Walt & Mearsheimer, 2006:
For the past several decades, and especially since the Six-Day War in 1967, the centrepiece of US Middle Eastern policy has been its relationship with Israel. The combination of unwavering support for Israel and the related effort to spread ‘democracy’ throughout the region has inflamed Arab and Islamic opinion and jeopardised not only US security but that of much of the rest of the world. This situation has no equal in American political history. Why has the US been willing to set aside its own security and that of many of its allies in order to advance the interests of another state? One might assume that the bond between the two countries was based on shared strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives, but neither explanation can account for the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the US provides.
Instead, the thrust of US policy in the region derives almost entirely from domestic politics, and especially the activities of the ‘Israel Lobby’.
And then there was CHANGE.
"Alrightniks may be envied but are not admired; for they have succeeded whether or not they have taste, breeding or spiritual values. Above all, they are not learned or devoted to learning -- hence cannot be really respected."
Leo Rosten, in The New Joys of Yiddish
Editorial of The New York Sun | February 27, 2013
By confirming Charles Hagel as secretary of war, Senator Schumer and the Democratic leadership send a pointed message to the Jewish community in America. It is that if the Jewish defense agencies are not going to stick up publicly for Israel, it is hard to expect others to do so. There is no sugar-coating the point. The Senate has just confirmed the most truculent cabinet officer in respect of Israel in more than a generation because important institutions and leaders shrank from making an issue of it....
.... [ZOA president, Morton] Klein believes the Hagel nomination would not have been confirmed had the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, and the American Jewish Committee taken a formal public position against Mr. Hagel. All three agencies have had many heroic moments. But they stood down on Mr. Hagel. Said Mr. Klein: “Several senators — and important ones — said to me: ‘If Aipac, ADL and AJCommittee — especially Aipac — had come out and lobbied against Hagel, he would have been stopped.”
Posted by: Meshulam | Thursday, 28 February 2013 at 12:04 PM
Posted by: Mannie Sherberg | Thursday, 28 February 2013 at 12:23 PM
Posted by: Elan | Thursday, 28 February 2013 at 12:24 PM
Posted by: Mannie Sherberg | Thursday, 28 February 2013 at 12:37 PM