The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (Hardcover)

by John J. Mearsheimer (Author), Stephen M. Walt (Author)
Key Phrases: second intifada, dual containment, prominent neoconservatives, United States, Middle East, West Bank (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Expanding on their notorious 2006 article in the London Review of Books, the authors increase the megatonnage of their explosive claims about the malign influence of the pro-Israel lobby on the U.S. government. Mearsheimer and Walt, political scientists at the University of Chicago and Harvard, respectively, survey a wide coalition of pro-Israel groups and individuals, including American Jewish organizations and political donors, Christian fundamentalists, neo-con officials in the executive branch, media pundits who smear critics of Israel as anti-Semites and the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, which they characterize as having an almost unchallenged hold on Congress. This lobby, they contend, has pressured the U.S. government into Middle East policies that are strategically and morally unjustifiable: lavish financial subsidies for Israel despite its occupation of Palestinian territories; needless American confrontations with Israel's foes Syria and Iran; uncritical support of Israel's 2006 bombing of Lebanon, which violated the laws of war; and the Iraq war, which almost certainly would not have occurred had [the Israel lobby] been absent. The authors disavow conspiracy mongering, noting that the lobby's activities constitute legitimate, if misguided, interest-group politics, as American as apple pie. Considering the authors' academic credentials and the careful reasoning and meticulous documentation with which they support their claims, the book is bound to rekindle the controversy. (Sept.)
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Review

“Controversial.” —Terry Gross, Fresh Air, NPR

“It could not be more timely.” —David Bromwich, The Huffington Post

“The strategic questions they raise now, particularly about Israel’s privileged relationship with the United States, are worth debating.” —David Remnick. The New Yorker

“Ruthlessly realistic.” —William Grimes, The New York Times

“The argument they present is towering and clear and about time.” —Philip Weiss, Mondoweiss.com

“Mearsheimer, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, and Walt, on the faculty at Harvard, set off a political firestorm.” —Jay Solomon, The Wall Street Journal.com

“Promises controversy on a scale not seen since Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations sought to reframe a new world order.” —Stefan Halper, National Interest.com

“Deals with Middle East policymaking at a time when America’s problems in that region surpass our problems anywhere else . . . People are definitely arguing about it. It’s also the kind of book you do not have to agree with on every count (I certainly don’t) to benefit from reading.” —MJ Rosenberg, Israel Policy Forum Newsletter

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition (August 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374177724
• ISBN-13: 978-0374177720
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.5 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (221 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #51,941 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

930 of 1,074 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning, August 27, 2007

By	F. Bernadotte - See all my reviews

This book is stunning. The two authors are prominent political scientists with impeccable credentials, hailing from Harvard and the University of Chicago. They have boldly gone where many of their academic colleagues would fear to tread. Although their conclusions about Israel and its negative influence on American foreign policy will awaken much anxiety, resentment and fury in certain quarters, Walt and Mearsheimer don't seem to care. Why not? They are scientists. They appeal to logic, facts and common sense; and let the conclusions fall where they may. The writing is calm, dispassionate, thorough. The basic argument is that the extraordinarily high degree of economic, military and diplomatic support given to Israel by the United States cannot be explained or justified by the notion that Israel functions as a strategic asset to the U.S., or that Israel as the "only democracy" amidst a sea of authoritarian neighbors is deserving of special favor for its "shared interests and values". In fact, the authors claim, Israel is more a liability than an asset. During the Cold War, the strategic-value argument had perhaps some plausibility -- but no longer. What has replaced the Soviet menace, as the enemy which the U.S. supposedly needs Israel's help to combat, is Islamic terrorism. But the U.S. favor shown to Israel at the expense of the Palestinians only makes us more not less vulnerable to terrorism. Furthermore Israel's cruelty towards the Palestinians and its essential nature as a Jewish but not a truly democratic state in which all citizens of whatever ethnicity or religion would be given equal rights and respect, belie the "shared values" argument.

So if neither "shared values" nor "strategic asset" can explain the overwhelming U.S. support of Israel, what else is there? The power of the Israel lobby, which has brought about a situation in which it is impossible for elected officials to question support for Israel, much less redirect foreign policy in any way contrary to the perceived self-interest of Israel. This has led the U.S. to make critical mistakes, such as invading and occupying Iraq. The war on Iraq has proven disastrous; the authors argue that the U.S. would not have attacked Iraq, were it not for the influence of the Israel lobby.

