Groucho Marxism

Like most people, I have been horrified by the events that have unfolded in Gaza over the past two years. What has made these events so much more difficult to watch is the knowledge that they are not the result of some unavoidable natural disaster but instead are being perpetrated deliberately by a regime that seems hell-bent on complete annihilation of the Palestinian people. Worse, our government in the UK, instead of intervening to stop the slaughter, has instead helped speed it up by continuing arms sales to Israel – despite the fact that over half of people in the UK support the immediate cessation of these arms sales. So much for representative democracy! Which raises a question: If our government isn’t working on our behalf, then who is it working for?

The obvious answer in this case is Israel – or more precisely, the Israel lobby. But why is the Israel lobby so powerful? Why does it have such a stranglehold over Western politicians? Clearly the West sees Israel as a strategic ally, as it gives Western countries a foothold in the Middle East, an oil-rich and strategically important region. But the support Western governments give Israel seems completely out of proportion to any benefit they get in return, and comes with massive downsides – in particular, the erosion of democratic legitimacy of these governments. In any case, the ‘strategic ally’ argument doesn’t explain why other countries in the region that are allied with the West, such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, do not have equally powerful lobby groups.

The answer may simply that Israel wants to commit genocide, it needs the support of Western countries to do this, so it lobbies (bribes) Western politicians to provide that support – be it arms sales, military support, diplomatic cover, or a combination of the three. Other countries could presumably do the same if they wanted to, but they don’t need to as they don’t want to commit genocide. What’s particularly striking is that when these bribes are exposed, the sums of money involved are often pathetically small. How is it so easy to influence Western politicians?! Although it’s tempting to respond that it’s because our politicians are spineless money-grubbing morons with zero principles – which of course is true – that doesn’t explain why there isn’t more public uproar over this. So what does?

One factor, which applies especially in Europe, is holocaust guilt. This has been ably weaponised by the Israel lobby to shut down criticism. Another factor is that anyone who points out the power of the lobby will often be accused of buying into the ‘Jews control the world’ trope. This makes people wary of being labelled an antisemite – despite the fact that we are obviously talking specifically about Israel here, not Jews in general, and it is in fact considered antisemitic to conflate the two. In America, a major factor is the prominence of fundamentalist Christians who have a literal interpretation of the bible and actually support what Israel is doing. But perhaps the most important factor is that the general public is simply unaware of the bribery and corruption going on behind the scenes.

There are reasons for optimism however. Israel is starting to lose the propaganda war, and it’s great to see. More and more people are waking up to the true nature of the Israel lobby and the power it has over Western governments. Even right-wing commentators like Tucker Carlson have begun to turn against Israel and the politicians who support it, as demonstrated by his recent interview with Ted Cruz. The UK Labour party is currently tanking in the polls and this is due in large part to its continued support for Israel. At some point, surely Western politicians will have to take public opinion into account if they want to stand any chance of re-election (assuming that they actually care about this – I am starting to wonder whether the UK Labour Party actually does). Until then though, our foreign policy will continue to be dictated by a small country in the Middle East and its out-sized lobby.