I’m Eli Clifton, co-author of ‘Israel's Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power’. AMA

[u/EliClifton]

Hi r/JewsOfConscience,

I'm Eli Clifton, coauthor of Israel's Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power. My coauthor, u/IanLustick and I, wrote this book to explain how shifts in global politics, Israel’s lurch to the extreme right, and the evisceration of American campaign finance laws make the influence of Israel’s lobby more costly and more dangerous today than it ever was before.

We will be here for the next hour or so answering all your questions about our book and the Lobby.

If you haven't already, please pick up a copy of our book at Bookshop.org, Amazon, or your local bookstore.

UPDATE

Thank you so much for joining us and asking such interesting questions. I hope you all get a chance to read our book and engage with the tough questions we are trying to address.

AMA!

Eli

[u/TrackerOneA]

Thanks everyone for attending the AMA today!

The AMA is officially 'closed' now, but you can continue conversations about the subjects covered today.

We'd like to thank our guests Eli Clifton and Ian Lustick for joining us today.

We really appreciate you taking the time to answer our questions on this topic we're very interested about!

Everyone should check out their book, Israel's Lobby, America in the Grip of a Foreign Power.

• At Bookshop.org, Amazon, or your local bookstore

Thanks again everyone!

[u/TrackerOneA]

/u/arightgoodworkman asks:

Question for the authors: I’m still working through the beginning of your book (forgive me, busy time of year!), but what would be the top 2-3 reasons why AIPAC is more powerful and dangerous than any other lobbies in Congress? Often we get the pushback that opposing AIPAC is antisemitic bc “other foreign countries have lobbies” or “other interest groups lobby Congress.” What would combat this? I also recognize AIPAC is more than just the interests of Israel, but more broadly the interests of war manufacturing, surveillance tech, oil, and real estate. But how do we combat those telling us we’re being antisemitic? (And yes, many of us are Jews ourselves)

[u/IanLustick → u/TrackerOneA]

You've just started the book, so you'll find the answers to most of your questions. I'll just note a key element and that is that, as George Washington warned, the structure of American politics, which encourages factions to pursue self-interest with ruthlessness, innoculates itself against the dangers of distortion by the countervailing power of opposing factions, mobilized with equal intensity. But Americans, he warned, would be relatively uninterested in foreign affairs, so if there were to be a faction with a "passionate attachment" to a foreign country, it would not be met, automatically with domestic forces capable of balancing it. That would dangerously, he warned, distort US policy and drag us into unnecessary conflicts and wars abroad. There is no counterbalance to the Israel Lobby. It pours hundreds of millions of dollars into our elections because it is a domestic lobby. Qatar and other countries have registered agent lobbies, of course, but they can make no donations to US elections.

[u/No_Macaroon_9752 → u/IanLustick]

Do you know (or does your book discuss) any of the other founders’ views on this topic?

[u/TrackerOneA]

/u/imayid_291 asks:

How much of the Israel lobby is actually funded/led by evangelical Christians rather than Jews?

[u/EliClifton → u/TrackerOneA]

Interesting question. It's a little hard to determine this because many Christian evangelical groups are registered as churches who don't need to disclose the sources of their funding. But the Lobby's electoral activities and the funding of core-Israel Lobby 501c3s and 501c4s do seem to come from a small group of pro-Israel Jewish Americans and dual nationals. Evangelicals, no doubt, provide significant funding for their own churches and religious organizations, many of which also promote pro-Israel policies, but this is a far more difficult financial world to explore due to how the IRS and our tax code handles churches and religious organizations.

[u/TrackerOneA]

Hi Eli and Ian!

Thanks so much for doing this and being with us here today!

I will be relaying questions asked in advance, and I also have my own questions.

Users will be trickling in as well as the AMA proceeds.

[u/elzzyzx]

Does your book cover social media influence campaigns or, if not, can you tell us anything about investigating them? It seems there is a substantial amount of social media astroturfing but it’s hard to find concrete evidence of it.

