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See more customer buying advice Editorial Reviews The Washington Post "Straightforward and valid." About the Author Paul Findley was a congressman from 1961 to 1983, representing the state of Illinois and serving as a senior member of the House Middle East Committee. Book Description The first book to speak out against the pervasive influence of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on American politics, policy, and institutions resonates today as never before. With careful documentation and specific case histories, former congressman Paul Findley demonstrates how the Israel lobby helps to shape important aspects of US foreign policy and influences congressional, senatorial, and even presidential elections. Described are the undue influence AIPAC exerts in the Senate and the House and the pressure AIPAC brings to bear on university professors and journalists who seem too sympathetic to Arab and Islamic states and too critical of Israel and its policies. Along with many longtime outspoken critics, new voices speaking out include former President Jimmy Carter, US Representative Cynthia McKinney, Senator Robert Byrd, prominent Arab-American Dr. Ziad Asali, Rabbi Michael Lerner, and journalist Charles Reese. In addition, the lack of open debate among politicians with regard to the US policy in the Middle East is lamented, and AIPAC is blamed in part for this censorship. Connections are drawn between America's unconditional support of Israel and the raging anti-American passions around the world-and ultimately the tragic events of 9/11.
See all my reviews Ever since I happened to notice George W Bush repeating over and over again during his presidential campaign the mantra, "I know one thing -- Israel is our friend", my interest was piqued. At the time, I thought conservatives were largely at odds with Jews due to their reputations for being liberal Democrats. Later, I saw Hillary Clinton stammer and look visibly shaken during an otherwise very confident and fine performance on a Crossfire appearance, when Chris Matthews pressed her about the Palestinian right to statehood, and her only being able to blindly repeat the stock answer "well, I support Israel's right to defend itself." It seems that nobody, regardless of political persuasion, wants to say anything even remotely being construed as being against Israeli policy. Since then I have read a lot on the issue and have been watching the news media and our government officials more closely. The most recent standout example was when Howard Dean was publicly criticized for the apparent crime of saying that US needed more balance in its policies with respect to the Israel/Palestine issue. Joseph Lieberman publicly castigated Dean for that statement, saying he was hurt and saddened Dean had been so insensitive to Jews. Does sensitivy to Jewish feelings mean that we must muzzle oursleves with respect to US foreign policy? After all, it is our money, our security, and our lives that we're talking about. Findley's book shows that this is more true than we ever thought possible in a supposedly "free" society. He shows how powerful pro-Israel lobby wields such influence that governmental officials and the media cannot even public disagree when Israeli interests counter US interests. If what Findley says is true, a one-time leader of the powerful AIPAC actually boasted that his organization actually controls US foreign policiy in the Middle East. Apparently Congressmen and Senators routinely "clear" their positions and legislation with AIPAC before proceeding. Over and over again I have watched the US government and our main media outlets whitewash, or more likely, completely fail to cover, Palestinian deaths at the hands of Israelis, while never failing to report and denounce Israeli deaths at the hands of Palestinians (despite the fact that far more Palestinians have died). Our unbelievable amount of monetary and military aid to Israel, more than 3 billion annually, is outside of the realm of public debate. Along the way I have talked to many Jews and non-Jews, in a sincere effort to come to some understanding about all this, to determine what is at the root of this seemingly inseperable and super-loyal bond between the US and Israel. Up until I read Findley's book, nobody has ever been able to articulate the reasons behind the power that Israel holds over our country (and thus over US taxpaying citizens). In talking to others, I dismissed comments I got like "well, you know the Jews run the country", knowing that Jews have always been shunned and discriminated against and that was too convenient an answer. I wanted real answers -- facts, not opinions -- from an insider, someone in a position to know. The edition I read was from 1985, but based on what I observe going on in the country today, things have not changed any since then, if they have not gotten worse. It is impossible to call into question our foreign policy or the actions of the Israeli government without being labeled anti-Semitic, something that is very dangerous indeed. Equating the individual with the individual's goverment is always a dangerous thing. Open debate and access to facts must be a staple of a democracy, of a "free society", as our president is fond of saying. It appears to me that whether Jew, Arab, or any other religion, too much of a marriage of church and state, or perhaps more precisely, a marriage between religion and ethnicity, always results in great conflict, unrest and thousands of dead people. When people start painting all people of a certain ethnicity with the same brush, when we start talking about "the Palestinians" or "the Jews" as if they all were the same, we run into big trouble. As an analogy, imagine if we had citizenship quotas in the United States -- for example, to rectify past injustices, if by law we had to maintain no less than a 70% Native American population in the United States, and that political boundaries were be constantly being adjusted to preserve this majority. If you think for a second that the rest of us would take that lying down and just walk away, without a revolution, well we all know that would just never happen. But this is exactly what is happening in Israel - an Israeli ethnic majority is openly pursued and maintained, yet it is still referred to, at least by the United States, as one of the few democracies in the Middle East. I truly marvel at the psychology of those among a people as historically opressed as the Jews, who cannot seem to look past their own needs and their own pain to see the pain and injustice suffered by others at their own hands. This extreme and destructive self-intrest exists on both sides -- the Palestinian suicide bomber likewise displays an appalling lack of empathy for his fellow man. Thank goodness for courageous people like Paul Findley and for those profiled in his book who do "dare to speak out". These people evidently recognize that truth is the most precious ingredient in a democracy, and more importantly, it is what we must all work hard to seek seek out and strive to live by. I strongly recommend this book for people find themselves looking at the all the spin, who know that facts as they are presented just don't add up. This book fills in the gaps and is wholly consistent with what I see going on today. There was not one thing that I read in this book that didn't seem quite right. If you can clearly see the "what", but are still trying to find out the "why", this book will connect the dots for you.
See all my reviews Findley's book should compel us to reevaluate our relationship with Israel. It is compulsory reading even to those who are remotely interested in America's Middle East policies. Factual, objective and deeply disturbing, this book courageously exposes the hijack of powerful American political institutions by pro-Israeli lobbies. America's claim to be a honest peace-broker' in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is thoroughly discredited in this book. Fanatically attached to Israel, it's the latter that diabolically manipulates for its own selfish interests the United States foreign policies with regards to the ...
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