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Singling out
the "Israel Lobby" for discussion
By John Sigler
08/29/07 "ICH"
-- -- I just received my copy of the new Mearsheimer and
Walt book, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy" [1]
yesterday, so I have not had a chance to read or review it
yet. Nevertheless, I have been following the discussion and
preliminary salvos in the press regarding the book for a
couple of weeks now. One of the common themes being raised
in the anti-Mearsheimer/Walt articles is the suggestion that
because the book focuses on the pro-Israel lobby
specifically, as opposed lobbying in general, that the book
is therefore selective and "one sided" and by extension,
anti-Semitic, i.e. anti-Jewish. Of course in a world where
Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu, and John Dugard have all been
tarred with the "anti-Semitism" libel, it is difficult to
take this too seriously but this hasn't discouraged many
from resorting to this canard. The following are a just a
few examples of this general argument:
"Spend ten minutes on Google and you can easily find similar
advocacy groups that represent the interests of Irish
Americans, Mexican Americans, Indian Americans, Italian
Americans and practically every other imaginable ethnic and
national group in the United States. Only the American lobby
for Israel seems to be subject to such intense critical
scrutiny and even demonization by people like Mearsheimer
and Walt." [2]
"Nobody writes academic papers and hardcover books about the
'black lobby' or the 'gay lobby' and expects to be taken
seriously. But W&M consider the Jewish lobby alone worthy of
such scrutiny." [3]
"Lobbying is inscribed in the American system of power and
influence. Big Pharma, the A.A.R.P., the N.R.A., the
N.A.A.C.P., farming interests, the American Petroleum
Institute, and hundreds of others shuttle between K Street
and Capitol Hill. ... Taming the influence of lobbies, if
that is what Mearsheimer and Walt desire, is a matter of
reforming the lobbying and campaign-finance laws. But that
is clearly not the source of the hysteria surrounding their
arguments." [4]
However, this argument is fundamentally based on the
ignorance of the reader, specifically the reader's ignorance
of the wide array of books that have been written - often
from a partisan perspective, either for or against -
virtually all major lobbies; both formal lobbying
organizations and firms as well as informal civic and
pressure groups. Books can be found discussing the lobbying
and pressure techniques of every single example cited in the
quotes above: Irish Americans [5]; Mexican Americans [6];
Indian Americans [7]; Italian Americans [8]; African
Americans (or "black lobby") [9]; Homosexuals (or "gay
lobby") [10]; the AARP [11]; the pharmaceutical industry (or
"Big Pharma") [12]; the NRA [13]; "farming interests" [14];
and the petroleum lobby [15]. The same can be said of
virtually all lobbies and influence peddlers on Capitol
Hill, from Arab lobbies [16] to the Christian Right [17].
In fact, considering the importance that the Middle East in
general and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in particular
have in today's geopolitical situation, what is amazing is
that there have not been many more critical looks at the
role of the Israel lobby in the United States. Instead, most
of the books dealing with the role of the Israel lobby on
U.S. decision making reflects the comments of M.J.
Rosenberg: "The debate is like this: 'I like Israel.' 'Well,
I like Israel more.' The next one gets up and says, 'I don't
like the Palestinians.' And the next one, 'I don't like the
Palestinians more." [18] That is, either they reflect the
Israeli hasbara (propaganda) perspective [19] or present an
analysis that may be critical on particular points, but does
not actually contest any of the fundamentals of the "special
relationship" between the U.S. and Israel. [20] All said
there are very few books that are overtly critical of the
"special relationship," that question the position that U.S.
support for Israel is in the American interest, or discuss
the influence of the Israel lobby in firmly critical terms.
[21]
Of course the Mearsheimer/Walt book is selective and even
"one sided," that is the point of the work, to present an
alternative view and interpretation of the current situation
that has been completely ignored in mainstream discourse.
Like many of the other books cited here, the purpose is to
look at the current reality from a different and critical
perspective, not to simply rehash the pro-Israel perspective
that has been allowed to utterly and completely dominate the
discussion. To single out the Israel lobby for review and
discussion doesn't make those doing so "anti-Semitic"
anymore than writing an expose of Christian Right political
influence makes you anti-Christian, singling out
pharmaceutical industry influence in Congress makes you
anti-medicine, or AARP influence makes you anti-senior
citizen.
As noted previously, I haven't read the book yet and thus
cannot comment on its respective strengths or weaknesses,
nevertheless this is a discussion that needs to be held now
that the Middle East - and the role of the United States in
it - has become a matter of such importance. If nothing else
we all owe Mearsheimer and Walt a note of thanks for
bringing the topic back to the forefront at this time and
though we all know the ad hominem invective will flow,
hopefully the more rational among us will take advantage of
this opportunity to objectively review the "special
relationship" between the United States and Israel.
