Focus on the Israel Lobby Gets U.S. Foreign Policy Wrong
JVL Introduction
The theory that the Israeli tail wags the US dog is often a thinly veiled antisemitic attempt to blame Jews for American foreign policy.
An attempt to express this theory in neutral terms was articulated by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt in in their 2006 book The Israel Lobby, arguing that US foreign policy favours Israel – against the US’s own interests – because of the strength of the Israel Lobby. (For critical reviews published at the time see the Jews for Justice for Palestinians resources pages here – scroll down as needed.)
On the contrary, argues Walter Russell in The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People, US sympathy with Israel arises out of the American national interest and in ways that accord with their own notions of Jews and Biblical prophecy. It has deep roots in US Christian beliefs from Puritan days onward.
This article was originally published by The New Republic on Tue 9 Aug 2022. Read the original here.
Focus on the Israel Lobby Gets U.S. Foreign Policy Wrong
Walter Russell Mead’s new book shows the United States’ relationship with Israel has always been self-involved and opportunistic.
Loading article text…
The really significant tilt towards Israel came under President Johnson. It has never been reversed.
Tony re your comment, Johnson was a friend of Israel’s but his attitude was not one-dimentional immediately prior to the 1967 Six-Day War. He was aware of Eisenhower’s 1956 (unkept) commitments to Israel’s freedom of navigation and was juggling the Vietnam War, the Cold War and domestic issues. In the end he told Israel “you’re on your own” after failing in efforts to dissuade Nasser from aggression and failing to bust the maritime blockade.
As for Smith’s article itself I had difficulty trying to distinguish between Mead’s stated/perceived views which seem to be a mixed bag, and Smith’s own views. However the underlying theme is that in practice very few things are black or white; most are a shade of grey.
Shades of grey indeed. We know that the lobby through PACs regularly works to support and get elected US politicians favourable to Israel, at the same time persecuting supporters of Palestine and working tirelessly through the media to promote its views and suppress criticisms of Israel. Just as we wouldn’t deny the influence of the gun lobby we can’t deny the influence of the pro-Israel lobby.
“We can’t deny the influence of …..” or any other lobby Alan. That’s what a lobby does, by definition, nothing sinister. I think Mead was trying to say that it’s not that simple and that American support for Israel runs deeper.