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The Passionate Attachment: America's Involvement With Israel, 1947 to the Present

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"The Passionate Attachment" is an in depth study of the relationship between the United States and Israel. The title is derived from George Washington's warning against "Passionate attachments" with foreign nations. Such attachments result in:

"Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists...It leads also to concession to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt...to injure the nation making the concessions...by exciting jealousy, ill will, and disposition to retaliate in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld...It gives to...citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation) facility...to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils."

The authors then proceed to explain how the relationship between the United States and Israel violates Washington's warning and proves all his predictions of the consequences of a "Passionate attachment."

The first section of the book covers the history of the relationship from the foundation of Israel in 1947 to the date of writing in 1992. The Balls explain how the inordinate influence of Israel began when a politically weak Harry S Truman capitulated to Israeli pressures to ensure Jewish support in the crucial 1948 election.

The only President who seems to have earned the respect of the authors is Dwight D. Eisenhower who, unlike Truman, owed no political debt to Jewish voters and who was sufficiently rich in political capital to permit an adherence to a principled policy.

Beginning with the Kennedy administration, the Balls indicate that American administrations have repeatedly sacrificed American interests on the altar of Israeli demands. Among the low points of the relationship was the 1967 attack by Israeli forces on the USS Liberty, a U. S. Navy intelligence ship whose existence threatened Israeli plans to occupy the Golan Heights before international pressure could force a cease-fire. Rather than responding to this attack on the U.S. Navy as it would if directed from any other quarter, the Johnson administration wrote it off as a case of mistaken identity. In subsequent administrations the retreat from principle has continued.

The authors illustrate how, as the relationship developed, supporters of Israel were able to create the illusion that Israel served as a valuable American asset the Cold War struggle against Soviet expansionism. The authors explain how the Coalition which won the Gulf War proved that Israel's days as a strategic American asset, if they ever existed, were over.

Much attention is devoted to the relationship between Israel and its Arab neighbors. It is refreshing to read an analysis of the recent history of the Middle East which is not filtered through Israeli apologists. The authors explain the background of developments in Israel and the Arab portions of Palestine. The Israeli policy of national expansion of military conquest, the expulsion of Arabs from conquered land and the colonization of those who have remained under the Israeli yoke are explained in detail. Acts of Israeli terrorism against Arabs are given due attention, despite the record of Israeli denials which are routinely accepted in American circles.

An eye-opening chapter is devoted to the strong influence of Jewish pressure on American politics and how it is reflected in American foreign policy toward Israel and the Arabs.

Particularly timely chapters are the ones on the neglected American-Arab relations and "Terror and Reprisal" against America and Israel. The moral and financial costs of the Passionate attachment are followed by recommendations directed to both the United States and Israel on ways to advance the interests of each in the Middle East.

This book is both edifying and shocking. It is edifying in that it presents a different views of the state of America's role in Middle eastern affairs that that to which we are normally exposed. This book is shocking in that it shows millions of Americans and several administrations as subordinating American interests to those of Israeli in the determination of American policy. This book is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the truth about American Middle Eastern policy.

This excellent review of our relationship with Israel explains a great deal about how and why we find ourselves the enemy of so many people in the Middle East. Our unqualified backing of Israel has led to disaster.
Sadly, support for Israel is seen by many Jews as a litmus test for a person's views on Jews - and is the reason why so many Jews who oppose Israel's policies have been called "self-hating" Jews. There is little doubt that the organizations that Israel has set up to influence American policy has fostered this idea. All too many American Jews have bought into this propaganda.
The other reviewers have told you what this book is about so I won't repeat what they have said.
What fascinates me is that you cannot find this book - copies of it are more rare that first editions of "Light In August". Why is that? Why hasn't this book been read, reviewed and studied as should be? Written by one of the few heroes of the Vietnam era who were part of the State Dept, this book has been "suppressed" in the way that almost all books or writers who question our policy toward Israel have been. How can that happen, and why has it happened?

The Passionate Attachment, though I read it a few years ago, is a book I often refer back to when haveing any discussion about the middle east. George Ball was a talented and eloquent civil servant who thoroughly researched and understood his topic. Anyone who wants to know more about the US involvement in Israel should read this book. Mr. Ball draws on personal contacts and experience to point out America's failure to admonish the State of Israel when it blatantly violates international law, US law (regarding foreign military sales) and partipates in acts of aggression. His primary conclusions are that the United States is the loser in its middle east policy and that since Israel is the benefactor, it has no interest in changing its policies (why should it?) since the US is not forcing it to.

George Ball, with his son, does another heroic service to the USA and all persons interested in understanding USA foreign relations. His analysis and recommendations to President Johnson against early USA involvement in VietNam, considered by itself, would support his stature as statesman. In this book, the authors review and analyze events leading up to and following the origin of Israel with particular attention to USA policies, foreign aid, changing Israeli political constituencies, the Israeli economy, aims of Israel and connections with the American Jewish lobby.

Readers may learn about respected USA statesmen advising President Truman against supporting partitioning of Palestine to create the state of Israel, the jewish terrorist organizations and acts created before the state of Israel was formed, as well as after, Israeli policies regarding expelling Palestinians, fear by USA politicians of the American Jewish lobby, the trend of Israeli politics toward control and manipulation by the religious right (some of these organizations make the Taliban look like the PTA) and the sad state of the Israeli economy.

The basic message of the book is taken from George Washington's farewill address: America should avoid passionate attachments to other countries, as well as passionate hatreds, since such emotions do not lead to clear-thinking about the country's interests with respect to the rest of the world. Reading this book will help you understand and evaluate our current policies and actions with respect to Israel and the formation of a new Palestinian state.

