The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy

I was intrigued by this book after hearing the authors in an interview on the BBC World Service radio station in which, among other things, they recounted how the lobby had come after them after they published the article that became the basis for this book in the London Review of Books.
The book is written in a cool, rational style and persuades through carefully accumulated evidence and well structured argument, not assumptions and overheated rhetoric. The section on political fund-raising is particularly shocking, while the statement in the prologue that the 2008 American presidential candidates will disagree on abortion, taxes and a host of other issues, but never gun law or Israel has been proven correct!

Let me first start by mentioning that this would be an awfully boring book to someone who is not an Arab-Israeli conflict literature aficionado. It is extremely linear and narrow in scope, but nevertheless argues the point that the AIPAC is considerably influential on US policy towards Israel and other political policies that involve Israel or the Middle East conflict. As well, it argues that this sort of American inclination to Israeli policy, be it fair or not, has not been in the benefit of Israelis, Americans or other countries in the region. The arguments are thoroughly discussed, all statistics referenced, and the analytical inferences made are reasonably logical and...suffice to say I have a completely different view of the role of the U.S. in the Middle East conflict now that I've read this book.

There book is not offensive in any way, it is not anti-Semitic, and certainly not pro-Arab. In fact, the authors seem to have done their best to filter out subjectivity in the issue and this is truly about as unbiased as you can get discussing an issue that has always been considered Taboo in mainstream media.

This book is not a treatise and does not have a narrative; rather, it's an extended article. Originally, the topic was summarized in a paper commissioned in 2002 by The Atlantic Monthly, which rejected it (no surprise there). Anyway, a couple of years later the book was published in London and the truth was finally made public.

The arguments in this book are convincing, the introduction thorough and strives to assure the reader of the author's impartiality, and it closes off with a brilliant conclusion which summarizes the opinions of the authors on how the US should deal with the AIPAC, how the situation in the Middle East and Iraq would've been different if the AIPAC was less influential, and finally they analyze a scenario wherein the roles of Israel in Palestine are reversed, where the Palestinians would have the more influential lobby and the much more generous aid and unconditional diplomatic support of the US.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this book. It was an eye-opener and a terrific expose on what goes on beyond the doors at Capitol Hill with regards to America's support to Israel.

The most disturbing thing that this book reveals is that you cannot run for President of the United States and expect to win unless you espouse the views of the lobbies described in this book and that is true whether you are running as a Democrat or a Republican. If you do not believe that this is true you are free to go to youtube and view the recent speeches the candidates for President gave before the most prominent of these lobbies. You can then decide for yourself after listening to the speeches of McCain, Obama and Hillary Clinton. This book is also impeccably sourced and very well written. These two men really did their homework on this subject matter.

Mearsheimer and Walt have done a great service for public discussion in the US pertaining to Israel and our relationship with that nation.

They shed a clear light on the existence and influence of the Israeli lobby upon the American government, media, and public opinion. Their view is that this influence has, for the most part, been highly pernicious over the decades. They expose many successful attempts on the part of that lobby and its supporters to besmirch the character and smear anyone who should be so bold as to question the U.S government's fawning support of Israel's policies against the Palestinians and their Arab neighbors.

Any criticisms directed against Israel are viewed as either: (1) anti-semitic attacks by racist gentile bigots, or (2) self-hating tirades from emotionally and psychologically disturbed Jews. These AIPAC attacks, although crude, Neanderthal in nature, and totally lacking in any creative imagination, are effective enough to strike terror in the wilting souls of our less than totally fearless politicians. When I think of our congressmen and senators hiding under their desks and shaking from the fear of possible AIPAC attacks, I am reminded of a great quote from Teddy Roosevelt in the early 1900's about his boss at the time, William McKinley. Teddy commented to the effect that, "...McKinley has the backbone of a chocolate eclair." Actually, Teddy was being a warmonger at the time--McKinley was actually right in his reticence to go to war against the Spanish in Cuba and the Philippines--but Roosevelt's image of political cowardice is timeless.

The authors' presentation of the facts of the matter and their unfolding reasoned logic is first rate. The book is highly recommended as an exceedingly well-reasoned rejoinder to any and all of your friends and associates who think that our Israeli-Palestinian foreign policy posture couldn't be better. I think they effectively demolish most of the arguments in favor of continuing the failed U.S/Israeli policies of the past into the future.

They promote the vision of the two state solution for Israel and Palestine with a financial settlement for all of the Palestinians and their families that were displaced by the formation of the state of Israel in 1948. The latter is not a perfect solution, but probably the best available give the deep hostilities between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Their suggested road map is not guaranteed to get the warring parties to a final satisfactory destination. However, as they point out, the other alternative proposed policies seem only to promise more hatred, bloodshed, war, and despair.

The one point of view in the book, though, that I would take issue with the authors is the view that oil played only a minor role in our invasion of Iraq. I have no doubt, along with the authors, that the Israeli lobby had a great influence on the Bush administration in helping launch the Iraqi war. However, given the influence of oilmen (Bush, Cheney, etc.) in the Bush administration and the fact that Iraq is rated by many petroleum experts as having the 2nd largest oil reserves in the world (only surpassed by Saudi Arabia), I find it virtually inconceivable that oil was not a major part of the equation for war. It doesn't seem to take a whole lot to corrupt either an oilman or a politician. In this case, we're talking about an enormous amount of oil wealth in Iraq.... Finally, one shouldn't totally dismiss the apparent personal eccentricities and character flaws of Bush and Cheney. Those character traits undoubtedly strongly affected the US's march to war with Iraq.

The book is well worth your time and money to read. It also would make a great gift to family, friends, and associates that could use a broader exposure to the issues involved in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

I thought this book was going to bring facts and evidence. Instead they just support the majority of their theories on unsupported assumptions; for me it was a waste of time and money