The Anti-Zionist-Zionist Struggle Within the U.S. Intelligence Agency CIA

Contrary to popular belief, the United States did not always pursue a policy of unwavering support for Israel since its establishment. In fact, the American state bureaucracy in power after World War II opposed the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine.

Due to rising anti-Semitism in Europe throughout the 1930s, Jews in the U.S. were cautious about drawing attention to themselves—at least until December 1941, when the U.S. entered World War II. From that point on, the American Zionist Jewish community became more active and organized. In May 1942, at the Biltmore Hotel in New York City, they agreed to support the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine by adopting the Biltmore Program. Additionally, in response to growing anti-Semitism in Europe, the World Jewish Congress relocated its headquarters to New York in 1940.

The "American Zionist Emergency Council" (AZEC), founded in 1943, started its first lobbying activities in Washington to support the establishment of the state of Israel.

The US bureaucracy was against the establishment of an Israeli state in Palestine

When Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948, U.S. President Harry S. Truman (1945–1953) promptly announced that the United States recognized Israel’s independence. However, this recognition was only de facto. At the time, the U.S. Department of State, the Department of Defense (Pentagon), and the CIA all held the position that "the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine is against our national interests in terms of America's security."

The U.S. civilian and military bureaucracy actively sought to prevent the implementation of the United Nations plan, which called for the establishment of two states—one Arab and one Jewish—in Palestine (as per UN General Assembly Resolution 181 (II), adopted on November 29, 1947). This anti-Israeli attitude of the Washington bureaucracy contradicted the approach of the White House and Congress members, who sometimes took a pro-Jewish stance under the influence of the Zionist Jewish lobby.(i)

CIA’s Efforts to Prevent the Establishment of Israel

Anti-Zionist organizations were established in the USA to prevent the establishment of Israel, and these organizations were supported by the newly established US Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1947.

One of them was the Committee for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land, founded in the U.S. in 1948. This committee was created to lobby for the annulment of the UN General Assembly's Palestine Partition Plan, adopted on November 29, 1947.

The President of this committee was Virginia Gildersleeve, the Vice President was Harry Fosdick, and the executive director was Kermit Roosevelt, the grandson of former US President Theodore Roosevelt. Kermit. II. He had been an intelligence officer in the military since World War II, and in 1950 he was hired by the CIA's Office of Policy Coordination. He later became the first head of the CIA's covert operations in the Middle East, while his cousin Archie Roosevelt was a Middle East expert and chief of the Beirut station. Kermit had the idea of ​​the USA forming an alliance with the Arab countries that had come out of the influence of England and France, and preventing the region with large oil resources from falling under the control of the USSR.

The committee viewed the UN decision, which allocated 52% of Palestine to the Jewish population—who made up only 30% of the region's inhabitants—as an unjust Zionist plan that directly contradicted the United States' military, strategic, and commercial national interests. Within this framework, the committee closely coordinated with the anti-Zionist American Council for Judaism (AJC) and officials from the U.S. Department of State.

The Communist Party of the USA (CPUSA) was also firmly opposed to Zionism, viewing the UN resolution as an extension of British imperialist colonial oppression against Arab populations.

Despite these anti-Zionist lobbying efforts, the State of Israel was established in Palestine in 1948.

Kermit Roosevelt founded a new anti-Israel organization called the “Holy Land Christian Committee (HELP)” in 1949, ostensibly to help Christians in Israel. HELP, which took care to include anti-Zionist Jews, was founded and led by Lessing J. Rosenwald, one-time president of the Council on American Judaism, Allen Dulles, a former State Department and OSS official and future director of the CIA, and CIA officer William A. Eddy, a former U.S. Secretary of State plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and an Aramco consultant.

In 1951, Roosevelt, along with a group of educators, theologians, and writers, founded the American Friends of the Middle East (AFME). AFME continued the mission of the Committee for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land, advocating a policy that opposed Zionist interests in the region.

Anti-Zionists within the CIA, such as Kermit Roosevelt Jr., successfully influenced the agency’s perspective on the Middle East through organizations like the American Friends of the Middle East (AFME) and anti-Zionist activists, including Rabbi Elmer Berger, the leader of the American Council for Judaism. AFME played a key role in educating policymakers, journalists, and other influential figures to counter Zionist-influenced biases.

