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Walt-Mearsheimer and the war over the Israel Lobby, round two
The Walt-Mearsheimer book on the Israel Lobby, to be published next week, is as distorted and skewed as the article they published last year on this topic. This time, though, their twisted argument will be met with a preemptive strike

Preemptive strike

Even if the United States had "five CIA's" it would not be able to get the high-quality information it received from Israel. That's what General George Keegan, a retired U.S. Air Force intelligence chief, said in 1986. "The ability of the U.S. Air Force in particular, and the army in general, to defend whatever position it has in NATO owes more to the Israeli intelligence input than it does to any single source of intelligence," he said.

This is a winning quote, dropped into the battle that will shortly break out once more over the nature of the strategic relationship between Israel and the United States. That comment and many similar ones appear in a new position paper published by Dore Gold, the former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and political adviser to then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who now heads the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

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Gold recently hired the services of American public relations firm Shirley and Bannister to market his wares in Washington. He will be visiting the United States next week to talk about his paper. Think of it as a preemptive strike ahead of the publication of the controversial book "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," by two political science professors, Stephen M. Walt and John J. Mearsheimer.

And Gold will not be alone. September 4th will see the American release of a book by Anti-Defamation League national director Abe Foxman called "The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control." In his book, Foxman warns of the possible consequences of such theories of Jewish influence which he calls "old anti-Semitic canard" in respectable disguise. Foxman succeeded in getting former U.S. secretary of state George Shultz to write an introduction to the book:

"The United States supports Israel, not because of favoritism based on political pressure or influence, but because both political parties and virtually all our national leaders agree with the American people's view that supporting Israel is politically sound and morally just," Shultz wrote. "Scholars at great universities should be ashamed to promulgate it."

Walt and Mearsheimer - who are said to have received more than $700,000 as an advance for their book from respected publishing company Farrar, Straus & Giroux - do indeed work at highly esteemed universities. Mearsheimer teaches at the University of Chicago and Walt is at Harvard, proving once again that an academic seal of approval is no guarantee of wisdom.

Scandalous article

The two authors have been here before. Their Israel lobby argument won a lot of exposure last year, when they published what they called a "study" in the London Review of Books.

Walt and Mearsheimer's basic argument is simple: The U.S. lobby that supports Israel - a Jewish lobby as well as an evangelical Christian one - is very powerful and is charting a foreign policy for the United States that is favorable to Israel, but is not in America's interests.

Former administration officials, experts and columnists have poked numerous holes in this dubious article, but all the same, the identity of the authors, who come from the heart of the academic establishment, has left readers of the article in shock. Much has been written about the authors' motives. U.S. State Department counselor Eliot Cohen didn't hesitate to say that the article was anti-Semitic, pure and simple. Others were more forgiving, saying that Walt and Mearsheimer were venting their frustration at having no one heed them.

There were some who hoped that the book would redress some of the distortions, but the chapters I have read indicate that this didn't happen.

Silenced Professors

It's hard to predict how well "The Israel Lobby" will do. Gabriel Schoenfeld, a senior editor at the conservative Jewish magazine Commentary, said "there is reason to think that the Walt-Mearsheimer phenomenon has already peaked," since the book doesn't go much beyond the original article, which has already made its mark. But others are less optimistic. The professors have managed to get a new wave of articles about being silenced, as they put it.

The Forward, a Jewish American liberal newspaper that cannot be accused of excessive support for the organized Jewish establishment, is publishing an editorial today that succinctly describes the tactics of the two on their way to cashing in on the book.

"The trick follows a typical pattern," writes The Forward. "Step one: Publish your views in as provocative a manner as possible? Step two: Dare the Jewish community to lash out at you, then whine about being victimized by bullies. Step three: Implore fair-minded liberals to line up behind you, forcing them to choose between endorsing your vision - however skewed - or becoming part of the censorship juggernaut."

Public opinion

Walt and Mearsheimer's view has not yet trickled down to public opinion. Opinion polls show the Israeli position to be as stable as ever, and the administration and Congress are no less friendly than before. Only a week has passed since a new, generous, 10-year aid agreement was signed.

Former U.S. president Ronald Reagan, as Gold notes in his position paper, was the first to refer to Israel as a "strategic asset." Reagan was a popular president whose legacy even Democrats are happy to rely on occasionally, in recognition of the value of his stock in the
political market. In addition, the introduction to Foxman's book that was written by Shultz, Reagan's secretary of state, is particularly important. That's because if there is anything that is worth doing better than it was done in the previous round of the war over the good name and position of the Israel lobby, this is it: It is appropriate that the Jews themselves are not the only ones to fight the battle.

This blog is the shortened version (1000 words) of my weekend print edition column which you can read it in full (2200 words) here.

