For the past several decades, and especially since the Six-Day War in 1967,
the centrepiece of US Middle Eastern policy has been its relationship with
Israel. The combination of unwavering support for Israel and the related
effort to spread 'democracy' throughout the region has inflamed Arab and
Islamic opinion and jeopardised not only US security but that of much of the
rest of the world. This situation has no equal in American political
history. Why has the US been willing to set aside its own security and that
of many of its allies in order to advance the interests of another state?
One might assume that the bond between the two countries was based on shared
strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives, but neither explanation
can account for the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that
the US provides.
Instead, the thrust of US policy in the region derives almost entirely from
domestic politics, and especially the activities of the 'Israel Lobby'.
Other special-interest groups have managed to skew foreign policy, but no
lobby has managed to divert it as far from what the national interest would
suggest, while simultaneously convincing Americans that US interests and
those of the other country - in this case, Israel - are essentially
identical. . . .
[John Mearsheimer is the Wendell Harrison Professor of Political Science at
Chicago. Stephen Walt is the Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of
International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.]
Richard H. Curtiss, Stealth Pacs: Lobbying Congress for Control of U.S.
Middle East Policy," American Educational Trust, 4th ed, June 1996
[The furore ignited by two eminent professors from Harvard and Chicago who
have challenged the value of the US-Israeli relationship deepened on Monday
as the head of the Brookings Institute forcefully rejected their claims that
his prestigious Washington think-tank was part of the "pro-Israel
chorus".--Guy Dinmore, "Storm
intensifies over Israel Lobby paper," Financial Times, March 27, 2006]
[President George W. Bush said a few days ago that, in connection with the
supposed threat of Iran, his concern is to protect Israel. Critics ask why
Israel should not protect itself.--William Pfaff, "Israeli lobby and U.S. foreign policy," Korea Herald,
April 6, 2006]
[From the left, Prof. Chomsky was not long in providing a subtle dismissal
of the paper on ZNet and on Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now! After a
perfunctory sentence praising the two professors for having raised the
issue, he writes, "we still have to ask how convincing their thesis is. Not
very, in my opinion."--Jeff Blankfort, "Yes, Blame the
Lobby," dissidentvoice.org, April 11, 2006]
[Dore Gold, a former ambassador to the UN, who now heads an Israeli lobby
group, kicked off by unwittingly proving that the Mearsheimer-Walt theory of
"anti-Semitism" abuse is correct. "I believe," he said, "that anti-Semitism
may be partly defined as asserting a Jewish conspiracy for doing the same
thing non-Jews engage in." Congressman Eliot Engel of New York said that the
study itself was "anti-Semitic" and deserved the American public's
contempt.--Robert Fisk, "United States of
Israel?," Independent, April 27, 2006]
[ . . . the U.S. doesn't want an Israel truly at peace with the Arabs, for
such an Israel could loosen its bonds of dependence on the U.S. , making it
a less reliable proxy.--Norman G. Finkelstein, "It's Not Either
/ Or," counterpunch.org, May 1, 2006]
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, "Letter: The Israel
Lobby," London Review of Books, May 11, 2006
[The problem is simple: the Ugly American lives, and he's not a loud,
obnoxious tourist wearing Bermuda shorts. He's one of an endless stream of
well-coiffed U.S. officials traveling the world hectoring, lecturing, and
threatening his counterparts. He's an average Clinton or Bush appointee or
member of the "loyal opposition."
There seems to be nothing on earth upon which U.S. officials do not have a
policy, let alone an opinion. Uncle Sam joins God in counting the hairs on
everyone's head, in between watching the sparrows fall to the ground. In
contrast to God, however, Uncle Sam busies himself telling everyone else
what to do about it.
To back up its directives, since 2001 Washington has increased military
spending by more than a third. As a result, the U.S. now accounts for half
of the world's military outlays. America's "defense" budget now equals that
of the next 18 countries combined. American forces circle the globe via
land, sea, and air. Old bases dot the countrysides of Asia, Mideast, and
Western Europe while new ones emerge in the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, and
especially Iraq.--Doug Bandow, "A Foreign Policy of
Fools," antiwar.com, May 19, 2006]
Philip Weiss, "Burning Cole,"
Nation, June 16, 2006
[Ackerman is also a Congressional point-man for the "India lobby". A former
chairman of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, he
unequivocally backs India on Kashmir, lays all the blame for the conflict
there on Pakistan and pushes for increased US-India arms trade and military
collaboration.
