Mearsheimer and Walt

From Rabbi Don Quixote: Why the new Middle East peace lobby has a chance

Monday, May 26th, 2008

The scoffers are coming out of the woodwork. After all the hoopla over the new J Street project, in separate conversations, two friends have expressed skepticism about the Jewish peace camp’s ability to offer more than token resistance to AIPAC’s lobbying juggernaut.
AIPAC has 100,000 members and its operating budget is somewhere between $40-50 […]

Aaron David Miller: The pro-Israel community has won, so stop “geshraying” already

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008

Aaron David Miller has a stirring piece in the LA Times that deserves to be quoted in full.
A note on my headline:”geshray” is Yiddish for “wail.” Other than that, believe it or not (is everyone sitting down? Get ready…), I have nothing to add! Nothing more needs to be said, as far as I’m […]

The peace process, Iran and the law of unintended consequences

Wednesday, December 12th, 2007

At a luncheon panel on Israel and Iran at the Century Foundation yesterday, I was taken aback by some thoughts shared by Trita Parsi, author of the new and highly regarded Dangerous Alliance -The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the United States, and Daniel Levy, the former Israeli negotiator who is now Director […]

Are pro-Israel doves part of the “lobby?”

Thursday, November 8th, 2007

Apologies for the recent lack of blogging activity. Too many work and family obligations, not enough hours in the day.
Last week, there was a dyspeptic attack on Americans for Peace Now by my friend Philip Weiss on his blog, MondoWeiss. (Check it out at http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2007/11/foreign-affairs.html). It deserves a belated response.
In taking on a […]

AIPAC is an agent of…AIPAC

Friday, October 26th, 2007

Mearsheimer and Walt write that AIPAC is a “de facto agent of the Israeli government.” In various parts of their book, they provide examples of the “Israel lobby’s” ability to promote Israel’s agenda in the halls of power.
But they do not seem to grasp a far more interesting, subtle point about AIPAC: it answers to […]

“Jewish Neocons Are Dead Wrong, Not Disloyal” –My piece in the Huffington Post

Tuesday, October 9th, 2007

Please check out my new screed in Huffington Post, in which I find myself objecting to one (just one, I promise) of the accusations that are commonly hurled at Doug Feith and his fellow preemptive war fetishists. I spent a long time trying to figure out how to say what needed to be said, […]

Mearsheimer, Walt and what didn’t really happen at Camp David

Friday, September 14th, 2007

There is a sentence towards the end of Walt and Mearsheimer’s new book that undercuts some of what they have tried to accomplish with their critique of the “Israel Lobby.” Having rejected the binational, single-state solution as well as Israel’s permanent occupation, they assert: “The United States will have to put significant pressure on […]

Mearsheimer, Walt and the so-called “silent” Jewish doves

Thursday, September 6th, 2007

I have read the Mearsheimer and Walt book. They have answered some–although not all– of my prayers, which were spelled out in my post on August 12th. The book is much more careful, more nuanced, more detailed and more convincing than their original paper, which was published in the Spring of 2006.
I […]

Prayers for Mearsheimer and Walt

Sunday, August 12th, 2007

The chattering/blogging class eagerly awaits the publication of the new, full-length book on the “Israel lobby” by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt in September. A taste of what may be in the offing was provided last week by a report that their Sept. 27th presentation at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs was cancelled. […]