The neoconservatives’ battle to sink the potential nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel has again raised the issue of the power of the Israel lobby. And it should. Hagel, as a respected former senator would be sailing to an easy confirmation, if not for the power of the Israel lobby which considers him insufficiently loyal to the policies of the Israeli government.
The assault on Hagel is truly ugly and opposing a highly respected ex-senator and decorated war hero out of fear he won’t defer to Netanyahu is also stupid. Unlike John McCain whose war record is ambiguous, Hagel’s record was indisputably heroic. He and his brother Tom served side by side in Vietnam as infantry squad leaders and earned military decorations and honors, including two Purple Hearts. To put it bluntly, how does it look to be opposing this American war hero for being insufficiently devoted to a foreign country?
The most maddening thing is that the lobby does not speak for most Jews, not even close. The best proof of that was this year’s election results in which 70% of Jews voted for President Obama although Netanyahu and his cutouts here made clear that they preferred Romney. And, as the definitive American Jewish Committee survey demonstrated, not even the Jewish Republican vote had much, if anything, to do with Israel. Only 5% of Jews consider Israel their most important issue. Republican Jews are Republican for the same reasons other Republicans are (the economy, and other domestic issues). Overwhelmingly, Jews choose domestic issues as most important to them. Additionally the Jews who do care about Israel (a strong majority at least) support neither Netanyahu nor the occupation. The last Israeli prime minister they admired was Yitzhak Rabin.
So who and what is the lobby?
The first thing to know about it is that it is about delivering money not votes. It is irrelevant that most Jews are liberals and not Netanyahu devotees. The people with the money (i.e., the lobby) are right-wing on Israel. And it is those people (think Democrat Haim Saban and Republican Sheldon Adelson and the like) who have the clout. Not the dentist or lawyer down the street or the local Hadassah chapter.
I worked on Capitol Hill for 20 years, for five Members of Congress, and had hundreds of dealings with the lobby. Despite claims that the lobby includes Christians, that is simply not true — at least not in terms of influencing U.S. policies.
First, so-called “Christian Zionists” do not give heavily to campaigns so their support for Likud policies is both amorphous and insignificant. Second, “Christian Zionists” are Republicans who will never support the party of GLBT rights, choice, regulations and higher taxes. Unlike the AIPAC-directed donors, they are not in play. They are just Republicans. (Even when “Christian Zionists” do contribute to campaigns, their issues are the social issues like blocking marriage equality, not supporting Israel).
Bottom line: the Israel Lobby is the Jewish Lobby. One would be hard-pressed to find a single legislator who kisses up to Netanyahu and AIPAC to please Christians. Not a single constituent organization that composes the lobby is anything but Jewish, starting with AIPAC. The others all have the word “Jewish” in their names. Who are they kidding?
That makes it critical that the overwhelming majority of Jews get the message across that the lobby does not speak for us. And that the lobby isn’t us. AIPAC, the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Council on Public Affairs and the multi-millionaires associated with all of them constitute a lobby of a few thousand people. They are the Jewish (less than) One Percent. And that is all they speak for.
But, like the other, more famous one-percent, their voices drown the rest of us out. That is because our political system is not about votes, it is about money. Until we have public financing of campaigns (which is probably never), politicians will do what the lobby tells them to do. But, remember, it’s not the Jews, it is a few unrepresentative millionaires and billionaires who enjoy making the United States government quake both for Netanyahu’s sake and to feel all-powerful. Don’t blame the Jews.
And, Mr. President, do us all a favor and choose Chuck Hagel. The complaints of those whose first, and usually only, concern is ensuring that the U.S. never says no to Netanyahu should be ignored. As someone once said, or should have: the power of campaign contributions must stop at the water’s edge.
There is something a bit tautological about characterising the Israel Lobby as the Jewish lobby because those you consider to be advocates of Zionism are those who identify themselves as Jewish interests. But they are far from alone. I’m not talking about the Christian Zionists here, what about the military contractors lobby, for example? You must also know, that it is not only direct lobbying and campaign contributions that bring about this sort of influence. What about NewsCorp and the Murdochs – massive supporters of Israel – endorsers of Blair and Cameron; Bush and (H.) Clinton? And then there’s all of those think tanks. All of the most virulently Hawkish US exceptionalist think tanks support a robust “alliance” with Israel (of course, the US can’t be an actual formal ally of Israel because Israel refuses to say where its borders are).
