[wvns] Mark Weber: A Straight Look at the Jewish Lobby
Critical Analysis
A Straight Look at the Jewish Lobby [in the US]
By Mark Weber
Dec 26, 2007
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_25703.shtml
For decades Israel has violated well established
precepts of international law and defied numerous
United Nations resolutions in its occupation of
conquered lands, in extra-judicial killings, and in
its repeated acts of military aggression.
Most of the world regards Israel's policies, and
especially its oppression of Palestinians, as illegal
and outrageous. This international consensus is
reflected, for example, in numerous UN resolutions
condemning Israel, which have been approved with
overwhelming majorities.
"The whole world," said United Nations Secretary
General Kofi Annan, "is demanding that Israel withdraw
[from occupied Palestinian territories]. I don't think
the whole world... can be wrong." [1]
Only in the United States do politicians and the media
still fervently support Israel and defend its
policies. For decades the US has provided Israel with
crucial military, diplomatic and financial backing,
including more than $3 billion each year in aid.
Why is the US such a staunch bastion of support for
Israel?
Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, who was awarded
the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, has candidly identified
the reason. Speaking to an audience in Boston, he
said:
"But you know as well as I do that, somehow, the
Israeli government is placed on a pedestal [in the
US], and to criticize it is to be immediately dubbed
anti-Semitic … People are scared in this country, to
say wrong is wrong because the Jewish lobby is
powerful – very powerful." [2]
Bishop Tutu spoke the truth. Although Jews make up
only two or three percent of the US population, they
wield immense power and influence – much more than any
other ethnic or religious group.
As Jewish author and political science professor
Benjamin Ginsberg has pointed out: [3]
"Since the 1960s, Jews have come to wield considerable
influence in American economic, cultural, intellectual
and political life. Jews played a central role in
American finance during the 1980s, and they were among
the chief beneficiaries of that decade's corporate
mergers and reorganizations. Today, though barely two
percent of the nation's population is Jewish, close to
half its billionaires are Jews. The chief executive
officers of the three major television networks and
the four largest film studios are Jews, as are the
owners of the nation's largest newspaper chain and the
most influential single newspaper, the New York
Times... The role and influence of Jews in American
politics is equally marked...
"Jews are only three percent of the nation's
population and comprise eleven percent of what this
study defines as the nation's elite. However, Jews
constitute more than 25 percent of the elite
journalists and publishers, more than 17 percent of
the leaders of important voluntary and public interest
organizations, and more than 15 percent of the top
ranking civil servants."
Stephen Steinlight, former Director of National
Affairs of the American Jewish Committee, similarly
notes the "disproportionate political power" of Jews,
which is "pound for pound the greatest of any
ethnic/cultural group in America." He goes on to
explain that "Jewish economic influence and power are
disproportionately concentrated in Hollywood,
television, and in the news industry." [4]
Two well-known Jewish writers, Seymour Lipset and Earl
Raab, pointed out in their 1995 book, Jews and the New
American Scene: [5]
"During the last three decades Jews [in the United
States] have made up 50 percent of the top two hundred
intellectuals ... 20 percent of professors at the
leading universities ... 40 percent of partners in the
leading law firms in New York and Washington ... 59
percent of the directors, writers, and producers of
the 50 top-grossing motion pictures from 1965 to 1982,
and 58 percent of directors, writers, and producers in
two or more primetime television series."
Vanity Fair magazine in October 2007 published a list
of what it calls "the world's most powerful people" –
a lineup of the one hundred most influential media
bosses, bankers, publishers, image makers, and so
forth, who determine how we view ourselves and the
world, and who – directly and indirectly – shape our
lives and our futures. Jews made up more than half of
the powerful men and women on the Vanity Fair list,
reported a leading Israeli newspaper, The Jerusalem
Post. [6]
The influence of American Jewry in Washington, The
Jerusalem Post has also noted, is "far
disproportionate to the size of the community, Jewish
leaders and US official acknowledge. But so is the
amount of money they contribute to [election]
campaigns." One member of the influential Conference
of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
"estimated Jews alone had contributed 50 percent of
the funds for [President Bill] Clinton's 1996
re-election campaign." [7]
A Grip on Hollywood
"It makes no sense at all to try to deny the reality
of Jewish power and prominence in popular culture,"
acknowledges Michael Medved, a well-known Jewish
author and film critic. "Any list of the most
influential production executives at each of the major
movie studios will produce a heavy majority of
recognizably Jewish names." [8]
One person who has carefully studied this subject is
Jonathan J. Goldberg, editor of the influential Jewish
community weekly Forward. In his 1996 book, Jewish
Power, he wrote: [9]
"In a few key sectors of the media, notably among
Hollywood studio executives, Jews are so numerically
dominant that calling these businesses
Jewish-controlled is little more than a statistical
observation …
"Hollywood at the end of the twentieth century is
still an industry with a pronounced ethnic tinge.
