Jewish lobby
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The Jewish lobby are individuals and groups predominantly in the
The term Jewish lobby is often conflated with the term
Description
Tivnan writes that a "full-fledged 'Jewish lobby'" was developed in 1943, in which the moderates represented by Stephen Samuel Wise and the American Jewish Committee were defeated by supporters of Abba Hillel Silver and "the maximalist goal of a 'Jewish Commonwealth'" at the American Jewish and Biltmore Conferences. Silver became the new leader of American Zionism, with his call for "loud diplomacy", and he then "cranked up the Zionist Organization of America's one-man lobbying operation in Washington—renaming it the American Zionist Emergency Council (AZEC)—and began to mobilize American Jewry into a mass movement."[1]
In the 1992 Dictionary of Politics, political scientist Walter John Raymond describes the term "Jewish Lobby" as:[2]
- "A conglomeration of approximately thirty-four Jewish political organizations in the United States which make joint and separate efforts to lobby for their interests in the United States, as well as for the interests of the State of Israel."
Raymond listed the
Dominique Vidal, writing in Le Monde diplomatique, states that in the United States the term is "self-described" and it "is only one of many influence groups that have official standing with institutions and authorities."[3]
Journalist J.J. Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Forward, described the Jewish lobby in 2004 as than organizations such as AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the American Jewish Committee, and Hadassah, adding the influence of high levels of Jewish voter turnout and political fundraising [4]
In his book Jewish Power, Goldberg writes that in the United States the "Jewish lobby" for decades played a leadership role in formulating American policy on issues such as civil rights, separation of church and state, and immigration, guided by a liberalism that was a complex mixture of Jewish tradition, the experience of persecution, and self-interest. It was thrust into prominence following the Nixon Administration's sharp shift of American policy towards significant military and foreign aid support for Israel following the 1973 Yom Kippur War.[5]
Former New York Times journalist Youssef Ibrahim writes: "That there is a Jewish lobby in America concerned with the well-being of Israel is a silly question. It is insane to ask whether the 6 million American Jews should be concerned about the 6 million Israeli Jews, particularly in view of the massacre of another 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. It's elementary, my dear Watson: Any people who do not care for their own are not worthy of concern. And what the Israel lobby does is what all ethnic lobbies — Greek, Armenian, Latvian, Irish, Cuban, and others — do in this democracy."[8]
Comparison with "Israel lobby"
Commentators argue that "Jewish lobby" should not be used interchangeably with the term "pro-Israel lobby". Academic Dov Waxman notes that due to the large number of evangelical Christian Zionists involved in pro-Israel activities, the term "pro-Israel lobby" should be used when referring to organizations that try to influence American policy toward Israel in a certain direction. In addition, Waxman notes that the pro-Israel lobby is defined by its political agenda, rather than its ethnic or religious makeup, as the pro-Israel lobby does not necessarily reflect the views of American Jews.[9] Historian Douglas Little notes that although American Jews play key roles in the pro-Israel lobby, it is not a "Jewish lobby" due to the involvement diverse populations and groups.[10]
Antisemitic associations
The term is may be used pejoratively to allege disproportionate Jewish influence in politics and government and such usage is an element of
Bruno Bettelheim detested the term, arguing "The self-importance of Jews combined with the paranoia of the anti-Semite had created the image of this lobby."[19] Michael Lasky describes the term as an "unfortunate phrase", and "imagines" that Alexander Walker's use of it[clarification needed] while writing about the Nazi films of Leni Riefenstahl was not intended pejoratively.[20]
The
Michael Visontay, editor of Australia's The Sydney Morning Herald, wrote in 2003 that "The way the phrase 'Jewish lobby' has been bandied about in numerous letters implies there is something inherently sinister in lobbying when Jews do it."[23] According to Geoffrey Brahm Levey and Philip Mendes, the term is used in Australia as a pejorative description of the way in which the Jewish community influences the Liberal Party "by talking to its leaders and making them aware of Jewish wishes and views".[24]
