Tuesday, January 08, 2013

Israel Lobby or Jewish Lobby?

I'm amused by the criticism of Chuck Hagel for referring to the Jewish Lobby, instead of the Israel Lobby. When it's convenient, Israel's supporters never fail to insist that Israel is the state not of its citizens or even its Jewish citizens, but of the Jewish people worldwide. Any Jew (by criteria set by ultra-orthodox rabbis) may move to Israel and immediately become a citizen. A Palestinian Arab born in what became Israel in 1948 and driven out during the Nakba is forbidden to return to his home.

Of course, not all Jews are Israel chauvinists, but that's not relevant here. The point is that Jewish Israel chauvinists support Israel because in their eyes what's good for Israel is good for the Jewish people.

I tried to capture this point in my cartoon.

By the way, "Jewish Lobby" is an uncontroversial synonym for AIPAC in Israel.
at

2 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 14, 2013 at 2:04 PM

    Hi Sheldon,

    Are you familiar with the late cartoonist, Harvey Pekar? I recently learned of his posthumously published book, "Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me". It looks intriguing (I haven't read it): http://www.amazon.com/Not-Israel-My-Parents-Promised/dp/0809094827/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358193473&sr=1-1&keywords=Not+the+Israel+My+Parents+Promised+Me

    Richard G.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sheldon RichmanJanuary 15, 2013 at 11:28 AM

    I'm aware of the book and have heard good things about it, but have not yet seen it.

    ReplyDelete