Times on the Israel Lobby, Too

Last month, The Inquirer investigated the recent stir over the power of the Israel Lobby in Washington. This week, the New York Times does the same, with two big A1 features written by the top dogs (David Sanger, Steven Erlanger, and today, David Kirkpatrick).

Hardly surprising, the Times' reporting is outstanding, yesterday the lead was quick to point out that Israel considers the United States, "it's only real ally," but the following quote about the rise of Iran as a player today getting such serious play (paragraph 8) feels nothing but overblown, "Many Israelis feel that the free world under the leadership of the U.S. is facing a similar situation to Europe in the 1930s, when they watched the rearming of the Nazi Reich."

Yesterday's story continues to describe, "Washington's intimate relationship and patience with Israel," but today's front-pager goes after John Hagee, the leader of that confounding group of Evangelicals who, in the face of impending Armageddon, are taking their lobbying march to Washington. And yes, as we reported last month, this discussion comes with nuclear bombs in the bible and all.

Israel Baseball League Signs First Two Players

The Israel Baseball League, first reported on in The Inquirer back in September has announced the signing of its first two players - one of whom hails from New York City. Dan Rootenberg, a New Yorker who holds Israeli citizenship, and who played and coached in a Swiss league last year, has signed an IBL contract.

Rootenberg is a 32-year old left-handed hitter who has also pitched. He played college ball at SUNY Binghamton, pro ball in the independent Frontier League, and with the Zurich Barracudas in Switzerland as a player/coach.

Evangelical Christians Lobbying for Israel

by Andrew Bast

AIPAC ain’t the only game in town. As of just a few months ago, there’s another political player in the Washington circles of the Israel lobby: Christians United for Israel, or CUFI.

On July 19th, at the height of the violence between Israel and Hezbollah, a force of 3,500 people descended on Washington to lobby for Israel. It was CUFI’s first formal push, and in a report book-ended with biblical quotes, Pastor George Pearsons called it: “God’s Impeccable Timing.” In the words of John Hagee, CUFI founder, “When 3,500 Christians go to Washington and interact with our Senators and Congressmen, that’s democracy in action.”

For AIPAC, 2,000 Meetings a Year Pays Off

by Andrew Bast

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is the most influential foreign policy lobby in Washington. Considering the fact that Washington’s number one concern is the now five-year-old global War on Terrorism, AIPAC has serious clout with the helmsmen at the country’s steering wheel.

When AIPAC phones, bigwigs take the call. In 2004, President George W. Bush addressed the committee’s annual policy conference. In 2005, Hillary Clinton did the same and said, “As all of us know, our future here in this country is intertwined with the future of Israel and the Middle East.”

The State of Sports in Israel

by Bryan Joiner

The war in Lebanon shook the Israeli sports world as much as it shook all facets of Israeli life. Here's a rundown on the state of sports in Israel.

An AIPAC Promotional Video

A promotional, and as it plays, seemingly recruiting, video from AIPAC. It's a testimonial of everyman Bob Diener who says early on, "I saw what was really going on in the world."

The Israel Lobby | The Walt and Mearsheimer Essay That Started It All

by Mik Awake

Earlier this year, while the Florida Gators were making a heroic run at the NCAA basketball title, another kind of March Madness was boiling over on the op-ed pages of the most prominent American dailies.

Stephen Walt, dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and John Mearsheimer, R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, published an essay in the London Review of Books entitled “The Israel Lobby.” The 13,000-word article offered up a realist critique of U.S. foreign policy and sparked a trans-Atlantic shouting match that set scholars, bloggers, and political insiders ablaze long after its publication.

Israel Lobby War of Words: A Bibliography

The venomous debate this year over the Israel Lobby's influence over American foreign policy has all the makings of good old democratic dialogue: research, reasoning, lofty ideas, religious fervor, and plenty of irrelevant ad hominem vilification. What follows is a list of the major publications in the debate, for your reading pleasure.

Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer originally wrote a piece on the power of the Israel Lobby for the Atlantic Monthly, but the magazine rejected it, and so began the firestorm.

Tuesday Video: Michael Massing Sums Up the Israel Lobby Debate

This clip of Amy Goodman interviewing Columbia Journalism Review contributing editor Michael Massing on Democracy Now about the Israel Lobby debate set off by the Mearsheimer/Walt essay offers a candid portrait of how the arguments have played out in the public sphere.

Editor's Letter: The Israel Lobby | Debate for a Vitriolic Public Arena

"Most people don't know about AIPAC . . . "

The quote comes from a promotional video for the America-Israeli Public Affairs Committee, and unless you work on Capitol Hill, or perhaps for a foreign policy think tank, you, in fact, likely haven't heard of AIPAC.

You should.