One of the standard defenses against criticisms of the so-called Israel lobby hinges on portraying its detractors as alleging that Washington's pro-Israel groups are "all-powerful." It's of course a caricature of most critics' position: no doubt some true conspiracy theorists buy into this (and should be ridiculed for it), but the criticisms of pro-Israel groups percolating in Washington don't. Dan Luban, a friend and former colleague, haspersuasively describedmainstreamcriticismsof the Israel lobby based only on the very reasonable contentions that the groups have "significant influence on U.S. foreign policy" and that this influence is often "pernicious." I use the term "Israel lobby" advisedly, because that's the termMaxBootusedwith skeptical quoteson Sunday inCommentarytoattack the straw-man of a lobby that "insidiously controls American foreign policy."ButBoot's post is hilariously off-base: its argument can't even be reconciled with the very information he presents. Let's start with his opening paragraph:If there is any message to come out of Chuck Hagels confirmation, perhaps it is a refutation of the commonly heard charge, made most infamously by Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer and echoed by Hagel himself, that the dread Jewish lobby insidiously controls American foreign policy. How strong can this lobby be if it failed to block the appointment as defense secretary of someone who was widely seen (rightly or wrongly) as inimical to Israeli interests?
Of course, neither Walt and Mearsheimer nor Hagel ever made the charge that the Israel lobby "controls American foreign policy"and I challengeBootto proffer an example stating otherwisebut that's not the funny part. In the next sentence, Boot writes, with my emphasis: "AIPACthe most powerful pro-Israel group in Washingtonactuallysat out the whole fightostensibly because it wants to affect policy, not personnel decisions." So let me get this straight: Hagel's confirmation proves that groupswhich didn't oppose Hagelare not all-powerful because they couldn't stop him? Wrap your feeble minds around that one, children; never you mind thateven powerful lobbies sometimes lose.It's worth noting that the American Jewish Committee and theAnti-Defamation Leaguetwo other centrist pro-Israel groupsraised concerns about Hagel, but didn't oppose his confirmation. And even though Josh Block, the head of the increasingly right-wing group The Israel Project, was one of themostvisibleopponentsof Hagel in the press,the group's Jerusalem officedodged when asked if the organization's official position was to oppose the nomination.It's precisely the emergence ofgroups onthe rightand on the left that havemade speaking of the pro-Israel lobby as a monolith more and more hollow: noting the distinctions between different pro-Israel groups would have renderedBoot's point on Hagel moot because no centrist or liberal group actually opposed confirmation.
What was most amazing, though, aboutBoot's post was the other subject on which he said the pro-Israel lobby had failed: Iran.Boothimself hasadvocatedfor a strikeand (perhaps) projects this on pro-Israel groups, calling Iran's nuke program "their (and Israels) top issue." (Actually, AIPAC's perennial top priority is aid for Israel, which Hagel voted for at every instance, perhaps explaining why the group sat out the fight.) Noting that the U.S. just participated in another round of talks with Iran, Boot writes: "This is a far cry from what Israeland for that matter Americas Gulf Arab allieswould like to see, which is American air strikes to cripple the Iranian nuclear program." He then keeps digging, adding that "if the 'Zionist Lobby' actually ran American foreign policyas so many seem to imagineit is puzzling why such strikes have not yet been undertaken." I'm old enough to remember when saying that pro-Israel groups (and indeed Israel itself) want war with Iran wasenough to get right-wingers to accuse you of anti-Semitism. Of course, AIPAC is busy itselfpushing (non-binding) hawkish resolutions on Iran, but it's always helpful to haveMaxBootclarifying the pro-Israel lobby's goals for us.
By The Daily Beast
The Iran Project is not responsible for the content of quoted articles.
