The Myth and the Effectiveness of the Zionist Lobby and the Israeli Lobby

The Yishuv leadership, Israeli governments, the organized Jewish community, and successive U.S. administrations shared a perception of outsized Jewish influence. This perception has been a part of the American political tradition since the Roosevelt administration.

American Jews were able to show that military and economic aid to Israel was in the best interest of the U.S. The “special relationship” between Israel and the U.S. developed primarily thanks to the presence and political participation of the American Jewish community.

The Zionist lobby drew on the perception of Jewish influence based on the voting patterns of American Jews and the misperception of a high donation rate to election campaigns. The Jewish vote was significant because voter turnout among Jews was high and they voted as a single bloc. The geographic concentrations of Jewish voters in several key counties enhanced their electoral influence.

The paper will examine the real political power of the organized American Jewish community, which was bolstered by myths and stereotypes rather than by electoral reality. This image of strength, whose validity and scope exists primarily in the eye of the beholder, has given the American Jewish community the ability to influence U.S. policy toward Israel and has led to unprecedented political support for the Jewish state. The paper will concentrate on decisions taken between 1943-48 where the image of Jewish political power played a crucial role.