Disproportionate Jewish representation

By Kamran Hussain
Kamran28Hussain
September 24, 2024
4:12 PM

Israel has been trying to exert its dominance over Palestinians and their land for more than 75 years. Codifying in law illegal settlements as a “national value” in 2018, with the controversial “Jewish Nation-State Law”.

Every day I go on X there is always a lot of talk about perceived “Jewish supremacy” in the US. Professor David Miller, amongst others, has also raised this in the UK. He called it “over representation” (which I believe is incorrect wording).

Some people oppose discussing it, mainly Jewish accounts, and try to shut it down, and others want to discuss it.

Those who wish to discuss it, I believe almost all actually mean discussing, “Disproportionate Representation”, and this is what I want to focus on in the US in the context of policy making on Palestine and Israel.

Discussing a disproportionate representation of any group, in any section of profession / society should be welcomed.

It wasn’t too many years ago that in the UK we began having robust debates on the a disproportionate representation of “middle-aged white men” dominating board rooms and senior executive roles. In some companies it was exclusively “middle-aged white men”. Those discussions resulted in positive societal change, and opened up a lot more opportunities for women and other sections of society.

There are many who try to justify “disproportionate representation” by saying everyone is there on merit. They compare it with black sprinters being disproportionately represented in professional sprinting, or basketball being disproportionately represented by black players.

They are false comparisons.

With sports we can scientifically, accurately and completely objectively measure in terms of what their performance is. It’s factual.

Hiring into positions of government, media, banking, etc. is not accurately measurable.

Google once tried to create the perfect data driven hiring process and it failed.

It attempted to create the “perfect” hiring process through the use of data-driven techniques and extensive analytics, but ultimately found that some of their assumptions were flawed, and the process was not as predictive of success as they had expected.

I can say from my first-hand experience of being in the hiring business for more than fifteen years, contrary to popular belief, there is almost always more than one stand-out candidate, and any of the final short-listed candidates can do the job equally (as much is reliably predictable) as well as each other.

And that the final pick is almost always made on a significant degree of gut feeling – unless there are other external factors involved.

External factors for example; one of the key reasons why “middle-aged white men” came to be disproportionately over-represented compared to women and other groups, was due the “old boys club”. These informal networks of connections between predominantly white male professionals were powerful in terms of influencing hiring, promotions and business opportunities. It wasn’t based on merit.

In US politics, one of those external factors across the political landscape in relation to candidates getting elected, selected and promoted into political positions is the undue influence of groups like AIPAC.

To get a snapshot of if there is disproportionate Jewish representation in the echelons of influence in US society, I decided to look at one section of this. Which is the make-up of the past four US cabinets.

To calculate the percentage of Jewish individuals in Joe Biden’s current cabinet, we can compare the number of Jewish cabinet members to the total number of cabinet officials.

Jewish Members of Biden’s Cabinet:

Several prominent members of Biden’s cabinet or high-ranking officials are Jewish:

1. Antony Blinken – Secretary of State

2. Merrick Garland – Attorney General

3. Alejandro Mayorkas – Secretary of Homeland Security

Total Number of Cabinet Members:

The total number of cabinet-level positions in the Biden administration is typically around 25, which includes heads of executive departments and other cabinet-level officials (like the Chief of Staff or Ambassador to the United Nations).

Calculation:

With 3 Jewish cabinet members and 25 total cabinet positions, the percentage of Jewish individuals in Biden’s cabinet is 12% which is significantly higher than the Jewish population in the U.S. (about 2%).

Trump cabinet 2016

Several prominent Jewish figures held key positions in Trump’s administration, including:

1. Jared Kushner – Senior Advisor to the President (although not officially a “cabinet” member, he held significant influence)

2. Steven Mnuchin – Secretary of the Treasury

3. David Friedman – U.S. Ambassador to Israel (a high-ranking official, though not formally in the cabinet)

4. Gary Cohn – Director of the National Economic Council (not a formal cabinet member, but a key advisor)

Total Number of Cabinet Members:

Trump’s cabinet had approximately 24 members at various times, including heads of executive departments and some additional cabinet-level positions.