In the end, perhaps what is most significant and remarkable about this book is that it has seen the light of day. It got published. Could it be that there is still hope for reasonable, open debate about the right courses of action in the Middle East? The authors have been and will continue to be vilified as anti-Semitic or worse. They are owed a debt of gratitude for having the courage to stand up and to refuse to be silenced.

596 of 701 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mearsheimer and Walt- Outstanding Models of Intellectual Courage, September 1, 2007

By	Andrew Burroughs "andrew" (new jersey United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This year has witnessed an amazing phenomenon. More accomplished Americans are willing to question United States blind support for the State of Israel. Recently we have seen books out by President Jimmy Carter, Grant Smith, Professor Petras and full-page placements in newspapers questioning the American Israel Political Actions Committee placed by the Council for the National Interest Foundation. I suspect the major reason behind this is the Iraq War. As one digs deeper in why this war occurred and who were the major advocates a deeply troubling theme emerges. The chief architects and advocates of this war were also what Pat Buchanan terms "Israel Firsters." These are Americans who have conflated American interests with those of Israel's. I urge all readers to do a search on Scooter Libby, Paul Wolfowitz, Elliot Abrams, Bill Kristol, Doug Feith, Richard Perle, etc. and investigate their financial and political ties to Israel. I think the reader will be astonished. I suspect that Professors Mearsheimer and Walt did just as I did and were both outraged and troubled by what they discovered. Moreover, the recent efforts by the same cabal that manipulated a rather dull President into invading Iraq are up to their same tricks again by lobbying for war against Iran and Syria. Hence the book; "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy." This study is both timely and critical.

The authors published a brief last year that examined the Israel lobby and its impact on U.S. Middle East policy. When the Atlantic Monthly cowardly reneged on their promise to publish the paper, they found refuge with the London Review of Books. Thank to the internet, the Lobby was not able to squelch their research. This paper has now circulated among millions of Americans. For this rather minor effort in questioning US-Israeli policy, they were subjected to slander, humiliation and threats. Faster than you could say AIPAC, the usual pro-Israel flacks, Dershowitz and Foxman, rolled out their worn out charge of anti-Semitism. I suspect if a dog's bark was construed as critical of Israel, Dershowitz and Foxman would be on the first morning talk show claiming the dog was an "anti-Semite!" I wish these two clowns would buy a thesaurus and find other words of insult. However, to their credit, Mearsheimer and Walt upped the anty and decided to publish a more detailed and documented book on the Israel Lobby.

The book examines in detail the power that the Israel Lobby now has over U.S. Middle East policy- manifested in the extreme by the invasion of Iraq. The book is well documented with over 100 pages of notes and citations. It first examines the true financial costs of the American-Israel relationship- it should surprise no one that this is one way relationship- the U.S. taxpayers shovel out billions of dollars every year (now exceeding $4 billion) getting little if anything in return. The authors then ask the critical question- is Israel a strategic asset or liability to the United States? Correctly they conclude that it has evolved into a major liability. The United States pays a high price for its blind support of Israeli policies. For example, take case of Lebanon. Though more than 25,000 American citizens were put in harms way by Israel's reckless brutal attack on Lebanon last year, I could count on one hand any members of Congress that raised objections. In fact, our politicians behaved more like a herd of swine running to the microphones to be the first to praise Israel for its willful slaughter of more than 1,000 Lebanese civilians. It was surreal and it was disgusting. Later the authors document the contest between the Lobby and the Palestinian people. See President Carter's book for further discussion on the brutalization of the Palestinian people by Israel. They also describe how Israel routinely undermines American presidents- publicly humiliating them through their virtual control of Congress. They tell the story of how an AIPAC member bragged that within an hour he could have over 70 Senators sign whatever resolution he wrote on a napkin! They then warn us how the Lobby is attempting to again manipulate Washington into another senseless war- this time against Iran and Syria. Finally, they ask, "What is to be done?" They are skeptical whether a "counter lobby" would be effective. They instead put their trust in open debate and open discourse. This reflects their intrinsic belief that "the truth will set you free." However, I am not sure about this. It may be that with the arrival of the internet the distribution of information can no longer be controlled by the Lobby and its fellow travelers. However, the recent disgraceful case of Professor Finkelstein denial of tenure by De Paul University gives me pause. Thus, I am now of another school. Polite scholarly ways will not work against organizations such as AIPAC. I believe that the Israel Lobby now represents an existential threat to the security of the United States. The Lobby's objectives are to engage the United States in perpetual confrontation and war in the Middle East solely to advance the interests of a foreign power- Israel. This requires an offensive response as aggressive as that of the Israel Lobby in its efforts to silence scholars such as Mearsheimer and Walt. Who, if nothing else, deserve the admiration of all patriotic Americans.