In 2003, Ackerman helped organise the first-ever joint Capitol Hill forum
between AIPAC and AJC, on the one side, and the newly formed US Indian
Political Action Committee, on the other. Ackerman stressed the two
countries' common concerns: Israel, he said, was "surrounded by 120 million
Muslims" while " India has 120 million Muslims [within]". Last year, he was
the leading Democratic sponsor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's
address to a joint session of Congress.--Mike Marqusee, "India, Israel and the US," ZNet, June 18, 2006]
["We became part of what is perhaps the most effective lobbying and
fund-raising effort in the history of democracy." . . . when Walt and
Mearsheimer published their bombshell paper on the power of the Israel lobby
in March, the Harvard Law Professor was their leading attacker.--Phil, "Dershowitz Contradicts Himself on the
Power of the Israel Lobby," New York Observer, July 5, 2006]
[Why is America so much more pro-Israeli than Europe? The most obvious
answer lies in the power of two very visible political forces: the Israeli
lobby (AIPAC) and the religious right. AIPAC, which has an annual budget of
almost $50m, a staff of 200, 100,000 grassroots members and a decades-long
history of wielding influence, is arguably the most powerful lobby in
Washington, mightier even than the National Rifle Association. . . .
The Christian right is also
solidly behind Israel. White evangelicals are significantly more pro-Israeli
than Americans in general; more than half of them say they strongly
sympathise with Israel. . . .
Two other factors need to be considered: the war on Islamic radicalism, and
deep cultural affinities between America and Israel. . . .
But the biggest reason why Americans are so pro-Israel may be cultural.
Americans see Israel as a plucky democracy in a sea of autocracies - a
democracy that has every right to use force to defend itself.--"Why
America gives Israel its unconditional support," Economist, July 16, 2006]
[Blankfort's list of 'Jews in media'[iii] enables an understanding of the
secret of Jewish charm, and it can be compared with a similar extensive list
by Prof. Kevin MacDonald of California State University.--Israel Shamir, "Midas Ears,"
jewishtribalreview.org, xxx]
[ . . . he was told by Amos Elon, the Israeli author, that when Elon had
asked an Israeli ambassador of the 1960s what had been his greatest
accomplishment, the emissary replied, "I have convinced the Americans that
anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism."--Scott McConnell, "Breaking the
Silence," American Conservative, November 6, 2006]
President Carter talks about AIPAC and Israel on C-SPAN, December 4, 2006
[The many controversial issues concerning Palestine and the path to peace
for Israel are intensely debated among Israelis and throughout other nations
- but not in the United States.--Jimmy Carter, "How I See Palestine," Los Angeles
Times, December 8, 2006]
[ . . . at least in the Congress, the support Israel has in that body is
based completely on political fear - fear of defeat by anyone who does not
do what Israel wants done. I can also tell you that very few members of
Congress - at least when I served there - have any affection for Israel or
for its Lobby. What they have is contempt, but it is silenced by fear of
being found out exactly how they feel.--"Former Senator Jim Abourezk on Chomsky," December 11, 2006]
[Most of the really good campaign firms are controlled by Zionists (read Tom
Hayden's article in Counterpunch). They function as money laundries, provide
expensive services for practically nothing, demand loyalty to Israel, walk
out in the middle of campaigns if candidates do not swear loyalty to Israel,
and as private consultants have great impact on reapportionment processes in
major states.--Peggy McCormack, "The Lobby
and American Campaigns," indymedia.org, April 13, 2007]
[The American Israeli Political Action Committee (AIPAC) which heads a
network of pro-Israeli lobbies, persuaded Congress to drop a provision which
would have required President Bush to ask for Congressional approval prior
to attacking Iran.--Badruddin Khan, "Congress Fold Again:
AIPAC Intervenes on Iran," counterpunch.org, May 26, 2007]
VIDEO: Marije Meerman and William de Bruijn, "The Israel Lobby,"
VPROinternational, May 31, 2007
[Libby served as the lawyer for Switzerland-based American fugitive
financier Marc Rich, aka Mark David Reich, who is also known to be an
Israeli intelligence asset . . .
In 1983, the then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York urged
jail time for Rich and his partner Pincus Green for racketeering. The name
of that U.S. Attorney is Rudolph Giuliani. Giuliani, who is now running for
president, praised Bush's decision to commute Libby's jail sentence. . . .
Bush was urged by leading Israeli government officials to prevent
Libby from going to prison.--Wayne Madsen, "Libby a
long-time Israeli intelligence agent," waynemadsenreport.com, July 6,
2007]
[Freedom's Watch will sponsor a private forum of 20 experts on radical Islam
that is expected to make the case that Iran poses a direct threat to the
security of the United States, according to several benefactors of the
group. . . .
