The Zionist power configuration (ZPC) cannot be understood merely as the "Jewish Lobby"

C. Wright Mills once wrote that the US "power elite" ruled by denying it held power. The Zionist elite follows this formula, but defends itself by accusing its adversaries of being "anti-Semites" and pursuing retributive mea-sures that would please former Senator Joseph McCarthy. The Zionist power configuration (ZPC) cannot be understood merely as the "Jewish Lobby" or even the AIPAC, as formidable as it is, with 150 full-time functionaries. The ZPC can best be understood as a complex net-work of interrelated formal and informal groupings, operating at the international, national, regional and local levels, and directly and systematically subordinated to the State of Israel, its power holders and key decision makers.

The parameters of political debate on Israel-related issues—which have broadened over time—are shaped by pervasive Zionist and Jewish orga-nizational influence in the mass media, censoring and virulently attacking The ZPC can best be understood as a complex network of interrelated formal and informal groupings, operating at the international, national, regional and local levels, and directly and systematically subordinated to the State of Israel.

Influence is wielded via direct influence by Zionist representatives in the Government (most notably in the Pentagon under Bush) both in the Ex-ecutive branch as well as in the Congress, and indirectly via its use of campaign funds 1) to influence the selection of candidates within the two major political parties and 2) to defeat critics of Israel and reward elected officials who will toe the Israel line.
critics, and pushing pro-Israel "news" and commentaries. The mass media in the US, particularly the "respectable" New York Times, has been in the forefront of propagandizing Israeli conquest and destruction as a "defensive", "anti-terrorist war". Not a single voice or editorial in the New York Times has spoken of the mass killing of Palestinian civilians and Israel's destruction of priceless Christian historical and religious sites that go back over 2000 years.46 While Israel's war machine destroys ancient monasteries and the heritage of world culture, the pro-Israeli mass media in the US focus their critical lenses on the scandals of the Catholic clergy. The Church's protests at the Israeli shelling of the Church of the Nativity and the murder of those seeking sanc-tuary are thus silenced.

The fourth circle of influence is through local and sectoral organiza-tions, local and state Jewish federations, and through them in local professional bodies, trade unions, pension funds. Activists may be affiliated with the national apparatus and/or embedded in local "civil society". This is probably the most serious threat as it inhibits average US citizens from voicing their doubts and criticisms of Israeli policy, and mutes the effectiveness of the advocacy sector of American society, which in other arenas has assumed a critical progressive role in relation to US policy. All over the US, local editors, critical intellectuals and activists, and even doctors have been branded as "neo-Nazis" and have suffered threatening phone calls and visits by local pro-Israel zealots—including 'respectable' members of the Jewish community. The threatened consequences usually stop discussions and/or intimidate local citizens advocating an independent and democratic foreign policy.

James Petras
The Power of Israel in United States