Anti-Semitic Staple about Jewish Power Captures the Left

In two weeks, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee will host its annual confab, the AIPAC Policy Conference. As one of the largest pro-Israel lobbying organizations in the United States, surpassed only by Christians United for Israel, AIPAC often works as a stand-in for perceptions of American Jewish power. In the decade that I worked for AIPAC, board members would routinely return from visits abroad and share stories with me about foreign leaders lobbying them to change the US government’s mind, not about Israel or the Middle East but about a host of issues unrelated to AIPAC’s lobbying work – things like trade policies or diplomatic choices vis-à-vis these (sometimes very problematic) countries.