ABD-ELHAMEED: What you need to know about Israel lobby
Column: Something to Think About
The media we consume, the politicians who favor certain policies over others — from local to national elections — and the courses taught at our universities have all been influenced by certain individuals who are bound by one common ideology.
There is a reason why mainstream media uses certain limited language to discuss Palestinian casualties and why the majority of American politicians across the political spectrum support Israel almost, if not entirely, unequivocally.
The common denominator? The Israel lobby.
Why do you need to know about it? Because, as an American citizen, you are naturally the target audience of the Israel lobby. It influences not only what goes on in the Middle East but also what goes on in the U.S. and with you at the individual level.
In their book, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," American political scientists John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt refer to the Israel lobby as a "loose coalition of individuals and organizations that actively work to shape U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction."
The lobby is not structured as a hierarchy but rather is formed by core organizations and individuals whose main goal of steering U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction is a "top priority."
Several main organizations that make up this core are the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Christians United for Israel and, most notoriously, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
I want to focus especially on AIPAC, as it is "widely regarded as the most powerful foreign lobby in Washington," according to the documentary "Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land."
In regards to American politics and politicians, AIPAC does not shy away from any potential candidate or policy in an attempt to gain influence and control.
Just recently, two Democratic U.S. Senate candidates, Hill Harper (D-M.I.) and Nasser Beydoun (D-M.I.), publicly admitted that AIPAC offered them each $20 million to run against Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-M.I.).
Harper revealed this offer on November 22 through a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, and claimed that he would not be "bossed, bullied, or bought."
Just a short five days later, AIPAC struck again and targeted Beydoun to run against Tlaib.
In a more general sense, AIPAC has had success in electing candidates who accepted its funding. For example, most of the AIPAC-backed candidates who ran for election during last year's midterm races won, according to an article on OpenSecrets.
This outcome can be attributed to the super PAC United Democracy Project (UDP), in addition to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
OpenSecrets specifies that UDP "raised a total of $31 million through the 2022 election cycle," where "AIPAC itself contributed $8.5 million to the super PAC, which poured $26 million into key races, mostly in Democratic primaries."
While AIPAC focuses on blocking Democratic progressives, they especially prefer to block female candidates who "align with 'the Squad' of progressive members of Congress who have been critical of Israel," according to another article.
The Squad includes representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-M.N.) and Rashida Tlaib.
At the end of the day, anyone running for president must display support for Israel, or there is an almost undeniable chance that they will not become president.
Reiterated once more, the Israel lobby knows no limits when it comes to public relations and filtering the media.
"Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land" discusses the American-Israeli relationship regarding American news coverage, specifically outlining the "complex set of institutional relationships" that American news coverage is influenced by.
These institutional relationships, also referred to as "institutional filters," include U.S. media ownership, political elites, Israeli government public relations campaigns (which AIPAC falls under) and, lastly, media watchdog groups, some of which include ADL and CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.
The documentary outlines and elaborates on a set of seven public relations strategies that are employed when covering Israel and Palestine in the media.
Some of these strategies include "hidden occupation," "invisible colonization," "violence in a vacuum" and the "myth of U.S. neutrality."
The Israel lobby also holds great influence over academia.
In 2002, shortly after the Israeli occupation of the West Bank intensified and instilled heavy force against the Second Intifada (or uprising), the lobby "moved aggressively to 'take back the campuses,'" according to "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy."
As new pro-Israeli groups formed, AIPAC more than tripled its spending for university programs and activities to turn the youth into advocates for Israel.
The lobby even monitors the content that professors write and teach. For example, pro-Daniel Pipes created a website, Campus Watch, in September 2002 that posted documents of "suspect academics" and encouraged students to report any anti-Israeli sentiment.
Meanwhile, highly respected and influential Palestinian scholar Edward Said became a constant target of pro-Israeli forces while he was a lecturer at Columbia University.
When there is a force so formidable that it has the capacity to influence different spheres of your life, you deserve to know about that force.
That is why you need to know about the Israel lobby. And that was just the tip of the iceberg.
Naaima Abd-Elhameed is a senior in the School of Arts and Sciences majoring in journalism and media studies and minoring in Arabic and international and global studies. Her column, "Something to Think About," runs on alternate Mondays.
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