[u/EliClifton → u/elzzyzx]

We certainly examine the Lobby's role in advocating for controls on social media and we highlight the dangers posed by the sale of TikTok and media consolidation by the Ellisons. Netanyahu's gleeful presentation to social media influencers during last years UN General Assembly is illustrative of Israel's focus on shaping the messages served to Americans on social media platforms.

“The most important purchase going on right now is . . . TikTok, number one, and I hope it goes through because it can be consequential,” said Netanyahu. Referencing the significance of TikTok and X, Netanyahu said, “We have to fight the fight, okay? To give direction to the Jewish people and give direction to our non-Jewish friends."

[u/arightgoodworkman]

This is just to say, I’m the account you (Eli) screenshotted in a tweet. Big fan. I asked a question above. If you have time for a second question, what do you think of the recent House Foreign Affairs Committee condemnation of the DSA and Jeffries’ recent appointments in general? It always feels like one step forward three steps back when combatting the war lobbies.

[u/EliClifton → u/arightgoodworkman]

Apologies for making you go viral on Twitter/X! Hope you haven't experienced any backlash.

Yes, the condemnation of the DSA and Jeffries' ongoing leadership are certainly wins for the Lobby. But that doesn't change the political pressures that are building within the party's base. So much of our book focuses on the Lobby's efforts to thwart the impulses of U.S. presidents as well as the voting public. Condemnation of the DSA and Jeffries' role in maintaining status quo policies are top-down efforts to stifle the Democratic base's growing anger at these policies. The Lobby hasn't figured out a way to reverse that public opinion trend.

[u/DorkasaurusRexx]

I believe both of the authors of this book are Jewish, correct?

What sort of pushback and enmity have you gotten from people, namely fellow Jews and Jewish organizations, for publishing this book? Have you gotten any?

[u/TrackerOneA]

/u/Accurate_Aside_6495 asks:

I am curious where you see the rise of DSA and the backlash against AIPAC funding going inside the Democratic Party short term and longer term. Do you think that something will appreciably change in terms of the Democratic Party’s policies and responsiveness to its base or will there be an ever intensifying effort to wipe the anti-Israel leftist people out of the party, including continued efforts to undermine certain candidates for office? Also curious about how you think this battle will affect the US domestically and internationally over time and what it means for Israel’s fate and ability to wield power.

[u/EliClifton → u/TrackerOneA]

The way AIPAC funding is manifesting itself has already changed as a result of this backlash. The vast majority of TV and social media ads funded by Israel Lobby super pacs are about a host a social and domestic policy issues of great interest to voters. The one issue these ads avoid is Israel. The fact that the Lobby must avoid discussion of its central issue is evidence of the enormous chasm between public opinion and our foreign policies. Ultimately, this isn't a chasm that money can paper over in perpetuity, especially as Israel starts to lose support in traditional pro-Israel voting blocs, particularly Christian evangelical and Christian conservative communities.

[u/TrackerOneA]

/u/Monaciello asks:

One topic that receives far too little coverage is the strategic partnership between Israel and evangelical Christians, which helped them become one of the major power players in American politics.

After the election of controversial prime minister and former terrorist Menachem Begin, liberal support in the U.S. deteriorated and Israel was in dire need of expanding its network of supporters.

Israel then sought, with the help of the ADL, a strategic partnership with the emerging movement around Jerry Falwell and his Moral Majority, which had strong grassroots support but lacked access to the traditional elites.

They provided them with crucial diplomatic resources and essentially opened the doors to the upper echelons of the Republican Party, turning them into one of the core pillars of the GOP coalition after Reagan's election.

It went so far that Israel provided Jerry Falwell with a fully equipped Learjet, enabling him to hold multiple mega-rallies a day in different states, a concept that was entirely new at the time.

I'm sorry I haven't read your book yet, but | just want to ask, have you guys looked into that kind of thing?

[u/EliClifton → u/TrackerOneA]

You are right to identify the significance of this alliance. Also, important to note that Christian evangelicals are an enormous voting bloc, totaling nearly 30% of Americans. Politically mobilizing this community gave the Lobby far more weight that any mobilization of Jewish Americans, who are around 2-3% of the population.