In December 1958, AFME published a pamphlet titled Story of a Purpose, which effectively articulated the group's founding principles. The pamphlet promoted sympathy for Arab nationalism, support for Arab unity, rejection of the last remnants of colonialism and imperialism, and the belief that the Palestine issue was at the very heart of Middle Eastern problems. It also advocated for a U.S. policy of “friendly and sympathetic neutrality” toward the conflict.(ii)

Until 1967, U.S. relations with Israel under Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson remained politically cautious. This hesitation was largely influenced by the views of the U.S. Department of State, the Department of Defense, and intelligence agencies, which saw close ties with Israel as contrary to American national interests.

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Era (1933–1945)

During the period when Zionist lobbies became active, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933–1945) maintained a cautious stance. While he conveyed positive messages in meetings with Jewish leaders, he ultimately refrained from supporting the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. His position was guided by the advice of his defense and foreign policy advisors, who believed that such a move was not aligned with Western interests.

The Harry S. Truman Era (1945–1953)

After Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman was elected president and personally sympathized with Zionism. When Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, Truman took personal initiative and immediately recognized the new state, despite opposition from the U.S. bureaucratic establishment. Secretary of State George Marshall and Secretary of Defense James Forrestal cautioned Truman against making overly supportive statements regarding the Jewish cause.

During the 1948–1949 Arab-Israeli war, the U.S. did not provide weapons to Israel. Instead, it imposed an arms embargo on both Israel and the Arab world.

The Zionist lobby, particularly figures such as Chaim Weizmann, Nahum Goldmann, and David K. Niles, made extensive efforts to draw Truman into the Zionist cause and influence his decisions.

The Dwight D. Eisenhower Era (1953–1961)

The 34th President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–1961), believed that the policies of his predecessor, Harry S. Truman, supporting Israel had come at a significant cost to the U.S. and that a more cautious approach was needed. As a result, Eisenhower suspended the credits that Truman had given to Israel for the construction of a hydroelectric plant on the Jordan River.

During his extensive trip to the Middle East in May 1953, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles informed Arab leaders that the U.S. would oppose Israeli aggression. Under the Eisenhower administration, no one advocated for Israel’s interests or for strengthening U.S.-Israel relations. In fact, in 1957, President Eisenhower threatened to cut off all official and private aid to Israel and even considered pushing Israel out of the United Nations in an effort to force Israel to withdraw from Egyptian territory in Sinai.

Those who viewed Israel as a problem had significant influence over all decision-making processes related to the Middle East.(iii)

The John F. Kennedy Era (1961–1963)

The 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, became the first president to sell modern weaponry, such as the Hawk surface-to-air missiles, to Israel despite opposition from the U.S. Department of State and U.S. ambassadors to Arab countries, who warned that this could destabilize the U.S.'s position in the Middle East. However, Kennedy's support for defense aid was conditional. He called on Israel to address the issue of Palestinian refugees by either allowing them to return to their countries or providing compensation, a demand that disturbed Israeli leadership.

Approximately five months before his assassination on November 22, 1963, Kennedy sent a letter to then-Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, warning that if the U.S. could not obtain reliable information about Israel’s nuclear activities, “America’s commitments to Israel and its support for Israel would be seriously jeopardized.” Israel was not pleased with the discovery of its nuclear program at the Dimona Nuclear Reactor and refused to cooperate with the U.S. on the matter. The pressure Kennedy applied on Israel over this issue fueled persistent theories that his assassination was connected to his stance on Israel.

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Era (1963–1969)

The 36th President of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson, despite his personal sympathy toward Israel, avoided entering into a strategic alliance with Israel until 1967. During his presidency, Secretary of State Dean Rusk and the U.S. Department of State advocated for a neutral policy regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict. Johnson resisted pressure from Congress to sell arms to Israel and sought to "freeze" the Arab-Israeli dispute through a policy of maintaining the status quo. He also supported the November 1967 UN Security Council Resolution 242, which called for Israel to withdraw from occupied territories, a just solution to the refugee issue, and for Arab states to recognize Israel and sign peace treaties.

