ABSTRACT
The protective embrace that characterizes the American Jewish relationship with Israel serves as the necessary background to understand the charge that the “Israel Lobby” has gained control of American Middle East policy.1 Rooted as it is in the low-level war waged against Israel by its Moslem neighbors, the American Jewish interest in the security and welfare of Israel is sustained and intense. Its concern also lies behind American Jewry’s efforts to project its political infl uence on policy making as one of the most active ethnic constituencies in the American political arena. The accusers, who in recent years have grown in number and gained academic legitimacy, view the projection of Jewish infl uence as controlling policy, which militates against the interest of the nation. The accusation that they now exercise too much power does not sit well, especially among survivors who hold an important position in the American Jewish polity. We have already noted that it was precisely the failure of the Allies to include European Jewry within the “universe of obligation” that generated the circumstances leading to the birth of Israel. At the historic moment when the help of the Roosevelt administration and other witnessing agencies was desperately needed, Jewish leaders found themselves with insuffi cient power to convince them to at least make an effort to rescue their European brethren. Our task here is to unravel the seamless strands that bind the American Jewish and the national interest regarding American policy in the Middle East, so that some sense can be made of it.
