UNMIA

David Harris, the director of the American Jewish Congress, was invited recently to address the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin to respond to the appearance the previous month of Professors Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, authors of The Israel Lobby. We present the text of his address here…

Last month, this Council was addressed by two American academics who recently authored a book entitled The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. The book, and the articles that preceded it in the London Review of Books and on the website of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, have received some attention both in the United States and Europe.

Let me assure you: I have no interest in selling books for Professors Walt and Mearsheimer. I’m not here to add to what some would describe as the “controversy” surrounding their book. I’m here because the Council graciously invited me to balance their perspective with a different one.

I have been asked to address this distinguished audience about the so-called Israel lobby in the United States—or, more generally, about the place of Israel in America. It’s my pleasure to do so.

The argument in The Israel Lobby is complex, and describing it here …

By Lynn Provencio (UNMIA and Israel Coalition): Tuesday evening, a small group from the Israel Coalition (a local community based Israel Advocacy group) went to the “Israel Lobby” discussion held at the Peace and Justice Center by Justice First, a local Palestinian Advocacy group. The discussion went very well, and it appeared that everyone was both pleased and a little surprised at what a good discussion it turned out to be.

The Zionists were nervous at first, not having walked into the heart of local anti-Zionist action before. Some had been to an event or two before, and had a better idea of what to expect, but none were quite prepared for the open discussion and friendliness that they found. Likely some of the Justice First attendees were equally surprised to find that Zionists were in their midst and were normal people.

The opening film, which discussed the controversy surrounding Mearsheimer and Waltz’ book “The Israel Lobby”, was made in the Netherlands and was in Dutch, with English subtitles. However, the film’s producers conducted interviews in English with the books’ authors (with no Dutch subtitles), with a Jewish anti-Zionist, a Jewish neo-Zionist, an anti-war military analyst who felt Israel was a strategic …

On Tuesday, October 16 at 7:00pm, the local “Justice First” group, which is dedicated to helping implement the Arab solution to the Jewish problem, will be holding a discussion at the “Peace and Justice” center at 202 Harvard, SE.

From the calendar listing on the “Peace and Justice” website, the event will be a “Discussion of the pro-Israel lobby and how it affects US foreign policy in the middle east, sponsored by Justice First!. Two new books by ADL director Foxman and political scientists Mearsheimer & Walt have just been published - what are their arguments? Info: JusticeFirst.info”

While UNMIA won’t be attending this event in any official capacity, local supporters of Israel and the “Israel Lobby” might be interested in attending and rounding out a discussion that promises to be very lopsided, otherwise.

To join the discussion in a constructive way, it’s naturally necessary to know at least a little about the views of the two sides. Both books are available for sale, of course, and there is quite a bit about both books and the authors on various websites and magazines. As a starting point, we are including the authors’ statements about their own work.

Abe Foxman writes …

by Jeff Robins
The Wall Street Journal
September 7, 2007

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118912590978320145.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

A crop of Israel’s critics — most prominently Jimmy Carter and now Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, the authors of “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy” — have managed something of a feat: They express no concerns about the massive pro-Arab effort, funded in significant measure by foreign oil money, taking American Jews to task for participating in the American political process; meanwhile, they inoculate themselves against charges of anti-Jewish bias by pre-emptively predicting that “the Jewish lobby” will accuse them of it.

Messrs. Walt and Mearsheimer, in particular, have been heralded by Israel’s critics for their “courage” in attacking American Jews, who have allegedly “strangled” criticism of Israel. Their case seems one part laughable, and one part eyebrow-raising.

An anecdote from my own experience with the anti-Israel lobby may shed some light on the absurdity of the Walt-Mearsheimer offensive. Not long after Sept. 11, 2001, I received a call from a major defense contractor asking for a favor. I was serving as president of the Boston chapter of the World Affairs Council, a national organization that debates foreign policy, and the defense contractor was one of the Council’s principal sponsors.

The Saudi Arabian government …