobby is to allow it a free hand in pushing for the invasion of Iran and Syria. Worse, to distract from its responsibility by pointing to bogus enemies is to weaken our understanding not only of the war, but also the enemies of freedom in this county. Most of all it allows a foreign government a privileged position in dictating our Middle East policy, while proposing police state methods and legislation to inhibit debate and dissent. Let me conclude by saying that the peace and justice movements, at home and abroad, are bigger than any individual or intellectual - no matter what their past credentials.
"Yesterday the major Zionist organizations told us whom we may or may not criticize in the Middle East, today they tell us whom we may criticize in the the United States, tomorrow they will tell us to bend our heads and submit to their lies and deceptions in order to engage in new wars of conquest at the service of a morally repugnant colonial regime." (180-181)
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