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Jewish lobby is a term referring to allegations that Jews exercise undue influence in a number of areas, including politics, government, the media, popular culture, and international finance. It is used most commonly by the far right, far left, and Islamists.

Professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt write that the thrust of US Middle East policy "derives almost entirely from domestic politics, and especially the activities of the ‘Israel Lobby’". According to Mearsheimoer and Walt, other special-interest groups "have managed to skew foreign policy, but no lobby has managed to divert it as far from what the national interest would suggest, while simultaneously convincing Americans that US interests and those of the other country – in this case, Israel – are essentially identical" .

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.

History

For centuries, a key element of anti-Semitic thought were conspiracy theories that the Jews, as a group, were plotting to control or otherwise influence the world. Vijay Prasad described The myth of the "Jewish lobby" in India's magazine Frontline:

"The idea of the "Jewish lobby" is attractive because it draws upon at least a few hundred years of anti-Semitic worry about an international conspiracy operated by Jewish financiers to defraud the European and American working poor of their livelihood. The "Jew", without a country, but with a bank, had no loyalty to the nation, no solidarity with fellow citizens. The anti-Semitic document, "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", is a good illustration of this idea. The Nazis stigmatised the "Jew" as the reason for poverty and exploitation, and obscured the role played by capitalism in the reproduction of grief. The six million Jews in the U.S. do not determine U.S. foreign policy; nor are they united. Jews in America, like other communities, are rent with division, not united behind one agenda.

Uses

Mark Strauss links the term's use to a sentiment present in the Anti-globalization movement. The Guardian's David Hirsh feels that it indicates a lack of "care, thought" and "self-education," commenting on Chris Davies, MEP for the northwest of England. Davies resigned after having used the slur in an e-mail considered inappropriate by the public and the Liberal Democrats.

Madeleine Albright noted to the Council on Foreign Relations that "it's very easy to get on this tack all of a sudden that it’s some kind of an overly powerful Jewish lobby."

Writing in The Guardian, David Aaronovitch argues that: "too many leftwingers and liberals are crossing the magic line right now. Let me spell it out for you. There is no all-powerful Jewish lobby. There is no secret convocation. Most journalists with Jewish names do not write the things they do because of loyalty to their race or religion. Nor can you simply change the word "Jewish" to "Zionist" and somehow be exempt from the charge of low-level racism. And it's no good wiffling on about your Jewish friends or trying to slip your prejudices past the guards by boldly proclaiming your refusal to be intimidated. There are no Elders and there are no Protocols."

Notes

1. ^ Aaronovitch, David. "Message to the left: there is no all-powerful Jewish lobby", The Guardian, May 27, 2003
2. ^ Berlet, Chip. "ZOG Ate My Brain," New Internationalist, 372, October 2004.
3. ^ 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.
4. Michael, George. The Enemy of my Enemy: The Alarming Convergence of Militant Islam and the Extreme Right, 2006, p. 46-47 and 228-238.
5. Strauss, Mark. "Antiglobalism's Jewish Problem", Foreign Policy / YaleGlobal Online, November 12, 2003.
6. Hirsh, David. "Revenge of the Jewish lobby?", The Guardian, May 5, 2006.
7. Albright, Madeleine. "The Mighty and the Almighty", Council on Foreign Relations, May 1, 2006, accessed August 27, 2006.

See also

• Anti-Semitism
• Anti-Zionism
• New anti-Semitism
• American Jewish Committee
• American Israel Public Affairs Committee

• Conspiracy theories
• Antisemitism