Unsurprisingly it’s one of the more popular myths that circulates around the left. From Times-Online Comment Central:

I have just come across the most extraordinary statement by Richard Dawkins. It is right there on the Guardian website without a sentence even questioning it. Here it is:

When you think about how fantastically successful the Jewish lobby has been, though, in fact, they are less numerous I am told – religious Jews anyway – than atheists and [yet they] more or less monopolise American foreign policy as far as many people can see. So if atheists could achieve a small fraction of that influence, the world would be a better place.

So Dawkins, a liberal hero, believes, er, that Jews control world power. And, judging from the Guardian, it is now a part of mainstream debate to say so. Perhaps you think I am over-reacting, but I am a little bit frightened.

Stumbling and Mumbling points out that there is a Dawkins is inconsistent in apparently accepting rumors he’s heard from unnamed sources as proof of the existence a Jewish conspiracy but not of the existence of a deity:

The highlighted phrases illustrate Dawkins’ use of the heuristic of social proof – he seems to believe Jews are small but monopolize US foreign policy because others tell him so.
But you could use exactly the same method to believe in God – or at least to be agnostic. God exists as far as many people can see – indeed, many more, for much longer, than believe in Jews’ influence on foreign policy.
So, why is Dawkins happy to use social proof in one context, but reject it so violently in another?
It would be too glib to say this is an example of how rational people cease to be rational in thinking about politics, because there’s something to be said sometimes for the use of social proof.

However it’s The Midnight Sun which points out the most obvious conclusion we should all draw:

This may serve as a wake-up call for those Jews flirting with the secular Left. I certainly hope so. What disturbs me about the comments is that there is no challenge to them from the Guardian and that Dawkins is bold enough to utter such slander to a public readership. Not content to slam Christians, he is just itching to include the Jews in his dragnet as well.

It’s true what they say: The problem with people who believe in nothing is that they’ll fall for anything.