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THE ISRAEL LOBBY AND ITS IMPACT IN AMERICA

Much of the U.S. people had strong opinions and reactions to the article "The Israel

Lobby" when it appeared in the London review of books in March 2006. These

reactions especially came from leading lobby groups and individuals, consisting ofsome American Jews who make a significant effort in their daily lives to change

U.S. foreign policy in favor of Israel, and by prominent evangelical Christians who

believe Israel's renascence is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy and support its

expansionist agenda, otherwise, in their opinion, they would be opposing the will of

God. Mearsheimer and Walt knew very well this would happen, since to analyze

the lobby, the United States support to Israel, or the Israeli policy, was a very

polemic issue, something that no one dared to do. Yet, they thought that this

situation could not be ignored any longer, especially due to the terrorist attacks of

9/11 and the war against Iraq that was threatening to come. The authors were

even denounced as anti-Semitic by the Anti-Defamation League and other

columnists. But, despite that there were many organizations and individuals

against the article, a variety of national and international readers also appeared in

defense, including a significant amount of Jews. As we now know well, due to the

Wagner first lecture, the pro-Israel groups are one of the most significant

influences on the foreign policy of the United States, and AIPAC is the most

powerful and well known, so it was necessary that people got informed through this

powerful article about the actions of the lobby and its impact. The authors claim

that the coalition that constitutes the lobby has significant influence over the

executive branch; they say that AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee),

in particular, has a "stranglehold on the Congress of the United States" because of

its ability to reward legislators and congressional candidates who support its

agenda, and to punish those who challenge it.

The argument proposed in this paper is simple and straightforward. After

describing the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that America

gives to Israel, it is argued that this support could not be fully explained or on a

strategic basis or on a moral basis. On the contrary, its due to the political

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influence of the Israeli lobby that is actively working to shape U.S. foreign policy in

a pro-Israel direction. Additionally to all the unconditional support, several lobby

groups and individuals played an important role when shaping U.S. policy

regarding to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the invasion of Iraq and the current

confrontation with Syria and Iran. It is suggested that these policies were not in line

with the national interest of the United States and in fact were also harmful to the

long-term interests of Israel. Historically, the dominant framework for

understanding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was, and for the most part continues

to be imposed by the mainstream U.S. policy supported by mainstream Jewish

Institutions, including the Israel lobby. According to Sara Roy in her article, the

climate of intimidation and censorship surrounding this conflict, both inside and

outside the U.S. academy, is real and longstanding. This context of fear in which

critical scholarship and other forms of criticism on this issue are often treated as a

zero-sum game has slowly but been steadily weakening. Despite the obstacles that

remain, some very important changes have been taking place, including within the

U.S. Jewish community, that bear directly on fostering informed and more critical

scrutiny of the conflict, making it harder to suppress intellectual "deviance" that

refuses silence and conformity. The most important thing of the articles is that they

contributed, along with other facts, to implement a suitable paradigm in the United

States policy on the Middle East, and from then, a number of people realized that

this issue needed to be revealed and were willing to demonstrate publicly their

thoughts, and it became easier to discuss the role of the lobby in the configuration

of U.S. policies.

Equally important is the fact that people around the world began to recognize that

theAmerican Israel Public Affairs Committee and groups in line inside the lobby assome Christian Zionists, were not representative of the majority view of the Jewishcommunity in America. Among non-Jews, the fear of being labeled an anti-Semite

when discussing Israel or the Palestinians ensured silence. This has undeniably

changed, and today such threats carry less weight, with fewer people intimidated

into silence.

LILIAN LAGOS TRIGO.-

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