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John J. Mearsheimer

Stephen M. Walt

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

by John J. Mearsheimer (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.

Print length

496 pages
Language

English
Publisher

FSG Adult
Publication date

September 2, 2008
Dimensions

5.56 x 1.24 x 8.13 inches
ISBN-10

0374531501
ISBN-13

978-0374531508
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Editorial Reviews

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

About the Author

John J. Mearsheimer is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science and the co-director of the Program on International Security Policy at the University of Chicago. He has published several books, including The Tragedy of Great Power Politics.

Stephen M. Walt is the Belfer Professor of International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and was academic dean of the Kennedy School from 2002 to 2006. He is the author of Taming American Power: The Global Response to U.S. Primacy, among other books.

Product details

Publisher : FSG Adult; 1st edition (September 2, 2008)
Language : English
Paperback : 496 pages
ISBN-10 : 0374531501
ISBN-13 : 978-0374531508
Item Weight : 13.6 ounces
Dimensions : 5.56 x 1.24 x 8.13 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #395,858 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #393 in International Diplomacy (Books)
- #527 in Israel & Palestine History (Books)
- #647 in Middle Eastern Politics

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Top reviews from the United States

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David Shannahoff

This book is highly scholarly treatment of the topic of ...

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2017

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This book is highly scholarly treatment of the topic of how the Zionist regime and AIPAC played the key role in starting the war and destruction of Iraq and brining mayhem to the Middle East. This is one of the two most important nonfiction books I have ever read.

63 people found this helpful

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Moderate1

Interesting report on the Zionist lobbys power in the US...

Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2016

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Great book, this is the truth. I'm Jewish and there's nothing wrong with speaking the truth. It's our duty. I'm an American and not Israeli. I'm not from there and it's not the Jewish state. It doesn't represent me just like ISIS doesn't represent Muslims or Islam...

111 people found this helpful

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sharkshadow96

Well written,intersting and information packed and makes a case the Israel Lobby

Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2018

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This Book (The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt) thou the cover of this copy was in rough shape and by the some of stuff in this book is dated by now (the book published in 2007 and article the book is based on came out 2006) is very educational and informative and also is fairly easy to read and follow as well, that out of the way this book does make soiled case the America-Israeli alliance, Zionism and the Israeli Lobby too, and gives evidence for why western Governments including American Goverment are so involved in the Middle East today since Israel was reestablished on May 14 1948 which also has lead the perpetual suffering of the Palestinians and Arabs living there and the surrounding area, that said the book also gives the reasons behind the Iraq War and a possible war with Iran as well, and the book reveals that the war (Iraq War 2003-2011) was proxy conflict for Israel interests not Americas, and lastly the book does offer Alternatives the Israel Lobby and what the America Government should do regarding Middle Eastern affairs as well, I recommend this book to my fellow Americas who are concerned about America-Middle East Issues post 9/11

17 people found this helpful

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Ronald Ostrowski

This is a must read

Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2019

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Being a Australian son of an WW11 Polish veteran who served with the 200,000 plus Free Polish Forces fighting in the West alongside their British, Canadian, Australian, American and other allies I have started showing an interest in the false Jewish narrative since Congress Bill 447 has been passed and blatant lies about Poland's war effort have been told. I have always wonder why America slavishly supported Israel irrespective of it being right or wrong, and often to America's detriment. It seems that the American Jewish lobby collective through the AIPA not only use financial and media resources to tame American politicians, including Presidents, but also vilify both Jewish and non Jewish critics of Israel and Zionism. This book is dated and a must read, particularly for Americans.

11 people found this helpful

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The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy: A Review about the Survival of the Fittest and Standing the Test of Time

Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2017

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Once upon a time, there were 2 American entities that came together to specifically create a new, third entity called IL by the process of discourse. These two creator entities are named MW (MearsheimerWalt), and their offspring was born abroad in the UK – specifically at the London (Times) Review of Books in 2006.

