For some reason the Jerusalem Post is reporting the recent CAIR-Mearsheimer-Walt Hate-The-Jews Hate-The-“Jewish-Lobby” Fest as if these folks know about what they’re speaking. (You can find some of my previous articles on these two and their issues by going here).

From the Jerusalem Post:

In their public appearance in Washington Monday, a rare event in itself, the two found a supportive crowd and were even awarded by one of the activists with a pin carrying the slogan: “Fighting the Israel lobby.”

Walt, of the Kennedy School at Harvard University, stressed that he is not blaming all Jews in high positions in the US of being “some kind of secret cabal” and said he does not claim the activities of Jewish Americans in favor of Israel are disloyal or inappropriate.

Yet when talking about the people who influenced the administration to launch the Iraq war, the two scholars mentioned Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith, Elliott Abrams and David Wurmser, all Jewish officials in the administration. Later they added John Bolton, who is not Jewish, to the list.

Mearsheimer claimed Israel had planned the Lebanon war in advance and that it used the Hizbullah attack as a pretext to launch its war plan. He went on to say that Israel informed the US of its plans months before the war broke out.

“It now seems clear that Israel has been planning to strike at Hizbullah for months before the July 12 kidnappings and that key Israelis had briefed the administration about their intentions,” Mearsheimer said, “The available evidence indicates that the Bush administration enthusiastically endorsed Israel’s plans for war in Lebanon.”

But wait! Here is the Washington Post on the same story:

Walt singled out two Jews who worked at the Pentagon for their pro-Israel views. “People like Paul Wolfowitz or Doug Feith . . . advocate policies they think are good for Israel and the United States alike,” he said. “We don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, but we also don’t think there’s anything wrong for others to point out that these individuals do have attachments that shape how they think about the Middle East.”

“Attachments” sounds much better than “dual loyalties.” But why single out Wolfowitz and Feith and not their non-Jewish boss, Donald Rumsfeld?

“I could have mentioned non-Jewish people like John Bolton,” Walt allowed when the question was put to him.

Picking up on the “attachments” lingo, Mearsheimer did mention Bolton but cited two Jews, Elliott Abrams and David Wurmser, as “the two most influential advisers on Middle East affairs in the White House. Both, he said, are ” fervent supporters of Israel.” Never mind that others in the White House, such as national security adviser Stephen Hadley, Vice President Cheney and President Bush, have been just as fervent despite the lack of “attachments.”

And

…And, indeed, Walt seemed defensive about the charges of anti-Semitism. He cautioned that the Israel lobby “is not a cabal,” that it is “not synonymous with American Jews” and that “there is nothing improper or illegitimate about its activities.”

But Mearsheimer made no such distinctions as he used “Jewish activists,” “major Jewish organizations” and the “Israel lobby” interchangeably. Clenching the lectern so tightly his knuckles whitened, Mearsheimer accused Israel of using the kidnapping of its soldiers by Hezbollah as a convenient excuse to attack Lebanon.

“Israel had been planning to strike at Hezbollah for months,” he asserted. “Key Israelis had briefed the administration about their intentions.”

A questioner asked if he had any “hard evidence” for this accusation. Mearsheimer cited the “public record” and “Israeli civilian strategists,” then repeated the allegation that Israel was seeking “a cover for launching this offensive.”

In other words, just like with their apparent methodology for poorly researching their weak paper about the “Israel Lobby,” during this war they read some blogs like Juan Cole’s (he’s taken to regularly claiming that this war was pre-planned by Israel because the IDF had contingency plans in case of attack – that’s right, because armies never have contingency plans as to how they will fight their enemies 🙄 ), or some pro-Palestinian websites and decided that there is now a public record that the war was planned in advance. They then went to a CAIR conference to talk about Jewish influence on America that goes against America’s interests and supposedly influences it unduly. Read the entire Washington Post article to get the full flavor of this sad joke.

Let’s hope the only people who keep on inviting them to speak are the CAIRs of the world.

For those who don’t know, CAIR = the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Not very friendly people.

About the author

themiddle

10 Comments

  • See the broadcasts.

