Anti-Israel lobby in the United States

Last updated
Council for the National Interest at June 2007 rally referencing the Israel and apartheid analogy. 06-10-07-CNIatCongress.JPG
Council for the National Interest at June 2007 rally referencing the Israel and apartheid analogy.

The anti-Israel lobby is a term used by some[ by whom? ] to refer to organizations with the purpose of opposing relations between the United States and Israel.[ opinion ]

Contents

Caroline Glick, managing editor of The Jerusalem Post , writes in an opinion column that recent years have seen "the emergence of a very committed and powerful anti-Israel lobby in Washington." [ better source needed ] [1] However, critics of Israel's policies often object to the phrase “anti-Israel” being used in regards to such lobbying. [2] [3]

Organizations labeled members of the "anti-Israel lobby"

American Friends of the Middle East

Historian Paul Charles Merkley wrote in his 2001 book, Christian Attitudes Towards the State of Israel, that the American Friends of the Middle East, which was founded in 1951, "remains an active anti-Israeli lobby." [4]

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

Martin J. Raffel identified the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) as being part of "The Anti-Israel lobby", hostile to the Jewish-American community in the late 1980s. [5] The Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor identified it as "very active" in "anti-Israel political causes." [6] [7] [ better source needed ]

Council for the National Interest

Rafael Medoff, founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, labels the Council for the National Interest (CNI) as an organization that is part of the "anti-Israel lobby." CNI was founded following former Congressman Paul Findley's 1982 defeat by "pro Israel political action committee (PAC) money." [8] CNI's website states its objective as "seeking to encourage and promote a U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East that is consistent with American values, protects our national interests, and contributes to a just solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is CNI’s goal to restore a political environment in America in which voters and their elected officials are free from the undue influence and pressure of foreign countries and their partisans." [8] [9]

Other organizations

In 2008, The Jerusalem Post wrote that Wikipedia is "Part anarchy, part mob rule" and that "the 'mob' is the vast anti-Israel lobby that haters of our country have managed to pull together." The article focused on the negative reaction to the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting's Israeli lobby campaign in Wikipedia. [10] [ better source needed ]

Caroline Glick[ attribution needed ] wrote that the "anti-Israel Jewish lobby J Street," supported by several other Jewish groups, "supports the White House's hostile positions on Israel as ends unto themselves." She also identifies George Soros as the individual who "first raised the prospect of a Jewish anti-Israel lobby in October 2006." [11] [ better source needed ]

Individuals labeled members of the "anti-Israel lobby"

Criticism of the term

Bret Stephens, foreign-affairs columnist of The Wall Street Journal and former editor of The Jerusalem Post , in a 2006 speech to the Chicago Friends of Israel student organization at the University of Chicago, [14] [ unreliable fringe source? ] criticized John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy for lumping together "the hugely disparate elements" of groups that support Israel and suggest they constitute a "lobby." To make his point, he described a hypothetical "anti-Israel lobby" made up of disparate groups, including such political opposites as Pat Buchanan and Noam Chomsky. [15]

In 2008, University of Florida political scientist Ken Wald warned that the left leaning pro-Israel lobby group J Street "will get hammered and accused of being anti-Israel" by "more conservative pro-Israeli factions." [16] [17] The founder of J Street responded to such criticism of being "anti-Israel" saying that "the most pro-Israel thing any American politician or policy maker can do is help to bring about a two-state solution and a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and her neighbours." [16]

Barack Obama, during the 2008 election campaign, implicitly noted differences within the lobby in his comment that "there is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says, 'unless you adopt an unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel, that you're anti-Israel,' and that can't be the measure of our friendship with Israel."[ citation needed ] Commentary magazine commented: "It was an odd choice of words—Likud has not been Israel’s governing party for more than three years—but what Obama clearly meant was that an American politician should not have to express fealty to the most hard-line ideas relating to Israel's security to be considered a supporter of Israel's." [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AIPAC</span> Pro-Israel lobby group in the United States

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a pro-Israel lobbying group that advocates its policies to the legislative and executive branches of the United States. One of several pro-Israel lobbying organizations in the country, it has been called one of the most powerful lobbying groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">One-state solution</span> Proposed resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

The one-state solution is a proposed approach to resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, according to which one state would be established between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean. Proponents of this solution advocate a single state encompassing the currently recognized state of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The term one-state reality describes the belief that the current situation in Israel/Palestine is de facto a single state. The one-state solution is sometimes also called a bi-national state, owing to the hope that the state would be a homeland for both Jews and Palestinians.

