We know that some countries like Israel have lobbies in the US.
Why does USA allow other countries to influence their policy?
What is the reaction of US tax payers to the existance of such lobbies?
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Down-voters please explain what is wrong with question?– JimmyJul 10, 2018 at 16:23
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I would clarify what "strong" means here with an eye towards avoiding bad subjective. I'd like to suspect the downvote is for conflating "Israel lobby" with foreign influence; the current policy of the domestic faction is to follow the nation of Israel's lead, but it is domestically funded and organized (as the article you provided mentions).– user9389Jul 10, 2018 at 17:02
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2@Machavity I read the question as what countries have strong/effective lobbies, not why the US allows them to lobby. I believe your edit has significantly changed the question.– user_42Jul 10, 2018 at 17:30
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2@user_42 If you think I removed something important feel free to improve upon it. I was just trying to save it from the downvoters– MachavityJul 10, 2018 at 17:31
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2@Machavity I will wait for the original user to decide whether this is the question he wants answered rather than make assumptions on his behalf.– user_42Jul 10, 2018 at 17:35
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1 Answer
Practically all governments in the world try to influence each other. One government investing resources into convincing other governments to be more benevolent towards them is nothing unusual. This is called "diplomacy".
In the special case of the stance of the United States towards Israel, there is also a strong domestic pro-Israel lobby. But there is no reason to believe that this lobby is financed or controlled by the government of Israel. About 7 Million of US citizens are Jewish Americans (depending on how you count). They are on average more politically active than other US citizens. This partisan source claims 85% voted in the last Presidential election, while the overall turnout was just 55.5%.
Not everyone who is Jewish is automatically pro Israel, of course. But organizations which defend the rights of Jewish US citizens, like the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee, have repeatedly issued statements encouraging solidarity between the United States and Israel.
Regarding how the US public in general thinks about Israel: While Israel is a controversial topic (the anti-Zionists in the United States are also rather vocal), the majority of US citizens are pro-Israel. When Pew Research asked US citizens about their opinion regarding the Israel/Palestine conflict in 2014, they found that:
51 percent of Americans said that they sympathize more with Israel in the “dispute between Israel and the Palestinians.” Only 14% said their sympathies are more with the Palestinians. Another 15% said they sympathize with neither side, and 3% with both sides.
answered Jul 10, 2018 at 19:26
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2I can't find anything wrong with this answer in isolation, but I can't in all honesty give it +1 because it doesn't mention any meaningful examples of other country's lobbying (KSA would be a major counterpoint to show that the question as originally stated was ... whatevs. Or CAIR). The whole problem with original question was that it was anti-Israel rather than about USA.– user4012Jul 10, 2018 at 21:03