Harvard Takes On the Israel Lobby

[WhiteTara]

http://www.alternet.org/audits/34416/
This excellent article asks a lot of the right questions that all thinking Americans should be asking about our relationship with Israel.

A few weeks ago two scholars published a study that might have languished in the obscurity of academia.

But the paper was about the impact that the "Israel Lobby" -- which the authors characterized as a loose confederation of like-minded individuals and groups -- has on U.S. policy in the Middle East. So, predictably, it set off a nice little firestorm with accusations of anti-Semitism flying around our most hallowed Ivy League colleges and members of Congress discussing how to respond to the study's "charges."
snip
What was interesting about the paper was its authorship and the reaction it elicited from Israel's many U.S. supporters. Those supporters inadvertently proved Walt and Mearsheimer correct on at least one point: the Israel Lobby doesn't tolerate debate about the relationship between the United States and its favorite client state, and it's quick to accuse dissenters of having the vilest of intent.
snip
They add that there's nothing wrong with citizens lobbying in a democracy. Their point is simply that the Lobby's success has redirected U.S. policy in the Middle East away from America's interests, narrowly defined. Arguing that the relationship between the United States and Israel "has no equal in American political history," the authors wrote:

The U.S. national interest should be the primary object of American foreign policy. For the past several decades, however, and especially since the Six Day War in 1967, the centerpiece of U.S. Middle East policy has been its relationship with Israel.

[BlueEyedSon]

1. I bet the influence of that lobby is tiny compared the corporate lobbies

(oil for eample).... any influence which is not in the interest of the American PEOPLE is a "bad" thing.

[WhiteTara]

3. I have a feeling those lobbyists

are really good friends and they all milk them (us) together.

[Boojatta]

2. It might have languished in obscurity, but it was about the Israel Lobby

and the Israel Lobby doesn't tolerate debate, so it set off a firestorm of debate?

A few weeks ago two scholars published a study that might have languished in the obscurity of academia.

But the paper was about the impact that the "Israel Lobby" ... So, predictably, it set off a nice little firestorm with accusations of anti-Semitism flying around our most hallowed Ivy League colleges...

Israel's many U.S. supporters inadvertently proved Walt and Mearsheimer correct on at least one point: the Israel Lobby doesn't tolerate debate about the relationship between the United States and its favorite client state...