US schools are becoming a major focal point for the Zionist movement, writes Hassan Nafaa* I am not naturally inclined to exaggerate the power of Israel or that of the ubiquitous lobby that defends it. More often than not, I tend to attribute the Zionist movement's advantage over us to our relative weakness, as opposed to their superior might. I have also always stressed the importance of distinguishing between Judaism and Zionism. Not all Jews are Zionists or knee-jerk supporters of Israeli policies, as some suggest. Moreover, history is filled with illustrious examples of Jews who devoted their lives to the defence of values and human dignity and who were unflagging in their support for oppressed and underprivileged peoples around the world, regardless of their national, ethnic, ideological or religious affiliations, and however powerful and ruthless their oppressors and exploiters. These facts, however, should not divert us from monitoring the means and methods by which the Zionist movement operates and expands its influence both within and outside of Jewish communities. Obviously, Jews around the world, especially those engaged in key positions in politics, the media and the arts, as well as trade and finance, form a natural conduit for spreading the Zionist creed, rallying support for Israel and Israeli policies, and recruiting pro-Israeli, pro-Zionist lobbyists. However, we should simultaneously take stock of the fact that there are non-Jewish forces that are more influential than the Jews and more zealous in their support for Israel and the Zionist movement than the majority of Zionist Jews. These forces may be motivated by material interests or by ideological or religious convictions. We recall, for example, that for several decades until the early 1950s, many progressive Marxists saw in the Zionist drive, and then in Israel, an instrument for modernising and enlightening a region that they regarded as backwards and reactionary. Then, throughout most of the Cold War period, liberal forces around the world regarded Israel as an oasis of democracy in a region that knew only tyranny and despotism. Today, a proliferating and increasingly powerful fringe of Protestantism -- the fundamentalist Christian Zionists -- has become Israel's most fanatical supporters and an integral and indivisible part of the international Zionist movement. It is, thus, fairly easy to understand how this movement could build up and gradually expand a base of support that now extends around the world. Even so, as keen as it was to extend its influence everywhere, since World War II and with increasing fervour after the Suez crisis of 1956, it homed in, in particular, on the US, where it gradually worked its way into every critical area in the American decision-making process. The instruments and manifestations of this influence are, today, readily apparent, in the White House and Congress, universities and research centres, the news media and the television and cinema industries, as well as banks and stock exchanges, and in industry and commerce. Last autumn there appeared in book form an important study by two distinguished American political science professors, John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen Walt of the University of Harvard, entitled The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy. The authors essentially conclude that all Middle East policy decisions taken by American administrations in the course of the 10 years covered by the study set aside America's own interests in favour of the advancement Israeli interests. The conclusion follows extensive detailed analyses that cast clear light on the extent to which Zionist influence has penetrated all American decision- making centres, particularly those affecting foreign policy. Although, as the very appearance of this book suggests, the extent of Zionist influence in the US has begun to sound alarm bells in some academic and political circles, the Zionist movement does not appear daunted into, at least, lowering its profile. Indeed, the contrary seems to be the case. In recent years, the Zionist lobby has begun to step up its focus on major American university campuses, setting into motion witch hunts against professors and scholars who voice objections to Israeli policies and America's support for them. In fact, Martin Kramer and Daniel Pipes, known for their utter pro-Israeli bias, launched an Internet site whose purpose is to collect information from students on their teachers' political opinions and to maintain "dossiers" on those teachers these two Middle East "specialists" regard as anti-Zionist. More recently, it appears, Zionist lobbyists have turned their attention to a younger student population. In the 9 February 2008 edition of the Washington Report, beneath the headline, "How to defend Israel: A manual for the American student," Khaled Abdel-Hamid discusses a project funded by the Avi Chai Foundation and supervised and carried out by New York Jewish Week, the widest circulating Jewish weekly periodical in the US, whose purpose is "to teach high school and university students the facts about the current conflict in the Middle East". According to Abdel-Hamid, the project organisers have launched a contest, "Write on for Israel," from which they will select 30 winners who show a talent for journalistic writing and who hope to go on to university and eventually work in the media. Applicants are put through a series of stringent tests to determine whether they meet two complimentary conditions. The first is whether they show the talent, desire and drive to practise journalism, towards which end they fill in questionnaires which ask, among other things, whether they have written for any school newspapers or other publications and whether they plan to go on to university with the purpose of eventually specialising in journalism. They are also required to write two 500-word essays on subjects related to Israel. The second condition, of course, is that they sympathise with Israel and are prepared to defend Israeli policies. To determine whether candidates meet this criterion, they are subject to another battery of questions. Some are conventional, such as "What does Israel mean to you?" and "Why do you want to join the 'Write on for Israel' programme?" Others are less conventional and more probing. For example: "Your school's student union is planning to invite former President Jimmy Carter to discuss his book, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid. Write a letter to the school newspaper opposing or supporting the student union's decision to invite the president." "Iran poses a threat to Israel's existence. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?" It is impossible, here, to discuss at length the Washington Report article's findings and observations on those in charge of the project and the type of people they plan to invite to give lectures to candidates and the nature of the "fact-finding mission" in Israel on which they are sent. Nevertheless, it is easy enough to deduce that the aim of the project is to recruit, train and ideologically indoctrinate a new generation of journalists who are professionally equipped and psychologically disposed to use their skills to defend and promote Israel and the Zionist movement. The programme's motto may be "Feelings alone are not enough; you have to know the facts," but there is no doubt about whose "facts" these are and how they are supposed to be constructed. All the persons involved in the programme, whether as organisers or lecturers/trainers, are Jews, if not actual Israeli citizens or staunch supporters of Israel. The lecture content to which trainees are exposed consists of heavy doses of Jewish history and the achievements of the State of Israel and the "fact-finding" trip to Israel features visits to Jewish historical sites and interviews with senior Israeli officials. Finally, the project's Internet site, although based in the US, is directly linked with many Israeli government, research centre and newspaper websites. It is more than evident that this project goes well beyond conventional lobbying activities, which aim to promote and rally support for a particular cause. Indeed, it may well verge on the illegal. It is difficult to imagine that any other interest group could engage in what clearly appears to be a process of recruitment on behalf of -- and forging allegiances to -- a foreign power. Were it not for how closely Israeli security is associated with American national security in the common perception of the American public the "Write on for Israel" programme would probably be outlawed. In fact, this project is only one of 20 similar projects funded by the Avi Chai Foundation, which is only one of thousands of institutions orbiting in the Zionist sphere and that succeeded in forging a link between the US and Israel unlike any other in international relations. But the Zionist movement's success at creating this unprecedented special relationship has lured it into exceeding all norms and bounds, to the extent that it has come to treat American schools and universities as though they were Israeli settlements. Therefore, I believe that the US has become by far the most important arena in the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is not just events on the battlefield or at the negotiating table that will determine the outcome of this conflict, but also, and perhaps foremost, whether American society takes stock of the fact that its interests do not necessarily overlap with those of Israel and that the task of any US administration is to safeguard America's interests, not Israel's. * The writer is a professor of political science at Cairo University.
