Peter Grose

The idea that there are two narratives about Israel/Palestine in this country, and never the twain shall meet, was reinforced last week by the Times' two-parter on the special relationship of Israel and the U.S., titled "Anatomy of an Alliance." The first part dismissed the claim of an "Israel lobby," arguing in essence that there have been paranoid theories of Jewish influence going back to Truman's day. The next day, part 2 was devoted to the old standby bugaboo: Christian right support for Israel. As if evangelical support for the right of the chosen people to the holy land is why Dem bosses Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean say that we will be by Israel's side now and forever.

Oh, those evangelical Christian Democrats—I guess Rahm Emanuel and Chuck Schumer raise tons of money at private parties in Dallas and Boise!

I'm of course an advocate for the other narrative: that American Jewish support for Israel is a major factor in our foreign policy in that region, and that this support needs to be critically examined (especially by progressives who are appalled by Iraq and trying to undo the damage).

And I'd counter the Times' dismissal of Jewish influence as a canard that goes back to the 40s with the work of a former Timesman, Peter Grose. A gentile, a longtime foreign correspondent for the Times, later associated with the Council on Foreign Relations, Grose in 1983 published a book called Israel in the Mind of America (Knopf) that dissected the political support in the U.S. for the Jewish state, and described the birth of the lobby, which he terms the "Jewish lobby," in the mid-1940s.  read more »

Grose completely contradicts the Times' claim of last week. He shows that in 1945-1947, when the Democratic administrations of the White House were taking a "go-slow" policy with respect to a Jewish state in Palestine out of concern for the effects in the Arab world, and when some moderate Zionists were going along with the presidents, militant Jews around the country organized to fast-track the idea.