Jamal Bowman's defeat in a Democratic primary for a House seat in New York proves beyond doubt that the Israeli lobby has the political strength to humiliate the U.S. public officials opposed to the apartheid policies of the Jewish state. The lobby does not care about justice or even American democracy. Its sole aim is to influence U.S. policies to serve Zionist interests.
The author of the book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid said: "When it comes to Israel [discussing Israeli and Jewish American issues], it is still almost a taboo in certain parts, not everywhere ... there are certain things that unspoken about the Israeli government or America's relationship with Israel or about the Israeli lobby. Yes, there is; excuse me, there is an Israeli lobby, but when we say an Israeli lobby, we are not talking about a Jewish conspiracy. The Israeli lobby operates the way the NRA operates: a system of rewards and punishment. You help your friends with money, advocacy, and everything, and sometimes, they pool money into the campaigns of those people that they see as friendly to Israel. This is the American game".
There are two major pro-Israeli groups, namely the Christians United for Israel, with 10 million members, and the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee that speaks on behalf of pro-Israeli American Jewish groups.
The Christian belief in the return of the Jews to Palestine has roots in the U.S., predating the establishment of the state of Israel.
Christian and Jewish Zionists lobbied in the United States for the creation of the State of Israel in 1947–48. President Truman later noted, "The facts were that not only were there pressure movements around the United Nations unlike anything that had been seen there before, but that the White House, too, was subjected to a constant barrage. I do not think I ever had as much pressure and propaganda aimed at the White House as I had in this instance. The persistence of a few of the extreme Zionist leaders—actuated by political motives and engaging in political threats—disturbed and annoyed me."
In the 1950s, the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs was created by Isaiah L. "Si" Kenen to counter news that the Eisenhower administration was going to investigate the American Zionist Council. AZCPA's executive committee changed its name from the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Before 1967, the government of the United States provided some aid but was generally neutral towards Israel. In each year between 1976 and 2004, however, Israel received the most direct foreign assistance from the U.S. of any nation.
Support for Israel is strong among American Christians of many denominations. Informal Christian support for Israel includes a broad range of support, such as the Christian Broadcasting Network and the Christian Television Network, as well as more informal support for the annual Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem.
The formal component of the Israel lobby consists of organized lobby groups, political action committees (PACs), think tanks, and media watchdog groups.
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations "is the main contact between the Jewish community and the executive branch" of the U.S. government.
Rabbi Alexander Schindler, former chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations (a U.S. advocacy group), told an Israeli magazine in 1976, "The Presidents' Conference and its members have been instruments of official governmental Israeli policy. It was seen as our task to receive directions from government circles and to do our best no matter what to affect the Jewish community."
Support went to right-wing Republicans and rural Democrats. But AIPAC made inroads in both parties and both ends of the
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that the U.S. and Israel share common "economic, political, strategic, and diplomatic concerns" and that the countries exchange "intelligence and military information" and cooperate to halt international terrorism and illegal drug trade Furthermore, a majority of American citizens view Israel favorably.
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