This is a must read for anyone interested in politics!

books:


	• The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy John J. Mearsheimer, Stephen M. Walt Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007 - 496 pages average customer review:based on 181 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Road Map to Sanity

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.

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This is a must read for anyone interested in politics!

Wow! Very impressive! If Mearsheimer and Walt's analysis doesn't convince you of the power of the Israel lobby, one can only conclude that you are either playing without a full deck or you are somehow benefiting from the Lobby's power and want knowledge of the Lobby suppressed.

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Stand up knock you to your feet

The whole point of this book is why do we give so much money to Israel when for many times in history they have lie to us (about having nuclear arms) and why do they do things that are not in our best interest. Congress approves more money in the form of grants rather then loans to Israel then it does for any other country. Many presidents like Carter, Ragan, and Clinton have stood against Congress to not allow these fundings to Israel, yet Congress had continually approved such endeavors that have not only risked security in the middle east but have also undermine our very existence as a Democracy. Israel has yet to prove that they are a Democratic nation because look at their Knesset and ask yourself how many Arabs are represented in their government.

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A textbook for a logical argument

I agree with most of the positive review of this book. The notable thing to me is that the book should be a textbook for how to build a logical argument. Rarely in the social sciences and even seldom in the physical sciences has such a thorough case been made for an opinion. The marshaling of evidence and the examination of each alternative explanation makes as solid a logical case as can be imagined. Those who dismiss the book seem to do so based on the acceptability of the conclusions, rather than the evidence.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

The Israel Lobby,? by John J. Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen M. Walt of Harvard?s John F. Kennedy School of Government, was one of the most controversial articles in recent memory. Originally published in the London Review of Books in March 2006, it provoked both howls of outrage and cheers of gratitude for challenging what had been a taboo issue in America: the impact of the Israel lobby on U.S. foreign policy. Now in a work of major importance, Mearsheimer and Walt deepen and expand their argument and confront recent developments in Lebanon and Iran. They describe the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the United States provides to Israel and argues that this support cannot be fully explained on either strategic or moral grounds. This exceptional relationship is due largely to the political influence of a loose coalition of individuals and organizations that actively work to shape U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction. Mearsheimer and Walt provocatively contend that the lobby has a far-reaching impact on America?s posture throughout the Middle East?in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?and the policies it has encouraged are in neither America?s national interest nor Israel?s long-term interest. The lobby?s influence also affects America?s relationship with important allies and increases dangers that all states face from global jihadist terror. Writing in The New York Review of Books, Michael Massing declared, ?Not since Foreign Affairs magazine published Samuel Huntington?s ?The Clash of Civilizations?? in 1993 has an academic essay detonated with such force.? The publication of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy is certain to widen the debate and to be one of the most talked-about books of the year.

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