However, influential American Jews, such as Abraham Feinberg and Arthur and Mathilde Krim (the latter associated with the Irgun and intelligence gathering), cultivated personal relationships with Johnson, which allowed them to influence the president and shape intelligence gathering efforts.(iv)

After the Six-Day War in 1967, where Israel emerged victory, Washington shifted its policy from attempting to balance relations between Arab states and Israel to adopting a more pro-Israel stance.

The Purge of Anti-Zionists within the CIA and U.S. Bureaucracy

The year 1967 marked a turning point in the power dynamics within the U.S. government, particularly regarding the influence of Arab-supporting lobbies. The release of information by Ramparts magazine revealing the CIA-AFME (American Friends of the Middle East) connection, combined with Israel's unexpected victory in the Six-Day War, significantly boosted public sympathy toward Israel in the U.S.

While the anti-Zionist team within the CIA lost its power, the American Zionist lobby established a strong dominance over US politics, media and bureaucracy. By appointing people of Jewish origin to the most important positions in the United Nations Embassy, ​​the Presidency of the National Security Council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, anti-Zionists in the Pentagon and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs began to be neutralized.

The way was paved for a loyal and long-lasting relationship of loyalty between the United States and Israel, formulated as "loyalty to the Jewish people, commitment to its survival, and hostility to its enemies."

Conclusion

Despite constituting only 2.1% of the U.S. population, with a population of around 7 million, American Jews are the most influential group in shaping public opinion and steering politics in the United States. Through their power in the House of Representatives and the Senate, they have succeeded in guiding U.S. policies in favor of Israel by maintaining strong relationships with members of Congress across all political spectrums, ensuring that whoever comes to power serves Jewish interests.

In terms of influence, American Jews work closely and in an organized manner with other diaspora Jews and the State of Israel. Zionist lobbies such as the World Jewish Congress (WJC), American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) are some of the most powerful Zionist entities that steer U.S. politics.

These lobbies have often been successful in presenting the Muslim world and the Middle East as a common threat to their shared civilization, convincing Americans that protecting Israel aligns with U.S. interests and equating security concerns between the two.

In addition to their strong lobbies, Jews have always influenced the American public opinion through their ownership or management of television, newspapers, magazines, and cinema companies. Through these media outlets, the Jewish community has tried to convince the public that they are the strongest defenders of American values, portraying themselves as champions of democratic values, anti-discrimination, and human rights, as well as freedom of speech and religion. They promoted the idea that Israel, as the only democratic and secular state in the Middle East, shares all fundamental values with the United States and, therefore, should be protected and supported by the US under any circumstances.

However, after the October 6 "Al-Aqsa Deluge," Israel's brutal crimes against the Palestinian people, the rabbis' justifications for killing women and children as a divine command, the expulsion of Palestinians from their lands, and the attempts by Israel and diaspora Jews to silence those who oppose Israeli state terrorism have exposed the falsehood of decades of Zionist propaganda. Polls indicate that the American public is questioning these connections, and that conscience is awakening in the face of Zionist atrocities. This awakening is rapidly weakening the power and self-confidence of the Jewish diaspora.

Many employees within various US state agencies, including the National Security Council, the Department of State, the US Agency for International Development, the Department of Justice, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), have issued statements and sent letters protesting Biden's policies supporting Israeli oppression. These brave objections signal that US state institutions may soon take steps to free themselves from Zionist pressure and protect national interests. As mentioned earlier in this article, such a strain had already existed within the US government since 1967.

Otherwise, if the US continues to blindly follow Israel's lead, it will continue to earn the hatred of the 2 billion-strong Islamic world and the oppressed peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

[i] İsrail’in Kuruluş Mucizesi – Amerikan Bürokrasisinin Engellemelerine Rağmen

https://www.turkisrael.org.il/single-post/i%CC%87srail-in-kurulu%C5%9F-mucizesi-amerikan-b%C3%BCrokrasisinin-engellemelerine-ra%C4%9Fmen

[ii] Bkz. The Early CIA and Its Anti-Zionist Maneuvering

https://www.meforum.org/5030/early-cia-anti-zionism

[iii] Which One of These Presidents Was Toughest on Israel?

https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/which-one-these-presidents-was-toughest-israel

[iv] Bkz. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v18/summary