Some might say it would be like walking into the lion's den, but Professors Walt and Mearsheimer, authors of the much discussed best-selling book "The Israel Lobby" were invited to Israel and spoke there.
The Christian Science Monitor takes up the "story" of their visit and the responses, in Israel, to their visit:
"With many eyes in Israel already turned toward the American presidential election this November, questions over what and who is good for the Middle East are fast becoming hot topics.
Warming things up that much more, two academics who have cast a critical light on the nature of US-Israel ties came here Thursday as part of a larger Middle East tour, during which they called on America to end its "special relationship with Israel and treat it as a normal country."
Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, professors at Harvard University and the University of Chicago, respectively, published "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy" last fall, raising a maelstrom of reactions: criticism from some corners and praise from others."
Over at JTA, it also reports on the author's visit and talks in Israel:
"In addition to the Tel Aviv event, the two spoke at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, and Walt spoke at Al-Quds University, an Arab school, in eastern Jerusalem.
"Some people come who agree with us and some people come who don't agree with us, and we have a lively conversation,” Walt, a professor of international affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, told JTA. “I think some people who don't know Israel very well would think it radical or brave or controversial to come to Israel, but there is a vital discussion here in Israel and I don't find it surprising that we've had a very interesting and enjoyable time.”
In their talk in Tel Aviv, which was organized by the Israeli peace group Gush Shalom, the two authors took turns defending the central thesis of their book: that a coalition of pro-Israel groups succeed in pushing through policies in the United States that often are at odds with America's and even Israel's best interests. They cite the Iraq war as one example, a claim critics have called patently untrue and poorly argued.
Echoing that claim, the pair argued in Israel that the same forces are now pushing the country into attacking Iran.
"There is only one country in the world that is putting any pressure on the U.S. to attack Iran, and that is Israel," Mearsheimer told a packed lecture hall at Hebrew University, according to the Jerusalem Post. "And it is putting enormous pressure on the US."
He added, "Inside the United States, it is pro-Israel individuals and groups who are almost wholly responsible for pressure being brought to bear on Bush and Cheney to use military force on Iran. The idea that the lobby and Israel don't put huge amounts of pressure on the U.S. is contradictory to the evidence."
The Christian Science Monitor takes up the "story" of their visit and the responses, in Israel, to their visit:
"With many eyes in Israel already turned toward the American presidential election this November, questions over what and who is good for the Middle East are fast becoming hot topics.
Warming things up that much more, two academics who have cast a critical light on the nature of US-Israel ties came here Thursday as part of a larger Middle East tour, during which they called on America to end its "special relationship with Israel and treat it as a normal country."
Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, professors at Harvard University and the University of Chicago, respectively, published "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy" last fall, raising a maelstrom of reactions: criticism from some corners and praise from others."
Over at JTA, it also reports on the author's visit and talks in Israel:
"In addition to the Tel Aviv event, the two spoke at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, and Walt spoke at Al-Quds University, an Arab school, in eastern Jerusalem.
"Some people come who agree with us and some people come who don't agree with us, and we have a lively conversation,” Walt, a professor of international affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, told JTA. “I think some people who don't know Israel very well would think it radical or brave or controversial to come to Israel, but there is a vital discussion here in Israel and I don't find it surprising that we've had a very interesting and enjoyable time.”
In their talk in Tel Aviv, which was organized by the Israeli peace group Gush Shalom, the two authors took turns defending the central thesis of their book: that a coalition of pro-Israel groups succeed in pushing through policies in the United States that often are at odds with America's and even Israel's best interests. They cite the Iraq war as one example, a claim critics have called patently untrue and poorly argued.
Echoing that claim, the pair argued in Israel that the same forces are now pushing the country into attacking Iran.
"There is only one country in the world that is putting any pressure on the U.S. to attack Iran, and that is Israel," Mearsheimer told a packed lecture hall at Hebrew University, according to the Jerusalem Post. "And it is putting enormous pressure on the US."
He added, "Inside the United States, it is pro-Israel individuals and groups who are almost wholly responsible for pressure being brought to bear on Bush and Cheney to use military force on Iran. The idea that the lobby and Israel don't put huge amounts of pressure on the U.S. is contradictory to the evidence."
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