A new
study released today by professors from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and the University of Chicago claims that the U.S. Middle East policy is not in America's national interest and is motivated primarily by the country's largest pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC. The study has been widely distributed by the Washington D.C. office of Fatah, and may renew the public debate about the role and function of AIPAC in American foreign policy.
"No lobby has managed to divert U.S. foreign policy as far from what the American national interest would otherwise suggest, while simultaneously convincing Americans that U.S. and Israeli interests are essentially identical," write the authors of the study.
The study also claims that supporters of Israel pushed the United States into the war in Iraq, although it seems to do little except list the names of senior Bush administration officials such as Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith and David Wurmser who both supported the Iraq war and are known supporters of the State of Israel. I found this particular quote from the above linked article particularly interesting:
John J. Mearsheimer from the University of Chicago's political science department and Stephen M. Walt from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government do not present new facts. They rely mainly on an analysis of Israeli and American newspaper reports and studies, along with the findings of the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.
I've been unable to locate the actual study on either the B'Tselem or KSG websites, but if anyone has a link to it please provide it in the comments.
As for myself, I'm pretty skeptical of this "study", particularly since it contains no actual new data. But I wonder how it ties into the Israel divestment controversy at Harvard, and I think it will be another powerful blow to an already hurting AIPAC. I look forward to y'all's thoughts, although I'd like to ask that we all try to remain civilized, no matter what side we find ourselves on regarding AIPAC or Israel.