As Australia continues to suffer from (and be anguished about) the evil of antisemitism a phrase (or two phrases if you count the two different versions) has emerged— ‘Jewish lobby’ (and the variant version is ‘Israel lobby’).
So, what does this expression mean?
And where does it come from?
The earliest written use of ‘Jewish lobby’ I have been able to find in print comes from America from 1943—but it is undoubtedly older than that.
This notorious expression is used pejoratively to allege disproportionate Jewish influence in politics and government, a variation of the old antisemitic lie about an ‘international Jewish conspiracy.’
In other words, this term ‘Jewish lobby’ (which, more or less overlaps with the phrase ‘Israel lobby) is the offensive claim that there is a lobby group that operates behind the scenes and pulls the strings controlling what is going on in a democracy.
These are not nice things to talk about, but we have to honest and face the notions that can poison a society if they are not confronted.
Many, many years ago I worked in radio a man who was a strong supporter of conspiracy theories.
However, he was always secretive and mysterious about what lay behind the various so-called ‘conspiracies’ he talked about.
Eventually he hinted that it was—the Jews!
It turned out he had embraced full-on antisemitism.
So, where does this come from?
Almost certainly from a famous forgery called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion published in Russia in 1903.
It claims to report the contents of so-called ‘secret documents and plans’ drawn up by Jewish leaders to take over the world banking system, and thus, the government of the whole world.
This was not only (as I said) a forgery and deeply racist, but it was also always transparent nonsense.
But Hitler believed it.
Hitler even claimed that Jews were behind communism, and that all communism was a Jewish front organisation.
So, you can see how absurd this all becomes.
Tragically, there have been some prominent Australians who have used this offensive expression ‘Jewish lobby’ (or its variant “Israel lobby’) in the not-too-distant past.
We can only hope they are too ashamed to ever use such language again.
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