Guardian misleads on 'Israel Lobby' article

A Guest Post by Joe Geary

Perhaps the single greatest staple of anti-Semites of all stripes – rightwing, leftwing, religious (Muslim or Christian) – is the “Jewish money” trope, often expressed as the Israel/Zionist/Jewish lobby controlling the US (always in evil ways of course). Its most recent airing was by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, whose ‘woke’ position was bravely defended by the Guardian:

However, the headline is at odds with the facts reported in the body of the article. It turns out that only $5 million of that $22 million is spent on political lobbying, whilst the rest is spent on promoting tourism to Israel, investment in Israeli tech and medicine and such.

So how does the $5 million spent by the nefarious “Zionist lobby” compare to other lobbying? I’m afraid the antisemites are in for a little disappointment.

The healthcare/health insurance industry which spends a massive $556m trying to influence public policy. Nutritional and dietary supplement industry alone spends $6m, as much as the “Zionists”. When did you last hear of the Vitamins lobby running America?

Of the single issue lobbies, the pro-gun lobby outspends the gun control lobby by $12m to $2m. No great surprises there. What might come as news is that environmental groups lobby to the tune of $17m and human rights groups together spend a grand total of $50m. Perhaps not all lobbying is evil then.*

So, if the pro-Israel lobby is so limited in its spending, if the Zionist “tentacles” are so relatively short, how do we explain to antisemites why the US public is generally so pro-Israel? Could it be that Americans simply recognise and support other democracies and free societies, especially when under constant attack by non-democratic, despotic and sometimes Islamist neighbours?

One last thing. Hidden deep inside that Guardian article is this little nugget: