Goldblog says I misunderstand the Israel lobby:
Andrew now interprets Israel's power in Washington in the manner of Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, whose anti-Israel polemic, "The Israel Lobby," blames American Jewish supporters of Israel for most of the bad things that have happened to America abroad over the past decade. Their argument is simple: Without "the Lobby," Israel would be friendless in Washington. This always struck me as wrong, not because AIPAC isn't powerful, but because Walt and Mearsheimer (and Andrew) don't seem to understand what makes a powerful lobby group powerful. The most powerful lobbies, over time, are those that lobby for causes that are already popular among the American people.
Let me just correct the record and insist I do not blame "American Jewish supporters of Israel for most of the bad things that have happened to America abroad over the past decade," and I have not written that. Al Qaeda hated America primarily for broad reasons of unwanted intervention in the Middle East, specifically our troops in Saudi Arabia and was only peripherally and opportunistically interested in Israel/Palestine. Israel's elites were also smart enough to be against the Iraq fiasco. My objections have stemmed from Israel's recent decisions to disporportionately pulverize Gaza and intensify settlement building on the West Bank, even as a responsible partner emerged on the West Bank and an American president had a chance to rebuild US relations with the Arab and Mulism world. In my view, Netanyahu has acted without the slightest concern for the interests of his allegedly closest ally and most powerful supporter.
Jeffrey quotes Walter Russell Mead:
Full-throated support for hardline Israeli positions is a populist position in American politics — like full-throated support for a fence on the Mexican border. It is a foreign policy idea that makes elites queasy and that they try to steer away from, but support for it is so strong in public opinion, and therefore in Congress, that presidents have to figure out how to work with this force rather than taking it on directly.
Really? There is absolutely a broad sentiment of sympathy with Israelis over Palestinians. But this is not always reflected in support for "hardline Israeli positions." A Rasmussen poll last year, for example, found Americans opposed Israel's policy of continuing to settle the West Bank by a margin of 2 – 1. The settlements have been the core issue between Netanyahu and Obama. Yet in that struggle, Obama has lost decisively. (And Rasmussen, if anything, is likely to understate opposition because it tilts Republican).
Polling on the Gaza war, to take another example of a "hardline Israeli position", varied depending on the question.
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