Reply to Caitlin Johnstone on the Israel Lobby
In a discussion on Twitter between Caitlin Johnstone, @caitoz, and yours truly, @rodthelimey, Caitlin demanded
“Explain, using complete thoughts, what mechanism a much, much weaker nation could use to force a much, much more powerful nation to allow it to continue foreign lobbying against its own interests.” — 25/5/24 https://x.com/caitoz/status/1794380691024867740?t=c9Vjewi_h5T-sxFhW4EFuQ&s=19
I’ll try to briefly summarise Caitlin’s position and mine. Then I’ll explain them in more detail.
Caitlin argues that, because the countries in Israel’s crosshairs are not US-aligned, this shows that Israel serves US interests. But this is equally compatible with arguing that they are not US-aligned because they are in Israel’s crosshairs, and the US backs Israel. The evidence doesn’t tell us whether Caitlin has put the horse before the cart, or vice-versa.
I argue that the reason America backs Israel is Jewish power in America. I can’t prove that American groveling to Israel is genuine; one could argue that it’s fake. That the sound of American politicians competing for who can bow lowest at the feet of their Israeli counterparts is actually a decades-old charade, designed to distract us from the real relationship, to make it look like Jewish power is a thing. I can only argue that the more parsimonious, simplest, explanation is that it is what it appears — the USA’s relationship to Israel is dictated by Jewish interests.
Neither Caitlin’s position nor its complement can be proven, or falsified. Neither can mine. The only advantage my position has, is that it contains the more parsimonious description of the data.
Caitlin’s argument in more detail: “Governments like the US and UK have legal tools in place that they use to stop foreign governments from influencing their national politics, but they generally only use them when the influence would be coming from governments which aren’t aligned with the western empire like Russia, China and Iran. If backing Israel militarily and diplomatically didn’t serve the interests of the empire, those legal tools would long ago have been used to shut the lobbying down. But because lobbying activities actually benefit the interests of the empire by keeping US-aligned war machinery targeted at all non-US-aligned groups in the geostrategically crucial middle east, they not only allow but actively encourage such lobbying.” 2/12/23: https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1730731101814231423?t=0jlJ7zqCsI5bYCC3pYTXjw&s=19
Of course parties which are in Israel’s crosshairs are “non-US-aligned” — they know that the US supports Israel. The question is whether America could defend its interests by reversing its allegiances. There are countries which the USA has switched from opposing to supporting or vice-versa — the USSR, China, Vietnam, Egypt, Democratic Kampuchea… What would America lose if it ditched Israel?
Back in 2005, Michael Neumann, writing in Counterpunch, punched back against the orthodoxy to which Caitlin still adheres:
“The fact — the fact leftists bust a gut to ignore — is that The Big Corporations would be far, far better off if the US switched sides completely, and supported the Palestinians to the hilt. It is difficult to argue this just because it is so screamingly obvious. The Big Corporations want oil: Israel pisses off the oil producers, bigtime. Israel does not, contrary to leftist orthodoxy, help the US control the oil.” — 18/11/05: https://www.counterpunch.org/2005/11/18/the-palestinians-and-the-party-line/
Yet, as Caitlin points out, the US is far more ‘powerful’ than Israel. So why does the USA support it? To resolve this conundrum, we have to look at what we mean by ‘power.’ We tend to assume America is a unified entity, where “the executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie” (Marx).
The greatest capitalist nation in history isn’t run by a central committee of ruthless realpolitikers. Observe the mediocrities who drive it. Listen to their debates. You won’t know whether to laugh, or cry. Look at the mechanisms “a much, much weaker nation could use…”
How lobbies work is no great mystery. The steel industry takes advantage of a bug in the system to make the US government pass laws which make steel expensive, which is good for the steel-producing states, but not for most of the country. The Israel Lobby does something similar, on a larger scale. It uses its money to back candidates who support Israel, and to smear those who don’t, irrespective of the interests of US capitalism as a whole.
For the Nth time, in May 2024, an Israeli prime minister showed a US president who’s boss. Does the dog wag the tail, or vice-versa? asked the Guardian on 8/5/24. Would Israel halt its offensive, after president Biden asked it to?
A week later, we got the answer.
Mearsheimer & Walt, in The Israel Lobby, give many other examples. For Caitlin’s theory to be correct, this would all have to be a masquerade, where Western politicians pretend to grovel to Israel, in order to serve imperial interests.
In 2020, a fake allegation of ‘racism’ led to a tsunami of oikophobia sweeping over the Anglosphere. Similarly, the Jewish Lobby weaponises ‘antisemitism’ to blackmail America. Since 7/10/23, this campaign has reached hysterical proportions. A recent speech by the speaker of the House of Representatives, equating protestors against genocide with Nazis, has to be heard to be believed — Glenn Greenwald, System Update, 8/5/24, 32:21 https://open.spotify.com/episode/3d0mrih32lKzXRQZqdIPyV
This is just one example of the Orwellian inversions now commonplace in American politics.
I use the term ‘Israel Lobby’ to mean organisations like AIPAC, who use Jewish money to bribe election candidates — “it’s the Benjamins,” as Representative Ilhan Omar said before she was forced to apologise. The ‘Jewish Lobby’ is a broader concept, and means organising to promote Jewish ethnic interests in general. Sometimes, this includes support for left-wing causes, such as the exaggeration of white racism. The Anti-Defamation League is a clear example.
Politicians, including the president, have claimed that Jews are afraid to walk the streets of New York. British MPs have made the same claim about London. Is this all an act? Is this “benefitting the interests of the empire,” by pretending to genuflect to Jewish power, by spreading its ridiculous fabrications, or is it what it appears to be?
To oppose the Jewish state, it is necessary to grasp the nettle of opposing Jewish power. This is a scary idea, and perhaps that’s one of the reasons people ignore the evidence, and the most parsimonious explanation of it, to continue to believe support for Israel is in the interests of America and/or its empire.
