The U.S. pro-Palestinian community has a tendency to make news, and therefore often irritates or infuriates many pro-Israel Americans.
But this group — which includes some activists, journalists, academicians, artists, some of them Jewish; plus some Arab and Muslim students at college campuses and some Arab and Muslim immigrants — does not pose the most serious danger to U.S.-Israel relations.
Or so contends political scientist, author, and pro-Israel activist Mitchell G. Bard.
Indeed, this group is peripheral to what Bard in his latest book calls “The Arab Lobby: The Invisible Alliance that Undermines America’s Interests in the Middle East” (2010, HarperCollins).
As Bard explained to an audience of about 50 at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center on May 4, the pro-Palestinian group has been “not effective” for several reasons:
• Bard said that only about 3 million Arab Americans exist; and of that group 40 to 80 percent are Lebanese Christians “who don’t support the Palestinian agenda at all.”
• Arab Americans come from 21 Arab countries, all of which have “different agendas” that often “don’t agree.” Therefore, “there can’t be a lobby for ‘the Arabs’” the way there can be for Israel, Bard said.
• Finally, the pro-Palestinian group remains a minority in a generally pro-Israel U.S. population.
Bard said that this past February, a Gallup Poll asked Americans about their sympathies in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Some 63 percent said they felt more sympathy for Israel.
Only 17 percent in this poll expressed more sympathy for the Palestinians. About 20 percent said both, neither, or no opinion. (See details online at http://www.gallup.com/poll/146408/americans-maintain-broad-support-israel.aspx.)
The real lobby
So who is the real “Arab lobby” that poses the greater threat? This group comprises oil companies, defense contractors, and above all Saudi Arabia, Bard said.
And while the Saudi regime makes anti-Israel noises and provides some money to anti-Israel terror groups, fundamentally “the Saudis don’t care about Israel or the Palestinians,” Bard said.
The greatest interest of the ruling Saudi royal family is “keeping their royal heads,” said Bard. “And the best way to do that is to have good relations with the United States.”
And the best lever the Saudis can use is the oil under the country’s land — the largest reserve of petroleum on the planet.
So the U.S. and the Saudis have a long-standing bargain: “We buy their oil and sell them arms they don’t need and can’t use,” Bard said. Moreover, the Saudis manage to keep U.S. officials and oil company officials afraid that unless we keep up this bargain, “bad things will happen.”
Several pernicious effects, Bard contends, result from this bargain:
• The Saudis work to keep the U.S. dependent on oil imports and discourage the development of energy independence.
• The flow of U.S. money to Saudi Arabia helps support an oppressive and anti-democratic society. Indeed, said Bard, while many Israel-haters or pro-Palestinian groups accuse Israel of being an apartheid state, Saudi Arabia actually fits the description better, with its oppression of women and discrimination against non-Muslims and non-Wahhabi Muslims.
• The U.S. money also supports a government that funds terrorist organizations that target Israel and the U.S.
• Finally, the U.S. money funds Saudi efforts to buy influence at U.S. educational institutions — primarily colleges and universities at present, but even kindergarten to 12th grade schools, Bard said.
Bard criticized what he called the Obama administration’s attempts to make friends in the Muslim world and to continue to appease the Saudis. Obama’s efforts have not been effective, said Bard: “The Arab world sees Obama as a weakling” that can’t be trusted.
Moreover, “Obama favors freedom in other places, but not in Saudi Arabia,” Bard said.
Almost all U.S. presidents since the 1940s have bowed to the Saudi influence except one, Bard said. John Kennedy demanded that the Saudis abolish slavery, which they officially did in 1962. That precedent demonstrates how the U.S. has more leverage that many officials believe and “can force the Saudis to change their policies,” Bard said.
In addition to being the author of some 20 books, Bard is executive director of the nonprofit American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise and director of the Jewish Virtual Library.
His Milwaukee appearance was sponsored by The Committee for Truth and Justice, and co-sponsored by Advocates for Israel; the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation; the Coalition for Jewish Learning, the education program of the MJF; and the MJF’s Israel Center.
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