The Observer, October 5, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 6
Unpopular Reason: Israel Lobby talk displayed unsound argument, anti-Semitic sentiment
David Gergen, Editor of U.S. News & World Report and a faculty member of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, said that their claims were "wrong and unfair." Noted Harvard faculty member Alan Dershowitz states that "the working paper is little more than a compilation of old, false, and authoritatively discredited charges dressed up in academic garb. The only thing new about it is the imprimatur these recycled assertions have now been given by the prominence of its authors and their institutional affiliations." And Eliot Cohen of Johns Hopkins University calls it "merely and unforgivably, bigotry." These are just a few of the many vocal critics. On the other side, supporting the work of hate and its two authors are men like David Duke, a former leader of the Klu Klux Klan; Abdulmo'em Abulfotah, of the banned terrorist organization known as The Muslim Brotherhood; and Holocaust denier Mark Weber. I speak, of course, of the recent book The Israel Lobby and its two authors, Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer.
Last week, Walt and Mearsheimer visited Cleveland and gave a speech in Ford Auditorium. Wanting to garner support and no doubt con audience members into buying their work of hate, the two spoke as though they were merely trying to call attention to a hidden issue and cared only to see that no one lobby held undue influence. If that were true of their book, or their article in The London Review of Books, there would be no real issue. But alas, what they said to the audience and what they wrote down for their readers simply do not align. In it, they imply a vast conspiracy that hinges upon the notion of disloyalty to America by a significant number of powerful Jews, including many congressional aids. They go on to call Israel, which is the region's only democracy and one where Arabs enjoy more rights than they would elsewhere in the region, a "colonizing" regime, and compare it to Apartheid-era South Africa.
One of the authors has admitted, as many others have noted, that the book does not contain any original information. And, as Dershowitz pointed out in his initial 44-page rebuttal, much of what they do mention is simply inaccurate. Thus, one must ask why two such distinguished academics would publish a work like this. The only logical explanation is deeply held personal bigotry. Walt and Mearsheimer are relying on their positions at prestigious universities to protect them from being branded as hatemongers, yet publish an obviously loathsome work designed to resurrect latent anti-Semitic sentiments.
The book is an absolute disgrace, and is bested only by the authors' presence on campus. They spoke at 7 p.m., one minute after the Jewish holiday Sukkot began, preventing those who might have otherwise challenged their lies from attending. And, given that I was shut down when trying to ask a legitimate question regarding the level of scholarship behind the book, it leads me to believe that this was done intentionally. The authors cannot withstand scrutiny because their argument is simply unsound. Their claims are tired, and could only be taken as true by the most feeble-minded individuals.
Caleb Posner is a freshman political science major who enjoys Mencken wit.
