Day Two

Please remeber that by our deadline in twenty days we must raise $25,000 for the new edition of My Awakening.

I received the following letter from a supporter today. Let me share it with you. 

Dear Mr. Duke,

Last month I purchased a copy of Mearsheimer and Walt’s book.  I found it to be a welcome entry in the public discourse, yet simultaneously disappointing in terms of facts and evidence.  I have taken the time to write a review which you may find of interest.

A Review of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by Bill Mathews

Mearsheimer and Walt’s The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy is a groundbreaking work that has opened the public debate on Israel’s influence in America.
The book’s thesis is simple:  The United States supports Israel not because it is a strategic asset or even because it has a strong moral case.  In fact, say the authors, our unconditional support of Israel is due to the existence of the powerful Israel lobby.

Perhaps the greatest credit to their thesis are the personal attacks and difficulties the authors faced.  The Atlantic Monthly commissioned the original paper and then rejected it despite its compliance with all the publisher’s requests. Once published in London Review of Books the authors were called “slanderous,” “obsessive and irrational” and “conspiracy theorists.” 

The arguments in the Israel Lobby were recently published in an expanded book version.  While Mearsheimer and Walt put Israel lobby into the spotlight, their argument is in fact quite limited.  They rightly declare the lobby to be unique in its ability to influence policy.  Simultaneously they restrict themselves to examining the lobby itself and not the influential group behind it, i.e. Jews.
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