Real Discussion on The Lobby

This essay is an example of the type of real discussion that should have been elicited by the Walt-Walt-Mearsheimer paper. It has some real criticisms of the paper, but also acknowledges some truths.

So Pro-Israel that it Hurts

Yet their [Walt-Mearsheimer] case is a potent one: that identification of American with Israeli interests can be principally explained via the impact of the Lobby in Washington, and in limiting the parameters of public debate, rather than by virtue of Israel being a vital strategic asset or having a uniquely compelling moral case for support (beyond, as the authors point out, the right to exist, which is anyway not in jeopardy). The study is at its most devastating when it describes how the Lobby "stifles debate by intimidation" and at its most current when it details how America's interests (and ultimately Israel's, too) are ill-served by following the Lobby's agenda.

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