Don’t forget that the Israel Lobby’s disciplinary power over the Houses of Congress marries them to a continued military domination of the Middle East. And this is not the only way in which the theoretically most powerful branch of government is kept in check. There’s the spread of the military-industrial-cogressional complex thoughout all districts. There is executive secrecy. There is the imperial presidency. There’s even the low public standing of the Congress as an institution. One might also mention that as a last resort there certainly have been a lot of plane crashes, and some of those who didn’t toe the line found Anthrax in their mail. (Too paranoid?)
Remember how far Congress had to go in order to end US involvement in Indochina? The Israel Lobby ensures that there can never be disengagement from the Middle East, nor, probably, Central Asia, nor North Africa (or more likely the whole of Africa now).
I like to say that the Jewish component of the Israel lobby is a (I quote myself) “very, very few very, very rich Jews”. Their money speaks loudly in USA politics much as the money of BIG BANKS, BIG OIL, BIG ARMS, etc. Their money supports some pols and frightens all pols (because of the threat of support to opponents).
Our American system has been broken a long time, and BIG-ZION is only part of it. (If an oil company or bank is run by right-wing Zios, then BIG-ZION may include some of BIG-BANKS and BIG-OIL).
Whilst many American Evangelicals (also part of BIG-ZION aka The Lobby, The Israel Lobby, The Jewish Lobby) hope their support for Israel will bring on Armageddon — and the destruction of those Jews who don’t convert to Christianity — there are many zealot Jews who hope the coming of (their version of) Messiah will cause the utter destruction of all Christians. THIS LAST is not widely know to the Evangelicals and in any case doesn’t seem to bother them, since their :”truth” is THE truth.
It looks like one of the best arguments yet against the US practice of allowing citizens to remain citizens of certain highly-privileged countries like Israel. Mr. Friedman, Mr. Brett Stephens, Mr. Kristol — there are several flights daily from JFK, Dulles and many more to Ben-Gurion International; don’t bother buying a return ticket.
MJ! Glad to see you here. I use to cross swords with you at the now defunct TPM Cafe. You even called me an anti semite at one point. But all’s forgiven. I’m glad you are still fighting the good fight. Been trying to find a comparable blog to TPM cafe but have had no luck so far. What happened to the old crowd from TPM?? Any suggestions? Maybe we could enter into a joint venture on that. Best regards
Kosmotropic/aka Andrew_strat…etc…the philosopher, you know…
Like I said over at Mondoweiss, where Jews place their votes is irrelevant as an indicator of how importantly “they” view Israel. Both parties are the same wrt Israel. Within that context, an election is about prioritization. So with nothing to differentiate wrt Israel in an election, Jews would seem to vote their conscience on other issues. That being with Dems.
Same with the Christian fundies and the Rs.
Within that context, Jewish voting habits mean next to nothing in the discussion of the “lobby’s” support within the US power/influence game. It is all about Jewish bloc money and, as this article points out, whether or not Jewish popular will supports or acquiesces to what that bloc money does politically.
I would argue that Jewish popular will completely acquiesces to what that bloc money does. Completely.
One only needs to look at the recent example of Bnei Jeshurun synagogue. The (or several) rabbis there came out in favor of Palestinian statehood in the recent UN vote. They were quickly overturned. By wealthy donors. Not a peep from the congregation. Where does the congregation/membership stand on this issue? If there was some divergence within this one congregation on Israel, wouldn’t there be more noise to that effect? Surely there would be. Surely. One would think that the members that support Palestinian statehood at the UN to a the extent that inspired the rabbis to make their statement might even be so bold as to form their own anti/non/post-Zionist synagogue.
It’s right and courageous to keep raising this issue, MJ. That’s the only way to make change, but to assume that most Jews are ready for, or support, or even minimally wouldn’t question a split on this issue inside your community is way premature.
People, all people, love power and will never willingly give it up. Israel (the US political issue) is a winner at this point in time. Who would knowingly separate themselves from that win, at this point?
“Bottom line: the Israel Lobby is the Jewish Lobby. One would be hard-pressed to find a single legislator who kisses up to Netanyahu and AIPAC to please Christians.”
The pro-Israel lobby is NOT just a Jewish lobby.
One of the most powerful “Christian Zionist” organizations is Chuck Hagee’s Christians United for Israel (CUFI), which holds a major conference in Washington D.C. every summer. Politicians including Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, who were both in the Presidential race this year, are regular guests.
See: http://www.cufi.org/