Other than Donald Trump, who Congressman Tom Reed has endorsed, the greatest threat to our democracy may be the corrupting influence of practically unlimited money that wealthy individuals and corporations can donate to Super Pacs. One of the biggest poster boys for demonstrating the necessity of cleaning up our political system is multi-billionaire Sheldon Adelson.
Below are some quotes by prominent Israelis and by Sheldon Adelson, Israel's richest and one of its most powerful supporters. My critics will point out that they provide an unbalanced portrait of Israel and that I do not include quotes by Palestinians and their supporters which portray Palestinians in a bad light. To which I say, "Guilty as charged!" I make no pretense that this is a balanced presentation. But I present to you this unbalanced picture for two reasons.
Israel and the U.S. are at odds over two issues--how to deal with Iran's nuclear program and Israel's occupation of the West Bank. Below are key events that every American should know in order to understand how we got here. Of course, this list is incomplete--one could write a several hundred page book on these topics. And Israel's defenders will no doubt come up with a list just as long defending Israel's actions and highlighting the evil deeds of Iranians and Palestinians.
Haim Saban and Sheldon Adelson were two of the biggest stars of the show at the Israeli-American Council's first conference yesterday. Adelson, as you may recall, once advocated that the U.S. should start nuclear negotiations with Iran by dropping a nuke on an Iranian desert and threatening to nuke Tehran if Iran didn't roll over and give the U.S. and Israel everything they wanted.
