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Israeli Leaders Find Generous Donors in U.S.
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Jeremy Ben-Ami, executive director of J Street, a new U.S.-based lobbying firm that supports dovish Israeli positions, said it is no surprise that hawkish Israeli politicians benefit most from U.S. money.
"The American Jews who hold the more conservative views toward Israel are also the ones who tend to be most actively engaged with Israel," Ben-Ami said. "Liberal American Jews tend not to single out Israel as the focus of their philanthropy."
Israel may be turning into a wealthy country, thanks to its booming high-tech sector. But the trappings of life in its public sector are still rooted in a time when the country was much poorer: Knesset members have small staffs, official residences for top officials are modest and the salary of the prime minister is less than $150,000 a year.
As they hobnob with tech moguls and real estate tycoons, many of Israel's top leaders seem to get the impression "that if they are prime minister, they deserve much more," said Bar-Ilan University political scientist Eytan Gilboa. "They want to fly first-class, and they want to smoke fine cigars."
And to get the money to do that, they know who's eager to give.
"Israelis are here. They can organize. They can demonstrate. They can petition," said Eran Lerman, Jerusalem-based director of the American Jewish Committee. "For American Jews to have political influence, there's basically one avenue: money."
Special correspondent Samuel Sockol contributed to this report.
