Mearsheimer and Walt are wrong in retrospect about Iraq so their basic thesis is undercut by the Coalition success in that country. Nonetheless, they provide a rationale for the continuing attacks on America, which this country should consider, the increasing unimportance of Israel as a strategic ally since the collapse of the Soviet Union. They advocate "offshore balancing" which sounds like it may have worked until the necessity of increased presence, particularly ground troops, in the Middle East.

The odd aspect of their thesis is undercut by the duplicity in the Obama regime. The Israel lobby, according to the authors, compromises American interests yet in the anti-Israel machinations of Obama, the lobby, if it can truly be said to exist, is silent on Obama. The "Israel Lobby" is is a no-show to the Middle Eastern debates and AIPAC has not played an important role in opposing Obama.

The Obama administration has obsessed about the necessity of Israel declaring its support for the "two-state solution" and yet the Israel lobby is not a significant factor.

The Road Map, which made the Palestinians oft-promised end to incitement and terrorism preconditions for further negotiations, has even been set aside by Obama in favor of advocating the Saudi 2002 Peace Plan, yet, still no important reaction on the part of the lobby.

On another point and player in the equation: Iran. Obama promotes a nuclear Iran and still no lobby to rear its influence.

What has been the response of American Jewry and the Mearsheimer-Walt Israel Lobby to the mounting threats to Israel promoted by Obama? Silence.

In Israel Jewish survival is the key; for American Jews the chimera of peace, in the form of any type of treaty, is paramount.

American Jews remained largely quiet during the Holocaust, partially because of their adulation of FDR, and Stephen Wise, the most influential voice in American Jewry, could not overcome his worship of FDR to challenge the latter's position that nothing could be done to save Jews other than win the War. (David Wyman's The Abandonment of the Jews reveals how much could have been done.)

American Jews are dazzled again. This time the object of their longing is Obama, who has thrown Jews under the bus. Likewise Clinton accomplished nothing for Jewry but the packaging of both has proven sufficient during the lack of accomplishment

The Israel Lobby of Walt and Mearsheimer obviously is vapid. Obama has made that clear.

The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2007

This book takes a much-needed look at the "special relationship" that exists between America and Israel.

First of all, the authors do not question that Israel has the right to exist within secure borders, or its right to lobby Washington for its interests, or that America should aid Israel if it is attacked. But, the current unconditional level of US support for Israel ($154 billion since 1948) cannot be justified on moral or strategic grounds.

Perhaps Israel was a strategic ally during the Cold War, but now it has become a growing liability. America’s one-sided support for Israel has helped fuel America’s terrorism problem, it has reinforced anti-Americanism around the world, and relations with key allies have suffered. The moral case for unconditional US support also is not compelling. Israel is a democracy, but no other democracy gets the same level of US support. Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians and its Arab neighbors have helped to destroy the myth of Israel as victim and the Arabs as aggressors.

Why does Israel keep receiving such one-sided support from America, even when its actions directly contradict US interests? Why is the discussion of Israeli actions more wide-ranging in Israel than in America? The "Israel Lobby" is a loose confederation of groups like AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League and Christian Zionists, with Israel at the center. They don’t just lobby Washington and write newspaper op-eds, they also publicly smear anyone who says something of which they don’t approve.

An actual discussion of Israel’s influence in America, free of charges of anti-Semitism, is long overdue here in America. This book does a fine, and non-partisan, job of starting that discussion. It is very much recommended. ( )

controversial. very interesting but more detail than i need

http://tinyurl.com/3yyeff ( )