    You can save these video files files to disk and study the cunning covert anti-Semitic rethorics closely:

    Walt & Mearsheimer Videos – The Israel Lobby

    Stephen Walt & John Mearsheimer, Israel Lobby Cair conference C-span 08240606.
    Downloadable Real Media video downloads split in 3 parts 32, 37, and 14 MB.

    http://tinyurl.com/nmw4a

    Walt & Mearsheimer in Australia (Windows Media Video download): Pro Israel lobby heavily influencing US policies

    http://tinyurl.com/g5wth

    Walt & Mearsheimer in Australia (Windows Media Video download):

    http://tinyurl.com/h25pz

    The Israel Lobby – Walt & Mearsheimers Article (text)

    Just another anti-semetic attack, but now with academic status. Remember Hitlers “scientists”? Walt and Mearsheimer must be longing for the days of the Reich, or are they looking forward to the Kaliphate?

  • Don’t we discuss these things openly on Jewlicious, Kelsey? When puny little Egalitarian, Suburban, Zionist, Soccer Dad, The Middle, challenges Walt & Mearsheimer over their bullshit paper (and now public talks), isn’t that the same as confronting the issue straight on so as to prevent the distortion of what will be discussed anyway?

    Besides, as I recall, your view is that Jews should simply stay out of public life in the countries in which they live lest they cause somebody to view them negatively. That seems impossible to me. In fact, it is the opposite of our obligation as members of the larger community.

  • DK:

    What’s your point, DK? Could you spell it out, please? It seems pretty obvious to me, extrapolating from your stances on various other issues, but I want to hear you explain it yourself rather than putting words in your mouth.

  • Ephraim,

    As you know, I am a non-Zionist. That means, though I reject that the Zionist Entity has solved many aspects of the Jewish Question, I do not join in the die-ins and all that. I do not tell Israel what to do.

    However, I do not find it particularly honest or helpful to claim that American Zionist lobby groups do not affect U.S. foreign policy. If they were not effective at this, they would not be in the business of lobbying. They are not the only ones who lobby. Everyone lobbies. It is legal to lobby.

    The problem is that the cost to the U.S. for having a more Zionist foreign policy than it would without lobby pressure means that the U.S. has a lot of angry Muslims. That makes me sad, since it seems the U.S. is paying a price for being so warm to the wishes of the Zionist community.

    I find one way Jews (like TM) deal with this problem is by pretending there is no cost to the U.S. for being as pro-Zionist Entity as it is. That they are actually doing only what is best for them.

    But I don’t agree. I think there is a terrible cost to the U.S., and it is lobby driven (though not just by the Jews, though even there, with the Christian Zionists, it’s still kinda motivated by Jewish influence — but anyway, that’s not by problem.)

  • Zionist Entity? Holy Fucking Crap. Like it or not, those are Jews over there, DK. Ever heard of ahavat Israel? Last time I checked that’s not just a Zionist mitzvah.

    Not your problem? In your dreams, man.

    Yes, Isael hasn’t solved the “Jewish Problem”. But it was at least an attempt. You seem willing to live in gollus just hoping that if you kowtow enough the goyim won’t hurt you. That’s going to solve the “Jewish Question”?

    But, it has always been one or the other, really. Stick up for yourself or take what the goyim dish out. You have clearly made the choice that since the Jews are too few to have any hope of really standing up for themselves, and that any attempt to do so will just make the goyim hate us, that the only choice is to just keep out of trouble and hope that they will be nice to us. OK, zie gezunt.

    I agree, though, that the Jewish lobby does have power in the US. Whether this is good or bad depends on what you perceive US interests to be, I suppose. However, the idea that if the the US would just throw Israel to the wolves the Muslims wouldn’t hate us is just, well, pathetic.

    But anyway, whatever. You should call up Pat Buchanan. I hear he needs a token Jew to work on his campaign.

  • Non-Zionist? Are you a Goy?

    Even in ancient times everyone was a zionist. Not everyone was observant, but you bet your little non learned ass everyone was a Zionist and nationalistic.

  • Ephraim,

    When did I say it wasn’t my problem? When did I say I don’t care? When did I say I don’t worry?
    CactusJack911,

    If you think everyone was an activist Zionist throughout history in a state sort of way, that is the funniest thing I have heard all day.

    Most Jews were Zionists the way they they were Messianists. Not activist about it, just prayers and longing. You are conflating quiescent, utopian Zionism with today’s Medina the same way certain chabadniks justify their Messianisism. It is actually quite different from the historical norm.