Calculation:

Since Steven Mnuchin was the only Jewish member formally within the cabinet (while Jared Kushner, David Friedman, and Gary Cohn were influential but not official cabinet members), we base the calculation on Mnuchin’s role: 4.2%

If we also consider Jared Kushner and Gary Cohn as part of the broader leadership team with significant influence, the percentage would be higher, though not formally within the cabinet.

Based on formal cabinet roles, about 4.2% of Donald Trump’s cabinet was Jewish (with Steven Mnuchin as the main figure). If including key Jewish advisors like Kushner and Cohn, their influence in the administration was substantial, though they were not counted as official cabinet members.

Obama 2nd term, 20012

To calculate the percentage of Jewish individuals in Barack Obama’s cabinet during his second term (2013–2017), we first need to identify Jewish members in the cabinet and compare them to the total number of cabinet officials.

Jewish Members of Obama’s Cabinet in His Second Term:

1. Jack Lew – Secretary of the Treasury (2013–2017)

2. Penny Pritzker – Secretary of Commerce (2013–2017)

3. Sylvia Mathews Burwell – Director of the Office of Management and Budget (2013–2014) and later Secretary of Health and Human Services (2014–2017)

Total Number of Cabinet Members:

Obama’s second-term cabinet had about 23 members, including the heads of executive departments and some additional cabinet-level positions.

Calculation:

With 3 Jewish cabinet members and 23 total cabinet positions, the percentage of Jewish individuals in Obama’s second-term cabinet is: 13%

13% of Obama’s second-term cabinet members were Jewish, which is considerably higher than the proportion of Jewish Americans in the U.S. population (around 2%).

Obama 1st term 2008

To calculate the percentage of Jewish individuals in Barack Obama’s cabinet during his first term (2009–2013), we need to identify the Jewish members and compare them to the total number of cabinet officials.

Jewish Members of Obama’s Cabinet in His First Term:

1. Rahm Emanuel – White House Chief of Staff (2009–2010) (while not officially a “cabinet” member, the Chief of Staff plays a central role in the administration)

2. Larry Summers – Director of the National Economic Council (2009–2010)

3. Jacob “Jack” Lew – Director of the Office of Management and Budget (2010–2012)

4. David Axelrod – Senior Advisor to the President (2009–2011) (not a formal cabinet member but a key figure in shaping policy)

Of these, Jack Lew was formally a cabinet member as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Total Number of Cabinet Members:

Obama’s first-term cabinet had about 22 members, including the heads of executive departments and some additional cabinet-level officials.

Calculation:

Since Jack Lew was the only formal Jewish member of the cabinet during Obama’s first term, the percentage based solely on cabinet roles is: 4.5%

If we also consider influential Jewish advisors like Rahm Emanuel and Larry Summers (though not formal cabinet members), their influence was significant, but the calculation remains based on official cabinet positions.

Approximately 4.5% of Obama’s first-term cabinet was Jewish (based on Jack Lew’s role). However, with prominent figures like Rahm Emanuel and Larry Summers playing key roles, Jewish influence in the administration was notably higher, even if they were not counted as official cabinet members.

Based on the data there is no doubt there is a disproportionate representation – and the influence is even greater, even though some were not in the cabinet they held cabinet level influence.

And they are all believed to be Zionists too – and so this raises major questions of objectivity, fairness and balance when it comes to shaping policy on Palestine and Israel. If we look at Anthony Blinken’s behaviour during the Gaza genocide then this problem becomes clear.

To give one example:

The US Agency for International Development determined Israel had broken international humanitarian law, it concluding Israel was blocking humanitarian aid into Gaza. Anthony Blinken, was informed of those findings, but Blinken lied to Congress and said – “we do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting aid”.

We see the negative influences of the disproportionate representation play our consistently to the lethal detriment of Palestinians and actually US citizens too. With billions of US tax money sent every year to prop up an illegitimate occupier state (no occupier state can be legitimate, it’s morally and legally nonsensical to suggest otherwise), when the money is much needed on domestic issues. As more US citizens become aware of the true history of Palestine they are becoming more supportive of Palestine, rather than Israel. US policy needs to begin to reflect that, and addressing the disproportionate influence issue would be a good way to start.

I believe we need to have these conversations rather than having them shut down. Shutting them down does more harm to the Jewish community overall and increases negative sentiments towards the Jewish community. And that is when we start seeing polls like this.