Virtually all the senior executives at the major
studios are Jews. Writers, producers, and to a lesser
degree directors are disproportionately Jewish – one
recent study showed the figure as high as 59 percent
among top-grossing films.
"The combined weight of so many Jews in one of
America's most lucrative and important industries
gives the Jews of Hollywood a great deal of political
power. They are a major source of money for Democratic
candidates."
Reflecting their role in the American media, Jews are
routinely portrayed as high-minded, altruistic,
trustworthy, compassionate, and deserving of sympathy
and support. While millions of Americans readily
accept such imagery, not everyone is impressed. "I am
very angry with some of the Jews," complained actor
Marlon Brando during a 1996 interview. "They know
perfectly well what their responsibilities are...
Hollywood is run by Jews. It's owned by Jews, and they
should have a greater sensitivity about the issue of
people who are suffering." [10]
A Well-Entrenched Factor
This intimidating power is not a new phenomenon, but
has long been an important factor in American life. In
1978, Jewish American scholar Alfred M. Lilienthal
wrote in his detailed study, The Zionist Connection:
[11]
"How has the Zionist will been imposed on the American
people?... It is the Jewish connection, the tribal
solidarity among themselves and the amazing pull on
non-Jews, that has molded this unprecedented power ...
The Jewish connection covers all areas and reaches
every level. Most Americans may not even sense this
gigantic effort, but there is scarcely a Jew who is
not touched by its tentacles…
"The extent and depth to which organized Jewry reached
– and reaches – in the U.S. is indeed awesome … The
most effective component of the Jewish connection is
probably that of media control … Jews, toughened by
centuries of persecution, have risen to places of
prime importance in the business and financial world …
Jewish wealth and acumen wields unprecedented power in
the area of finance and investment banking, playing an
important role in influencing U.S. policy toward the
Middle East … In the larger metropolitan areas, the
Jewish-Zionist connection thoroughly pervades affluent
financial, commercial, social, entertainment, and art
circles."
One-Sided `Holocaust' History
The Jewish hold on cultural and academic life has had
a profound impact on how Americans look at the past.
Nowhere is the well entrenched Judeocentric view of
history more obvious than in the "Holocaust" media
campaign, which focuses on the fate of Jews in Europe
during World War II.
Israeli Holocaust historian Yehuda Bauer, a professor
at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, has remarked: [12]
"Whether presented authentically or inauthentically,
in accordance with the historical facts or in
contradiction to them, with empathy and understanding
or as monumental kitsch, the Holocaust has become a
ruling symbol of our culture ... Hardly a month goes
by without a new TV production, a new film, a new
drama, new books, prose or poetry, dealing with the
subject, and the flood is increasing rather than
abating."
Non-Jewish suffering simply does not merit comparable
attention. Overshadowed in the focus on Jewish
victimization are, for example, the tens of millions
of victims of America's World War II ally, Stalinist
Russia, along with the tens of millions of victims of
China's Maoist regime, as well as the 12 to 14 million
Germans, victims of the flight and expulsion of
1944-1949, of whom some two million lost their lives.
The well-financed Holocaust media and "educational"
campaign is crucially important to the interests of
Israel. Paula Hyman, a professor of modern Jewish
history at Yale University, has observed: "With regard
to Israel, the Holocaust may be used to forestall
political criticism and suppress debate; it reinforces
the sense of Jews as an eternally beleaguered people
who can rely for their defense only upon themselves.
The invocation of the suffering endured by the Jews
under the Nazis often takes the place of rational
argument, and is expected to convince doubters of the
legitimacy of current Israeli government policy." [13]
Norman Finkelstein, a Jewish scholar who has taught
political science at City University of New York
(Hunter College) and DePaul University in Chicago,
says in his book, The Holocaust Industry, that
"invoking The Holocaust" is "a ploy to delegitimize
all criticism of Jews." [14] "By conferring total
blamelessness on Jews, the Holocaust dogma immunizes
Israel and American Jewry from legitimate censure ...
Organized Jewry has exploited the Nazi holocaust to
deflect criticism of Israel's and its own morally
indefensible policies." He writes of the brazen
"shakedown" of Germany, Switzerland and other
countries by Israel and organized Jewry "to extort
billions of dollars." "The Holocaust," Finkelstein
predicts, "may yet turn out to be the `greatest
robbery in the history of mankind'."