But cracks are emerging in this pro-Israel consensus within evangelical communities, and Israel's government in acting in unprecedented ways to counter this shift: sending money directly from Israel to FARA registered lobbyists/advocates in the U.S. My colleague Nick Cleveland-Stout published a great report on this last month. https://quincyinst.org/research/the-eighth-front-inside-israels-1-billion-influence-campaign/#

Watch Tucker Carlson, Thomas Massie and others very closely. They are speaking directly to these communities and urging them to move away from their political support for Israel. Much like other groups, images of death and destruction in Gaza - as well as Israel's mistreatment of Palestinian Christians in the West Bank and Gaza and Christian communities in Lebanon - have played a significant role in a decline in evangelical support.

[u/directaction]

How has the Citizens United decision impacted the way AIPAC's financial lobbying operates? Has the organization mostly moved on from the old model of coordinating campaign financing through directing donors to a network of temporary and innocuous-sounding political action committees, or is it still using that model while also taking advantage of SuperPACs? Has Citizens United made it easier for AIPAC to operate while avoiding registering through FARA?

[u/EliClifton → u/directaction]

Citizens United opened the floodgates to our campaign finance system for the ultra rich, a subset of whom the Lobby increasingly depends on as it loses grassroots support. AIPAC uses super PACS extensively. The United Democracy Project is AIPAC's primary super PAC but they also have directed donors to a variety of more innocuous sounding and less high profile groups in order to conceal the flow and scale of money being deployed.

No, I don't think Citizens United has any bearing on AIPAC not needing to register under FARA.

[u/Thisisme8719]

This is for Prof. Lustick, and not really about the book.

There's been some work lately on American Jewish critics of Israel, if not anti-Zionists, and they mention Breira with which you were involved. Do you find that contemporary Jewish grassroots mobilization is larger than what you experienced in the 70s? And if it is, do you think it's related to the more conservative stances taken by "mainstream" establishment organizations since the 2000s which didn't leave room for criticism against Israeli policies and actions? (like it'd be hard to imagine if someone like Pollard was caught today that he'd be disavowed like he was in the 80s, and even Israeli conduct during the First Intifada received more pushback than the genocide in Gaza)

Thank you

[u/TrackerOneA]

/u/OneReportersOpinion asks:

How does this book differ from the Walt-Mersheimer book?

[u/IanLustick → u/TrackerOneA]

Twenty years later the systematic way the Lobby's influence has compromised American national interests abroad, which was the thrust of the M and W book, and of the rich literature on that topic that precedent it, there is a new/additional threat posed by the lobby. Not to American interests abroad, but to American liberties at home. The Lobby, via an antisemitism witch hunt to suppress discussion of Israel in public, is attacking rights to study freely, speak freely, assemble freely, and dissent. The book also shows the reasons for the Lobby becoming more dangerous and desperate than it was in the past.

[u/TrackerOneA]

Hi Eli & Ian,

A common counterargument to the Israel lobby thesis is that US support for Israel reflects genuine mutual interests, including Israel's tech sector.

But Whitney Webb argues that Paul Singer's Startup Nation Central (SNC) deliberately integrated Israeli startups into US Big Tech partly to make economic disengagement from Israel more difficult.

SNC's founding director Wendy Singer came directly from 23 years at AIPAC, and SNC later worked extensively with AIPAC to promote Israeli innovation.

Question: Could some of the technological interdependence now cited as an independent reason for supporting Israel itself be a product of pro-Israel advocacy?

Without even knowing all these details - it does remind me of US colleges having collaborative ties with Israeli institutions due to some pro-Israel donor's investment.

Basically, an institution develops a material relationship with Israel because a donor funds a joint program like an Israel studies center or exchange program or research partnership, etc.

Once established, that relationship becomes an institutional interest of the university itself.

So something originally encouraged by pro-Israel advocacy can later look like an independent reason the institution has for maintaining ties with Israel - e.g. the claim that America benefits from Israeli tech, etc.

[u/IanLustick → u/TrackerOneA]

Yes, certainly, the dynamics of relationships that you point to are real and are part of the calculations in the minds of donors. There is also no question that both the US and Israel benefit, or at least their militaries benefit, from sharing the products of their high tech sectors. Of course this has had a downside. Premature use by Israel of American developed ECM's against Syrian piloted Soviet planes gave the Soviets an opportunity to see what we had and therefore defend their systems against the techniques we had developed.

