jason_els writes:
I immensely distrust the pro-Israel lobby as so many of them place the needs of Israel ahead of that of the United States.
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I keep seeing a book titled
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by John Mearsheimer and Stephan Walt at the bookstore which is supposed to be highly influencial, a book highly critical of american Israeli policy, which was vehemently attacked by neocons and conservatives (especially those right-wing radio hosts that shill for Israel on a weekly basis: Dennis Prager, Hugh Hewitt, Sean Hannity).
This is from wikipedia, which explains the book's premise. A premise you'd appreciate:
Mearsheimer and Walt argue that "No lobby has managed to divert U.S.
foreign policy as far from what the American national interest would otherwise suggest, while simultaneously convincing Americans that U.S. and Israeli interests are essentially identical". They argue that "in its basic operations, it is no different from interest groups like the Farm Lobby, steel and textile workers, and other
ethnic lobbies. What sets the Israel Lobby apart is its extraordinary effectiveness." According to Mearsheimer and Walt, the "loose coalition" that makes up the Lobby has "significant leverage over the
Executive branch," as well as the ability to make sure that the "Lobby's perspective on Israel is widely reflected in the
mainstream media." They claim that
AIPAC in particular has a "stranglehold on the
U.S. Congress," due to its "ability to reward legislators and congressional candidates who support its agenda, and to punish those who challenge it."
Mearsheimer and Walt decry what they call misuse of "the charge of anti-Semitism," and argue that pro-Israel groups place great importance on "controlling debate" in American academia; they maintain, however, that the Lobby has yet to succeed in its "campaign to eliminate criticism of Israel from college campuses" (see
Campus Watch and U.S. Congress Bill H.R. 509). The authors conclude by arguing that when the Lobby succeeds in shaping U.S. policy in the Middle East, then "Israel's enemies get weakened or overthrown, Israel gets a free hand with the Palestinians, and the United States does most of the fighting, dying, rebuilding, and paying."
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I'm actually rather amazed how a lot of rational, legitimate criticism of Israel is immediately demonized by conservatives (as if Israel and the U.S. had the same political goals).