Forget the Israel Lobby, What About the US Lobby in Israel?

The US government is inappropriately interfering in Israeli public debate, writes Gerald Steinberg, with a new ad campaign designed to convince Israelis that it is their own intransigence that is hindering peace.

The ad campaign, sponsored by a group called the Geneva Initiative, shows video clips of various Palestinian leaders speaking to the Israeli people and concluding their remarks with the phrase, "We are your partners. Are you ready to be ours?" The campaign is funded by the US government through USAID.

The problem with the campaign, writes Steinberg, is that most of the Israelis involved in the Geneva Initiative are on the far left and do not reflect mainstream Israeli public opinion, which desperately wants peace but is concerned about security. While Yossi Beilin and other members of the Geneva crowd certainly have a right to express themselves, the US-government funding gives them an artificial visibility and degree of influence.

"The USAID campaign is particularly ill-advised," writes Steinberg, "and is likely to lead to results which are the opposite of the intended objectives. The Israeli desire for peace after 62 years of conflict and rejectionism is genuine, and there is no need for a clumsy advertising campaign. After Sadat accepted Begin’s invitation to visit Israel in November 1977, the US did not need staged video clips in order sell peace with Egypt to the Israeli public."