Reply #49: They are not just good lobbyists-there's the Israeli/Cuban feedback loop [View All]

[HamdenRice]

It is not just that the organizations that lobby for Israel are skilled fundraisers and lobbyists. There is something more insidious. And just to show that this is not anti-semitism, there is another ethnic lobby that has almost exactly the same insidious advantage. It's a feedback loop enjoyed by both the Israeli lobby and the anti-Castro Cuban lobby.

It works like this: the AIPAC lobby lobbies for foreign aid for Israel. Some of that money indirectly is used to support Israel's various think tanks and institutes in the US, which have links to the lobby, which in turn lobbies for more aid, and on and on.

The same occurs with the Cubans. The US provides direct support for anti-Castro groups in Miami through various pro-democracy grants. These organizations then lobby for more grants, which are in part used for more lobbying.

Israel is itself a victim of this kind of feedback in its domestic politics. Most Israelis are actually not very religious or are conservative or reform Jews. But at its founding a deal was worked out whereby the orthodox received government funding for schools and other projects. These orthodox organizations built a power base, which they use in turn to lobby for ever increasing grants and authority over religious issues. The result is that the religious establishment has disproportionate power but does not reflect the religious views of Israelis.

In each case there are formal restrictions on the use of aid money for lobbying, but of course the grants free up money that is indeed used for lobbying.

Bush is planning to institute exactly this kind of awful feedback mechanism in US domestic politics through the faith-based organization initiative.

So I hope that everyone will agree that pointing out the feedback loop between aid to Israel and Israeli lobbying is not anti-semitic, unless you can convince me that anti-Castro Cubans and right wing American Christians are also somehow semites.