LRB · John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt · The Israel Lobby
"
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."
