User:Ravpapa/Lobby

Council for the National Interest at June 2007 rally.

Recent years have seen the emergence of a group of organizations that act as a counterbalance to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the leading lobby for Israeli interests in Washington. This group, which includes political action groups of Arab Americans as well as non-ethnic based political groups, has garnered increasing clout in the corridors of Washington, though most analysts believe it still has a long way to go before it rivals the influence of AIPAC. Pro-israeli writers have called these organizations the anti-Israel lobby.

History

Opponents of US support of Israel started political lobbying in the 1970s. According to Martin Raffel, a pro-Israeli political activist, political activism first emerged in the wake of the 1967 Middle East war and began to gain importance in the 1980s. Before 1967, the government of "the United States was actively hostile to Israel."

Over the years the organizations have campaigned against US government loan guarantees to Israel and against the purchase of Israel bonds by states, and also protested US support (or lack of condemnation) of many Israeli policies, including settlements in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza, and actions of the Israeli military that they considered human rights violations.

According to Rafael Medoff, founding director of The David Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, formal political lobbying for the Arab and Palestinian positions in the Middle East began following the 1982 defeat of Congressman Paul Findley and the 1985 defeat of Senator Charles H. Percy. Findley took his defeat with “disappointment” and “wonderment”; it raised many questions for which he sought answers and he subsequently published a book, They Dare to Speak Out. The book describes his defeat as partly engineered by the pro-Israel lobby, describes the lobby of the period and concentrates on the people and institutions which oppose the Israel lobby’s preferred legislation and methods. According to the New York Times, Findley "was narrowly beaten in 1982 by a combination of an able opponent, the recession, redistricting and a heavy infusion of money from pro-Israel political action committees. (The money only enabled his challenger to match him, more or less, in campaign spending.)" After his defeat, Findley worked for the Council for the National Interest, another organization that has been critical of US support for Israel. Medoff cites Pat Buchanan as an active leader of the anti-Israel lobby.

Rashid Khalidi

Among the leaders of pro-Palestinian action groups in Washington are the members of the Arab lobby in the United States. These groups include the National Association of Arab-Americans ("NAAA"), founded in 1972, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), and the Arab American Institute. For these organizations, Middle East politics is only one of the issues they deal with. The ADC, for example, lists "encouraging a balanced U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East" as fourth among five of its political goals, and the subject gets very limited space on its website; other goals deal with US domestic issues of discrimination against Arab Americans. Nonetheless, Michael Lewis, director of Policy Analysis for the AIPAC, contends that only a "small portion of their efforts [are] devoted to combating genuine discrimination in the United States, working for democracy in the Arab countries, human rights abuses of Arabs (outside of Israel), or the persecution of Christians throughout the Middle East."

Other lobbying groups are, indeed, devoted exclusively to matters of Middle East politics. Findley's CNI, which advocates "a new direction for U.S. Middle East policy", the American Educational Trust, which publishes the "Washington Report on Middle East Affairs" and others.

Lewis writes that following the Oslo accords in 1993, when Israel entered negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization, many organizations supported the accords, and reduced their lobbying efforts to change US policy. But in the following years, as these negotiations bogged down, the lobbying efforts of these organizations increased.

The term "anti-Israel lobby" has been used by pro-Israeli activists since the 1980's. Jeff Robbins, former U.S. delegate to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, used the expression in an Op-Ed page of the Wall Street Journal in 2007. The term is cited in Safire's Political Dictionary as a term that has gained currency in American politics.

Activities

As an example of the activities of these groups, in 1988, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee placed ads in the Washington Metro with an image of Arab women cowering before Israeli soldiers and a caption that read "Israel putting your tax dollars at work... Only Congress can stop the madness." In 1988 James Zogby led several organizations in an effort to influence the platform of the Democratic Party. His strategy entailed recruiting grass-roots activists in several states to press state Democratic parties to include planks calling for a recognition of the Palestinian right of self-determination, in the hope that such a plank would then be adopted at the national level. Rev. Jesse Jackson and several church groups backed the plank, which passed in seven state conventions but failed at the national convention.

As another example, Yousef Munayyer, a policy analyst for the ADC, published an op-ed column in the Boston Globe, urging President Obama to apply pressure on Israel to curtail settlements in the West Bank. "Serious pressure coming from the president of the United States, in unison with the Congress, will allow Netanyahu to argue before his coalition that his hands are tied," Munayyer argued. "He can explain that settlement expansion must be abandoned for the good of Israel, its relationship with the United States, and the future stability of the region."

The Players

Here are the organizations and individuals involved in US lobbying for pro-Arab and pro-Palestinian issues in the Middle East:

Arab-American organizations

• The National Association of Arab-Americans, founded in 1972, was one of the first attempts at establishing a lobbying organization. In 2002 the NAAA merged with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

• The Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). was founded in Washington, DC by U.S. Senator James Abourezk in 1980. Membership is open to people of all backgrounds and not limited to Arab-Americans or American Muslims. US Middle East policy is only one of the issues the ADC deals with; it is very actively involved in campaigning against discrimination and stereotypesof Americans of Arab origin. Its activities include support for sympathetic candidates for elected and appointed office, publishing and advertising to support change in US policy, and grassroots organizing.