The Council for the National Interest ("CNI") is a 501(c)(4) non-profit, non-partisan anti-war advocacy group focused on transparency and accountability about the relationship of Israel and the United States and the impact their alliance has for other nations and individuals in other Middle East countries. Based in the United States and most active during the 2000s decade, the Council has highlighted Israel's disposition towards its neighbors, and how Middle Eastern nations, Palestinian rights and other aspects of Middle East life & relations are impacted by the Israel's policies and its financial, trade, and military relationships with the US. They have focused on popular sentiment and perceptions in the US and the between the two countries. They highlight how these policies have impacted the fate of Palestine and, treatment of Muslims within the US since the 1990s.

Public diplomacy in Israel refers to Israel's efforts to communicate directly with citizens of other nations to inform and influence their perceptions, with the aim of garnering support or tolerance for the Israeli government's strategic objectives. Historically, these efforts have evolved from being called "propaganda" by early Zionists, with Theodor Herzl advocating such activities in 1899, to the more contemporary Hebrew term "hasbara" introduced by Nahum Sokolow, which translates roughly to "explaining". This communicative strategy seeks to justify actions and is considered reactive and event-driven.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis Ross</span> American diplomat

Dennis B. Ross is an American diplomat and author. He served as the Director of Policy Planning in the State Department under President George H. W. Bush, the special Middle East coordinator under President Bill Clinton, and was a special adviser for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Ross is currently a fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a pro-Israel think tank, and co-chairs the Jewish People Policy Institute's board of directors.

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is an American nonprofit pro-Israel organization. Founded in 1897, as the Federation of American Zionists, it was the first official Zionist organization in the United States. Early in the 20th century, it was the primary representative of American Jews to the World Zionist Organization, espousing primarily Political Zionism.

The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) is an American non-profit pro-Israel media-monitoring, research and membership organization. According to its website, CAMERA is "devoted to promoting accurate and balanced coverage of Israel and the Middle East." The group says it was founded in 1982 "to respond to The Washington Post's coverage of Israel's Lebanon incursion", and to respond to what it considers the media's "general anti-Israel bias".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Findley</span> American politician and writer (1921–2019)

Paul Augustus Findley was an American writer and politician. He served as United States Representative from Illinois, representing its 20th District. A Republican, he was first elected in 1960. A moderate Republican for most of his long political career, Findley was a supporter of civil rights and an early opponent of the U.S. war in Vietnam. He co-authored the War Powers Act in 1973, which is supposed to limit the ability of the president to go to war without Congressional authorization. Findley lost his seat in 1982 to current United States Senator Dick Durbin. He was a cofounder of the Council for the National Interest, a Washington, D.C. advocacy group, and was a vocal critic of American policy towards Israel.

<i>The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy</i> 2007 book by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy is a book by John Mearsheimer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Walt, Professor of International Relations at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, published in late August 2007. It was a New York Times Best Seller.

<i>Washington Report on Middle East Affairs</i> U.S. foreign policy magazine

The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs is an American foreign policy magazine that focuses on the Middle East and U.S. policy in the region.

StandWithUs (SWU) is a nonprofit right-wing pro-Israel advocacy organization founded in Los Angeles in 2001 by Roz Rothstein, Jerry Rothstein, and Esther Renzer.

The Arab lobby in the United States is a collection of formal and informal groups and professional lobbyists in the United States paid directly by Gulf Arab states and private donors on behalf of the Arab states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israel lobby in the United States</span> Pro-Israel American individuals and groups

The Israel lobby are individuals and groups seeking to influence the United States government to better serve Israel's interests. The largest pro-Israel lobbying group is Christians United for Israel with over seven million members. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is a leading organization within the lobby, speaking on behalf of a coalition of pro-Israel American Jewish groups.

The Jewish lobby are individuals and groups predominantly in the Jewish diaspora that advocate for the interests of Jews and Jewish values. The lobby references the involvement and influence of Jews in politics and the political process, and includes organized groups such as the American Jewish Committee, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, B'nai B'rith, and the Anti-Defamation League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caroline Glick</span> American-Israeli journalist and author

Caroline B. Glick is an Israeli-American conservative journalist and author. She writes for Israel Hayom, Breitbart News, The Jerusalem Post, Jewish News Syndicate and Maariv. She is an adjunct senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Security Policy, and directs the Israeli Security Project at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. In 2019, she was a candidate on the Israeli political party New Right's list for the Knesset.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ameinu</span> American progressive Jewish organization

Ameinu is a left-wing American Jewish Zionist organization. Established in 2004 as the successor to the Labor Zionist Alliance, it is the continuation of Labor Zionist activity in the United States that began with the founding of Poale Zion, which came together in the period 1906.

