In the land of the free

We were under the impression that it was the Palestinians, who were living under Israeli intimidation in their occupied land, but we were surprised to read a news report from New York that US senators and congressmen are in an even worse situation in the so called “land of the free”, having no freedom to talk.
William Kristol, head of the right-wing Emergency Committee for Israel (ECI), confessed this to the audience during a debate in New York. Many American senators and congressmen keep quiet and refrain from criticizing Israeli policies because they “live in fear” and are intimidated by pro-Israeli groups such as the ECI and AIPAC, according to J Street founder and president, Jeremy Ben-Ami. He has pointed out that because of accusatory ECI ads in the New York Times and other media outlets, members of the US Congress are afraid of being branded as anti-Israel and are deterred by the ramifications of voicing open criticism of Israeli policies even if Israel is wrong.
 However, it is reported that ECI’s Kristol received howls of protest from the audience when he predicted that the next secretary of state in a Romney administration would be former Democratic vice presidential nominee Senator Joe Lieberman. Ben-Ami wasted no time in retorting to this suggestion.
He said “Israel already has a Lieberman as foreign minister”. Ben-Ami called on the US president to lay down the parameters of a peace deal based on 1967 borders and occupied Jerusalem as the capital of both Israel and Palestine.
Who can assure us that the US president is not under the same intimidation as the congressmen and senators, especially during an election year?
 S.H. Moulana, Riyadh