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The Jewish lobby is a term referring to allegations that Jews exercise undue influence in a number of areas, including politics, government, business, the media, academia, popular culture, public policy, international relations, and international finance. According to George Michael, it is used most commonly by the far right, far left, and Islamists.
The expression is associated with antisemitic aspersions. Chip Berlet of Political Research Associates, an American research group that tracks right-wing extremists, writes that it combines the classic elements of anti-Semitic stereotyping and scapegoating, and is part of the discourse of conspiracism. Susan Jacobs of Manchester Metropolitan University states that the phrase, when used "without mentioning other ‘lobbies’ or differentiating Jews who have different political positions on a number of questions, including Israel and Palestine", is a contemporary form of the fear of a Jewish conspiracy. Robert S. Wistrich, of the International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, sees reference to the phrase as reliance on a classic antisemitic stereotype. Dominique Vidal, writing in Le Monde diplomatique, says it is "a phrase that combines standard anti-semitic fantasies about Jewish finance, media control and power; the term is the contemporary equivalent of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Usage
According to Mitchell Bard, director of the non-profit American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE), "...reference is often made to the 'Jewish lobby' in an effort to describe Jewish influence, but this term is both vague and inadequate." Bard argues the term Israel lobby is more accurate, because it is comprises both formal and informal elements (which includes public opinion), and "...because a large proportion of the lobby is made up of non-Jews."
The Economist writes of the "American-Jewish lobby": "These are both the best of times and the worst of times for the American-Jewish lobby. This week saw yet another reminder of the awesome power of “the lobby”. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) brought more than 6,000 activists to Washington for its annual policy conference. And they proceeded to live up to their critics' darkest fears."
AIPAC's former head lobbyist, Michael Bloomfield, in his article "Myths and facts about the Jewish lobby", provides an insider's view of the lobby's structure, influence, and agenda. On the relationship between U.S. Jewish organizations and AIPAC, he writes "Mainstream Jewish organizations defer to AIPAC, even when they disagree, because they fear being labeled soft on Israel."
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."
Stephen Walt comments that he and co-author John Mearsheimer of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy "never use the term 'Jewish lobby' because the lobby is defined by its political agenda, not by religion or ethnicity." In a letter to the editor of The New York Times, Mearsheimer and Walt state "Indeed, we explicitly rejected this label as inaccurate and misleading, both because the lobby includes non-Jews like the Christian Zionists and because many Jewish Americans do not support the hard-line policies favored by its most powerful elements."
Michael Visontay, editor at the The Sydney Morning Herald, writes 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." Dominique Vidal, writing in Le Monde diplomatique, says that in France "only the far right used to refer to a 'Jewish lobby'", but that in 2004 it had been used by "a Jewish writer, Elisabeth Schemla".
Commenting on Chris Davies, MEP for the northwest of England's use of the term, The Guardian's David Hirsh feels that the term indicates a lack of "care, thought" and "self-education." Davies resigned after having used the term in an e-mail considered inappropriate by the public and the Liberal Democrats.
Reviewing Queen Noor of Jordan's memoir Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life, Kenneth Jacobson of the Anti-Defamation League writes that though she refers to the "Zionist lobby", "...Queen Noor is not so insensitive or crass as to actually use the phrase 'Jewish Lobby,'." Joseph Lelyveld, in a The New York Review of Books review of Jimmy Carter's Palestine Peace Not Apartheid points out that Carter "doesn't resort to the term 'Jewish lobby'".
In his 2006 speech at Rutgers University, the editor of The Forward J.J. Goldberg talked about his 1996 study of American-Jewish politics titled Jewish Power. He stated: "We don’t talk about the Jewish lobby. We pretend it doesn’t exist. We pretend we are powerless.” He called for an "open and frank discussion of the 'Jewish lobby' as a positive force in the United States," saying: "We do good. We should be proud of it."
See also
- Anti-Zionism
- New antisemitism
- American Jewish Committee
- American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)
- Israel lobby in the United States
- Zionist Occupation Government
References
- Aaronovitch, David. "Message to the left: there is no all-powerful Jewish lobby", The Guardian, May 27, 2003
- ^ Berlet, Chip. "ZOG Ate My Brain," New Internationalist, 372, October 2004.