William Safire wrote that in the United Kingdom "Jewish lobby" was used as an "even more pejorative" term for "the 'Israel lobby'".[27] He added that supporters of Israel gauge the degree of perceived animus towards Israel by the term chosen to refer to the pro-Israel lobby: "pro-Israel lobby" being used by those with the mildest opposition, followed by "Israel lobby", with the term "Jewish lobby" being employed by those with the most virulent anti-Israel opinions.[28]
Susan Jacobs of
Contemporary use
Academic Gilbert Achcar, writing in the Journal of Palestine Studies, notes that modern Holocaust denial in the Western world rests on the trope that the Jewish genocide was a fraud promoted by an "international Jewish lobby". Achcar notes the prevalence in the Arab world that an "omnipotent Jewish lobby," rather than the Israel lobby, dictates Western policies toward the Middle East.[30]
After South African activist, Christian cleric, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu used it in a 1985 speech at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, a supporter wrote him privately urging him to avoid the phrase, stating it was "language... normally associated with the less than philo-Semitic elements of our acquaintance".[31] Tutu used the phrase again in a 2002 editorial in The Guardian, stating "People are scared in this country [the US], to say wrong is wrong because the Jewish lobby is powerful – very powerful. Well, so what? For goodness sake, this is God's world!"[32] When he edited and reprinted parts of his speech in 2005, Tutu replaced the words "Jewish lobby" with "pro-Israeli lobby".[33] In 2007, an invitation to Tutu to speak at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota was rescinded because of the speech; writing in Mother Jones, Justin Elliot stated "Tutu's use of the phrase 'Jewish lobby' is regrettable, mainly because the pro-Israel lobby he is referring to is not made up exclusively of Jews, example Texas preacher John Hagee's Christians United for Israel. But one minor slip five years ago is hardly grounds for blacklisting him."[34]
Chris Davies, MEP for the northwest of England was forced to resign in 2006 as leader of the Liberal Democrats group in the European Parliament after writing to a constituent "I shall denounce the influence of the Jewish lobby that seems to have far too great a say over the political decision-making process in many countries."[35] In comments to TotallyJewish.Com he "confessed he didn't know the difference between referring to the 'pro Israel lobby' and the 'Jewish lobby'," and added "I'm quite prepared to accept that I don't understand the semantics of some of these things."[36] Commenting on Davies' use of the term, David Hirsh of The Guardian wrote that Davies "had to resign because his laudable instinct to side with the underdog was not tempered by care, thought or self-education." He compared Davies' rhetoric with the "care to avoid openly antisemitic rhetoric taken by sophisticates like Mearsheimer and Walt and Robert Fisk."[35]
A 2007 editorial in
After her appointment in 2022 as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese expressed regret about 2014 comments saying that the United States was "subjugated by the Jewish lobby" with regard to America's policy toward the Israel-Palestine conflict.[41] Miloon Kothari, member of a UN Commission of Inquiry investigating abuses in Israel and Palestine, apologized in 2022 after blaming the "Jewish lobby" for criticism of the UN inquiry.[42]
See also
- Diaspora politics in the United States
- Ethnic interest groups in the United States
- Israel lobby in the United Kingdom
- Israel lobby in the United States
References
- ISBN 0-671-50153-4
- ^ a b Raymond, Walter John. The Dictionary of Politics: Selected American and Foreign Political and Legal Terms, Brunswick Publishing Corporation, 1992, p. 254.
- ^ a b Vidal, Dominique. "France: racism is indivisible", Le Monde diplomatique, May 2004.
- ^ J.J. Goldberg."Speech before the Los Angeles World Affairs Council". 22 March 2004. Archived from the original on 10 April 2008. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Goldberg, Jonathan Jeremy. Jewish Power: Inside the American Jewish Establishment. Basic Books, 1996, Chapter 2, especially 24.
- ^ Mearsheimer, 1=John; Walt, Stephen (23 March 2006). "The Israel Lobby". London Review of Books. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
{{cite magazine}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Mearsheimer, John and Walt, Stephen. The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, Farrah, Strauss and Giroux, 2007, p. 188.
