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The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy Paperback – September 2, 2008

by John J. Mearsheimer (Author), Stephen M. Walt (Author)

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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 in foreign policy.

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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.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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

Paperback: 496 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition (September 2, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0374531501
ISBN-13: 978-0374531508
Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.9 x 8.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 382 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #156,170 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #141 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > International & World Politics > Diplomacy
- #158 in Books > History > Middle East > Israel & Palestine
- #253 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > International & World Politics > Middle Eastern

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Top customer reviews

search for the truth... that is the main purpose of life.

Bywevertonon July 25, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This book confirms that old motto: the coin always has 2 sides....just like the history told by the winners! I fully recommend its reading!

0Comment 6 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Five Stars

ByRICHARD SCHEIBERLEon August 27, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

it was everthing i expected and then some highly recommended.

0Comment 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Facts bravely revealed about Israel Lobby in USA

ByBlake Parkeron October 18, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book, bravely written by two of the world's top International Security experts, John Mearsheimer & Steve Walt, is ahead of its time and absolutely necessary reading by every American taxpayer and politician! Both authors deserve recognition for revealing the facts and surviving Israeli opposition of this book.

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

an exceedingly important book

BySQ132on March 4, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Mearsheimer and Walt clearly and convincingly show how Israel, through its domestic lobby, AIPAC, steers US foreign policy, extorts taxpayer funds, manipulates domestic elections, silences American dissent, and maintains a climate of fear and suspicion in both Washington and the general population to keep the money and political support flowing their way.

11 comment 5 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

A must read for civic-minded Americans

ByBrian Brockmeyeron January 13, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is a very important book on what has regrettably been a taboo subject in American politics and international affairs for far too long. Mearsheimer and Walt make a straightforward argument for a return to a neutral, realist approach to the Middle East:

1. Israel receives a level of material and diplomatic support from the U.S. that is both extraordinary and unconditional.

2. That support cannot be justified on the basis of Israel's strategic value (it's a major strategic liability, not an asset) or by moral considerations (if anything, Israel's policies in the Occupied Territories and its conduct in the 2006 Lebanon War give the Palestinians the moral high ground).

3. Rather, that support is due to the overwhelming political influence exerted by the Israel lobby, a loose coalition of pro-Israel groups, neoconservatives, and Christian Zionists that seeks to push U.S. foreign policy in a decidedly pro-Israel direction.

4. The Israel lobby is an unusually powerful interest group along the lines of the environmental or gun lobbies, not a conspiracy or a cabal.

5. The lobby has had a pernicious influence on U.S. foreign policy by promoting the false belief U.S. interests are identical to Israeli interests and shaping policies that have been severely damaging to the former, specifically in Palestine, Iraq, Syria, and Iran.

Mearsheimer and Walt also detail the various methods by which the lobby wields its power. Many are legitimate forms of democratic participation (e.g., channeling large campaign contributions to support or defeat political candidates, organizing letter writing campaigns, publishing op-eds and white papers), while others are contemptible and anti-democratic (e.g., the timeworn smearing of critics with empty accusations of anti-Semitism, employing bullying tactics to suppress critical voices in academia and the press, disseminating disinformation to manipulate public opinion).

Mearsheimer and Walt's arguments are assiduously sourced, extensively footnoted, and thoroughly convincing.

Although this book was published in 2007 and the power of the Israel lobby has arguably waned a little in the years since, it remains timely and should be read by all civic-minded Americans.

0Comment 8 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Dispassionate, brave research on vital political subject

ByBill Hatchon June 28, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Excellent example of the free market in members of Congress at work. This book is the essence of moral courage in face of some of the worst slanders our age is capable of. It should at least raise questions in readers' minds about what foreign policies are genuinely in the interest of the US and those that aren't.
Bravo, Mearscheimer and Walt.

0Comment 18 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

maybe someday we'll stand up to this?

ByDaniel Pattersonon January 26, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Confirms a lot of what I had suspected, so both gratifying and depressing.

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

A Book Every Airline Pilot is Compelled to Read as a Part of Their Duty to Guarantee Our Safe Skies

BySD Clevelandon May 26, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I'm an airline pilot in the USA. As airline pilots we are told to study the causes of air disasters in order to keep from replicating them. So why don't we ever study the cause of 9/11, the biggest collective air disaster of all time?? Because the Israel Lobby doesn't think you should see them and their obsession to completely dominate the Middle East as the cause of the chaos and wholesale murder visited upon us for blindly supporting them. This book spells out clearly why our nation's politicians act exactly the way hey do when issues of Middle-East foreign policy are at hand. A definitive expose into why we treat the only other county with unapproved nuclear weapons aside of North Korea with such unwarranted preference. Shocking really.

With super-bright Jewish-American friends whom I love, one of my favorite quotes from the book comes in its conclusion. The authors write, "The more the Lobby's hard-liners attack any and all critics the more they reveal themselves to be out of step with the broad American commitment to free speech and open discussion. And once virtually any criticism of Israel becomes equated with anti-Semitism, the charge itself threatens to become meaningless." - Page 353

11 comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

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Five Stars

Should be required reading!

Published 15 days ago by Jillian

Five Stars

Quite an interesting perspective about an issue that is close to public eye. Worth a read.

Published 16 days ago by Patrick Elzinga

Very good

Published 1 month ago by FowlPlayChiken

One Star

Arab financed anti-Semitic propaganda

Published 1 month ago by Amazon Customer

Harvard and The University of Chicago should be ashamed to ...

Harvard and The University of Chicago should be ashamed to employ these anti-semites who cloak themselves in an academic robe.Read more

Published 1 month ago by Alec

I can't recommend this book highly enough

This fascinating book destroys the myth that oil companies push the United States into war with Iraq in order to increase profits, and reveals the identities of the real culprits...Read more

Published 1 month ago by Jason Martin

Five Stars

good

Published 1 month ago by Silvestre O. Baez

A Riveting Tour De Force

Essential reading for anyone interested in the Middle East and US foreign policy

Published 5 months ago by Greg Quist

Five Stars

great book

Published 5 months ago by lilia bouhid

Pretty much useless stuff

Sorry to rate so lowly, but this was old and clearly biased writing. I put it down after just a few chapters, frustrated that I was not learning a thing.

Published 6 months ago by Victor Edwards

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