Group Cancels Forum On Book About Israel Lobby

[Purveyor]

Critics say Chicago group yielded to pressure, silenced discussion of controversial topic

By Karoun Demirjian and E.A. Torriero | Tribune staff reporters
August 21, 2007

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs' decision to cancel a forum about a controversial upcoming book on the influence of the pro-Israel lobby on U.S. foreign policy has sparked a heated debate about free speech.

"The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," a book due out in September by University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer and Harvard University professor Stephen Walt, argues that the pro-Israel lobby has had a negative effect on U.S. foreign policy.

Expanding on a previous academic article that caused uproar and protest, Mearsheimer and Walt argue that the Israel lobby -- including Jewish organizations, Christian fundamentalists and neo-conservatives -- helped, among other actions, to stop diplomatic talks between the U.S. and Syria and hampered efforts to solve the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs is a non-partisan organization founded in 1922 that holds public forums on international issues such as immigration and world trade. The organization also conducts public opinion polls about foreign affairs.

The council had planned to hold a public discussion of the book in September with the two authors. But in late July, the council decided to scrap the program.

---EOE---

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-israelbook_aug21,1,6109069.story?ctrack=3&cset=true

[Selatius]

1. This is a poorly written article. What is "pro-Israel"?

Are we talking about groups like AIPAC that are almost thoroughly dominated by sympathizers of the ultra-right wing Likud party? Or groups that are more moderate or even groups that are supportive of the Labor party and other left wing groups?

[LeftishBrit]

6. Good point. Israel isn't monolithic !

[leftchick]

7. agreed, it is a pro-Likud Lobby

here is a link to Their essay which preceded the book ......

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html

The Israel lobby debate

In March the London Review of Books published John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's essay 'The Israel Lobby'. The response to the article prompted the LRB to hold a debate under the heading 'The Israel lobby: does it have too much influence on American foreign policy?'. The debate took place in New York on 28 September in the Great Hall of the Cooper Union. The panellists were Shlomo Ben-Ami, Martin Indyk, Tony Judt, Rashid Khalidi, John Mearsheimer and Dennis Ross, and the moderator was Anne-Marie Slaughter.A video of the event, produced by ScribeMedia, is now available to view online. Click here to view the debate.

The Israel Lobby
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt

For the past several decades, and especially since the Six-Day War in 1967, the centrepiece of US Middle Eastern policy has been its relationship with Israel. The combination of unwavering support for Israel and the related effort to spread ‘democracy’ throughout the region has inflamed Arab and Islamic opinion and jeopardised not only US security but that of much of the rest of the world. This situation has no equal in American political history. Why has the US been willing to set aside its own security and that of many of its allies in order to advance the interests of another state? One might assume that the bond between the two countries was based on shared strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives, but neither explanation can account for the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the US provides.

Instead, the thrust of US policy in the region derives almost entirely from domestic politics, and especially the activities of the ‘Israel Lobby’. Other special-interest groups have managed to skew foreign policy, but no lobby has managed to divert it as far from what the national interest would suggest, while simultaneously convincing Americans that US interests and those of the other country – in this case, Israel – are essentially identical.

Since the October War in 1973, Washington has provided Israel with a level of support dwarfing that given to any other state. It has been the largest annual recipient of direct economic and military assistance since 1976, and is the largest recipient in total since World War Two, to the tune of well over $140 billion (in 2004 dollars). Israel receives about $3 billion in direct assistance each year, roughly one-fifth of the foreign aid budget, and worth about $500 a year for every Israeli. This largesse is especially striking since Israel is now a wealthy industrial state with a per capita income roughly equal to that of South Korea or Spain.

[Hardrada]

2. Thanks for mentioning this.

I'll buy the book when it comes out and get a copy to our library. Too little discussion is allowed on this topic.

[azurnoir]

3. If you can

watch CNN's God's Warrior's, in tonights segment they cover Jewish Warriors, and the "pro-Israel" lobby in the US. It's on now but will be repeated at 11 pm.

[Hardrada]

4. I caught part of it. Thanks.

Two more parts left. Some of it I can recall now from news reports.

[Lilith Velkor]

5. IBTM

:yoiks:

[Hardrada]

8. Kick !