Just as it seemed the influence of the pro-Israel lobby in Washington had waned, it reared its head again to pressure Charles Freeman, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia and President Barack Obama’s choice as head of the National Security Council, to withdraw his candidacy.

Freeman was critical of Israel in the past, a death sentence to any American politician with ambition.

Pro-Israel forces in Washington strongly agitated against him once news of his nomination to the influential post was leaked. Unfortunately, what this means is that the new Washington is likely to end up very much like the old Washington.

Israel has led the US by its tail as far as foreign policy is concerned for decades now. Mostly, this has been to the detriment of US interests. Yet the power and influence of the pro-Israel lobby in Washington is such that even if American national interests are sacrificed at the altar of Israeli interests, it hardly has an impact.

Voices of dissent are beginning to be heard in America. It is hard not to imagine US policy-makers not eventually rebelling against those who would put another country’s interests before America’s. But those voices are few and far between, and are still too easily stifled by the all-smothering influence of pro-Israel groups in America.

The new US administration, elected on a promise of change, is now mired in the mud of the past. Change will come only if the White House frees itself from the debilitating inherited shackles of the Israel-first lobby in Washington and starts viewing the world without that blue and white tinted magic looking glass.

The withdrawal of Freeman’s candidacy suggests there is still a long way to go before that happens. It is a shame, primarily because the pro-Israel lobby has caused so much damage in this region and for no other reason than to deflect the attention from the continued crime of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land.

One day this will change, if only because it has to. Even the strongest drugs eventually wear off.