This book, although written in the early 1990's, is more timely than ever given events of the last six months. It should be reprinted and read by anyone expressing or evaluating opinions on USA policy towards the Israeli / Palestinian conflict and our subsequent policies should that conflict ever terminate.

Ever wondered why US politicians like to so often proclaim the mantra "Israel is our ally, I will always stand by Israel, etc."? Ever wondered why the US continues to grant Israel billions of dollars each year despite Israel's behavior and despite international condemnation of its actions? Then you must read this book, for in here you will find the answers. "The Passionate Attachment" explores the intricate relationship between the US and Israel, on many levels, and the sources and roots of this special relationship and passionate attachment. The text is very well-written and reads with the suspense of a good detective story, except this describes history.

Also Recommended: The Samson Option by Seymour Hersh, and They Dare to Speak out by Paul Findley.

Defines the truth about our relationship with Israel. A whole nation on America's welfare rolls. It is very obvious, that American Middle East policy is formulated and directed from Tel Aviv, where a ruthless ruler, wanted by the World Court for crimes against humanity, is challenged by a Nobel Peace Prize winner. You would never know that by reading the daily distortions, served by the American media. Magnificent book, equalled only by Liberty, ...

This precise and unflinching look at the enomous costs to the US of it's twenty billion dollar a year passion for the Jewish state , shows by a fascinating chronical of president's terms how AIPAC, terrifying lobby of the Zionists in Washington, intmidates and bribes congress into supporting the Israelis with sophisticated US weaponry, in its predations against its resident and neighboring arab people. Essentially, Zionism, a Russian Khazar jewish land grab scheme, has, as the authors document, created a theocratic Israel from the pockets of the US taxpayer, and has earned America the opprobrium, the fear and the hatred of much of the rest of the world.

One cannot help being greately impressed with the clarity of the Balls' reasoning and their apparent genuineness.

Hardly anyone could accuse them of writing a book like this and publishing it in the United States for selfish reasons. Frankly, it is like writing honestly about the Vince Foster case for a journalist. It is a career killer. The elder statesman, George Ball, needn't worry about that because he is already at the end of his career. His well known opposition from within to

Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam War policies makes his a voice that I, for one, tend to pay attention to. As for his son, I find it interesting what they have to say about him on the flyleaf. "Dr. Douglas B. Ball has assisted George Ball in the preparation of several books. He holds a doctorate from the London School of Economics, and master's degrees in history from Yale University and in business administration from Columbia University." His photograph, along with that of his father is on the back of the cover and, I must say, he looks like the very image of a scholar. But notice that past his paying student days his name is associated with with no organization, prestigious or otherwise.

One can't help but wonder if Douglas B. Ball, a budding scholar of this last spasm of 19th century imperialism known as Zionism, might not be fated for a career like that of the man now recognized as the the leading scholar on European imperialism, J. A. Hobson. Hobson, an Englishman, was never able to obtain a professorship at an English university.

I doubt even that Ball the younger has been able to make very much money from this book. The very large Fairfax County (VA) library system has only two copies of it. A friend found the same situation over at the Montgomery County, MD, system. Though published by the prestigious W.W. Norton, it received very little publicity, particularly in consideration of the book's important topic and the prestige of its lead author. My google search turned up no C-Span interview by Brian Lamb, and the book has already gone out of print. I found my copy at a particularyl well-stocked used book store.

Why did the Balls write this book? I think they want to make us better-informed citizens, to counter the heavily distorted reporting on this subject that we generally get from our news media and our government. More specifically, there purpose is revealed in the title. Permit me to quote the first two paragraphs of the book's foreward as an explanation:

"The title of this book, as many readers will recognize, is a phrase used by George Washington in his farewell address in 1796. Washington counseled the new nation that in shaping its international relations, it should abjure any 'passionate attachment' to, or 'inveterate hatred' of, any other nation. Instead, it should 'cultivate peace and harmony with all.'

"Washington uttered that warning because a vocal faction of Americans was exhibiting what he regarded as an excessive and potentially dangerous enthusiasm for revolutionary France, while another faction was favoring Britain with equal fervor. This sharp cleavage of sentiment had already led foreign interests to seek to manipulate American opinion and Washington feared that France might embroil the fledgling United States in a disastrous war."

Regardless where you stand on the Israel/Palestine Conflict, you will benefit from reading this book with an open mind. I urge you to do so. Obviously deeply troubled by the turmoil in the Middle East, Mr. Ball and his son set out to motivate and initiate changes in policies that have been nothing but a dismal failure. Though this book did not make George Ball very popular, I doubt he wrote it for fame and fortune. I suspect he wrote it because he cared tremendously about defining a model of effective statecraft for the future.

This book provides an important assessment of US foreign policy in the Middle East. The study is comprehensive and illuminates deep, albeit unpleasant, truths about the failure of U.S. foreign policy with regard to this ongoing conflict. The book exemplifies how U.S. foreign policy is formulated and further illustrates areas where reforms must be made. U.S. policies in the Middle East have been a dismal failure because domestic politics have commanded a distorted policy that departs from a principled and detached position. The conflicts and regional instability will continue unless and until the U.S. adopts a new position. This book provides a framework for formulating such a position.

In a day when wise and honorable statesmen are in short supply and when global challenges are increasing in number and complexity, I commend the late George Ball for his contribution to my understanding of this complex conflict. I highly recommend all of his books, which are in my view "rare national treasures."

I found this beauty at a used bookstore. It is well written and documented; all Americans should read it as well as Professors Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer's book, The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, another excellent book. Interestly Walt and Measheimer could not find a publisher in the U.S.