"The Edge of the Abyss": The Origins of the Israel Lobby, 1949–1954. Issue 1 (March 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rossinow, Doug
• Is Part Of: Modern American history. Volume 1:Issue 1(2018)
• Page Start: 23
• Page End: 43
• Publication Date: 2018-03
• Subjects: Jewish, -- Politics and Government, -- Foreign Relations, -- Terrorism and Violence, -- Memory and Forgetting; United States -- History -- 19th century -- Periodicals; United States -- History -- 20th century -- Periodicals; United States -- History -- 21st century -- Periodicals; 973.9005
• DOI: 10.1017/mah.2017.17
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2515-0456

Abstract

Abstract : The main components of the Israel lobby in the United States were organized in the spring of 1954, six years after the State of Israel declared independence, in response to a crisis in U.S.–Israel diplomacy that erupted in October 1953. Israeli soldiers had massacred more than sixty Palestinian villagers in Qibya, on the West Bank, eliciting widespread condemnation; American Jews, in reply, mobilized to defend Israel in new ways. The American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs (later renamed AIPAC) and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, established at this time, displayed two outstanding features. They were Jewish united front organizations that brought together Zionist with "non-Zionist" groups. They also emerged from transnational contacts with Israeli leaders and realities. A staunch near-consensus in defense of Israel in the most trying circumstances established a lasting framework in American Jewish life.