As perhaps the largest and highest profile of the organizations in the lobby, ADC has drawn considerable criticism from pro-Israeli activists. Edward Alexander, University professor and author of several books and articles on the American Jewish community, charges that ADC is "one of the most anti-Israel organizations in the United States." David Horowitz, a leading neoconservative commentator and supporter of Israel, decries the alliance between the ADC and the American left

• The American Muslim Council was an organization founded in 1990 by Abdul Rahman al-Amoudi. Founded to defend the rights of Muslims in America, the council, along with the affiliated "Muslims for a Better America PAC," was accused by critics of supporting radical Muslim groups in the Middle East, including Hamas. The Council's website strongly condemns terrorism as contrary to Islam. However, Al-Amoudi himself was sentenced to 23 years in prison for helping to finance Middle East terrorism.

• The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) began in 1995 as The American Committee on Jerusalem (ACJ), founded in 1995 by Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi. The ACJ became the ATFP in 2003, under the leadership of Ziad Asali. The ATFP lobbies for "end to the conflict in the Middle East through a negotiated agreement that provides for two states - Israel and Palestine - living side by side in peace and security." The ATFP cooperates closely with other Arab-American groups, and even shared office space for a time with the ADC.

• The Arab American Institute (AAI). Like the other groups, AAI, founded in 1985 by James Zogby, lobbies for an end to Israeli settlements, protests what it sees as human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza, and supports the two-state solution. AAI works to increase Arab-American participation in politics and to influence policy formation and research.

• The Palestine Center, formerly the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine, was founded as a part of The Jerusalem Fund by Hisham Sharabi and Samih Farsoun. This Palestinian-American organization has strongly condemned Israeli attacks in Gaza, and has hinted at support for an opening of dialogue with Hamas, considered by the US to be a terrorist organization. "Although there is a debate right now about U.S. policy towards Hamas, Obama's statements during the campaign did not give much hope to those who prefer a more realistic approach of engagement," wrote Peter Gruskin in a position paper. And in another position paper, Ali Abunimah compared Hamas to South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) and the Irish Republican Army (IRA), militant groups that both eventually entered negotiations "that got their respective countries out of disastrous political and military stalemates."

• The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) is perhaps one of the most controversial of the lobbying groups. Founded by Nihad Awad and Ibrahim Hooper in 1994, CAIR was accused of being "terrorist apologists" by a group of Republican congressmen, and Michael Rolince, a retired F.B.I. official who directed counterterrorism in the Washington field office from 2002 to 2005, said there were suspicions - never verified - that the group had ties to Hamas and Hizbollah. Leading civil rights groups, including the ACLU, have come to the organization's defense.

• The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) was founded in 198 and is based in Los Angeles. It was originally called the Muslim Political Action Committee, them became the Muslim Public Affairs Committee before assuming its present name. It is led by Salam Al-Marayati. MPAC works to increase the political influence of American Muslims. It operates a Washington, D.C. office. MPAC, once primarily a West coast group, is now a national organization serving as a clearing house for the activities of other members of the lobby.

In 1993, The MPAC condemned the Oslo Accords, asserting that Israel's creation in 1948 "had involved the unjust and illegal usurpation of Muslim and Christian lands and rights," and declaring that "to recognize the legitimacy of that crime is a crime in itself." Since then, MPAC has considerably tamed down its rhetoric, endorsing in 2003 the Road map for peace, and, in a position paper posted at its website, embracing the two-state solution. "We acknowledge the existence of Israel as a viable, independent and sovereign state whose citizens have the right to live in peace within secure borders," says the document.

• The Palestinian American Congress (PAC) was founded in 1995 and headed by Fuad Ateyeh. According to its website, "PAC adheres to the principles that the Palestinian people constitute an indivisible National Unit and that Palestine is its national homeland."

Non-ethnic organizations

• American Friends of the Middle East is perhaps the most senior of all the non-ethnic lobby groups opposing US support for Israeli policies. It was founded as the Committee for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land, in 1948 to oppose the creation of the state of Israel, and, according to historian Paul Charles Merkley, "remains an active anti-Israeli lobby." After 1948, members of the Committee Virginia Gildersleeve, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Henry Sloane Coffin and Dorothy Day continued to lobby members of Congress and President Harry Truman to stop American political, military, and financial aid to Israel.

• The American Educational Trust (AET) was founded in 1982 by Andrew Killgore and Richard Curtiss. It publishes the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, among other activities. According to Rafael Medoff, the report publishes "denunciations" of Israeli policies, articles "belittling" the Holocaust, lists of names of Jewish publishers of newspapers to demonstrate "Zionist" control of the U.S. media, and makes accusations that Israeli soldiers commit "Nazi-style" genocide. He states it also has published "wild conspiracy theories" accusing Israel of being responsible for everything from the Monica Lewinsky affair to the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

• The Council for the National Interest (CNI) was founded in 1989 by Andrew Killgore and Richard Curtiss. CNI is openly candid about its opposition to Israel and the Israel lobby. According to its website, its objective is "to restore a political environment in America in which voters and their elected officials are free from the undue influence and pressure of foreign countries, namely Israel."

