Nuance Needed: Talking of Israeli Lobbies

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There's always been something about the implicit concept of an Israeli lobby as used by leftists that has always made me wince and just didn't sit right with me, and I've never really known why until now. A post by one Mr Vashak on the Facebook group Democratic Socialism has helped me to slide the final piece of my puzzle into place:

Sir Trevor Chinn, Israeli lobbyist or philanthropist?

As a lifelong supporter of the Labour party, Sir Trevor Chinn has been the subject of some controversy.

His lifelong support of Labour friends of Israel is public knowledge as he has an illustrious history of supporting British jews, why wouldn't he, he is one.

  • Generous charity work for the Variety Club of Great Britain (seems he has a personal mission to end child poverty)
  • Chair of the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme
  • Vice-chairman of Great Ormond Street hospital
  • Deputy chair of the Royal Academy Trust.

In 2018, left-wing Labour National Policy Forum member George McManus was forced to retract his attack on Tom Watson, after the then deputy Labour leader accepted a donation from Sir Trevor.

Mr McManus wrote: “At least Judas only got 30 pieces of silver.”

Momentum founder Jon Lansman replied: "Do you not realise that Trevor Chinn is associated with the most progressive Jewish causes and charities like New Israel Fund and Yachad. Your assumptions about Jews’ political attitudes are I’m afraid antisemitic.”

This post gave me pause for thought; the idea of an Israel lobby as commonly used by leftists makes a couple of tacit assumptions:

1) That the lobbyist is the Israeli state itself

2) That what is being lobbied for is bad or negative in some way

The thing is that Israel is as diverse as any other Westernised country in terms of politics - there are liberals, conservatives, and socialists for example, and they're all capable of good deeds. It's the aim and end result of a successful lobby that's most important.

Obviously, this doesn't mean that the more nefarious side of Israeli politics doesn't or never tries to use said lobbies as a means to assist with their imperialist efforts. It definitely has and does interfere with global politics, because just like other Western or Westernised countries, Israel has been dominated by right-wing politics for some time and its exactly what they do. 

I think socialists are somewhat guarded and reactionary when it comes to the question of Israeli lobbies precisely because they see that abhorrent paradigm of capitalism, imperialism, playing out in real-time across Palestinian territories enacted by the Israeli state.

The point is this - the so-called Israeli lobbyists, or more to the point, lobbyists in general, aren't inherently bad people, and the end-game is often laudable. We should be making a conscious effort to investigate lobbyists of all creeds rather than outright condemning them in a reactionary manner and opening ourselves up to accusations of antisemitism, for example. We should not be tarring all with the same brush.

Personally, and I guess this is the same with many leftists, I have a problem with lobbying in general for other reasons and I can't help but be critical of how exactly lobbyists, especially individuals, accrued so much wealth. 

So let's get our priorities straight as socialists - let's work on abolishing the conditions and relations that lead to huge wealth inequalities and the need for lobbyism as a means to repair the damage that they cause. 



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