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TheJewish lobby are individuals and groups predominantly in theJewish diaspora that advocate for the interests ofJews andJewish values. The lobby references the involvement and influence of Jews in politics and the political process, and includes organized groups such as theAmerican Jewish Committee, theAmerican Israel Public Affairs Committee,B'nai B'rith, and theAnti-Defamation League.
The termJewish lobby is often conflated with the termIsrael lobby, to which some commentators argue against. While there is some overlap in membership between the Jewish lobby and the Israel lobby, the two terms should not be interchangeable, as the Jewish lobby is defined by its ethnic makeup, while the Israel lobby is defined by its political agenda.
The term is common inantisemitic contexts, where it is used pejoratively to allege, falsely and without evidence, disproportionate Jewish influence in politics and government, a variation of the oldantisemitic canard of "international Jewish conspiracy".
On November 11, 1906, 81Jewish Americans of Central European background met in the Hotel Savoy in New York City to establish theAmerican Jewish Committee (AJC).[1] The immediate impetus for the group's formation was to speak on behalf of American Jewry to the U.S. government about pressuringTsarist Russia to stoppogroms against Jews in the Russian Empire. AJC also fought limitations to immigration to the United States and combating manifestations of antisemitism. The official statement announcing its formation called to "prevent infringement of the civil and religious rights of Jews and to alleviate the consequences of persecution."[2][3]
Tivnan writes that a "full-fledged 'Jewish lobby'" was developed in 1943, in which the moderates represented byStephen Samuel Wise and theAmerican Jewish Committee were defeated by supporters ofAbba Hillel Silver and "the maximalist goal of a 'Jewish Commonwealth'" at theAmerican Jewish andBiltmore Conferences. Silver became the new leader of American Zionism, with his call for "loud diplomacy", and he then "cranked up theZionist 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."[4]
In the 1992Dictionary of Politics, political scientistWalter John Raymond describes the term "Jewish Lobby" as approximately 34 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 theAmerican Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), theAmerican Jewish Committee, andB'nai B'rith among the component members of the Jewish lobby.[5]
JournalistJ.J. Goldberg, editor-in-chief ofThe Forward, described the organized Jewish lobby in the early 21st century as not only the approximately dozen organizations such as AIPAC, theAnti-Defamation League (ADL), the American Jewish Committee, andHadassah, but also high levels of participation of Jews in electoral politics.[6]
In his bookJewish 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 theNixon Administration's sharp shift of American policy towards significant military and foreign aid support for Israel following the 1973Yom Kippur War.[7]
University of Chicago professorJohn Mearsheimer andHarvard University professorStephen Walt wrote in 2006 that "even theIsraeli media refer to America's 'Jewish Lobby'",[8] and stated the following year that "AIPAC and theConference of Presidents and the Israeli media themselves refer to America's 'Jewish Lobby'."[9]
Dominique Vidal [fr], writing inLe 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."[10]
FormerNew 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."[11]
Commentators argue that "Jewish lobby" should not be used interchangeably with the term "pro-Israel lobby". AcademicDov Waxman notes that due to the large number of evangelicalChristian 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.[12] HistorianDouglas Little notes that although American Jews play key roles in the pro-Israel lobby, it is not a "Jewish lobby" due to the involvement of diverse populations and groups.[13]
Mitchell Bard, director of the non-profitJewish Virtual Library, writes that: "Reference is often made to the 'Jewish lobby' in an effort to describe Jewish influence, but this term is both vague and inadequate. While it is true that American Jews are sometimes represented by lobbyists, such direct efforts to influence policy-makers are but a small part of the lobby's ability to shape policy."[14] Bard argues the term Israel lobby is more accurate, because it comprises both formal and informal elements (which includes public opinion), and "...because a large proportion of the lobby is made up of non-Jews."[15] In his 1987 work,The Lobby: Jewish Political Power and American Foreign Policy,Edward Tivnan states that the term "needed some fine-tuning; what was most at issue... was the influence of the 'pro-Israel lobby.'"[16]
University of Chicago professorJohn Mearsheimer andHarvard University professorStephen Walt, authors of the controversial 2007 bookThe Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy rejected using the label "Jewish lobby" interchangeably for the Israel lobby as inaccurate and misleading, both because the Israel lobby included non-Jews likeChristian Zionists and because they said many Jewish Americans do not support the hard-line policies favored by the Israel lobby's "most powerful elements".[17] They stated they "never use the term 'Jewish lobby' because the lobby is defined by its political agenda, not by religion or ethnicity."[18] Walt added inForeign Policy that using the "Jewish lobby" to talk about pro-Israel groups "is both inaccurate and inevitably conjures up dangerous stereotypes".[19]