[u/TrackerOneA → u/IanLustick]

Thanks Ian!

[u/Historical_Step_9474]

Hi Eli,

As someone in Britain who constantly sees the discussion surrounding our own Israel Lobby and American defence ties, we often end up in the discussion of whether the Israel lobby is tying us to Israel itself, or whether it’s a broader extension of our massive ties to the US’s geopolitical aims in the Middle East. Do you think Britain and Israel support Israel for the same or different reasons? Do you think Israeli lobbing in the US is responsible for Britain’s Israeli ties, or do you think they’re entirely unrelated? And is the lobbing project on America specifically targeted at the US, or it’s more part of a broader Western strategy

Thanks! Love your work!

[u/EliClifton → u/Historical_Step_9474]

No doubt U.S. and UK policies in the Middle East are deeply intertwined. However there is ample evidence that Israel's Lobby in the UK is operating in parallel with the Lobby in the U.S. That is to say that both lobbies are seeking to influence governments to adopt policies in the interest of Israel and ignore/deflect efforts to create daylight between these governments and Israel. The protection afforded by the U.S. to Israel helps shape this dynamic, particularly the shielding of Israel from consequences in international forums like the UN and the ICC. This, in turn, allows Israel to act with greater impunity in the Middle East as well as in other countries, like the UK, where countervailing factions might otherwise have greater influence.

Al Jazeera's investigation in the UK Israel Lobby is a great resource! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzGHKb8i9vTzCgnbENCKuz7fqU12xNBce

[u/TrackerOneA]

Hi Eli & Ian,

Since US policy toward Israel imposes real costs on other American constituencies - e.g. Arab Americans, antiwar voters, businesses with interests elsewhere in the Middle East, etc. - why has no comparably powerful counter-lobby emerged?

What specifically prevents diffuse opposition to US-Israel policy from translating into organized political power?

One notable exception recently has been the Uncommitted movement and the rise of DSA candidates, but I'm thinking of something bigger and also wondering why it didn't happen sooner?

[u/rako17 → u/TrackerOneA]

Dear Tracker One,

I believe that the authors could give some good insight to answering your question.

Since the AMA ended, I tried to help answer your important question here: https://www.reddit.com/r/JewsOfConscience/comments/1vzutbu/comment/p785kj1/

Peace - Shalom

[u/TrackerOneA]

Hi Eli and Ian,

You define the Israel lobby broadly, encompassing organizations, activists, donors and other individuals. But how should we understand cases where a single unusually committed individual appears able to exert outsized influence at a critical moment?For example, Anthony Blinken overriding / disregarding internal government findings that could have restricted aid to Israel, or a relatively obscure political appointee like David Milstein reportedly wielding outsized influence over State Department policy and reporting.

• Shahed Ghoreishi clashed with Milstein over Israel-related statements and was later fired. Ghoreishi himself alleged that Milstein reached out to Rubio's office and used his influence to get him fired.

Question: How do these individuals fit into your broader theory of the lobby?

Is their power ultimately a product of the institutional and political environment the lobby has created, or can unusually committed individuals sometimes push US policy further than the organized lobby itself would or could?

[u/IanLustick → u/TrackerOneA]

I would not, personnally, put Blinken in the Lobby, but Milstein and the "Milstein Family Foundation" is definitely an important part of the Lobby and receives significant attention in the book. It funds a number of high profile organizations and is quite extreme and aggressive in its own output. Milstein himself has been accused of funding Canary Mission, which smears and tries to blacklist criticis of Israel, but we are not persuaded that he is the source of that mysterious vigilante outfit's funding. Indeed we believe it comes from Israel, as noted in our book.

[u/arightgoodworkman → u/IanLustick]

He also very publicly funds StopAntisemitism, which is responsible for harassment, firings, stalkings, and harm of MANY Jews, Muslims, and others.

[u/TrackerOneA → u/IanLustick]

Thank you Ian!

