The Israel Lobby: Creating an Engine of Geopolitics

Abstract

The Israel Lobby is a euphemism for a powerful engine of geopolitics: it is a global conglomerate of national and international Jewish organizations that have drawn upon the intellectual, financial and organizational resources of the Jewish diaspora as well as that of their host societies. Starting in the late 19th century, the Israel Lobby pursued two tasks. It had to persuade the Western Jewry to support the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. Since Jews alone could not do this, the Lobby also had to recruit the support of major Western powers. Once Israel was created, the Lobby had to use the resources of Israeli Jews, the Jewish diaspora and the Western powers to quickly develop Israel into the unrivaled military power in the region. This essay will examine how the Jewish lobby acquired the resources and power to achieve these goals.

Keywords: Israel, Israel Lobby, United States, Arabs, Islam, Palestine, colonial-settler state, settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust, Jews, Antisemitism, Arab nationalism, Herzl, Ben-Gurion, Britain, France, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Six-Day War