- The myth of the "Jewish lobby" by Vijay Prasad in the Frontline (India's National Magazine) Volume 20 - Issue 20, September 27 - October 10, 2003.
- Michael, George. The Enemy of my Enemy: The Alarming Convergence of Militant Islam and the Extreme Right, 2006, pp. 46-47 & 228-238.
- Ramadan, Tariq. "Muslims and Anti-Semitism", UN Chronicle, June 10, 2005:
"Much like the situation across the Muslim world, there exists in the West today a discourse which is anti-Semitic, seeking legitimacy in certain Islamic texts and support in the present situation in Palestine. This is the attitude of not only the marginalized youth but also of intellectuals and Imams, who see the manipulative hand of the “Jewish lobby” at each turn or every political setback."
- ^ Jacobs, Dr. Susan. "AntiSemitism and other forms of racism Continuities, discontinuities, (and some conspiracies….)" Paper presented at the 2005 CRONEM (Centre for Research on Nationalism, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism) Conference, Roehampton University, Southlands College, 14th-15th June 2005:
"As is well-known, the Procotols was a forged document written in Russia in 1897, alleging that a worldwide Jewish conspiracy existed. This document attempted to explain a seeming contradiction: Jews were (are) prominent both in capitalist and in socialist/communist circles: the ‘explanation’ was that both were shams: capitalist and communist Jews were not really at odds, as it might seem. They were in fact united (secretly) in a bid for world domination. Although this conspiracy theory lay at the heart of Nazism it is also widespread outside neo-fascist groupings. Many of these are right-wing/neo-Nazi (e.g. Pamyat in Russia) but the Protocols have had some influence on movements with some claim to progressive credentials. The Protocols have also had some influence elsewhere, so that Eyptian and Syrian state-sponsored TV serials have produced soaps which dramatise the allegations of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (Mohamed, 2002; Kaba and Tubiana, 2002).
That some type of shadowy Jewish conspiracy exists is commonsense, taken-for-granted element in many quarters: e.g. rumours that the predominance of neo-conservatives in the USA is a ‘Jewish conspiracy’ (Greenspan, 2003; Berlet, 2004; Interview, 2004 ). Perhaps even more common is a vague suspicion that such a conspiracy might exist but that it is impolite to articulate this. A contemporary form of this fear is the phrase ‘the Jewish lobby’ without mentioning other ‘lobbies’ or differentiating Jews who have different political positions on a number of questions, including Israel and Palestine." - ^ Klug, Brian & Wistrich, Robert S. "Correspondence between Prof. Robert Wistrich and Brian Klug: When Is Opposition to Israel and Its Policies Anti-Semitic?", International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Retrieved January 11, 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."
- ^ Vidal, Dominique. "France: racism is indivisible", Le Monde diplomatique, May 2004.
- Bard, Mitchell. The Water's Edge and Beyond: Defining the Limits to Domestic Influence on United States Middle East Policy, Transaction publishers, 1991, p. 6. ISBN 088738286X
- Lexington (psued.) (March 15th, 2007). "Taming Levithian". London: The Economist.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Bloomfield, Michael (September 27, 2007). "Myths and facts about the Jewish lobby". Whippany, New Jersey: New Jersey Jewish News.
- Sutton, Nina (David Sharp trans.) Bettelheim: A Life and a Legacy, BasicBooks, p. 486. ISBN 0465006353
- John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt: Authors, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy", Washington Post, Book World Live, October 9, 2007. Accessed January 7, 2008.
- Mearsheime, John and Walt, Stephen. "The Israel lobby", letters to the editor, October 14, 2007.
- Visontay, Michael. "Free speech for some, others pay", The Sydney Morning Herald, November 14, 2003.
- Hirsh, David. "Revenge of the Jewish lobby?", The Guardian, May 5, 2006.
- Jacobson, Kenneth. "Queen Noor's Blind Spots", Anti-Defamation League, May 12, 2003.
- Lelyveld, Joseph. "Jimmy Carter and Apartheid", The New York Review of Books, Volume 54, Number 5 · March 29, 2007.
- Weiner, Robert (September 21, 2006). "'Jewish power' is a force for good, says Forward editor". Weehawken, NJ: New Jersey Jewish Journal.