Overestimating the Power of Israel

Example 36: Overestimating the power of the Jewish-majority state, Israel:

We discussed the 'Israel lobby' in Example 30 in the 'Jews, Israel and Zionism' section, with particular reference to Britain and the Labour Party. Here we examine antisemitic allegations of broader 'world control' by Israel.

It is extremely common to see accusations that the State of Israel (and/or diaspora ‘Zionists’ or the 'Israel lobby') are actually controlling some of the major world powers, such as the USA, the UK and France. Where this accusation concerns ‘Zionists’ ( code-word for ‘Jews’), conspiracists will sometimes justify it by picking out wealthier and more influential members of the Jewish community (e.g. Janet Yellen and previous directors of the Federal Reserve, George Soros etc.).

In fact, Israel is dependent on patronage and support from major world powers, not the other way round, and does not have remotely the resources necessary to accomplish such a feat. Although Israel is an important regional power, and has powerful armed forces as well as efficient intelligence services, it is in no sense a world superpower comparable to the USA or China; its armed forces are fully stretched in Israel and in the territories it occupies, and it neither can nor does intervene in conflicts further afield in the way the armies of these major powers (including also the UK, France and Russia) can and often do. Israel does indeed enjoy friendly relations with many foreign governments, but the insinuation that it can in some way dictate those governments' policies is absurd and without foundation. In its milder form, the power of the ‘Israel lobby’ in influencing foreign countries to the benefit of Israel is exaggerated, as in the cartoon below.

Incidentally, Jews (or in this case the Israel lobby) portrayed as 'puppet-masters' - often 'pulling the strings' of a puppet - is another common antisemitic trope.

https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/6hfri/pic_arabic_cartoon_in_english_who_is_the_culprit/

https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/6hfri/pic_arabic_cartoon_in_english_who_is_the_culprit/

We offer the article below as an example, at first reading very persuasive, of the narrative that the Israel lobby is extremely powerful, specifically as influencing US expenditure and Middle Eastern policy. It is important to read down to the criticisms which follow the article to understand that there are alternative views of the extent of influence of Israel and its lobby which take account of more of the facts.

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v28/n06/john-mearsheimer/the-israel-lobbyhttps://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v28/n06/john-mearsheimer/the-israel-lobby