Events, historians tell us, can be spectacular without being significant. Will Obama’s election as the president of the United States of America spectacular as it has been also be significant? In particular, are we likely to see a significant change in US foreign policy, especially toward the Muslim world? The answer is ‘No’ – largely because of abiding Zionist control of US governance.

We will see changes – talk of war on terror, nation-building, democracy, will go out; tactical shifts toward more unconventional warfare will be seen; etc. – but these will be peripheral changes. The core aims and drivers of foreign policy will remain the same: America will continue its ongoing effort to exploit what some Americans see as a unique opportunity to gain global primacy, and control over world hydrocarbon reserves (and transport routes); and Israel, given its present control not only over Congress as always but also over the US executive, to achieve regional primacy, and to implement a ‘final solution of the Palestinian question’.

As the role of the US Zionist lobby in the funding and election of President Obama becomes better known, it is clear that despite the departure of prominent American neo-conservatives Israel’s Likud party – recently elected to power again – will enjoy as much if not greater American support from Obama’s appointments. Obama first tipped his hand with the appointment of Joe Biden as his running mate. Irish by descent, in 2007 Biden stated to Shalom TV, “I am a Zionist. You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist.” He also wanted his viewers to know that his son is married to a Jewish woman, and that he participates in Jewish religious ceremonies at their house.

Even more importantly, within hours of his victory, Obama appointed Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff, the person who controls all access of people, papers, and policy proposals to the US president. Emanuel’s father, Benjamin, who still speaks English with a heavy accent, was born in Jerusalem and was a member of Irgun, the Zionist terrorist organization condemned by the New York Times, Times of London, BBC, as well as Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, and other prominent world and Jewish figures. In politics, Irgun was a predecessor to the Herut (“Freedom”) party, which led to the Likud party. When Benjamin’s brother, Emanuel, was killed in the 1936 Arab uprising in Palestine, the family changed its last name from Auerbach to Emanuel in a telling act of ‘remembrance’. Rahm Emanuel is an Israeli citizen, who left an important position to serve in the Israeli army in the 1991 Gulf War.

On his son’s selection, Dr. Emanuel was quoted in the Hebrew-language Ma’ariv, as saying, “Obviously he will influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn’t he be? What is he, an Arab? He’s not going to clean the floors of the White House.” While Rahm Emanuel has apologized to an Arab-American group for his father’s racist remark, he has maintained that: “When it comes to Israel’s security and America’s partnership with Israel, President-elect Obama doesn’t need Rahm Emanuel. President-elect Obama’s commitment to Israel is steadfast and unwavering.” Abner Mikvner, a prominent Zionist spokesperson, former Congressman, Federal Judge, White House Counsel to President Bill Clinton and early backer of Obama, would concur: “Barack Obama,” he is quoted to have said, “is the first Jewish President”.

In the White House, Obama has appointed retired US Marines General James Jones, as National Security Adviser. Jones, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, among others, is the recipient of the 1999 Keeper of the Flame Award of the Center for Security Policy. The Centre was founded by a protégé of notorious neo-conservative, Richard Perle, author of a blueprint prepared for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu advocating war rather than peace (or “peace through strength”). Close to the Bush team, Jones reportedly was twice offered but declined the position of Deputy Secretary of State under Condoleezza Rice. General Jones, in turn, has asked Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute, Bush’s ‘War Czar’ for Iraq and Afghanistan, who like Jones advocates US military action inside Pakistan, to stay on at the National Security Council.

Only time will tell, but it would not be surprising if Jones will eclipse Hillary Clinton in the making of US foreign policy (much as Rice eclipsed Powell in the same positions). Not that Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, is any less hawkish having warned famously that “If I’m the president, we will attack Iran” and “totally obliterate them” (presumably with nuclear weapons) if they attack Israel!

The war itself will also be conducted by the old Bush team at the Department of Defence. Keeping Defence Secretary Robert M. Gates had already signalled an essential continuity with the Bush regime’s strategy. Following Obama and Gates in the command structure, Admiral Michael Mullen, holder of a distinguished service award from the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), continues as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (since August 2007); General David H. Petraeus (since October 2008), as theatre (CENTCOM) commander; and Admiral Eric T. Olson (since July 2007), as commander Special Operations Command (SOCOM), which works closely with the CIA in conducting covert operations in Pakistan.

Even so, the Zionist lobby made an example of Charles Freeman, who was nominated on the morning of 10 March 2009 by Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair, to head the National Intelligence Council (NIC), but had to withdraw by five o’clock in the afternoon. Freeman made it clear that he was withdrawing because of the character assassination of him orchestrated by the Israel Lobby: “The outrageous agitation…will be seen by many to raise serious questions about whether the Obama administration will be able to make its own decisions about the Middle East and related issues…[It casts] doubt on its ability to consider, let alone decide what policies might best serve the United States rather than those of a Lobby intent on enforcing the will and interests of a foreign government… The aim of this Lobby is control of the policy process through the exercise of a veto over the appointment of people who dispute the wisdom of its views…and the exclusion of any and all options for decision by Americans and our government other than those it [the Lobby] favors.”

Clearly, even with the neo-conservatives gone, the Zionist lobby still calls the shots in Washington, DC, and will see to it that change does not come to America. US President Truman had placed a sign on his desk “The Buck Stops Here”. If it is still there, President Obama should remove it.

An edited version of this post appeared as “New pro-Israel appointees” in the daily Dawn, Karachi, Saturday 21 March 2009.