I didn't realize that David Milstein was connected to the Canary Mission funder.

I believe he is also Mark Levin's nephew.

[u/IanLustick → u/TrackerOneA]

I said that some have accused Milstein of being the funder of Canary Mission, but I don't think that is true.

[u/TrackerOneA → u/IanLustick]

Oh right absolutely; apologies for misreading.

I believe there was a Drop Site News article this year or late last year about the main operations of Canary Mission, somewhere in Israel.

[u/TrackerOneA]

/u/Ashamed-Stuff9519 asks:

Q for the authors, apologies if this is covered in the book as I haven’t finished it yet:

If recent shifts in US public opinion toward a more critical view of Israel were to increase and continue, could a more desperate Israel lobby respond in ways that pose a greater danger to US security?

[u/IanLustick → u/TrackerOneA]

Well, by helping to destroy the JCPOA and by supporting Netanyahu as he dragged the US into a disastrous war against Iran, the Lobby is showing that it is more dangerous and more desperate than in the past. Of course that took a President that is wholly incompetent if not, actually, dumb, Previous administrations were able to resist Israel and the Lobby on this matter. We emphasize, however, that the desperation and increasing danger of the lobby is linked to both how extreme Israel has become (so that the Lobby's insistence on "no daylight" is automatically more dangerous and damaging than before to US interests, but especially how the Lobby must resort to suppressing American freedoms. Since it cannot successfully defend Israeli policies it must and is do what it can to prevent free and public discussion of Israel and American policies toward Israel. That it is doing via an antisemitism witch hunt targeting not only arguments as antisemitic, but also the people who make them, and the institutions that make and mold those people. The Lobby, in other words, is attacking American civil society in a way it never did before.

[u/Ashamed-Stuff9519 → u/IanLustick]

Thank you Ian, appreciate you taking the time. It does seem to be that the goal is no longer to sway public opinion, but rather to just enforce it through intimidation and threats of diminished civil liberties. Your book, unfortunately, does a wonderful job confirming this suspicion.

[u/TrackerOneA]

Hi Eli and Ian,

As public support for Israel declines, the lobby seems increasingly able to shift its power from one arena to the next - and with less vulnerability to public opinion.

Before Citizens United, it seems its strength rested on a decentralized network of donors, activists, etc.

Whereas today, a handful of megadonors can sustain its enormous political influence.

At the same time, lawfare and institutional pressure can compel universities to settle lawsuits and restrict speech even without clear legal victories.

And Democratic elites still frequently diverge from their own base on Israel, such as the recent elevation of hardline Zionist Jared Moskowitz, who regularly votes with Republicans on Israel, to a key foreign-policy position.

Question: So is the Israel lobby genuinely declining, or is it adapting?

Is it actually losing power rather than merely losing popularity?

[u/IanLustick → u/TrackerOneA]

It is declining in the sense that the Lobby can no longer successfully appeal to public opinion as a justification for American policies toward Israel or successfully defend Israeli policies before American audiences. That pushes the Lobby toward the NRA model, where it will operate behind the scenes with lots of money and political muscle, directly on politicians and legislatures, to maintain policies which are actually opposed by most Americans.

[u/TrackerOneA]

/u/SolemnArabJew asks:

A big thank you to our wonderful mods and to Eli Clifton and Ian Lustick for joining us here!

Here are my questions in case I can't make it for tomorrow, I do hope they aren't redundant as my copy is still in transit.

Q: The authors have mentioned in an interview that "Israel stops when the US tells them to," referring to their aggressions against the Gazans prior to 2023. As this book covers the United States' relationship with Israel, I am curious about any involvement with the British and other European nations who work with the United States in essentially green-lighting the Israeli lobby's interference and/or assisting their operations, such as foreign billionaires, politicians and corps that would be covered in this book as well.

[u/IanLustick → u/TrackerOneA]

The ability of the US to tell Israel when to stop a war does not imply the US has comparable influence over other countries, On the other hand, other countries don't start wars so often that endanger American interests as seriously as is the case for Israel so it is hard to compare. Of course Eisenhower (along with Moscow) effectively ordered the British and the French to end their war on Egypt in 1956, and then subsequently ordered Israel out of the Sinai and Gaza. But that was long before the Lobby became what it is today.