Quickly, this new IL offspring gathered strength through the gentle nurturing from its parent organism MW, who carefully and methodically rebutted invader organisms from killing off their newly-born entity.

In fact, as more invaders attacked the newly-born IL offspring, creator-entity MW sprang into parenting mode, to help IL become even larger, healthier, and more robust through more highly-refined written and oral discourse.

As a result, MW had to endure the crucible of more IL refinement and continued defense against the invaders, to enhance IL’s further growth and robust qualities. One year later in 2007, the IL entity became even bigger, healthier, and more robust; and so to celebrate this new phase, it had a name change and an even newer re-birth place for this tempered form of the entity: it grew from its first physical form of 32 pages (including rebuttals) born in London to its current form of an astonishing 496 pages by means of a new but international midwife, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, at its New York office. IL has become so famous that it landed on the coveted #1 Best Seller list position in the New York Times. This position affirms IL’s veracity. IL’s full name now is: The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.

This comparison (using genetics [with a little alchemy sprinkled in], ancient world history, and Darwin’s ‘survival of the fittest’ to create a new entity) is exactly what happened to Professor John Mearsheimer (University of Chicago) and Professor Steven Walt (Harvard University) in their odyssey of creating a book that no one would dare write before because of the affects of foreign-country interest groups in the US from the Israel Lobby, AIPAC. There is a related group that has also had its tentacles on US campus ME Studies departments from the early 2000s, trying to know what professors were teaching their students and trying to politically either back up or remove those professors whose ideas went against theirs. There has been no public, nonacademic discourse and correction to this activity because universities rely on funding, and money speaks volumes (over discourse). This public free-speech activity (all sides of it) needs to be discussed, especially according to how each comment relates all of our country’s established frameworks/ documents of power (including the Constitution). This affords all participants with a very lively and rich discourse experience in which all participants will learn much from each other. Some of the most educated and important people in the US have views on this topic and ALL of them are worth reading and listening to via all formats (books, articles, journals, videos, podcasts, etc.) All of these people’s views combined with those from Mearsheimer and Walt in this book are part of an important knowledge base that needs to be tapped, understood, and added to in later Mearsheimer-Walt book editions. In short, because there has been much change in this country since this book was first published in 2007, the book has stood the test of time, and these changes need to be included in a revised, later edition.

Mearsheimer and Walt’s book: The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy is now recommended classroom reading in most poli sci, government studies, ME studies, diplomacy and diplomatic studies preparation programs in institutions of higher education, both in the US and those abroad. Why? Because it is the first book of its kind to look carefully at one foreign country (Israel) and how it affects the behavior and actions of another (the US/ US taxpayers, the group that subsidizes the foreign country) in terms of policy and aid. It also affects who is elected to US Congress and who stays elected.

As with most topics, this book generates needed discourse about countries (those with money and those without it that need it as aid from another, wealthier country), policies, lobby groups, money/ funding, aid, political parties and issues, diplomacy, and how all of these influence and intermingle, to create a larger world-system of which both the US and Israel are a part.

Mearsheimer and Walt have created this book to shed light on a topic that was ready to be illuminated. Once this book was published, like its UK germination stage phase, it (and the authors) went through the second crucible tempering in which the authors had to defend their ideas on US soil, successfully defending them against opposite forces.

This book has passed muster again through this process. Simultaneously, there were videos made of university and diplomacy ‘Round Tables’ with Q/A sessions at the end that are found online for the general public as well as academia. In these, the authors successfully defended their theses, resulting in a further strengthening of their ideas. Also, the comments of all people whose opinions were directed at the two became known, with some of the public agreeing and some disagreeing. Through this process, participants could learn more things about what they believe in, why, and some will even re-edit/ amend their own initial ideas.

Unfortunately, a culling of professional-academic personnel has occurred since the early 2000s, in which some professors and writers have been professionally ousted from their positions in academia and related areas (writing) for their stances against this foreign lobby group. This, alone, warrants the reading of this book and its future revised, edition.

