They have a point but they have it backwards

Submitted by Ken Besig (Israel), Sep 16, 2007 at 10:42

First of all, Mearsheimer-Walt are correct in one single regard, that is the American Jewish Community has national political influence in America which is far greater than our rather small numbers would seem to indicate.

Secondly, and to my mind sadly and ironically, most of that influence has little or nothing to do with support for Israel, the disputes rocking the Middle East, or even the so called conservative or neo conservative American social and political policies which these two alleged academics, Mearsheimer-Walt , claim that the American Jewish community espouses.

Thirdly and thus most importantly, American Jews are largely extreme liberals, they vote for the Democratic Party by a huge majority, and they largely promote, espouse, support, and lead some of the most radical Left wing social and entitlement programs one can imagine.

Finally, while there are some large and active pro Israel Jewish groups in America, there are far more and far bigger anti Israel groups, led by and financially supported by American Jews, groups like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and even a group which calls itself by the unlikely name, The Committe Against (Palestinian) House Demolitions.

Indeed, most polls done by Jewish organizations now indicate that the American Jewish community is far less concerned with Israel either politically or financially and are far more monolithic and far more concerned when it comes to educational, religious, and social issues including employment, affecting their own local communities.

Please don't misunderstand me, I find the Mearsheimer-Walt theory of The Jewish Conspiracy to Control the American Government to be misguided, misinformed, tendentious, riddled with lies and falsehoods, and just as deeply twisted and hatefully anti Semitic as anything produced by Ahmanijihad in Iran or Nasrallah in Lebanon or at another time, by Hitler in Germany.

And what is really disturbing to me, and should be disturbing to all decent Americans is that Mearsheimer-Walt are supposedly professional academics who engaged in serious research to reach their half assed conclusions, not half drunk, unemployed, high school dropout neo Nazis.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".