‘The Occupation of the American Mind’

All those who are astounded and angered by the continuous, generous and limitless support that the United States government and people provide to Israel will find the following film illustrative and informative, as it dispels their puzzlement and answers their questions. However, their anger will not subside. It is likely raging from the painful and deliberate disregard for the rights of the Palestinian people, who suffer from prejudice and bias against them by all successive administrations, politicians and media.

The film we’re talking about is the new American documentary called “The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel’s Public Relations War in the United States.” The 82-minute long film specializes in media education. As the title indicates, it investigates the Zionist propaganda effect on public opinion and its success in controlling the media.

The film shows how American politicians, from the president down to members of Congress and Cabinet, turn into spokesmen for Israel. Parallel mechanisms employed by the Israeli media shape public opinion using the latest scientific studies in the media, advertising and publicity.

The importance of the film lies not only in exposing tactics of propaganda and the exposure of unethical attitudes of politicians and the media, but also in that it dispels a lot of lies propagated by Jewish propaganda geared toward Muslim Americans.

For example, the film dispels the lie that peaceful Israel is defending itself from Palestinian terrorism by depicting scenes at West Bank roadblocks where Palestinians are humiliated and exposed to violence.

The American media in fact has daily revitalized and fed these lies to their citizens and is determined to continue doing so. Dr. Rashid Khalidi, historian at Columbia University, gives his explanation, noting that the media (when covering knife attacks, for example) completely ignore the causes of the conflict and only talk about Palestinians who “kill because they hate, and they hate because they’re irrational Muslim fanatics, or whatever.” Thus, Israel wins the hearts, minds and wallets of Americans. This is a real problem in the eyes of Robert Jensen, a journalism professor at the University of Texas, because Israel is not able to continue to occupy the Palestinian territory without military, diplomatic and economic support from the U.S. government. And the U.S. government cannot continue this support without the acceptance of its citizens.

This does not mean that the formation of American public opinion is pro-Israel due to the power of the Jewish lobby alone. However, because that lobby was already operating in a favorable political environment, it was destined to achieve success.

The study of this mission was analyzed extensively by researcher Dr. Regina Sharif, who published an important book years ago titled “Non-Jewish Zionism.” She in part discusses the power of the Jewish lobby in Washington and the naïve interpretation of U.S. support for Israel. The Jewish lobby reached its current level of influence by working in a favorable environment to the maximum extent possible in the construct of Zionism.

Those who do not have time to examine the control of Jewish influence on the media needn’t spare but 82 minutes to know the truth supplied by this film. Robert McChesney, professor of communication at the University of Illinois, gave the following review. “One of the most brilliant and important documentaries I have ever seen. If a student wishes to understand how powerful interests manipulate the news and politics in a ‘free’ society, and have turned the Palestinians into a non-people who have no rights and deserve no justice, this powerful film is mandatory viewing. It will change the way you understand the world.”