In Defence of Francesca Albanese
JVL Introduction
It is impossible to refer to the “Jewish lobby” in the United States without falling foul of accusations of antisemitism.
So much so, that people often refer solely to an “Israel lobby” of which evangelicals are an important part. But to deny that influential Jewish groups are a core part of this wider Israel lobby is absurd.
Jamie Stern-Weiner, writing on his blog, looks at the latest attacks on Francesca Albanese, now UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, for referring to a “powerful American ‘Jewish lobby’” in 2014 during Israel’s brutal military assault on Gaza.
She did so, but as Stern-Weiner shows here, there is such a powerful lobby, as there is a powerful Cuban lobby, or a powerful gun lobby.
Indeed, the American Jewish Committee at that very time styled itself as “the State Department of the Jewish people”; the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations issued a press release headed “Jewish Leaders … Call on International Community to Stand With Israel”.
Dredging up an eight-year-old letter now has one purpose and one purpose only: to smear Albanese’s name and her work to secure human rights for the Palestinian people.
It must be resisted.
This article was originally published by Jamie Stern-Weiner's blog on Thu 15 Dec 2022. Read the original here.
In Defence of Francesca Albanese
In July 2014, Israel embarked on a brutal military assault against the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces killed more than 2,000 Palestinians, including 550 children. The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross observed, ‘I’ve never seen such massive destruction ever before‘.
As this devastation unfolded, Francesca Albanese – then a specialist on Palestinian refugees, now UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory – wrote to her family bishop raising the alarm and urging that humanitarian funds be raised. Albanese published that letter on her Facebook page. The letter decried the US and European Union’s anomalous support for Israel’s offensive in the following terms:
While countries such as Peru, Ecuador, Chile and Brazil have already condemned the massacre taking place in Gaza and severed all military and commercial relations with Israel, America and Europe, the former subjugated by the Jewish lobby, and the latter by guilt over the Holocaust, remain on the sidelines and continue to condemn the oppressed … instead of calling Israel to its responsibilities under international law.
It is now alleged that Albanese’s reference to a powerful American ‘Jewish lobby’ was antisemitic. This allegation is baseless.
First, it’s clear that Albanese was referring to US support for Israel’s assault on Gaza, not to the US government in general. It is certainly possible to overstate the influence of American Jewish advocacy organisations, and any suggestion that such groups control US politics as a whole would be manifestly inaccurate. But Albanese made no such suggestion.
Second, it’s not only legitimate but routine in political debate to refer to the power of lobby groups—in the US, for example, to the National Rifle Association (NRA)‘s stranglehold on gun policy, to Big Pharma‘s stranglehold on healthcare policy, or to the Cuban lobby‘s stranglehold on Cuba policy.
Third, pro-Israel lobbyists themselves advertise their role in sustaining US support for Israel. AIPAC trumpeted the New York Times‘ assessment of it as the ‘most important organization affecting America’s relationship with Israel’ while a senior AIPAC official once boasted that, ‘[i]n twenty-four hours, we could have the signatures of seventy senators’. Furthermore, when these lobby groups advocate for Israel, they often do so as Jewish groups. During Israel’s 2014 Gaza offensive, a typical press release read: ‘Jewish Leaders … Call on International Community to Stand With Israel’. The American Jewish Committee styled itself ‘the State Department of the Jewish people‘ as it ‘mobilized to … present the case for Israel’s military response to US leaders’.
Was Albanese right to suggest that such interventions had political effect? Was the New Yorker right to characterise broad Congressional support for Israel’s 2014 Gaza attack as ‘a triumph for AIPAC‘? Was eminent Professor Ian Lustick right to refer to ‘the effective veto of the Israel lobby over US foreign policy toward Israel and especially toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict’? These questions call for reasoned discussion, not silencing epithets.
The Times of Israel claims that ‘[r]eferences to Jews and Jewish lobbies wielding disproportionate power are viewed as antisemitic’. In fact, a former director of the Anti-Defamation League can casually describe ‘American Jewry’ as ‘politically and strategically … critical’ to US-Israel relations without fear of controversy. Albanese’s letter on Gaza, written in a personal capacity more than eight years ago, was likewise unremarkable. It has been dredged up now for two reasons only. To undermine her efforts as UN Special Rapporteur to hold Israel accountable to universal human rights standards. And to discredit her opposition—alongside many Jewish groups and academic experts—to an ongoing political campaign aimed at conflating legitimate, accurate criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
It is to be hoped that the public will not be deceived by this defamatory campaign to silence her.
What’s in a name? A lot! What is meant by the ‘Jewish Lobby’. Implicitly, we know it does not mean a lobby that includes non-Zionist Jews. Surely, it should be called the ‘Zionist lobby’ so we know it supports the Israeli government and also includes non-Jews.
The only “lobby” worthy of note in the US comprises a considerable section of “Christians” for whom the purpose of religion is to trawl the Old Testament in support of a re-born Israel and its place in the end-times. This group is probably larger and more signiicant than any other.
I don’t doubt that the motives behind trying to silence Francesca Albenese over a comment she made eight years ago, but I don’t think we should conceded anything to the wrong-headed and dangerous idea that what happens in American politics vis-a-vis Palestine is the result of being “subjugated by the ‘Jewish lobby'” – as opposed to a pro-Zionist, pro-Israeli government lobby. To use the term not only homogenises Jews and treats them as all-powerful (in a way that is typical of far right commentary), but marginalises, discredits and erases Jews who dissent from Zionism, and ignores the very powerful non-Jewish lobbies that promote Zionism/pro-Israelism organised for various motives such as imperialism, Islamophobia and Christian evangelism/fundamentalism.
We ought to be able to defend the good work she has done, and does, while strongly critiquing this formulation. I would hope she would agree with that approach too.
There cannot be a powerful jewish lobby because to even suggest such a thing would be anti-Semitic according to IHRA definition.
A brilliant and well-balanced Article upon the Jewish Israeli influence in the United States.
As usual the attackers want it both ways – they trumpet Israel as the nation state for Jews and the Jewish homeland, but then say you can’t say this has any political Jewish dimension.
“No smoke without fire” goes the old saw….but spread some smoke anyway.
It’s a tricky one. I personally think Jamie Stern-Weiner has it exactly right. But words take on their own meanings and “Jewish lobby” immediately raises hackles and invites misinterpretation. Former editor of the Forward J.J.Goldberg could write a book called “Jewish Power: Inside The American Jewish Establishment” in 1997. He probably wouldn’t today – it’s just not worth the hassle.
Albanese has recognised that “her comments were infelicitous, analytically inaccurate & unintendedly offensive”. For the reasons David Rosenberg suggests in his comment, it is better to avoid the term.
None of this excuses the pile-up on Francesca Albanese.
As Simone Zimmerman points out, “Israel’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva bemoans the “impunity” & “lack of accountability” on antisemitism — as they work at the UN to ensure BOTH impunity & lack of accountability for their own government’s decades of human rights violations against Palestinians.”
Let Francesca Albanese have the last word: “Thank you to those who have expressed their solidarity after yet another politically-motivated attack against my mandate. The aim is to obscure the oppressive reality I am mandated to report on. I will not let anyone define who I am and what I stand for.”