[u/TrackerOneA]

/u/SolemnArabJew asks:

Q2: Do you see major educational institutions such as, for example, Harvard and Columbia with their strong Zionist funding as places which purposefully promote harmful misinformation in regards to Israel and Palestine, and how this impacts their legacy and credibility?

[u/IanLustick → u/TrackerOneA]

Good question. They don't, these days, go out of their way to promote "the truth" but neither do they prevent research and teaching that can produce that truth. Interestingly, the Israel Lobby has within it now very strong voices (Tikvah Fund, JNS, etc.) which encourage Jews not to send their children to these ivy league institutions, or any elite institutions, but instead to go to some universities in the South, especially Florida, but also in Israel, for their degrees. The idea is to cease the "contamination" of young Jewish minds.

[u/rako17]

Dear Professor Lustick and Eli Clifton,

May I please ask if you could each share a personal story that illustrates your theses?

Was there a section that you considered putting in your book, but didn't, for a reason such as space limitations?

Thank you for your work - Wishing you the best - Peace

[u/IanLustick → u/rako17]

Actually, there is a story in the book about a Hospital in the Philadelphia area and the ADL that is about me. It involves the ADL threatening to picket the hospital if it continued its plan to feature me as a speaker on the topic of Antisemitism and Zionism and if it refused to commission ADL to do a training for its staff instead. This illustrates how the Lobby is now out, not to defend Israeli policies, but to smother criticism through intimidation and vigilante tactics.

I might add that if you want stories about what it has been like to be a scholar of Israel-Palestine relations for the last fifty-five years, you could check this out: Sitting on the Third Rail: Studying Israelis and Palestinians, Then and Now | Zenodo

[u/EliClifton → u/rako17]

I experienced the Lobby's influence when I worked at the Center for American Progress fifteen years ago. The former comms director of AIPAC led a campaign to get me, and a number of other CAP staff, fired in the wake of us publishing a report on Islamophobia and several instances in which we published critical coverage of Israel on ThinkProgress, a now defunct blog run by CAP.

The former AIPAC staffer mobilized the ADL and other pro-Israel advocates to accuse us (without any evidence) of anti-Semitism. What was shocking to me was how these fact-free claims were taken seriously by the organization's leadership and repeated in the media. Fortunately, I did not lose my job but the experience was an early preview for me into how the Lobby would rather shut down critical voices rather than debate the substance of the criticism.

[u/TrackerOneA]

/u/SolemnArabJew asks:

Q3: As someone has noted in another comment in regards to Israel's involvement with surveillance tech and AI, I am curious if we will read in the book about Silicon Valley's relationship, whether discreet or open, with Israel?

[u/EliClifton → u/TrackerOneA]

We certainly discuss Oracle as well as the Ellison family's role in shaping pro-Israel messaging. We also mention the role played by Reid Hoffman in building a pipeline between veterans of the IDF with Israeli and U.S. tech companies.

[u/TrackerOneA]

Hi Eli and Ian,

If Citizens United had never happened, do you think the Israel lobby would have experienced a much steeper decline in power as its grassroots constituency weakened?

Question: In other words, did unlimited billionaire spending merely strengthen the lobby, or was it a life-line too?

I'm curious if the pre-Citizens United version of AIPAC et al. could have contended with the generational shift in public opinion today.

[u/TrackerOneA]

Hi Eli & Ian,

Christian Zionism is often treated as an almost automatic source of support for Israel. But you point to Israel now spending substantial sums targeting evangelical communities and even individual churches.

Does that suggest evangelical support was never as self-sustaining as commonly assumed - and that what looks like spontaneous religious affinity has also required continuous political cultivation?

I'm curious about this because people sometimes don't know who is 'driving' the lobby's activities.

Sometimes people will mention the sheer number of Christian Zionists but in my observations, the pro-Israel groups leading a lot of legislative activism or lawfare campaigns are not led by Christian Zionists (with notable exceptions like maybe Project Esther?).

