Website review: LRB · John Mearsheimer and Stephen...
Someone discovered this in Middle East
•15 reviews since Mar 16, 2006
middle-east, israel, politics
•lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html
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Reviews of this website
judefa rated 13 months ago
Political scientist John Mearsheimer, of the University of
Chicago, has written about a crucial topic for our times
-- the power of the Israeli lobby in the US.
A book on the subject, cowritten with Stephen Walt,
is due out soon.
In The London Review of Books last year,
the pair introduced the subject by saying:
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' . . .
Since the October War in 1973, Washington has provided Israel with a level of support dwarfing that given to any other state.
It has been the largest annual recipient of direct economic and military assistance since 1976, and is the largest recipient in total since World War Two.
This largesse is especially striking since Israel is now a wealthy industrial state with a per capita income roughly equal to that of South Korea or Spain . . .
The Lobby's campaign to quash debate about Israel,
they write, is unhealthy for democracy:
Silencing sceptics by organising blacklists and boycotts - or by suggesting that critics are anti-semites - violates the principle of open debate on which democracy depends.
The inability of Congress to conduct a genuine debate on these important issues paralyses the entire process of democratic deliberation.
Israel's backers should be free to make their case and to challenge those who disagree with them, but efforts to stifle debate by intimidation must be roundly condemned.
Finally, the Lobby's influence has been bad for Israel.
Its ability to persuade Washington to support an expansionist agenda has discouraged Israel from seizing opportunities that would have saved Israeli lives and shrunk the ranks of Palestinian extremists.
Denying the Palestinians their legitimate political rights certainly has not made Israel more secure, and the long campaign to kill or marginalise a generation of Palestinian leaders has empowered extremist groups like Hamas, and reduced the number of Palestinian leaders who would be willing to accept a fair settlement and able to make it work.
- mraei rated 20 months ago
- Great article. It should be an eye opener for many Americans who are interested in finding the root cause of Islamic terrorism. Concerning what the article mentions regarding Arafat refusing the "generous" offer of Barak, I myself was skeptical of this fact, but when I dug deeper I found out that the mentioned offer was not generous at all, but was the total opposite. So what the article wrote was true.
- jtahjs rated 22 months ago
- Looks to be an interesting read, but being that it's 1.20 in the morning, I'm not going to try to read it through now. Later on, definitely!
- Junglist999 rated 23 months ago
- "The Israeli Lobby": suppressing discussion and assisting Islamic terror?
- JoeB1 rated 24 months ago
- The Israel Lobby John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt 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.
- Thomas-Jefferson rated 25 months ago
- "David Ben-Gurion told Nahum Goldmann, the president of the World Jewish Congress: If I were an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country . . . We come from Israel, but two thousand years ago, and what is that to them? There has been anti-semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that?"
- chopperx rated 27 months ago
- 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.
- jerk99 rated 28 months ago
- "Is the Israel Lobby Running the Government? Professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt just published a study about the Israel Lobby in the US. This lobby, they claim, is a threat the US' security and that the rest of the world. They state that '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.'" If Bush's supporters took the time to view opposing viewpoints and not simply spend all their time on attack pieces, they might actually have a bit of insight on how Washington really works.
