The Pro-Israel Lobby and Christian Zionism in the United States: Organizational Structure, Doctrinal Foundations, and Instruments of Influence on U.S. Foreign Policy toward the Middle East

Abstract

This study examines the role of the pro-Israel lobby in the United States, in both its organized Jewish and Christian Zionist components, in shaping U.S. foreign policy decisions toward the Middle East. It proceeds from the hypothesis that the lobby's effectiveness cannot be explained by its organizational and financial capacities alone, but rather by the convergence of these capacities with a broad doctrinal base within American evangelicalism, which grants it an electoral reach and cultural legitimacy that other interest groups rarely possess. Using a descriptive-analytical approach, the study draws on interest-group theory and the "ethnic lobby" thesis as an explanatory framework, and applies the case-study method to three cases: the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the 2018 relocation of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and U.S. arms supply and diplomatic protection for Israel during the Gaza war (2023-2025). It concludes that the lobby's influence peaks when its objectives coincide with the orientation of the incumbent administration and the religious sentiment of its electoral base, and declines relatively when it collides with strategic priorities the administration deems more costly. The Gaza case further reveals a notable paradox: a continued flow of weapons and diplomatic cover at the decision-making level, alongside an erosion of the bipartisan consensus on Israel within the Democratic base.