Christian lobbies

Christian political action groups generally lobby on a wide variety of issues. If they do support positions on the Middle East, such support is generally only a small part of their overall activities.

Nonetheless, several Christian lobbies have in the past gone head to head against the Israeli lobby.

• The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), the principal lobbying organization for the Mennonite sect, has taken a particularly strong position on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. In a paper published on its website, the MCC refers to Israel as "Palestine Israel", refers to the 1948 war in which Israel won its independence by the Arab term "Naqba", or "catastrophe", and suggests an economic boycott by all Christians of Israel, including divestment of stocks of companies that do business with Israel.

MCC activists have advocated a "one-state solution" for the Middle East conflict - that is, an end to Israel as a separate Jewish state. "Might not a bi-national future in one state be one in which Palestinians and Israelis alike both sit securely under vine and fig tree?" writes Alain Weaver

• The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has taken vigorous stands against violence in the Middle East, and has incurred the wrath of many Israeli lobbyists. In December, 2008, for example, the AFSC wrote an open letter to President Obama, urging American pressure to stop the war in Gaza, and to open negotiations with the Hamas, Israel's nemesis. "Israel should engage in diplomacy with the Palestinians, including Hamas as elected leaders of the Palestinian legislature," wrote Mary Ellen McNish, AFSC General Secretary.

As a quaker organization that opposes all war, the AFSC has been active in Israel and Palestine, supporting pacifism, conscientious objectors, and nonviolence. Many of the Israeli peace activists that AFSC have praised are Jewish immigrants, suggesting AFSC's support for a Jewish state. Israeli lobbyists and supporters have nonetheless responded with strong accusations that AFSC is anti-Israel. AFSC is "the most militant and aggressive of Christian anti-Israel groups," writes Jacob Neusner, a biblical scholar and pro-Israeli commentator.

• The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) raised the ire of Israeli supporters 2005 when church representatives met with commanders of the Hezbollah in Lebanon. Church leaders quickly distanced themselves from the visit, saying it wasn't official. But, together with an earlier call by the church to boycott companies selling equipment to Israel for use in the West Bank, the visit caused a rift with Israeli lobbyists and supporters. "Terrorists are to be isolated and scorned, not embraced and praised," said Jay Tcath, director of Chicago's Jewish Community Relations Council, likening a meeting with Hezbollah to one with the Ku Klux Klan. "No friendship, no partnership can endure a divide as great as ours on the issue of terrorism."

Individuals

An Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal names Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer as members of an Anti-Israel Lobby, and charges that they are motivated by "anti-Jewish bias" Jerusalem Post columnists Herb Keinon, Caroline Glick, and Shmuel Rosner have each similarly characterized Walt and Mearsheimer as part of "the anti-Israel lobby."

Writing in Foreign Policy, David Rothkopf concurs, and also lists Jimmy Carter and his former national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski as members of the anti-Israel lobby. David A. Harris credits James Zogby with being the first leader of the Anti-Israel lobby.

Response of Israeli supporters

Pro-Israel political analysts and activists have, predictably, condemned their opponents. Their goals are "to drive a wedge between the U.S. government and Israel; to undermine public and government support for Israel in the United States, and (especially since the 1973 war) to bring about a halt in American governmental aid to Israel," writes Lewis. In an article in the Middle East Quarterly, he wrote, "This outlook explains the campaigns against loan guarantees and states' purchase of Israel bonds; the repeated condemnation of Israeli human rights; and innumerable calls for U.S. government pressure on Israel."

Many pro-Israel lobbyists have expressed alarm at the successes of the new lobby. David A. Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee, wrote that the Arab American Institute, led by James Zogby, scored a major victory in the 1988 Democractic party primary, "translating the energy of the pro-Intifada street demonstrations into a viable mainstream political force of grassroots activists who became delegates at that year's Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, blindsiding a largely unprepared and somewhat complacent American Jewish community."

Caroline Glick, managing editor of the Jerusalem Post, writes in an opinion column that recent years have seen "the emergence of a very committed and powerful anti-Israel lobby in Washington."

Political influence

Most analysts, however, agree that the power of this lobby, while growing, has a long way to go before matching the influence of AIPAC and its partners. "While pro-Arab lobbying pales in comparison to those of the pro-Israel lobby, the end of the Cold-War, the current war on terrorism, and clear American and international support for the two-state solution as manifested by public opinion polls, policymakers' statements, and United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1397 and 1515, provide the pro-Arab lobby with a crucial opportunity to realize its vision of Palestinian statehood," write researchers Sherri Replogle and Khalil Marrar.

Nonetheless, the impact of the lobbying forces on the opposite side of the political fence from AIPAC is growing. "The reality about Arab Americans is that we are emerging as a political group," says Zogby.

See also

• American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

Further reading

• The Anti-Israel Lobby Today: An Examination of the Themes and Tactics of an Evolving Propaganda Movement, Barsky, Yehudit, Anti-defamation League, B'nai B'rith, 1991