The Jewish lobby: The canary in the coal mine

Submitted by Dave (United States), Jan 25, 2021 at 21:33

During the 1930s, as the Nazis gained power, a Jewish lobby on the scale of AIPAC did not exist. Instead, a small group of elite German Jews formed the American Jewish Congress. While this organization protested against the rising Nazi Party, it was fairly timid in its demands. For example, it was silent on the need for increased immigration for Jewish refugees, fearing a backlash. In 1936, the World Jewish Congress was created with Rabbi Stephen Wise as president. When news of the murders filtered out, the WJC organized several large and orderly protest rallies, attracting a crowd of 70,000 at Madison Square Garden. The WJC was pro-Zionist and worked with the Zionist Organization of America.
These organizations were only marginally effective in arousing public opinion, and really had very little if any effect on policy. This tragic failure indicated the need for a far more sophisticated and forthright organizational effort. The mistakes of the Jewish community during the Holocaust were well learned, and today we see an unabashed effort to educate the public and their representatives about issues affecting Jews in Israel and around the world.
While it's certainly the case that Israel and American do not always have congruent interests, those wishing to harm Jews are often those wishing to harm Americans. Had America heeded Rabbi Wise's warnings (and Churchill's), we may have stopped Hitler earlier and avoided a larger war. Had we been more cognizant of the threat of jihad against ourselves and Israel, the 911 plot might have been sniffed out. Now, we have Iran allied with North Korea and other rogues spreading violent hatred against both Israel and the United States, subverting our allies, and developing nukes. This dire litany of common enemies proves that Israel is the canary in the coal mine, and that's a useful indicator for our own defense.

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