Nearly two decades ago, in "They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel›s Lobby", former US senator Paul Findley addressed Israel's lobby in the US, known as the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and its influence on US foreign policy particularly on Middle Eastern issues. By virtue of Findley's position as a former member of Congress, and his connections with senior officials in the US government and elites, his book is replete with comments from many senior officials, who did not mind sharing their personal experiences with AIPAC, including former senator J. William Fulbright. Fulbright chaired the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations for many years during which he took a firm stance against Israeli influence and pro-Israel pressure groups, which resulted in Israeli hostility against him causing him to lose in the elections. Inspired by the book, an article titled "Jihad of a Different Kind" was published in Alriyadh Newspaper which discussed its ideas. The article questioned the reason for the weakness of the Gulf and Saudi lobby's defense of their interests, particularly when founding a lobby in America is constitutionally permissible for any group. "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy" offers a detailed discussion of the influence of Israel's lobby in the US and its role in directing US policy in the Middle East. Professor John Mearsheimer, founder of the "offensive realism" theory, and professor of international relations at the University of Chicago and Stephen Walt of the "balance of terror" theory, co-authored the book. It was meant to be research credited to Harvard University and the University of Chicago; however, due to its frank and serious nature, it received heavy criticism from Israel's lobby in the US and sympathizers with Israel, which urged the universities to disown the research. By the end of Ahmadinejad's term of presidency, the US-Iranian rapprochement brought names like Sadegh Kharazi, advisor of former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami and known to be the founder of Iranian lobby in the US, and Trita Parsi, founder and president of the National Iranian American Council and author of "Treacherous Alliance" and "A Single Roll of the Dice". Such names and many others were involved in changing the image of Iran among the US elite and the general public, enabling a nuclear deal to be reached. This was a major achievement for the lobby. An example which illustrates the scope and the influence of the Iran lobby in the US on the political elite and decision makers is the following. "A Sensible Path on Iran" is a report written in 2008 by Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security advisor and an influential member of the elite in US decision making, and William Odom, former director of the National Security Agency. The report criticizes the failure of the US policy of "carrots and sticks" toward Iran that will result in Iran having nuclear weapons. It proposes replacing the current policy with a realistic strategy on Iran through negotiations that "returns [it] to its long-standing and geopolitically natural pre-1979 policy" i.e. "Gulf Policeman". The fundamental and urgent question at the current stage is the absence of an influential Gulf lobby in the US that is based on defending the Gulf States' interests, rectifying stereotypical misconceptions, and improving the US public's attitude toward their policies. In this regard, Dania Al-Khateeb says in "Gulf-Arab Lobby in the USA: Ambition VS Reality" that this absence goes back to two main reasons: firstly, the Gulf lobby does not penetrate the American society in the same way as its Greek and Jewish counterparts. She recommends that Gulf governments should communicate with overseas Gulf citizens who live in the US to play their role in the media. Secondly, lack of a firm and unified strategy; most of the pressure is put on tactical issues, such as arm deals, instead of long-term strategic issues. Therefore, the lobby neither has influence on US public opinion nor on the influential political elite. A good initiative and a step in the right direction has been taken by Suleiman Al-Ansari, who established a Saudi lobby in the US under the name of the Saudi American Public Relation Affairs Committee (SAPRAC), aimed at improving the opinion of the US public in general and US decision makers in particular regarding Saudi policies. However, if this lobby does not have enough support to engage closely with American society in an attempt to influence the media, social networks, workshops, and seminars, it will not be effective in the long-term. Finally, US Congress has overridden Obama›s veto of JASTA, which will allow families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks to take legal action against the home countries of the attackers. The legislation mainly targets Saudi Arabian and Gulf State interests, which indicates the need for a Saudi-Gulf lobby that can protect their interests in a country with whom they share a long history, strategic relations and common interests. — Dr. Ibrahim Al-Othaimin is a Middle East affairs specialist and security analyst based in Riyadh. He can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @Alothaimin
