The role of the pro-Israel lobby

 

The lobby has created a climate in which the very expression of Palestinian identity exists on the fringes of legality

Toward the end of October, the fervently pro-Israel B’nai Brith Canada issued a “Seven-Point Plan to Combat Antisemitism” claiming that anti-Jewish sentiment has “risen exponentially” since October 7, 2023. The proposed plan is, predictably, focused on stifling disagreement with the political ideology of Zionism.

On the heels of this initiative, the Trudeau government launched an “IHRA Handbook” that seeks to extend and strengthen the role of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism in a range of areas, including law enforcement. This infamous definition, as Independent Jewish Voices has put it, “equates criticism of Israel and of Zionism with antisemitism using this logic: antisemitism is hatred of Jews; Jewish identity and Zionism are inseparable; anti-Zionism is therefore a form of antisemitism.”

The degree of cooperation involved in the release of these two documents is unclear but there is no doubt that pro-Israel organizations like B’nai Brith work to ensure that not only explicitly anti-Zionist views but also any robust criticism of Israel will be treated as a form of hate speech and suppressed as such. It is equally clear that their efforts have a receptive audience among political decision makers. This raises the question of what accounts for the influence that the pro-Israel lobby exercises on governments, especially in Western countries.

In talking about a pro-Israel lobby, I am referring to those organizations that claim to speak for the Jewish community, while concentrating on zealous advocacy for the Zionist project. In order to assess its influence, we need to consider how Western, and particularly US, strategic interests have generated support for Israel in the first place.  (more...)

The role of the pro-Israel lobby