Notes:
John Sigler is a writer and activist based in Denver, Colorado that
works primarily with the Colorado Palestine Solidarity
Campaign (
http://colorado-palestine.blogspot.com ). Among his
projects are Jewish Friends of Palestine -
http://www.jewishfriendspalestine.org - the Online
One State Bibliography Project -
http://www.onestate.org
- and its related blog:
http://one-israel-palestine.blogspot.com
[1] John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, The Israel
lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, 2007, Farrar, Straus and
Giroux,
http://www.israellobbybook.com/
[2] Abraham Foxman, from "The Deadliest Lies: The Israel
Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control," quoted in
"Hard-hitting critique or deadly lies?," The Jerusalem Post,
26 August 2007,
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1188128148937&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
[3] Ben Birnbaum, "Ivory Tower Chutzpah Infomaniacs
Anonymous," The Cornell Daily Sun, 28 August 2007, http://cornellsun.com/node/23853
[4] David Remnick, "The Lobby," The New Yorker, [dated] 3
September
2007,
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2007/09/03/070903taco_talk_remnick
[5] For example: Timothy J. Lynch, Turf War: The Clinton
Administration And Northern Ireland, (2004, Ashgate
Publishing) or Joseph E. Thompson, American Policy and
Northern Ireland: A Saga of Peacebuilding, (2001, Praeger/Greenwood)
[6] For example: Francisco Arturo Rosales, Chicano!: The
History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement,
(1996, Arte Público Press) or David Montejano, Chicano
Politics and Society in the Late Twentieth Century, (1999,
U. of Texas Press)
[7] For example: Mira Kamdar, Planet India: How the Fastest
Growing Democracy Is Transforming America and the World,
(2007, Simon and Schuster) or Dennis Kux, India and the
United States: Estranged Democracies, 1941-1991 (1994, DIANE
Publishing)
[8] For example: Richard Gambino, Blood of My Blood: The
Dilemma of the Italian-Americans, (2000, Guernica Editions)
or Philip V. Cannistraro and Gerald Meyer, The Lost World of
Italian American Radicalism: Politics, Labor, and Culture,
(2003, Praeger)
[9] For example: James Jennings, The Politics of Black
Empowerment: The Transformation of Black Activism in Urban
America, (2001, Wayne State University Press) or Warren D.
St. James, The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People: A Case Study in Pressure Groups, (1958,
Exposition Press)
[10] For example: Peter Sprigg, Outrage: How Gay Activists
and Liberal Judges are Trashing Democracy to Redefine
Marriage, (2004, Regnery Publishing) or Michael R. Stevenson
and Jeanine C. Cogan, Everyday Activism: A Handbook for
Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual People and Their Allies, (2003,
Routledge)
[11] For example: Charles R. Morris, The AARP: America's
Most Powerful Lobby and the Clash of Generations, (1996,
Times Books) or Dale Van Atta, Trust Betrayed: Inside the
AARP, (1998, Regnery)
[12] For example: Fran Hawthorne, Inside the FDA: The
Business and Politics Behind the Drugs We Take and the Food
We Eat (2005, John Wiley and Sons) or Robert W. Langran and
Martin Schnitzer, Government, Business, And the American
Economy, (2006, Rowman & Littlefield)
[13] For example: Harry L. Wilson, Guns, Gun Control, And
Elections: The Politics And Policy of Firearms, (2006,
Rowman & Littlefield) or John M. Bruce and Clyde Wilcox, The
Changing Politics of Gun Control, (1998, Rowman &
Littlefield)
[14] For example: John Mark Hansen, Gaining Access: Congress
and the Farm Lobby, 1919-1981, (1991, University of Chicago
Press) or Ingolf Vogeler, The Myth of the Family Farm:
Agribusiness Dominance of U.S. Agriculture, (1981, Westview
Press)
[15] For example: Robert Sherrill, The Oil Follies of
1970-1980: How the Petroleum Industry Stole the Show (and
Much More Besides) (1983, Anchor Press/Doubleday) or Jon
Birger Skjærseth and Tora Skodvin, Climate Change and the
Oil Industry: Common Problem, Varying Strategies (2003,
Manchester University Press)
[16] For example: Anthony Cave Brown, Oil, God, and Gold:
The Story of Aramco and the Saudi Kings, (1999, Houghton
Mifflin) or Rachael Bronson, Thicker Than Oil: America's
Uneasy Partnership with Saudi Arabia, (2006, Oxford
University Press US)
[17] For example: Clyde Wilcox, Onward Christian Soldiers:
The Religious Right in American Politics (2000, Westview
Press) or Mark Lewis Taylor, Religion, Politics, And the
Christian Right: Post-9/11 Powers and American Empire,
(2005, Fortress Press)
[18] Hilary Leila Krieger, "So, is real debate over Israel
possible on the Hill?," Jerusalem Post, 24 August 2007,
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1187779148288&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
[19] For example: Bernard Reich, Securing the Covenant:
United States-Israel Relations After the Cold War, (1995,
Praeger/Greenwood) or Abraham Ben-Zvi, The United States and
Israel: The Limits of the Special Relationship (1993,
Columbia University Press); which interestingly enough
directly contrasts the 'special relationship" between Israel
and the U.S. with the "American national interest"
(pp.14-27).
[20] For example: Edward Tivnan, The Lobby: Jewish Political
Power and American Foreign Policy, (1987, Simon and
Schuster) or Jonathan Jeremy Goldberg, Jewish Power: Inside
the American Jewish Establishment, (1996, Basic Books)
[21] For example: Paul Findley, They Dare to Speak Out:
People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby, (1985,
Lawrence Hill) or Camille Mansour, Beyond Alliance: Israel
in U.S. Foreign Policy, (1994, Columbia University Press)
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