Jews in Israel feel free to act brutally against
Arabs, writes Israeli journalist Ari Shavit,
"believing with absolute certitude that now, with the
White House, the Senate and much of the American media
in our hands, the lives of others do not count as much
as our own." [15]
Foreign Policy Role
In Britain, a veteran member of the House of Commons
candidly declared in May 2003 that pro-Israel Jews had
taken control of America's foreign policy, and had
succeeded in pushing the US and Britain into war in
Iraq. Tam Dalyell, a Labour party deputy known as
"Father of the House" because he is the
longest-serving Member of Parliament, said: "A Jewish
cabal have taken over the government in the United
States and formed an unholy alliance with
fundamentalist Christians … There is far too much
Jewish influence in the United States." [16]
Admiral Thomas Moorer, former Chairman of the US Joint
Chiefs of Staff, has spoken with blunt exasperation
about the Jewish-Israeli hold on the United States:
[17]
"I've never seen a President – I don't care who he is
– stand up to them [the Israelis]. It just boggles the
mind. They always get what they want. The Israelis
know what is going on all the time. I got to the point
where I wasn't writing anything down. If the American
people understood what a grip those people have got on
our government, they would rise up in arms. Our
citizens certainly don't have any idea what goes on."
Today the danger has never been greater. Israel and
Jewish organizations are prodding the United States
into new wars against Israel's enemies.(Sudan, Burma,
China, Musharafs Pakistan)
As the French ambassador in London has put it, Israel
– which he called "that shitty little country" – is a
threat to world peace. "Why should the world be in
danger of World War III because of those people?," he
said. [18]
To sum up: Jews wield immense power and influence in
the United States. The "Jewish lobby" is a decisive
factor in US support for Israel. Jewish-Zionist
interests are not identical to American interests. In
fact, they often conflict.
As long as the "very powerful" Jewish lobby remains
entrenched, there will be no end to the systematic
Jewish distortion of current affairs and history, the
Jewish-Zionist domination of the US political system,
Zionist oppression of Palestinians, the bloody
conflict between Jews and non-Jews in the Middle East,
and the Israeli threat to peace.
Notes
1. On April 8, 2002, in Madrid. Quoted in Forward (New
York), April 19, 2002, p. 11.
2. D. Tutu, "Apartheid in the Holy Land," The
Guardian (Britain), April 29, 2002.
3. Benjamin Ginsberg, The Fatal Embrace: Jews and the
State (University of Chicago, 1993), pp. 1, 103.
4. S. Steinlight, "The Jewish Stake in America's
Changing Demography: Reconsidering a Misguided
Immigration Policy,"
Center for Immigration Studies, Nov. 2001.
5. Seymour Martin Lipset and Earl Raab, Jews and the
New American Scene (Harvard Univ. Press, 1995), pp.
26-27.
6. N. Burstein, "Jewish power dominates at 'Vanity
Fair'," The Jerusalem Post (Israel), Oct.12, 2007. ()
7. Janine Zacharia, "The Unofficial Ambassadors of the
Jewish State," The Jerusalem Post (Israel), April 2,
2000. Reprinted in "Other Voices," June 2000, p. OV-4,
a supplement to The Washington Report on Middle East
Affairs.
8. M. Medved, "Is Hollywood Too Jewish?," Moment, Vol.
21, No. 4 (1996), p. 37.
9. Jonathan Jeremy Goldberg, Jewish Power: Inside the
American Jewish Establishment (Addison-Wesley, 1996),
pp. 280, 287-288. See also pp. 39-40, 290-291.
10. Interview with Larry King, CNN network, April 5,
1996. "Brando Remarks," Los Angeles Times, April 8,
1996, p. F4 (OC). A short time later, Brando was
obliged to apologize for his remarks.
11. A. Lilienthal, The Zionist Connection (New York:
Dodd, Mead, 1978), pp. 206, 209, 212, 218, 228, 229.
12. From a 1992 lecture, published in: David Cesarani,
ed., The Final Solution: Origins and Implementation
(London and New York: Routledge, 1994), pp. 305, 306.
13. Paula E. Hyman, "New Debate on the Holocaust," The
New York Times Magazine, Sept. 14, 1980, p. 79.
14. Norman G. Finkelstein, The Holocaust Industry
(London, New York: Verso, 2000), pp. 130, 138, 139,
149.
15. The New York Times, May 27, 1996. Shavit is
identified as a columnist for Ha'aretz, a
Hebrew-language Israeli daily newspaper, "from which
this article is adapted."
16. F. Nelson, "Anger Over Dalyell's 'Jewish Cabal'
Slur," The Scotsman (Edinburgh), May 5, 2003; M.
White, "Dalyell Steps Up Attack On Levy," The Guardian
(London), May 6, 2003. See also: M. Weber, " Iraq: A
War for Israel"
17. Interview with Moorer, Aug. 24, 1983. Quoted in:
Paul Findley, They Dare to Speak Out: People and
Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby (Lawrence Hill,
1984 and 1985), p. 161.
18. D. Davis, "French Envoy to UK: Israel Threatens
World Peace," The Jerusalem Post, Dec. 20, 2001. The
ambassador is Daniel Bernard.
About the author
Mark Weber is director of the Institute for Historical
Review. He studied history at the University of
Illinois (Chicago), the University of Munich, Portland
State University and Indiana University (M.A., 1977).
For nine years he served as editor of the IHR's
Journal of Historical Review.
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