- ^ Ibrahim, Youssef. "Israel Lobby's Pull Pales Next to Evil Saudi Input", The New York Sun, 25 September 2007.
- JSTOR 41805051. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
- JSTOR 20202975. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
- ^ Mitchell Bard, The Israeli and Arab Lobbies, Jewish Virtual Library. Accessed 22 February 2008.
- ISBN 978-0-88738-346-5
- ISBN 0-671-50153-4
- New York Times Sunday Review of Books, 14 October 2007.
- Washington Post, Book World Live, 9 October 2007. Accessed 10 March 2011.
- ^ Walt, Stephen (15 February 2019). "How (and How Not) to Talk About the Israel Lobby". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 15 February 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
- JSTOR 25834602. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
- ^ Klug, Brian & Wistrich, Robert S. "Correspondence between Prof. Robert Wistrich and Brian Klug: When Is Opposition to Israel and Its Policies Anti-Semitic?" Archived 2006-09-10 at the Wayback Machine, International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Retrieved 11 January 2008: "Does he or she rely on classic anti-Semitic stereotypes in so doing: for example, by dredging up the alleged Jewish/Zionist 'conspiracy' to dominate the world, or by evoking Jewish/Israeli 'warmongers' who supposedly run American foreign policy; or through referring to an all-powerful "Jewish Lobby" that prevents justice in the Middle East."
- ISBN 978-0-465-00635-9
- ISBN 978-0-7658-0302-3
- ^ The 'Jewish Lobby' Archived 2010-05-07 at the Wayback Machine, B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission (Australia). Accessed 10 March 2011.
- ^ The Media, Stereotypes and the Jewish Lobby, B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission, Inc. (Australia). Accessed 28 March 2011.
- ^ Visontay, Michael. "Free speech for some, others pay", The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 November 2003.
- ISBN 978-1-903900-72-7
- ISBN 978-1-4128-1474-4
- ISBN 978-0-8386-3988-7
- ISBN 978-0-679-42068-2
- ISBN 978-0-19-534061-7. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- Roehampton University, Southlands College, 14–15 June 2005.
- . Retrieved 18 November 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-7432-6937-7
- ^ Tutu, Desmond. "Apartheid in the Holy Land", The Guardian, 29 April 2002.
- ISBN 978-1-56656-577-6
- ^ Elliott, Justin."Turning Tutu Away", Mojo – October, 2007, Mother Jones, 5 October 2007.
- ^ a b Hirsh, David. "Revenge of the Jewish lobby?", The Guardian, 5 May 2006.
- ^ Sholem, Alex. "MEP Disciplined Over Slur" Archived 2007-06-12 at the Wayback Machine, TotallyJewish.Com, 4 May 2006.
- ^ Johnson, Daniel. "Suppressed Scholarship", The New York Sun, 4 October 2007.
- MacAskill, Ewen. "Atheists arise: Dawkins spreads the A-word among America's unbelievers", The Guardian, 1 October 2007. In an article called "The Out Campaign" Archived 30 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine on his personal websiteDawkins similarly writes: "Atheists are more numerous than religious Jews, yet they wield a tiny fraction of the political power, apparently because they have never got their act together in the way the Jewish lobby so brilliantly has: the famous 'herding cats' problem again."
- ^ Brooks, Arthur C. "Atheists Hold Sway Among American Left", CBS News (reprinted from National Review), 2 December 2007.
- ^ Cesarani, David. "Exerting influence", The Guardian, 8 October 2007.
- ^ Tress, Luke (14 December 2022). "UN Palestinian rights official's social media history reveals antisemitic comments". Times of Israel. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
- ^ "Member of UN Gaza probe says sorry for 'Jewish lobby' remark; Israel rejects apology". Times of Israel. Associated Press. 4 August 2022. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
Further reading
- Rafael Medoff, Jewish Americans and political participation: a reference handbook Chapter 4, The Jewish Lobby
- Alan J. Ward, Immigrant Minority "Diplomacy": American Jews and Russia, 1901 – 1912, 1964, British Association for American Studies
- Hasia R. Diner, The Jews of the United States, 1654 to 2000, (2004), University of California Press