http://www.mediamonitors.net/mazin32.html
From Media Monitors
Network
Mighty Morphin' Power
Brokers
By Mazin B. Qumsiyeh
Posted: August 11, 2003
California Governor Gray Davis received $100,000 boost from
Hollywood Mogul Haim Saban and appointed him as a regent in the
University of California System. Saban donated a record-breaking $7
million to the democratic national committee in 2002 just before
rules came into effect regulating soft money donations. Saban's
donations to Clinton's elections were significant. Clinton appointed
him to the US Export Council and Saban and his family came at least
once as guests of Clinton at Camp David. Saban donated generously to
the Gore/Lieberman campaign and recently gave $5 million to the
Clinton Library Foundation [1].
Here are more facts about Saban: he is founder and half-owner of 'Fox
Family Worldwide' and founder and owner of Saban Entertainment. The
latter is best known for adapting from the Japanese and then
marketing 'Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers'. This marketing morphed
Saban from an Israeli immigrant with no college degrees to a US
billionaire and a highly influential political player. With net
assets of $1.7 billion in 2002, he is listed by Forbes Magazine as
the 236th richest person on earth,. Saban's programming, the source
of his wealth, has often been criticized for promoting violence among
children (e.g. in Christian Science Monitor, 9/17/1996, 4/17/1998; NY
Times March 17, 1996).
Saban's interest is not limited to US politics. In 2000, he held a
fundraiser featuring Ehud Barak, then a Labor Prime Minister running
for election against the Likud leader Sharon [2].
Saban's donations to the Brookings Institute established the Saban
Center for Middle Eastern Studies [3].
Martin Indyk was appointed director. Readers will recall that Indyk
worked for the Israeli lobby in DC and then was appointed by Clinton
as US Ambassador to Israel. Indyk did not have US citizenship but
this was quickly corrected with a speeded up process of facilitation,
nomination, and approval (all in less than two weeks). It was the
first time a lobbyist for a foreign country had been appointed
ambassador to that country. Clinton went further by appointing Dennis
Ross as US Middle East envoy. Both before and after serving in the
Clinton White House, Ross worked for the Israel-linked 'Washington
Institute for Near East Policy' (WINEP). It is worthy to read what
the respected New York Jewish magazine editor J. J. Goldberg wrote
this in his book about WINEP:
'After stepping down as AIPAC {the umbrella Israeli lobby group}
president in 1982, Weinberg devoted himself to creating a new
Washington think tank. His goal, he told friends, was to alter the
intellectual atmosphere surrounding Middle East policy discussions in
the capital. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy opened its
doors in 1984 with Weinberg's wife Barbi, herself a formidable power
in Jewish community circles, as president. The executive director was
Martin Indyk, an Australian Jewish Middle East scholar who had worked
with Steven Rosen in the AIPAC research department' [4].
Similar, and in many ways even stronger, relationships between
corporate icons, politicians, and DC think-tanks is found on the
Republicans side as well. Likud party leaning Zionists in America
tended to be Republicans. Some, like house majority leader Tom Delay
and influential evangelicals like Pat Robertson, are known as
'Christian Zionists' who support Israel based on a doomsday scenario.
Others, like Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, and the father of Israeli
Prime Minister Netanyahu, are Republicans who have certain
ideological and personal affinity to Israel. These neo-conservatives
now dominate the Republican Party. The latest result of their schemes
is the war on Iraq [5].
Senator William Fullbright once wrote: "The fundamental problem for
us is that we have lost our freedom of action in the Middle East and
are committed to policies that promote neither our own national
interest nor the cause of peace. AIPAC (the American-Israeli Public
Affairs Committee) and its allied organizations have effective
working control of the electoral process" [6].
Many argue that corporate consolidation of the US media has
sacrificed investigative journalism, has shielded the public from the
facts, and has instead spread images of violence and fear. When you
add elections determined by finances, that leaves little room for
democracy and human rights. Third parties point out that to improve
voter turnout requires drastic election reform: public financing and
instant runoff. Others also point out the need to address the Israeli
power over our capital. In any case, what is clearly needed is a more
informed public that can guide a more rational US foreign policy not
beholden to special interests. It is time to put American public
interests first.
Documentation/references:
[1]
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/special_reports/mojo_400/5_saban.html
and
http://news.awn.com/index.php3?ltype=search&search=Haim+Saban&newsitem_no=8734
[2]
http://www.jewishjournal.com/old/ttdonors.3.3.0.htm
[3]
http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/islam/pr051302.htm
[4]
'Jewish Power: Inside the American Jewish Establishment,'. Chapter 8:
Jerusalem on the Potomac, the Rise and Rise of the Israeli Lobby.
Addison-Wesley 1996, 220 ff. For a more recent analysis of the
positions and influence of WINEP, see the article by Joel Benin,
professor of history at Stanford University, published in Le Mond
Diplomatique at http://mondediplo.com/2003/07/06beinin
[5] See
http://www.al-awda.org/thewaroniraq/
for further information and links on this issue.
[6] J.
William Fulbright, The Price of Empire,1989, Pantheon Books, p.
183.
Dr. Mazin B. Qumsiyeh is Chair of the Media Committee, The
Palestine Right to Return Coalition. He contributed above article to
Media Monitors Network (MMN) from Connecticut, USA.
