Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic Hardcover – July 30, 2024

The Constitution of the United States in its First Amendment states that "Congress shall make no law ... abridging ... the right of the people ... to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." This important provision allows the citizenry to communicate with lawmakers and advise them on what is needed in public policy. After all, there are so many different laws, no single lawmaker can understand all fields of activity, so advice from stakeholders is crucial. The term "lobby" refers to the lobbies in government buildings, such as the U.S. Capitol, where the citizenry might meet with lawmakers and discuss their concerns. Of course the First Amendment was written in the early 19th Century when there was no Internet, and no giant security system controlling access to government buildings, but the principle remains. Remember that every industry, every religious organization, every civic organization, every university, every association, every business union lobbies at one time or another. Lobbying is legal, accepted, and is an integral part of government.This historical book covers lobbying activities for Zionism, which began as a Christian movement in the mid-Nineteenth century when Anthony Ashley-Cooper, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, who was serving as the third president of the British and Foreign Bible Society took up the idea of creating a British and Jewish State "in the middle of the Ottoman Empire" (as the author writes). The book covers Zionist lobbying activity in both the United States and in the United Kingdom from that time right up to Operation Al-Aqsa Flood (terrorist attack) of Hamas which took place on October 7th, 2023.The text is quite lengthy (519 pages) and is fluidly written with substantial footnotes for references. At least for this reader, what is astonishing about the book is its description of the mechanisms that have developed over time for these lobbying activities. One can see the proliferation of organizations and interest groups, letter-writing campaigns, advertising, social media and many other vectors of communication used in these activities. Lobbying for Zionism is a must read for anyone interested in public relations and the mechanics of exerting influence on public policy. This comprehensive history of brilliant public diplomacy is a remarkable story that also is of great utility for political scientists, activists, and those interested in diplomatic history and the Middle East.

Like his earlier work, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Pappe goes into the dirty work of Zionism by copiously researching the lobbying efforts since the fateful lunch at the Queen's Hotel in 1905 between Balfour, Weizmann, and Dreyfus. This book must be read in combination with Ethnic Cleansing, and Rashid Khalidi's The Hundred Years' War on Palestine. Together, they put the genocidal Zionist project that is Israel in its proper context, and show how elected leaders in Britain and the US have gone along with it because of the combination of campaign finance and straight up racist colonialist and imperialist bent by those same elected people. We are seeing the results played out in stark relief in Gaza and Lebanon, and ultimately the US and Britain as they grapple with the immorality of supporting the genocidal state of Israel.

This book address the fundamental question as why does such a powerful state as Israel still struggle, in its own eyes, to be regarded as legitimate by people around the world, while governments embrace it happily? We’ve seen that the state’s legitimacy from its inception was rarely questioned, and yet whoever questioned the state’s policy on any issue, even very cautiously, was treated as if they were delegitimising the state as a whole. It asks why Israel still needs to persuade the world, and itself, of the moral validity of the Zionist project and consequently the state of Israel. It presents arguments that up to this day the foremost groups the lobby wants to win over are those among the Jews and the Zionists who find it difficult to be fully convinced that Judaism is not a religion but a national identity, and more importantly, that this redefinition of Jewish identity justifies the settler-colonial project of establishing Israel in historical Palestine. Highly recommend this book.

Provides detailed information on the Zionist lobby.

Good scholarship.

Historically factual

Brilliant book by a brilliant scholar.

A great book from a historian who chose to tell the truth rather than spreading out lies. I expect the book will be subject to destructive propaganda from pro zionists since it's telling the story they want no one to know.