Because this book is so interesting, I have bought extra copies to give to friends to read and later discuss. Afterwards, we form groups and engage in critical thinking and dialog to further hone our knowledge about this topic. Included in this activity is that we all watch designated on-line videos, listen to podcasts, read articles and journals, etc., to enhance what we learn from reading this book.

I thoroughly recommend this groundbreaking book for anyone who has an interest in our country and how it relates to foreign countries.

39 people found this helpful

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sterlingAg

It's time to address the Elephant in the Room

Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2016

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A brave, masterful effort! Other reviewers have aptly described how informative and topical this book is; I wholeheartedly agree. What needs to be stressed is a rebuttal to those tiresome, closed-minded individuals (think that shrill hypocrite Alan Dershowitz, et al.) who always scream, "Anti-Semite!" at anyone who dares to criticize Israel, even when she spies on us (think Jonathan Pollard), and tries (daily!) to influence our political system, often counter to our national interests. The situation is almost exactly analogous to that of the Cosa Nostra: in the 1960s and '70s, we were informed by the media that this organization did not even exist (it was an invention of anti-Italian bigots), or, later, that it was just a social and philanthropic organization. The same is true of the AIPAC. Interestingly, both organizations are in the extortion business! Every U.S. congressman walks in fear of AIPAC, and this lobby is even more powerful and threatening to Congress than the NRA. At least the latter does not represent a foreign government.

34 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Mr. D. J. Walford

Re-defines the term "Special Relationship"

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 3, 2012

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A really sound and constructive analysis of the relationship between the United States and Israel. However, the concluding argument is not necessarily one which you would expect.

The authors cover many topics such as the military, diplomatic, financial and legal aid handed to Israel by the United States over the years. This has ranged from the latest military technology to simple aid to loans which are not expected to be repaid.... ever !! This is a condition they would not accept from the United Kingdom.

However, the most intriguing aspect of the work is just how much the US has been prepared to accept from their "strategic" ally, or is it how little ?? There is documented evidence of how Israel regularly sells on US arms and technology to nations not quite suited to US foreign policy, including China. There is also quite a large amount of data on how much support Israel receives in Congress with the America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) being particularly influential in the forming of US foreign policy.

The book has further dimensions which you will need to explore yourself and I would certainly recommend it to anyone with a historical interest in international relations.

20 people found this helpful

Benjamin Girth

A valid, well argued analysis

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 7, 2009

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Recently I have read several books on Henry Kissinger and I was intrigued by the position of Israel in 1973. With the Yom Kippur War the `complacency of invincibility' was shattered. Confidence has subsequently been eroded amid relentless low and high intensity violence, nasty and cruel. Militarily the Israeli Defence Force has lost the initiative. Pursuing policies of "lebensraum and untermenschen" respect for Israel has declined precipitously. The Israeli and Jewish response has been to create a "very special relationship" with the United States. Since 1976 Israel became the largest annual recipient of American military assistance, a position it has retained since. US diplomatic backing is almost unconditional. Yet Americans "recognize that support for Israel is one of the main causes of anti-Americanism around the world "(p10). This book is a review of this complex, controversial and emotional relationship. It is worth remembering that the American Jewish population is estimated to be 5 to 6m, about 2% while in Israeli the Jewish population is c 5.5m (just 75% of the total). Here is the paradox, such a small number of people having such a massive impact on international politics.

This is a fascinating and informative academic essay, it is not anti Semitic and should not be shouted down which it has. To start with the conclusion nothing done by the Lobby is wrong per se, largely in the open and within the Constitution they exert pressure to advance their own interests. The Lobby is very well organised, any US congressional politician is risking electoral suicide if they oppose Israeli interests. Has the United States become a client state of Israel; is this the sort of plural politics the Founding Fathers envisaged?

