The Israeli Lobby and the U.S. Response to the War in Lebanon

Abstract

On 28 August 2006, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
sponsored a panel discussion on “The Israeli Lobby and the U.S. Response
to the War in Lebanon” at the National Press Club, Washington, DC. Stephen
Walt (Kennedy School of Government, Harvard) and John Mearsheimer
(University of Chicago), authors of the controversial article “The Israeli
Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,” were featured.
The panel began with opening remarks by Corey Saylor (government
affairs director, CAIR) and Nihad Awad (executive director, CAIR). Awad
discussed the war in Lebanon and the situation in Gaza, described Israel’s
dropping of cluster bombs on civilian Lebanese towns, quoted a Human
Rights Watch report that states Israel does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, as well as an Amnesty International report describing
Israeli actions in Lebanon as war crimes. He concluded: “Our one-sided support
for Israel is a liability in the war on terror. It has turned much of the
world, including our European allies, against us.”
Stephen Walt summarized the main arguments of his research article
with John Mearsheimer. Among them are that comprehending the recent war
in Lebanon requires an understanding of the pro-Israel groups’ political
power in the United States; that the Israeli lobby’s influence has led to policies
that are not in the United States’ national interest, or in those of the
region’s countries, including Israel; and that $3 billion of American taxpayers’
money is given unconditionally to a wealthy industrial nation. He
quoted former American negotiator Aaron Miller’s remark that the United
States acted as Israeli’s lawyer during Oslo and has been even more onesided
under President Bush ...