The idea for Freedom's Watch was hatched in March at the winter
meeting of Republican Jewish Coalition in Manalapan, Fla., where Vice
President Dick Cheney was the keynote speaker--Don Van Natta, Jr., "Big
Coffers and a Rising Voice Lift a New Conservative Group," New York
Times, September 30, 2007]
[It is impossible to understand AIPAC without understanding its precursor,
the American Zionist Council.--Grant F. Smith, "Where Did
AIPAC Come From," antiwar.com, October 9, 2007]
[IT WAS a triumphalist conference. Even this powerful organization had never
seen anything like it. 7000 Jewish functionaries from all over the United
States came together to accept the obeisance of the entire Washington elite,
which came to kowtow at their feet. All the three presidential hopefuls made
speeches, trying to outdo each other in flattery. 300 Senators and Members
of Congress crowded the hallways.--Uri Avnery, "No, I
Can't!," Gush Shalom, June 6, 2008]
[ . . . it would be unseemly to have U.S. officials subpoenaed and actually
put on the witness stand to reveal how Middle East policy is really crafted
in the height of an election season dominated by narratives of hope, change,
and restoring integrity.--Grant F. Smith, "Why Bush Will
Pardon AIPAC for Espionage," antiwar.com, August 20, 2008]
[Silverstein ran into another blogger (we're underfoot these days) who was
from Dailykos, the beloved left-Dem site. (I go there every day.)
Silverstein asked her whether the site ever covered the foreign policy
implications of the Israeli-Arab conflict.
[When Likud Prime Minister Ariel Sharon fell ill in Israel, Blitzer's
broadcast originated from Jerusalem.
Likewise, when Israel invaded Lebanon in July 2006. Blitzer again relocated
to Israel to focus viewer attention on the situation there.
As Tel Aviv sought to expand the war to Iran, several anti-Zionist rabbis
appeared in Teheran alongside Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who
echoed their wish that Zionism be "erased from the pages of history" (widely
reported as a wish to "wipe Israel
off the map").
Rather than interview these dissident rabbis, Blitzer featured David Duke, a
former head of the Ku Klux Klan.
Rather than associate the Iranian president with anti-Zionism, Blitzer used
the Situation Room to associate him with racism and anti-Semitism.--Jeff
Gates, "Israel's Fifth
Column," khaleejtimes.com, August 17, 2009]
[The Pew poll not only reveals that the overwhelming majority, two-thirds of
the members of this elite foreign policy institution, believes that the
United States has gone overboard in favoring Israel, it doesn't consider
Israel to have have much importance to the US in the first place.--Jeffrey
Blankfort, "What the U.S.
Elite Really Thinks About Israel," counterpunch.org, December 7, 2009]
[In recent years, several studies have revealed, in the words of Steven
Cohen of Hebrew Union College and Ari Kelman of the University of California
at Davis, that "non-Orthodox younger Jews, on the whole, feel much less
attached to Israel than their elders," with many professing "a near-total
absence of positive feelings." In 2008, the student senate at Brandeis, the
only nonsectarian Jewish-sponsored university in America, rejected a
resolution commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the Jewish
state.--Peter Beinart, "The Failure of the American Jewish
Establishment," New York Review of Books, June 10, 2010]
["You are not entitled to that information!"--L. Michael Hager, "Dual
Citizens in Congress?," counterpunch.org, November 12, 2014]
[A number of hard-line individuals and groups in the lobby remain staunch opponents of
the sensible 2016 nuclear deal with Iran and may eventually help convince President
Trump or the Congress to overturn it.
The clearest illustration of the lobby's enduring power, however, is the Obama
administration's failure to make any progress on settling the Israel-Palestinian
conflict.--Stephen M. Walt, "That 'Israel Lobby' Controversy? History Has Proved Us Right,"
forward.com, October 2, 2017]
[The U.S. Justice Department has ordered that RT is "obligated to register" under the
Foreign Agents Registration Act--Jack Moore, "RUSSIA TODAY SAYS ITS U.S. STAFF LEAVING IN 'MASSES',"
newsweek.com, October 10, 2017]
[The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was ordered to register as an
Israeli foreign agent on November 21, 1962 when it was part of the American Zionist
Council. AIPAC has never complied with the order, and the Department of Justice has
never enforced it.--Grant Smith, "Treasury Sanctions Foreigners for Israel," antiwar.com,
August 30, 2018]
[Omar quoted rap lyrics - "ItŐs all about the Benjamins baby" - to suggest McCarthy's
move was driven by the lobby's prolific spending. Asked specifically who she was
referring to, Omar responded, "AIPAC!"--Ryan Grim, "PRO-
ISRAEL LOBBY CAUGHT ON TAPE BOASTING THAT ITS MONEY INFLUENCES WASHINGTON,"
theintercept.com, February 11, 2019]
The Israel lobby's power over Congress, If Americans Knew, January 15, 2021
[J Street was founded to promote meaningful American leadership to end the
Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israel conflicts peacefully and diplomatically.
We support a new direction for American policy in the Middle East and a
broad public and policy debate about the U.S. role in the region.--J Street is the political arm
of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement]