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The Role of Arab American Advocacy Groups in Shaping American Foreign Policy

  • Symposium: America in the World
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Abstract

This paper aims to offer some insights into the ways in which Arab-Americans experience the United States and adjust to its political institutions. It stresses how such a community still finds it difficult to consolidate its efforts and exert pressure on the decision making process. But to gain national visibility and recognition, they need first to voice its concerns throughout mainstream advocacy groups. In this regard, the term “Arab lobby” is a misnomer as very often it is used as a shorthand word for the loose coalition of organizations that seek to improve Arabs’ conditions in the U.S. and to influence American foreign policy in the Middle East. Notwithstanding, this study is meant to highlight the difference between what some termed the informal Arab lobby, sponsored by rich oil countries, and the formal Arab American lobby, represented today by the Arab American Institute (AAI) and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and headquartered in Washington D.C. However, while the different components of the pro-Arab lobby cannot represent “the Arabs” as a united political group, they have been able to share a common concern: Palestine. In effect, not only the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has always been a top priority and a principal focus of the Arab lobby as a whole, but it has also been viewed as a tool to measure its political efficacy. Last but not least, despite the very limited success achieved by the Arab lobby in its attempts to shape American foreign policy (compared to its pro-Israel counterpart), this study demonstrates that the members of the Arab and Jewish communities in the United States share common grounds on almost every issue central to Arab-Israel peace and U.S. policy in the Middle East, on top of them the two-state solution (Zogby International, 2007).

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Notes

  1. This research was conducted in Washington, DC (Nov./Dec. 2012), thanks to a grant I earned from the Center for Maghreb Studies in Tunis (CEMAT).

  2. Arab American Institute Foundation (www.aaiusa.org).

  3. Statistical Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 3-Year Estimates (2007–2009) and AAI’s research and surveys (www.aaiusa.org).

  4. Ibid.

  5. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 3-Year Estimates (2007–2009) and AAI’s research and surveys.

  6. Mitchell Geoffrey Bard, The Arab Lobby: The Invisible Alliance That Undermines America’s Interests in the Middle East (New York: Harper, Broadside Books, 2010), Int. XIII.

    Ibid., p. 181.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Bard, The Water’s Edge and Beyond: Defining the Limits to Domestic Influence on United States Middle East Policy (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1991), p. 7.

  9. Khalil M. Marrar, The Arab Lobby and US Foreign Policy: The Two-State Solution (New York: Routledge, 2009), p. 84.

  10. –. “Lobbying Public Opinion: The Pro-Arab Lobby and the Two-State Solution” (paper presented at the Annual National Conference of the International Studies Association, March 26–29, 2008)

  11. Marrar, The Arab Lobby, p. 84.

  12. Thomas R. Dye, Politics in America, 4th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2001), p. 294.

  13. See Kenneth M. Goldstein, Interest Groups, Lobbying and Participation in America (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999).

  14. Bard, The Arab Lobby, p. 340.

  15. Ibid., p. XIII.

  16. Ibid., p. 344.

  17. Mitchell Bard, “The Influence of Ethnic Interest Groups on American Middle Eastern Policy,” in Eugene Wittkopf, The Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy: Insights and Evidence, 2nd edition (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994), p. 84.

  18. Bard, The Arab Lobby, p. 83.

  19. According to this Act, foreign countries can monitor U.S. legislations and regulations and lobby the individuals in government and the Congress whose decisions impact foreign corporations and foreign countries, provided that this is conducted by American lobbyists.

  20. Near East Report, February 5, 1975.

  21. “Saudi Prince Says US ties at Risk over Mideast,” Reuters, January 23, 2009.

  22. Amy Kaufman Goot and Steven J. Rosen, eds., The Campaign to Discredit Israel (Washington, DC: AIPAC, 1983), p. 6.

  23. Fouad Moughrabi, “Remembering the AAUG (Association of Arab-American University Graduates),” Arab Studies Quarterly (Summer-Fall 2007).

  24. In 2000, NAAA has merged with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).

  25. Congressional Quarterly, The Washington Lobby, p. 17.

  26. Saad Ibrahim, “American Domestic Forces and the October War,” Journal of Palestine Studies, vol. 4, no. 1 (Autumn 1973), p. 64.

  27. Kennen, Israel Defense Line, p. 308

  28. Ibid.

  29. See: Bard, The Arab Lobby, p. 200.

  30. Ibrahim, “American Domestic Forces”, p. 64.

  31. www.adc.org/about-us/.

  32. Ibid.

  33. www.aaiusa.org.

  34. See: Yvonne Haddad, “American Foreign Policy in the Middle East and its Impact on the Identity of Arab Muslims in the United States,” in Ernest J. Wilson (ed.), Diversity and US Foreign Policy: A Reader (New York: Routledge, 2004), p. 249.

  35. Americans for Peace Now and J Street are other Jewish organizations that are pro-Israel, but have found common cause with the Arab lobby, especially in their opposition to settlements.

  36. Quoted in Glenn Frankel, “A Beautiful Friendship,” Washington Post, July 16, 2006.

  37. John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy (London: Penguin Books, 2007), p. 112.

  38. M. Prior, Interview with Marianne Arbogast, “Analysis: America’s New Christian Zionisr,” BBC News Online (7 May 2002).

  39. John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, pp. 132–137.

  40. D. Shipler, “On Middle East Policy,” The New York Times (6 July 1987).

  41. “AIPAC Listed 2nd Most Powerful Group on Fortune List,” Jewish News of Greater Phoenix (11 November 1998).

