The Israel Lobby-- True or False

I have spent the last 2 1/2 hours reading articles and listening to radio interviews about a paper confronting the Israel Lobby in Washington. Two prominent IR Realists, Mearshieimer and Walt (M. & W.), published a paper entitled "The Israel Lobby". It's thesis is that "the Lobby" pressures the U.S. government to pursue Israeli interests at the expense of U.S. goals and interests.

Upon first reading the piece, it was obvious there was a huge bias, but some points, if reduced in intensity and accusations, did make sense. AIPAC is one of the largest most influential lobbies in Washington, contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to political campaigns and educating Congress(wo)men about Israeli policies and politics. After listening to their interview on NPR, they explained some of their points more thoroughly. Though the tone of the paper was harsh, I could understand some of their views.

However, I then read Alan Dershowitz's counter working-paper challenging M. & W. He finds three major errors: quotations out of context, misstated facts and weak logic. It was made clear by this article that M. & W. had used source that are not credible, many of which were publicly anti-semantic. Two respected scholars with their reputations should have known better. Again, I found this argument very convincing, but many of Dershowitz's quotations were also taken out of context. I disagreed with him on some points but not to the extent that M. & W. had taken it.

So where do I come down??

I do believe that the Israel Lobby in Washington has a very strong influence. Lobbying practices in general need to be looked at under a microscope and lobbying firms need to be regulated. I do not hesitate for a second to support the moral right for Israel to exist as a state. However, do I believe that unwavering support and backing is needed from the U.S. (including significant amounts of financial aid) 40 years after Israel's creation-- no. I do not think that my tax dollars need to be going to fund another country which is supposedly an industrial westernized country, fully capable of taking care of itself. I do believe that this unwavering support has increased anti-American sentiment in the Middle East, but by no means is our support for Israel the cause of it. American foreign policy has done enough damage of its own.

I now open the floor for remarks about the situation......