More on this topic:

Dore Gold: Understanding the U.S.-Israel Alliance: An Israeli Response to the Walt-Mearsheimer Claim
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt: The Israel Lobby
Forward editorial: The wrong guys
NYT: Backlash Over Book on Policy for Israel

Previous Rosner's Domain blogs on this topic:

March 2006: Exclusive!!! The secret weapon of the pro-Israeli lobby
April 2006: The Walt-Mearsheimer study and the Haaretz factor
June 2006: The unappreciated love of Walt and Mearsheimer
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Hope for a new year
The year's cyclical structure is intended to prevent us from getting into a rut.
  1.   Wooden stakes aren`t what they used to be 09:32  |  Clickfool 24/08/07
  2.   Rosner`s cites 10:53  |  Roderick Bibatus 24/08/07
  3.   95% of Israeli intelligence is hasbara and lies 11:57  |  American living here 24/08/07
  4.   Clickfool versus Benny Morris on Mearsheimer and Walt 12:15  |  See It Now 24/08/07
  5.   Rossner is so unbelievable easy to see through 12:19  |  Mark B. 24/08/07
  6.   For "See It Now" # 4 12:32  |  Clickfool 24/08/07
  7.   Israel "intelligence" is not madly credible, as 12:37  |  Julien 24/08/07
  8.   Israeli intelligence is a tool for Israel only 12:42  |  Natallie Durson 24/08/07
  9.   Clickfool 13:32  |  See It Now 24/08/07
  10.   Why is are the conservative lobbies so scared? 14:06  |  Mr. T 24/08/07
  11.   Rosner` who are these readers? 14:11  |  Olivia 24/08/07
  12.   ISRAEL LOBBY IN US = COMMUNIST PARTY IN CHINA 14:18  |  indrajaya 24/08/07
  13.   benny morris 14:19  |  yoram 24/08/07
  14.   Eliot Cohen on W-M 14:21  |  Debby 24/08/07
  15.   Study Decrying "Israel Lobby" Marred by Numerous Errors 14:26  |  Miriam 24/08/07
  16.   Seymour Hersh on Israel-Iraq 14:28  |  miriam 24/08/07
  17.   Haaretz cited almost ninety times in their footnotes 14:32  |  Have no shame? 24/08/07
  18.   Frances secrect service are the best by Julian 14:34  |  joe 24/08/07
  19.   Benny Morris in TNR 14:34  |  Miriam 24/08/07
  20.   The Trush and Proud of It 14:35  |  Larry 24/08/07
  21.   American Thinker on W-M 14:36  |  Miriam 24/08/07
  22.   David Gergen on W-M 14:39  |  Miriam 24/08/07
  23.   For Olivia # 9 14:39  |  Clickfool 24/08/07
  24.   Wrtiers that developed a podium 14:40  |  Larry 24/08/07
  25.   American living here 14:43  |  Larry 24/08/07
  26.   The Stupidest Person 14:48  |  Larry 24/08/07
  27.   Mark of Amsterdam 14:53  |  Larry 24/08/07
  28.   Mark of Amsterdam Part 2 14:57  |  Larry 24/08/07
  29.   Rosner 14:57  |  Reuben 24/08/07
  30.   Don`t miss this - from Rosner 14:59  |  Terry 24/08/07
  31.   the lobby is dead 15:03  |  anti-Rosner 24/08/07
  32.   More morris 15:21  |  miriam 24/08/07
  33.   A reality check for all 15:22  |  Abner Shnuzel 24/08/07
  34.   And more 15:22  |  miriam 24/08/07
  35.   and one last quote 15:24  |  miriam 24/08/07
  36.   Clickfool and his double standards (second attempt, of course) 15:27  |  Nik Miller 24/08/07
  37.   Jewish control of Congress, Banking and all Media 15:35  |  The Equalizer 24/08/07
  38.   Response to Larry from Toronto 1 15:36  |  Mark B. 24/08/07
  39.   Response to larry from Toronto 2 15:40  |  Mark b. 24/08/07
  40.   a reality check for shnuzel 15:46  |  Jerry 24/08/07
  41.   #14 but they don`t cite Rosner 15:50  |  Howie 24/08/07
  42.   AIPAC - stay strong 15:53  |  Noam 24/08/07
  43.   Poor deluded miriam 15:55  |  Not Miriam 24/08/07
  44.   Kennedy to Golda 15:55  |  Gil 24/08/07
  45.   AIPAC-Likud & republican Neocons, not American jewws & Israel 15:56  |  steve 24/08/07
  46.   ?consistently and directly? 15:56  |  Gil 24/08/07
  47.   Israel has always insisted on defending itself 15:57  |  Gil 24/08/07
  48.   al-Qaeda was born in 1989 15:59  |  Gil 24/08/07
  49.   Council on American-Islamic Relations 16:00  |  Gil 24/08/07
  50.   Why Iraq? 16:03  |  Victor 24/08/07
  51.   # Steve 16:07  |  Susan 24/08/07
  52.   Rosner in Haaretz? 16:10  |  Corry 24/08/07
  53.   take a look 16:16  |  George 24/08/07
  54.   fact vs. myth 16:17  |  Yoram 24/08/07
  55.   Iran - not Iraq 16:18  |  Ben 24/08/07
  56.   yona loriner 16:21  |  yona loriner 24/08/07
  57.   #6 Clickfool 16:26  |  See It Now 24/08/07
  58.   this is a good one 16:41  |  morrisfan 24/08/07
  59.   #57 and others 16:45  |  morrisfun 24/08/07
  60.   Israel lobby is real and it tactics unhealthy for America 16:58  |  Olek 24/08/07
  61.   yes or no 17:05  |  morristan 24/08/07
  62.   Page 10 17:06  |  Vivian 24/08/07
  63.   chicago ban 17:08  |  philipe 24/08/07
  64.   foreign agent 17:16  |  W.H 24/08/07
  65.   AIPAC controls Congress 17:17  |  W.H 24/08/07
  66.   All Lobbies Too Powerful 17:18  |  Jane 24/08/07
  67.   U.S.-subsidized-Apartheid state 17:19  |  W.H 24/08/07
  68.   Hasbara machine 17:23  |  Guardian 24/08/07
  69.   Muravchik on freespeech 17:24  |  sam levin 24/08/07
  70.