  42. John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, p. 142.

  43. See: Bard, The Arab Lobby, p. 189.

  44. See: Robert H. Trice, “Domestic Interest Groups and the Arab Israeli Conflict,” in Said, Ethnicity and U.S. Foreign Policy, pp. 137–138.

  45. Bard, “The Influence of Ethnic Interest Groups on American Middle Eastern Policy,” p. 87–88.

  46. Ibid.

  47. Bard, The Arab Lobby, Introduction XV.

  48. See: Yvonne Haddad (ed.), Muslims in the West: From Sojourners to Citizens (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 177.

  49. Michael Lewis, “Israel’s American Detractors-Back Again,” Middle East Quarterly, December 1997.

  50. See: Bard, The Arab Lobby, p. 211.

  51. Quoted in: Mitchell Bard, “The Israeli and Arab Lobbies,” Jewish Virtual Library, American-Israeli Cooperative (AICE) (2005), p. 5. (www.jewishvirtuallibrarey.org).

  52. Francis O. Wilcox, Congress, the Executive, and Foreign Policy (New York: Harper and Row, 1971), p. 138.

  53. Quoted in John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, p. 141.

  54. See: Sheila Ryan, “Israel Invasion of Lebanon: Background to the Crisis,” Journal of Palestine Studies, vol. 11, no. 4, Special Issue: The War in Lebanon (Summer 1982), pp. 23–37.

  55. Zogby International conducted an omnibus telephone poll of Arab Americans nationwide between September 8th and September 13th, 2008.

  56. JZ Analytics conducted a survey of 4OO Arab American voters between 9/8/12 and 9/14/12.

  57. Arab American Institute Election Report (2008), Our Voice. Our Future. (See: www.yallavote.org).

  58. Zogby International, 2008.

  59. JZ Analytics, 2012.

  60. Ibid.

  61. Center for Responsive Politics, 2012. (See Appendices One and Two).

  62. Elizabeth Kelleher, Arab-Americans, American Muslims Pump up Political Influence, Washington File Writer, September 2, 2004.

  63. Bard, The Arab Lobby, p. 344.

    Debra DeLee and James Zogby, Arab and Jewish Americans See Eye-to-Eye Says Poll, June 14th, 2007. (www.newropeans-magazine.org/content/view/5887/45/lang,sp/).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia

    Lanouar Ben Hafsa

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  1. Lanouar Ben Hafsa
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Correspondence to Lanouar Ben Hafsa.

Appendices

Appendix One

Campaign Contributions Top Pro-Arab PAC’s

PAC

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

Total per PAC

Arab American Leadership PAC

$99,329

$24,350

$109,000

$80,500

$57,355

$34,500

$5,000

$410,034

Iranian American PAC

   

$22,500

$64,100

$32,500

$35,000

$154,100

American Task Force Lebanon Policy

$41,800

$17,700

$23,100

$5,175

$5,350

$5,250

$4,000

$102,375

Council American-Islamic Relations

  

$350

$7,000

$10,000

$5,500

 

$22,850

Arab American PAC

$10,500

$6,000

   

$2,000

 

$18,500

American Muslim Institute

 

$7,500

$2,000

    

$9,500

Muslim American PAC

  

$9,500

    

$9,500

Indiana Muslim PAC

   

$2,400

$5,800

$40

$100

$8,340

Americans for a Palestinian State

   

$3,601

$1,150

$950

 

$5,701

National Assn of Arab-Americans

$2,470

      

$2,470

American League of Muslims

$147

      

$147

Total per year

$154,246

$55,550

$143,950

$121,176

$143,755

$80,740

$44,100

$743,517

Source: Center for Responsive Politics (January–August 2012)

Appendix Two

Campaign Contributions Top Pro-Israel PAC’s

Total Amount:

$1,888,493

PACs Contributing:

26

Total to Democrats:

$1,209,471 (64 %)

Total to Republicans:

$669,022 (36 %)

ᅟ

PAC

Dems

Repubs

Total

National Action Committee

$164,050

$93,500

$257,550

JStreetPAC

$173,535

$0

$173,535

CitizensOrganized PAC

$74,000

$73,500

$157,500

Northern Californians for Good Government

$92,500

$39,500

$132,000

Desert Caucus

$60,000

$60,000

$120,000

Florida Congressional Committee

$25,000

$81,331

$106,331

NorPAC

$65,033

$40,091

$105,124

SunPAC

$65,500

$28,500

$94,000

Washington PAC

$57,000

$27,500

$84,500

World Alliance for Israel

$54,000

$27,500

$81,500

National PAC

$68,500

$10,000

$78,500

Maryland Association for Concerned Citizens

$67,000

$8,500

$75,500

Republican Jewish Coalition

$0

$74,000

$74,000

Joint Action Committee for Political Affairs

$73,703

$0

$73,703

Bi-County PAC

$53,000

$16,000

$69,000

Louisiana for American Security

$15,500

$33,000

$48,500

Americans United in Support of Democracy

$17,200

$12,600

$29,800

Heartland PAC

$21,500

$3,000

$24,500

To Protect Our Heritage PAC

$12,000

$12,000

$24,000

City PAC

$12,500

$9,500

$22,000

Americans for Good Government

$4,500

$16,000

$20,500

MOPAC

$14,000

$0

$14,000

St Louisians for Better Government

$12,500

$0

$12,500

Delaware Valley PAC

$5,000

$0

$5,000

Allies for Israel

$1,250

$3,000

$4,250

National Jewish Democratic Council

$700

$0

$700

TOTAL:

$1,209,471

$669,022

$1,888,493

Source: Center for Responsive Politics (January–August 2012)

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Hafsa, L.B. The Role of Arab American Advocacy Groups in Shaping American Foreign Policy. Soc 51, 513–523 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-014-9817-7

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