How Important Is the Israel Lobby?

Middle East Quarterly
Vol. XII, No. 4, Fall 2006

Superb article on the effects of the Israel Lobby on US Foreign Policy.

Two well-known academics, Stephen Walt of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, published a working paper in March 2006 arguing that 'the Israel lobby' wields a disproportionate and detrimental influence on U.S. foreign policy. They defined the lobby as mysteriously large, including everything from Washington think-tanks, New York newspapers, and websites, to traditional lobby groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Their study, however flawed, lent an air of academic respectability to a viewpoint of pervasive Israel lobby influence and power that has long preoccupied polemicists and a radical fringe. Read complete article