The term may be used pejoratively to allege disproportionate Jewish influence in politics and government and such usage is an element ofantisemitism. ScholarRobert S. Wistrich noted in 2004 thatcalls for the destruction of Israel increasingly relied on antisemitic stereotyping of classiccanards, including the "manipulative Jewish lobby".[20] Wistrich saw references to the phrase, when used to describe an "all-powerful 'Jewish Lobby' that prevents justice in the Middle East", as relying on a classic antisemitic stereotype.[21]
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."[22] Michael Lasky describes the term as an "unfortunate phrase", and "imagines" thatAlexander Walker's use of it[clarification needed] while writing about theNazi films ofLeni Riefenstahl was not intended pejoratively.[23]
TheB'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission of Australia states that "the stereotype of the 'Jewish lobby' is that the Jewish engagement in politics and policy debate is above and beyond the ordinary participation of a group in public policy-making. It paints Jewish involvement as surreptitious, and as subverting the democratic process. It alleges that a 'Jewish lobby', through bribery, bullying and manipulation, pressures politicians to act against their will and duties."[24] The commission also stated that "just as other communities and interest groups have lobbies, there is a 'Jewish lobby' – an unwieldy group of individuals and organisations devoted to supporting the needs and interests of the Jewish community.[25]
Michael Visontay, editor of Australia'sThe 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."[26] 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".[27]
Dominique Schnapper, Chantal Bordes-Benayoun and Freddy Raphaėl write that following the 1991Gulf War, the term "began to be heard in political life" in France.[28] Vidal writes that the term has been used there exclusively by the Frenchfar right as "a phrase that combines standard anti-semitic fantasies about Jewish finance, media control and power; the term is the contemporary equivalent ofthe Protocols of the Elders of Zion".[10]Loyola University Chicago professor Wiley Feinstein wrote in 2003 that "there is much talk of the 'Jewish lobby' in the Italian Press and in Europe", describing the term as "a phrase of scorn for Jews and Judaism".[29]
William Safire wrote that in the United Kingdom "Jewish lobby" was used as an "even more pejorative" term for "the 'Israel lobby'".[30] 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.[31]
Susan Jacobs ofManchester Metropolitan University writes that the phrase "Jewish lobby", 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 aJewish conspiracy.[32]
AcademicGilbert Achcar, writing in theJournal of Palestine Studies, notes that modernHolocaust 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 theArab world that an "omnipotent Jewish lobby," rather than the Israel lobby, dictates Western policies toward the Middle East.[33]
After South African activist, Christian cleric, andNobel Peace Prize winnerDesmond Tutu used it in a 1985 speech at theJewish 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".[34] Tutu used the phrase again in a 2002 editorial inThe 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!"[35] When he edited and reprinted parts of his speech in 2005, Tutu replaced the words "Jewish lobby" with "pro-Israeli lobby".[36] In 2007, an invitation to Tutu to speak at theUniversity of St. Thomas in Minnesota was rescinded because of the speech; writing inMother 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 preacherJohn Hagee'sChristians United for Israel. But one minor slip five years ago is hardly grounds for blacklisting him."[37]
Chris Davies,MEP for the northwest of England was forced to resign in 2006 as leader of theLiberal 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."[38] In comments toTotallyJewish.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."[39] Commenting on Davies' use of the term,David Hirsh ofThe 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 andRobert Fisk."[38]
A 2007 editorial inThe New York Sun accusedRichard Dawkins, a Britishevolutionary biologist and writer, of repeating antisemitic conspiracy theories after he used the term in an interview published inThe Guardian.[40] In the interview Dawkins said: "When you think about how fantastically successful the Jewish lobby has been, though, in fact, they are less numerous I am told – religious Jews anyway – than atheists and [yet they] more or less monopolise American foreign policy as far as many people can see. So if atheists could achieve a small fraction of that influence, the world would be a better place."[41] In aNational Review column discussing the influence of "high-profile atheists" on the American left,Arthur C. Brooks wrote that Dawkins' claim was "anti-Semitic, slanders religion, and asserts victimhood."[42]David Cesarani, commenting inThe Guardian, stated that "Mearsheimer and Walt would doubtless chide Dawkins for using the term 'Jewish lobby', which they studiously avoid in order to give no truck to anti-Jewish innuendo."[43]
In 2012Pertti Salolainen, former MP, minister and chairman of theNational Coalition Party toldYle that the Jewish lobby of the United States controls the money and media "to a large degree" and the United States sides with Israel due to the power of this lobby. TheSimon Wiesenthal Center demanded that Salolainen be fired from all positions and an apology from Finnish Foreign Ministry. Salolainen in return demanded apology from Simon Wiesenthal Center, and pointed out that he said the supposed control of media and banks is only to "a large degree".[44][45]
After her appointment in 2022 as theUnited 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.[46]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.[47]
{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)MP Pertti Salolainen (NCP) has been criticized by the Wiesenthal Center for saying that an impartial vote from the USA on Palestinian issues was unlikely because the US's Jewish lobby has so much power