The Fulcrum of Zionism

174 pp. (George Allen A Unwin, 1982)

Although written before the recent round of fighting in the Middle East and the chilling of relations between President Reagan and Prime Minister Begin, Professor Glick's book is a very timely background to the current relationship between Israel, the US and American Jewry. Glick's fundamental thesis is that the conventional view of a large and influential Jewish Electorate in America pressurising Washington into pursuing a foreign policy favourable to Israel, is misplaced. Click claims that the Jewish lobby in the States rarely controls a crucial position in electoral terms (with the arguable exception of New York State! and concludes that American policy in the Middle East will forever represent American interests – but that for so long, now those interests have included the existence of a strong Israel supplied with its military hardware by America. In other words, the Jewish lobby, influential though it is, is only every powerful in that US policy makers allow themselves to be pushed along a line they have already settled on.