Harvard Denounces Israel's "Pernicious Lobby"

[JGeropoulas]

Last year, Professor Stephen Walt (the academic dean of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government) and Professor John Mearsheimer (a top international relations theorist at the University of Chicago) authored the controversial study, “The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy.” Of course, their 83-page report immediately kicked up a storm in academic and political circles.

In their report, the authors argue

...that the “unwavering support” of the US for Israel cannot be justified on strategic or moral grounds and is a result of a powerful and pernicious “lobby.” Both men charge that American foreign policy has been subordinate to Israeli interests and accused the pro-Israel lobby of responsibility for America’s invasion of Iraq.

Part of that lobbying influence, they claim, extends deep into the US political system...

...Officials at Jewish organizations are said to be furious.

The report — versions of which appear on the Kennedy School Web site and in the March 26 issue of the London Review of Books — describes “the Israel lobby” as a “loose coalition” of politicians, media outlets, research institutions, Jewish groups and Evangelical Christians that steers America’s Middle East policy in directions beneficial to Israel, even if it requires harming American interests.

The report appears to have caused little mention in the mainstream press. “Several editors, foreign affairs reporters and columnists for major American newspapers contacted...did not know about the study.

...then, just when the "poor little Israel" program is about to be activated, this next sentence shuts it down by confirming the whole preceding indictment:

...behind the scenes, pro-Israel activists are planning a briefing for congressional staffers to be held Thursday. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are also considering releasing a letter in response to the new paper, congressional staffers said.

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/mearwalt.php?articleid=9573