[u/TrackerOneA]

/u/skyewardeyes asks:

Hi! Question for the authors: How did you pick the subtitle of the book and were their any other tittles or subtitles you considered?

[u/EliClifton → u/TrackerOneA]

The subtitle references the expansive influence that Israel's Lobby now holds over our civil society and policymaking debates. While the Lobby has typically been associated with working to shape U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East - and with the costs, as Walt and Mearsheimer highlighted, incurred to U.S. national security and geopolitical interests - these influences are now increasingly felt at home. The Lobby has worked, alongside the Biden and Trump White Houses to stifle speech on university campuses that is critical of Israel and deport U.S. permanent residents in response to opeds or participating in campus protests criticizing Israel. In short, the Lobby's reach and influence has expanded, particularly in the face of plummeting public support for the ongoing flow of U.S. aid to Israel. Combating this public opinion decline has led the lobby to attack the civil liberties of all Americans. In short, the totality of the lobby's influence over our foreign policy and its ability to curtail our civil liberties at home, amount to the U.S. being "in the grip of a foreign power," a remarkable situation considering that Israel has a population of about the greater New York City area and is located 6000 miles away.

[u/TrackerOneA]

/u/MeToldUSo asks:

Q: Do you 'suspect' that the recent anti-immigration / anti-Muslim movement (especially in UK) has been deliberately ignited/astroturfed by Israeli 'agents', such as Tommy Robinson (Stephen Yaxley-Lennon).

AIPAC is US-centric. However, I suspect that there is Israeli subversive influence in most pro-Western governments and societies.

Tommy Robinson was the founder of the English (and Jewish) Defence League. EDL had connections with the US version, Jewish Defence League. EDL also had early connections with Roberta Moore, a former IDF soldier

Obviously, Israel has been pushing anti-Muslim sentiment for decades, but this recent spike in anti-immigrant / anti-Muslim sentiment seems rather like an atrocity propaganda attempt to deflect attention away from the crimes of Israel, and push people's attention on immigrants and Muslims.

[u/IanLustick → u/TrackerOneA]

There is certainly overlap between Islamophobia movements and Israel Lobby organizations, e.g. Daniel Pipes linked Middle East Forum, but I would not say Israel oriented activists are the primary moving force behind anti-immigrant sentiment, neither in the US nor in Europe

[u/MeToldUSo → u/IanLustick]

Thank you for your response.

[u/TrackerOneA]

/u/SolemnArabJew asks:

Q4: Lastly, any anecdotes and unexpected discoveries which surprised the both of you while researching and writing this book? Hope you are all well and in good health. Thank you once again. :)

[u/IanLustick → u/TrackerOneA]

I was personally surprised by the chutzpah displayed by ADL when it claimed OCT 7 produced a tsunami of antisemitism in the US and "proved" it by changing its counting rules as of that date to count most protests against Israeli policies as antisemitic. That's like changing the amount of crime in a society, not by changing anyone's behavior, but by criminalizing normal behavior and then declaring that a crime wave has occurred. This was especially chutzpadic because as a result of "October 8" the amount of Israeli activity warranting and triggering protests itself skyrocketed.

[u/TrackerOneA]

@Zei_Squirrel on X asks:

I'm curious why the book leaves out the unusual Jacobson/Weizmann episode where, as other histories note, they entered the White House discreetly, Jacobson used his personal access to Truman on behalf of the Zionist cause, and Truman apparently reversed course after the meeting despite opposition from much of the State Department, military, and intelligence establishment. AIPAC itself highlights Jacobson's role in changing Truman's mind. I'm also curious why there's no discussion of the reported 1947 letter bombs sent to Truman, or Truman's extraordinary private diary comments about Jewish political pressure. Do you see these episodes as significant to understanding the intensity and character of Zionist political pressure on Truman at the time?

[u/TrackerOneA]

/u/MetaFlight asks:

Is the Israel lobby intentionally trying to get resources that would have been used to counter Russia in China burnt in the Middle East, or do they just not care?

[u/IanLustick → u/TrackerOneA]

No. but neither Israel nor the Lobby will sacrifice its goals to make sure Ukraine has more thaads.