The book explains how the "Lobby" (a crude term for a "loose coalition of individuals and groups" ....p viii, and well defined in Chapter 4) have regrouped and responded essentially post 1973. Equally it shows how the political structure of United States has been compromised by aggressive ideological activists, well funded and organised. Mearsheimer & Walt explain the mechanics, this not a conspiracy theory it is about the US political process. Read the book to form your own opinion but it allows you to answer three questions: is the Israeli Lobby good for America, is it good for Israel and will it secure an equitable peace in the Middle East. This is not just Jewish politics; the Lobby encompasses the Radical right, Neocons, Christian fundamentalists and Christian Zionists. Collectively they see a world most of us do not accept, many of their arguments are dishonest, devious or dangerously partisan. For me the analysis says much about the failure of alternative lobbies (the Arabs, American big business interests) to counter the Israeli voice and an absence of any counterweight opposition. "America's intimate embrace of Israel... is not making America any safer or more prosperous. To the contrary unconditional support for Israel is undermining relations with other US allies, casting doubt over America's moral vision, helping inspire a generation of anti American extremists" (p 77). The book deals with politics but also the economic and moral aspects.

The Lobby comprises enthusiasts/extremists. That's true of most lobbies, animal rights through to NRA etc etc. What the authors illustrate is the impossibility of an objective debate within the US political system that is critical of Israel and an acceptance of the Israeli agenda determining the US response in the Middle East and beyond. Israel, as we are always reminded, is a democracy but one that through their electoral system gives a disproportionately loud voice to radicals, hard liners, and the crazies. Has the Israeli Lobby marginalised intelligent, compassionate liberal Jewish opinion? Apply common sense "the minority was permitted to speak for the mass and become the dominant voice of Jewish politics " (p126). That is the tragedy. I found their conclusion to be well argued and a positive agenda for change but - as the authors indicate - an unrealistic one.

21 people found this helpful

Baraniecki Mark Stuart

Congressmen For Sale.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 13, 2010

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Steven Rosen, the former AIPAC official, illustrates AIPAC's power for the New Yorker's Jeffrey Goldberg by putting a napkin in front of him and saying, "In twenty-four hours, we could have the signatures of seventy senators on this napkin." As Mearsheimer and Walt make clear, this is no idle boast, and they go on to say, "As will become clear, when issues relating to Israel come to the fore, Congress almost always votes to endorse the lobby's positions, usually in overwhelming numbers".

They note AIPAC President Howard Friedman telling the organization's members in August 2006, "AIPAC meets with every candidate running for Congress. These candidates receive in depth briefings to help them completely understand the complexities of Israel's predicament and that of the Middle East as a whole. We ask each candidate to author a "position paper" on their views of the U.S.-Israel relationship - so it is clear where they stand on the subject."

One congressional candidate (Harry Lonsdale) who went through this vetting process recounts that, "I found myself invited to AIPAC in Washington, D.C. fairly early in the campaign, for "discussions". It was an experience I will never forget. It wasn't enough that I was pro-Israel. I was given a list of vital topics and quizzed (read grilled) for my specific opinion on each. Actually I was told what my opinion must be, and exactly what words I was to use to express those opinions in public..... Shortly after that encounter at AIPAC, I was sent a list of American supporters of Israel..... that I was free to call for campaign contributions. I called, they gave, from Florida to Alaska."

AIPAC also keeps track of congressional voting records and direct funds to opponents of congressmen who don't follow their line.

Apart from Congress, Mearsheimer and Walt show successful Jewish activists in key government positions (particularly from the 1970's onwards), such as Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Elliott Abrahams, David Wurmser and Lewis "Scooter" Libby in the Clinton and Bush administrations. This political combination managed to steer George Bush, sideline Condoleeza Rice, and bully Colin Powell into the Iraq war . The authors show the enormous frustration of the CIA as their intelligence was distorted to support the lie of Iraqi WMD and start an unprovoked war that was not in the interests of the United States.

A feeble Congress votes record aid budgets to Israel (currently four billion dollars a year), with loans being converted to grants, and quick acquiescences to Israeli demands that aid be paid up front (which means the U.S. has to borrow it to give to them), and to the Israeli refusal to account for how it was spent, both necessary conditions for other aid recipients.

