There is a peculiar, paranoid style of Jewish politics. Its logic would be shameful and contorted even it didn’t come from descendants of the people who invented sophisticated, multi-layered Talmudic pilpul: once someone is deemed beyond the communal pale, an enemy of the Jews, then you become tainted if you approvingly quote anything he or […]
Transforming America’s Israel Lobby
Review of my book by Colette Avital
The good news is that there is a nice review of my book by Colette Avital in the latest Jerusalem Report. The bad news is that, as far as I can tell, it is impossible to get it on their web site, which has been under construction for many many months. I’ve posted it as […]
What else Netanyahu needs to know about Obama
The following op-ed just went on-line and will be in Friday’s Haaretz. I’ve been waiting about 25 years to be able write something like this and actually believe it. Something else Netanyahu should know By Dan Flesher Even before President Barack Obama’s Cairo speech last week, there were reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and […]
New, shameless self-promotion: review of my book in “Zeek”
Zeek, the magazine for literate, cultured, youngish, freethinking Jews just published a glowing review of Transforming America’s Israel Lobby. The reviewer is “Moshe Yaroni,” the pseudonym for someone who is clearly very astute. Some excerpts: This is a book that should have been written many years ago. It is full of insight into the major […]
Why neoconservatism is [almost] dead — Notes on the J Post review of my book
Initially, I was delighted to read Jonathan Schanzer’s vicious attack on my book in the Jerusalem Post. Until then, the few reviews out there had been been quite positive (See essays by Jerome Chanes, the History News Network’s Murray Polner, and Thomas Mitchell), and I was hoping and praying for controversy of some kind, as […]
Baker and Biden at AIPAC: A Tale of Two Speeches
At the AIPAC Policy Conference 20 years ago, Secretary of State James Baker made a widely publicized speech that, if I’m not mistaken, was written by Aaron David Miller. He told the throng: For Israel, now is the time to lay aside, once and for all, the unrealistic vision of a Greater Israel. Israeli interests […]
Americans for Peace Now’s sensible take on new Iran sanctions bill
New Iran sanctions legislation is now in the House and Senate (S. 908 and HR 2194). No doubt it will be the major focus of AIPAC’s lobbying efforts this coming Tuesday, after AIPAC”s Policy Conference, when literally throusands of its members will descend on Capitol Hill. According to a contact at Americans for Peace Now, […]
The Egos at AIPAC
In the official indictment of ex-AIPACers Steven Rosen and Keith Weisman and their Pentagon contact Larry Franklin, there is a tidbit that hints at the role of egos and self-aggrandizement in the lobby’s day-to-day activities. This topic is related to something I discuss in my book, which conveys how AIPAC and the conventional Israel lobby […]
Errors in my book
I am mortified by a few factual errors in the book. They are the product of careless copyediting and proofreading. In fact, they are mystifying because they are so obvious, and I am not even sure how they got into the manuscript in the first place, let alone how I missed them during proofreading. Before […]
Is praise from Philip Weiss the kiss of death?
Uh oh. Philip Weiss had nice things to say about me and my book in a recent post. Did he just ruin my life? Walt and Mearsheimer, let us remember, were castigated because David Duke promoted them on his web site. Should I worry for similar reasons? I am sometimes deeply offended by what Weiss […]