The Israel lobby in the United Kingdom are individuals and groups seeking to influence the foreign policy of the United Kingdom in favour of bilateral ties with Israel, Zionism, Israel, or the policies of the Israeli government. As any lobby, such individuals and groups may seek to influence politicians and political parties, the media, the general public or specific groups or sectors.

J Street is a nonprofit liberal advocacy group based in the United States whose stated aim is to promote American leadership to end the Arab–Israeli and Israeli–Palestinian conflicts peacefully and diplomatically. J Street was incorporated on November 29, 2007.

Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) is a Washington, DC-based think tank and policy center with a pro-Israel stance that works to promote their views in media coverage of the Arab–Israeli conflict in the Middle East

Mondoweiss is a news website that began as a general-interest blog written by Philip Weiss on The New York Observer website. It subsequently developed into a broader collaborative venture after fellow journalist Adam Horowitz joined it as co-editor. In 2010, Weiss described the website's purpose as one of covering American foreign policy in the Middle East from a 'progressive Jewish perspective'. In 2011, it defined its aims as fostering greater fairness for Palestinians in American foreign policy, and as providing American Jews with an alternative identity to that expressed by Zionist ideology, which he regards as antithetical to American liberalism. Originally supported by The Nation Institute, it became a project of part of the Center for Economic Research and Social Change in June 2011.

References

  1. ↑ Glick, Caroline (12 March 2009). "Column One: Intelligence and the anti-Israel lobby". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 24 September 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  2. ↑ Taylor, David; Demetriou, Danielle (11 February 2003). "Peace protesters 'hijacking war march'". Evening Standard . London. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  3. ↑ Prabhu, Saritha (24 April 2009). "U.S. support of Israel isn't without problems". The Tennessean . Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  4. ↑ Merkley, Paul Charles (2001). "Introduction: Israel's Reappearance in the Company of Nations". Christian Attitudes Towards the State of Israel. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. pp. 3–8. ISBN   0-7735-2188-7.
  5. ↑ Raffel, Martin J. (2002). "History of Israel Advocacy: The Anti-Israel Lobby". In Mittleman, Alan; Licht, Robert A.; Sarna, Jonathan D. (eds.). Jewish Polity and American Civil Society: Communal Agencies and Religious Movements in the American Public Sphere. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 140–143. ISBN   978-0-7425-2122-3.
  6. ↑ Whitson, Sarah Leah (8 September 2009). "Experts or Ideologues? A Systematic Analysis of Human Rights Watch's Focus on Israel". NGO Monitor . The Amuta for NGO Responsibility. Archived from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  7. ↑ ADC Times. 2002. Washington: Vol. 21:7, April 30, 2002.
  8. 1 2 3 Medoff, Rafael (2002). "Case Study: The Anti-Israel Lobby". Jewish Americans and Political Participation: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 244–245. ISBN   978-1-57607-314-8.
  9. ↑ "About Us". Council for the National Interest. 1 June 2009. Archived from the original on 27 February 2011. Retrieved 12 February 2011.
  10. ↑ Shamah, David (6 May 2008). "Digital World: Internet Independence Day". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  11. ↑ Glick, Caroline (30 July 2009). "Column One: The lonely Israeli Left". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 24 September 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2011.
  12. ↑ Rothkopf, David (6 January 2009). "About the anti-Israel lobby". Foreign Policy . Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2011.
  13. ↑ Robbins, Jeff (7 September 2007). "Anti-Semitism and the Anti-Israel Lobby". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2011.
  14. ↑ "About Us". Chicago Friends of Israel. University of Chicago. 2007. Archived from the original on 13 June 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  15. ↑ Stephens, Bret (3 May 2006). Meet the Israel Lobby (PDF) (Speech). Israel Week 2006 Keynote: Delivered to Chicago Friends of Israel. University of Chicago. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-08-08.
  16. 1 2 Besser, James D. (26 March 2008). "New PAC To Offer Pols A Dovish Mideast View". The Jewish Week . Archived from the original on 3 April 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2011.
  17. ↑ Deveson, Max (16 April 2008). "US Jewish lobby gains new voice". BBC News . Archived from the original on 16 April 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2011.
  18. ↑ Rosner, Shmuel (February 2009). "Jews and the 2008 Election". Commentary . Archived from the original on 7 October 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2011.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.