The whole process is supported by Jewish Think Tank activists such as Daniel Pipes, Michael Rubin, and Joshua Muravchik at the American Enterprise Institute, and prominent journalists such as William Kristol, Michael Ladeen and Norman Podhoretz who are now agitating for America to declare war on Iran (and subsequently Syria and Saudi Arabia although they are not so open about this).

In their conclusion, Mearsheimer and Walt ask what can be done about the outlandish failure of the American government to act in the interests of America. They doubt that the Israel Lobby will relinquish its power in the press, campaign finance or government, so they suggest pressure for more open discourse, which seems to be happening. It was initially impossible to publish this book in America but it did eventually see the light of day after an article in the London Review of Books and an unprcedented 275.000 downloads of the working paper on Harvard's Kennedy School of Government website.

The authors see the (remote) possibility of congressmen treating Israel like any other country and they also show that the majority of American Jews aren't Likudniks and opposed the war in Iraq. They didn't like the AIPAC / Wolfowitz group but of course they lost out to the activists, so its not clear where all this goes, apart from generating some rumbling at the other end of the spectrum (for example, Robert Griffin's, "The Fame of a Dead Man's Deeds" ). At present, Israel is greatly favoured while congress directs America to carry the massive cost of her wars in addition to generous transfers of aid.

8 people found this helpful

Franz Bieberkopf

A lobby,not a conspiracy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2009

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Walt and Mearsheimer have done the public-in the US and elsewhere-a service by writing about what has been,for far too long,a taboo subject.
Contrary to what some reviewers say,their account of the Israel lobby starts from the view that there is nothing wrong in individuals or groups who support Israel lobbying and trying to persuade politicians,the press or the public of the rightness of their views.It is US democracy in action,good old-fashioned politics,and everyone else does it.It's almost impossible to read an article about US politics which doesn't discuss the farm lobby,the labour lobby,the banking lobby or whatever other lobby.
The problem is that there is,in effect,no opposition to the Israel lobby (not all of whom are Jewish,as the authors point out).Any "Arab lobby" or "Palestinian lobby" in the USA is pathetically weak and poor in comparison with pro-Israeli groups.So,the most extreme and confrontational policies of the Israeli government are tolerated,supported or,at most,attract verbal displeasure from the US government-there's no benefit in supporting Palestinians,no loss in supporting Israel.Same with the financial munificence of the US taxpayers to Israel.
Great work of political analysis,and ignore the cries of "anti-Semitism" you may sometimes hear directed at this book.The authors point out that particular canard has been used so frequently and so loosely by pro-Israeli apologists as their response to anything and anybody that opposes anything the Israeli goverment does.

31 people found this helpful

The Establishment Fears Investigation

Source packed and very informative. Must read for those who are interested in US Foreign Policy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 18, 2012

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This book that has its origins in 2002, before getting published in 2008 in paperback, is a must read for those who want to understand how US Foreign Policy operates. Although the book was published in August 2007, it is still relevant today, especially with growing tensions with Iran and Syria, alongside the Arab Spring.

Who are the Israel Lobby? What is the aim of the Israel Lobby? Who funds the Israel Lobby? Why does the American taxpayer fork out billions in Aid to Israel, who are supposedly one of the richest nations in the world? Is the Israel Lobby one unified bloc, or a mixture of different groups and organisations?

The book answers questions along those lines - and many more - and the authors are not shy in putting forward the sources and evidence. Critics call it "anti-Semitic" but it is far from it. The word Anti-Semitic, like the word Racist, is used, abused and thrown around to silence critics and close off any debate. Sadly for them, the ad hominem attacks don't work. In fact the authors recognise Israel but believe in taking a different path as opposed to previous and current US administrations.

A very good starter book for those who want to find out WHO the Israel Lobby are. Heavily recommended.

8 people found this helpful

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