The notion that an international Jewish conspiracy controls the US government is, by definition, antisemitic. Yet that is exactly the message of the new book, Israel’s Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power, by Eli Clifton and Ian Lustick. According to Israel’s Lobby, Israel “directs” a “shadowy,” “loose coalition” of “ultra-wealthy,” “far-right” Jewish Americans and organizations – an “Israel Lobby” – to “shape” America’s foreign policy and thereby “subordinate” US interests to Israel’s “far-right” agenda.

Wild conspiracy theories about Jews have persisted for centuries and spooked communities worldwide. In variations of the false alarms, Jews subvert not only the US but countries such as Great Britain, France, Germany, Bulgaria, South Africa, Egypt, The United Arab Emirates, and Morocco. The libels incite widespread hatred towards a minority that comprises only 0.2% of the world’s population.

There is no “Israel Lobby.” In fact, the assortment of Jewish individuals and organizations described in the book were never organized, funded or managed in such a network. The parties who support Israel represent diverse political orientations and agendas, sometimes at odds with each other.

Israel’s lobbyists in the US are the 21 “registrants” listed on Israel’s behalf in the Foreign Agents Registration Act directory, not the rich Jews named in........

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