The Lobby: Jewish Political Power and American Foreign Policy

Mr. Tivnan's stated purpose is to depict Jewish influence in the making of U.S. Middle East policy. He attempts to take a fresh look at this subject by placing Jewish special-interest lobbying within the wider historical context of the evolution of U.S.-Israeli relations since 1948 (p. 8). He tries to understand the Jewish lobby had become primarily a pro-Israeli lobby, one so aggressive, omnipresent, and influential on matters relat ing to the Middle East that the denizens of Capitol Hill refer to it simply as 'the lobby' . . (p. 8). His favorite word to characterize Israel is intransigent, used three times in his brief Preface. His overriding concern seems to be: how long will Amer ican Jews tolerate right-wing intransigence in Israel? This book is a breezy account of how the Jewish pro-Israel lobby, especially after 1971, exploited the American political system for its own single-minded benefit. He is deeply troubled by his finding that many American Jews publicly support policies of Israel that they privately oppose. The three principals in the Jewish lobby are the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, founded in 1954 as the American Zionist Council of Public Affairs; the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, which met for the first time in March 1954 to discuss how American Jewry could help Israel during the Eisenhower presidency; and the political action committees (PACs), which were organized as a way to overcome the restric tions of the Campaign Financing Act of 1974. The book makes intensive use of more than 200 interviews. The sources of some interviews have had to be kept confidential.