Additionally, readers are referred to "Foreign Agents- The American Israel Public Affairs Committee form the 1963 Fulbright Hearings to the 2005 Espionage Scandal" by Grant Smith; "The Power of Israel in the United States" by James Petras; "They Dare to Speak Out" by Paul Findley.

103 of 119 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A much needed criticque, May 31, 2008

By	Timothy P. Scanlon (Hyattsville, MDUSA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I saw this book at a bookstore and thought that lobby is something on which comment is necessary to promote intellectual honesty. I listened to the recorded version, hence the "only" 4-stars.

While I've said in other reviews, the jury is still out on recorded books, they're great for those of us with limited time to read a volume as long as this one. The major objection I have of the recorded media is that, while listening, one has less time to absorb the facts, let alone a written page to which one may return and refer. Aside from that, the book is a masterpiece.

While I don't deny that some ethnic groups have suffered more than others, I've always had problems with a few who base their entitlement on their degree of victimization. (My inlaws insist that they, as Catholics are perpetually victimized. I remind them that we haven't had a candidate in the Know Nothing Party for a few years anyway!) Indeed, I've been afraid that the Israel lobby has triumphed at that art: we were bigger victims than anyone, therefore are entitled, to military aid, to a human rights record to put others to shame, etc., etc., etc. And the moment one challenges that entitlement, s/he is labled as an anti-Semite, even a Nazi sympathizer (!) or (?) a holocaust denier. That always struck me as at least intellectual dishonesty, if not worse.

(An irony of that too is that, as someone reminded me years ago, most of the Arabs who are shunned and demonized by the lobby are Semites too!)

The authors start with the fact that they'd been commissioned to write an article on the subject by a noted periodical, which, once the article was completed, turned them down. So eventually they wrote the book.

Again, I don't have a "text" here to review the specifics--hence my criticism of the "recorded" medium. But I do recall that they repeat several times that they do support a Jewish state. In other words, they're not "anti-Isreal." Yet they too, when critical of the subject which makes up the book's title, are called anti-Semitic.

The text allows for countless examples of how one-sided the "lobby" tends to be. In the US, we hear constantly of how victimized the Israelis are, yet hear little of the suffering of the Palestinians--colonized by Isreal with little if any regard for the rights of the colonized--or how the PLO, for example, WAS interested in treaties, yet the Israelis refuse to even consider them.

I wish I had the "hard copy" of the book here to refer to, but it does confirm my suspicion of the lobby. The authors provide ample evidence that even American Jews do not support much of what the lobby represents. And many who're stalwart supporters of the lobby are not Jewish. (There are some reviewers who've mentioned that many of the neocons who make up the spine of the lobby are Jewish, and infer anti-Semitism. I didn't know that many are Jewish, consider the fact irrelevant, and remind many that some of the strongest supporters, e.g., John Bolton, are NOT Jewish, but inflexibly neoconservative. Which label is more significant, Jewish or neocon?)

I also point out something that the authors remind the reader: that some of the harshest critics of Israeli policy are in the Israeli press. Those in Israel are more exposed to much of the absurdity of the lobby than we are here in the country whose credibility is under attack BECAUSE of our unwavering support of repressive Israeli policies.

I think it's very important that we be able to open doors to the discussion of the lobby's policies and US support of them, without being labled as evil entities. This book may have begun to open those doors, one hopes anyway. But I recommend you read it rather than listen to it, so you have more specifics in arguing with the lobby--and particularly challenging those many "lawmakers" who succumb to the lobby without challenge (some of those lawmakers are Jewish, many are neocon "Christians.")

By the way, I don't agree with everything the authors state. For example, they attribute our invasion of Iraq as having more to do with the lobby than that of the oil companies. That claim may be challengable. But let's at least talk about it!

I'm reminded of a conversation I had with the local Islamic Student Association late in 2001. After Bush gave his rousing speech after 9/11, one of the members of that association, with the agreement of others, said it was a pretty powerful testament, until Bush added, "and our support for Israel." At that point, the students suggested, Bush lost the support of a billion people.

Perhaps it's about time we're at least honest with each other about the inordinate power of the Israel lobby. Maybe it should fit more tightly within parameters of need--How much aide to we give to a relatively developed and small state?--and of credibility worldwide. Denying the open discussion may at least be a challenge to democracy, and our nation's credibility!