The Lobby

When I studied political science in the 70’s I was introduced to a book about US politics, “The Irony of Democracy” which had a significant impact on my education. It’s main point was that the influence of lobby groups leads to very little democracy. The vote of the average person doesn’t count much when it comes to policy-making decisions, which are largely influenced by these special interest groups.

Fast forward to today, and things haven’t changed much, indeed they’ve probably gotten a lot worse. A case in point is the Israel lobby’s influence in US foreign policy. Professor John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago is an expert in this area, and his book, The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy and Substack articlesare excellent and informative reading. I like him because he presents solid evidence in a clear manner. His recent posts remind us of the impact of the Israel lobby, while making the case that its influence on American policy is neither in the interest of Americans or Israelis.

One example of this is the idea of a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. Every president since Carter has endorsed this notion, but despite having the power to force Israel to achieve it, Washington has been consistently hampered in this goal by the lobby. It would be in the long-term interest of all parties to achieve this peaceful solution, but the lobby has prevented it from happening. This is because Israel clearly doesn’t want a two-state solution. Netanyahu recently said that, “a two-state solution is the greatest gift you can give to the terrorists”. The reason why he gets his way is because he is backed by AIPAC and other pro-Israel lobby groups in the US who have significant influence on US foreign policy.

These lobbies get their funds from individual supporters and corporations across America. They ensure that Washington transfers a lot of tax dollars to Israel, 18 billion last year alone, and plenty of weapons to continue their genocidal rampage against the Palestinians. They also influence politicians by throwing millions of dollars behind them if they are pro-Israel. If you aren’t, your days are numbered. A case in point is the defeat of Cory Bush who ran in a recent primary election. She was critical of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians, so the lobby went after her, donating over 8 million dollars to her rival’s campaign and out-financing her by 4 to 1. The absurdity of this amount of expenditure is even more so when you consider that only 125,000 people voted.

Another example of how the lobby acts contrary to that of the US interest is in Israel’s escalating conflict between Iran and the Hezbollah in Jordan. Israel has provoked both of these actors by assassinating people in both areas. Both groups have already retaliated to these attacks in the past, and the recent assassinations bring the area closer to a full scale war. If this happens, the influence of the lobby will make sure the US is drawn into the conflict, even though it is clearly against both the best interests of Israel and the US, and of course the Palestinians.

Mearsheimer claims that for a small country like Israel to have such great influence, almost control over the US is unparalleled in history. However, he clearly states that the lobby is doing nothing illegal; they are merely operating withing the framework of US policies. He doesn’t believe that Israel is directly controlling Washington. The lobby just happens to be totally in sync with what Tel Aviv wants. I would argue that this is a bit of a grey area, and we don’t really know who is doing the wagging – the dog or the tail.

Studying Mearsheimer’s analysis made me wonder to what degree our Canadian politicians are influenced by the Israel lobby.^[1] This is not discussed by the mainstream media, however more stories are surfacing on alternative media sources. No surprise there.

I was curious about the Canadian rules around campaign contributions. Apparently, the financial activities of political parties in Canada were largely unregulated until the Election Expenses Act in 1974. Thank God for the politicians that passed this act, because it severely limits campaign donations. Lobby groups, associations and corporations cannot make contributions to political parties or candidates. Only individuals can make contributions, and as of this year the limit is $1,725 per person. We don’t have an AIPAC in Canada, and this is the reason why.

Though candidates are not bought and sold as they are in the US, this is not to say that the Israel lobby doesn’t influence our policies. The lobby in the US indirectly influences Canada through Washington’s overall pressure on us to conform. We can see this by recent votes in the UN, where Canada often sides with the US against Palestinian human rights.

If you scratch the surface, you can see the lobby’s large impact on Ottawa. Sometimes this comes across as pretty ridiculous, as was the case of Trudeau declaring the Iranian National Guard a terrorist organization in order to influence the Jewish voters in a recent by-election in Toronto (He lost anyway). Or more recently, Canada’s ambassador to Japan boycotted a memorial service for the atomic bombing of Nagasaki over the fact that Israel was not invited. Pretty silly.

According to Mearsheimer, the lobby believes it is acting in the best interest of Israel and the US, whereas often the opposite is true. This case can probably be made for Canada as well. Take the simple act of not boycotting the memorial for Nagasaki. I doubt that most Canadians would approve. Another example is in a recent article for Mondoweiss where Yves Engler reveals that a Jewish high school in Toronto receives charitable donations for training students to join the Israeli army. This is actually against Canadian law, but is happening to some extent due to the sway of the lobby.

These examples are just scratching the surface. If you look for it, you will find many more instances of how the Israel lobby acts in its own interest and influences public and international policies of Canada. And like any large lobby, if they are left unchallenged, they can weaken our democracy and sanction injustice.

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^[1] Peter Eglin has written the book, “Analysing the Israel Effect in Canada” and gives a talk about it here. Canadian Yves Engler has published “Canada and Israel: Building Aparthied”, which might be worth looking at.