Where do I sign up for the "Zionist
Lobby"?
By Michael Freund
October 2, 2002
Fifteen
years ago, as a sophomore at Princeton, I found myself rooming
with a religious Lutheran from America's Midwest.
Although he was fairly intelligent and worldly, my roommate's
previous exposure to Jews had been quite limited, so when I asked
him one day just how many Jews he thought lived in the United
States, his answer caught me completely by surprise.
"I don't know," he said, proceeding to offer a rough guess of
"between 50 and 60 million." That is nearly ten times the actual
number.
Asked to explain how he arrived at this estimate, he said it
was simple - Jews played such a prominent role in American life
that there just had to be lots of them out there.
I thought of this story the other day while reading some recent
comments from Arab and Islamic leaders, who seem convinced that
Jews control the United States and its political institutions.
But whereas my former roommate was speaking out of naÔve ignorance,
these Arab statesmen are doing so out of malice and hate.
Pick an issue, any issue, and the Arab world will find a reason
to pin the blame on what they term the all-powerful "Zionist lobby".
The coming US war on Baghdad? It's the Jews' fault, of course.
Just ask Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, who said this
past Saturday that "Zionist circles" in Britain and the US were
pushing the two countries into war against Iraq to serve Israel
and its interests (AP, September 28).
How about the deterioration in US-Iranian relations? You guessed
it: it's the Jews again. In a September 12 interview with ABC
News, Hassan Rohani, head of Iran's Supreme National Security
Council, complained that, "after September 11, the hardliners,
especially the Zionist lobby, became more active and, unfortunately,
influenced Mr. Bush" to view Iran in a negative light.
Then there are the Saudis, whose image in the West has suffered
since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Rather than taking stock and asking themselves why 15 of the 19
hijackers were Saudis, they prefer instead to pin their troubles
on the Jews.
Last Friday, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naif said that Western
media reports highlighting Saudi support for terrorism are "orchestrated
by the Zionist lobby which works against the American people's
interests."
"The most powerful nation in the world," he asserted in all
seriousness, "is hostile to Arabs and Muslims as a result of the
influence the Zionist lobby wields in the United States" (Arab
News, September 27).
Even America's ostensible Arab and Moslem allies, such as Egypt
and Pakistan, share these ridiculous views. Recently, in the official
Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram Weekly (August 7), the paper's chairman
Ibrahim Nafie wrote that Western criticism of Egypt had been "unleashed
by the US Zionist lobby in coordination with Zionist groups in
Europe".
The influential Pakistani daily The Dawn also attributes great
clout to the Jews. Last Thursday, after the UN Security Council
passed a resolution sharply critical of Israel, the paper editorialized
that the Jewish state would have little trouble ignoring the decision
thanks to the "power and influence the Zionist lobby enjoys in
the US."
As someone who was involved politically in America before making
aliyah, I must say that I am deeply insulted. No one ever invited
me to join the "Zionist lobby" or take part in its meetings. Had
I known just how powerful it is, I would certainly have wanted
to become a member.
Indeed, the crazy thing about this whole "Zionist lobby" argument
is not so much that there are some people out there who believe
it, but that so many leading Arab officials and decision-makers
profess this point of view.
If, as they maintain, the "Zionist lobby" controls America,
then why do the US and Israel often disagree on major policy issues?
From Jewish settlements in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, to Israeli
control over eastern Jerusalem, to the blockade of Yasser Arafat's
compound in Ramallah this past week, the US frequently criticizes
Israeli actions and forces Israel to make concessions it would
otherwise not countenance.
In fact, the suggestion that there is an invincible "Zionist
lobby" at work in Washington says far more about those who believe
in it than it does about the reality on the ground.
It indicates just how little understanding there is of democracy
and freedom in much of the Arab and Islamic world today. They
confuse the effective exercise of basic democratic rights with
the sinister control of a nation's institutions. And that is because
people in their own countries remain largely deprived of those
very same fundamental rights.
Moreover, pinning the blame on the "Zionists" enables Arab leaders
to deflect attention from their own failings, both domestic and
foreign.
Thankfully, at least one Arab leader now seems to have realized
this. Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who can hardly be
accused of being a follower of Theodor Herzl, said on Saturday
that Arabs should stop blaming Israel for their woes. "It is easy
to hold others responsible and blame Israel and the Zionist lobby,"
he said, adding, "but if we really want to influence American
policy, we should be strong in our country, plan our ambitions
and decide what we want from others."
I couldn't have said it any better myself.
This article was originally published in the The
Jerusalem Post on October 2, 2002
