5 comments about Foreign Agents: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee from the 1963 Fulbright Hearings to the 2005 Espionage Scandal.

1. Grant Smith's book traces the secret history of the American Israel Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC). AIPAC is an organization little known or understood outside of the Washington Beltway and those who follow American Middle East policy. However, its relative obscurity in the Heartland should not fool the public. AIPAC has evolved into one of the most powerful lobbying organizations in the United States. Politicians, regardless of political stripe, play homage to AIPAC. Indeed, critical pieces of legislation regarding US policies towards Israel and the Middle East are drafted in AIPAC's downtown Washington offices. While most lobby organizations represent genuine American commercial or social interests, Smith makes a compelling case that AIPAC is a functional extension of the Israeli government. The recent espionage case involving two AIPAC officials is a striking example of AIPAC's highly conflicted agenda (fully documented in Smith's book). It would be more accurate for AIPAC to rename itself the "Israeli Political Action Committee" to better disclose the efforts it makes to sway elections in virtually every US congressional district. This book shows how AIPAC, a nonprofit corporation prohibited from supporting political candidates, does just that in clandestine and illegal ways. It also shows the strategic revolution led by founder Si Kenen and why neutral sounding organization names, especially for political action committees, has been so important to AIPAC's stealth operations.
   
   Smith details AIPAC's involvement as one of the main cheerleaders for the invasion of Iraq through quantitative analysis. Anecdotally Smith notes that Democratic Speaker of the House Pelosi was roundly booed when she spoke before a recent AIPAC conference and called for the Congress to be consulted before any Bush administration strike on Iran. AIPAC's operatives in the White House such as Elliot Abrams would view that as an infringement on their prerogative. The Pelosi incident should be no surprise to the informed. Shortly before, the Prime Minister of Israel publicly condemned calls in the United States for military withdrawal from Iraq as "not in Israel's interest." Pelosi bent to the demands of the Lobby and at AIPCA's urging dropped her pledge to pass legislation for the common good of the American people.
   
   Portions of Smith's book read like a criminal indictment. It is filled with compelling and fully sourced facts and figures. He makes a strong case that AIPAC is indeed an organization that deserves far greater legal oversight and accountability than it has received thus far. Moreover the mainstream media now ignores AIPAC's alleged criminal activities and destructive political influence on our democratic process. This is appalling, but was not always the case. The mainstream corporate media's evolution from dogged investigators to AIPAC lap dogs is documented in the book, along with a stunning confession from the Washington Post's former Middle East Bureau Chief.
   
   No doubt Smith will receive the usual bludgeoning from the lobby. This is now par for the course. Whenever an American criticizes Israeli policy or that country's illicit influence over US political affairs, the predictable "Israel First" hacks make their way to the front of the line to smear and instill fear. We have seen this happen to Professors Walt and Mearsheimer, Norman Finkelstein, James Petras, President Jimmy Carter and of course Congressman Paul Findley who first dared to speak out. Mr. Smith has joined a group of dedicated, patriotic Americans whose sole interests continue to be the advancement of more rational US strategic objectives that are truly in the interest of all Americans. Kudos to Mr. Smith!



2. Grant Smith's book traces the history of the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC). AIPAC is a little known and understood organization outside of the Washington Beltway and those that follow American Middle East policy. However, its relative obscurity in the Heartland should not fool the public. AIPAC has evolved into one of the most powerful lobby organizations in the United States. Politicians, regardless of political stripe, play homage to AIPAC. Indeed, entire pieces of legislation regarding US policies towards Israel and the Middle East have been drafted in AIPAC's downtown Washington offices. While most lobby organization represent genuine American commercial and social interests, Smith makes a compelling case that AIPAC is in fact a functional extension of the Israeli Foreign Ministry. The recent espionage case involving AIPAC officials is a striking example of AIPAC's conflicted agenda (fully documented in Smith's book). I would rather AIPAC rename itself the "Israeli Political Action Committee"- a more honest nomenclature.
   
   Smith details AIPAC's involvement as one of the main cheerleaders for the invasion of Iraq. As Smith notes, Speaker Pelosi was roundly booed when she spoke before a recent AIPAC conference when she called for an end to US military occupation of Iraq. This should be no surprise to the informed. Shortly before, the Prime Minister of Israel publicly condemned calls in the United States for withdrawal as "not in Israel's interest." Pelosi understanding her subservient role to the Lobby and at AIPCA's urging soon dropped her pledge to pass legislation requiring President Bush to first obtain Congressional approval before attacking Iran.
   
   Smith's book reads like a criminal indictment. It is filled with compelling, sourced facts and figures. He makes a strong case that AIPAC is indeed an organization that deserves far greater legal scrutiny and accountable that it has received thus far. Moreover, that the mainstream media ignore AIPAC's alleged criminal activities and destructive political influence on our democratic process is appalling.
   
   No doubt that Smith will get the usual claims of anti-Semitism. This appears par for the course. When ever an American criticizes Israeli policy or that country's influence over US political affairs, the predictable Israel First hacks make their way to the front of the line. We have seen this happen to Professors Walt, Miershiemer, Finkelstein, Petras, President Jimmy Carter and Congressman Findley, among others. Mr. Smith can be comforted that he has joined a group of dedicated, patriotic Americans whose sole interests continue to be the advancement of US strategic objectives and who have resisted prostituting themselves for foreign powers. Kudos to Mr. Smith!



3. I just finished this ground breaking work--not ground breaking because of new, long hidden material but because the material has not been examined because of fear. Smith has probed subjects that have rarely, if ever, been brought to light. These subjects have remained in the shadows because the Israeli government and its lobby do not want its relationship with its cash cow, America, to be spotlighted for fear that the spiggot will be turned off and the estimated 1.8 trillion in support for Israel will be lessened. This figure is quoted by Smith in chapter five and sourced from Harvard economist Thomas Stauffer and although Smith's thesis is more tightly formulated, the bigger picture inarguably materializes; that picture is of huge import for America and by extension people like myself living far away from this centre of such great international interest.
   
   Smith's book painted a conclusive, at least for me, picture of the terrible puppet lines that make it all but impossible for American government to function as it is constitutionally suppossed to operate. As he writes in chapter three, American democracy cannot act when lobbyists can exercise overwhelming influence on sigle-issue legislation under consideration. As Smith points out in chater one, J William Fulbright was the last major American politician to challenge the Israeli Lobby and that was nearly forty years ago.
   
   I found Smith's book hard going for a intellectual lightweight like myself because he peppers his work with many excerpts from legal writings of one kind or another. This comment is not to dissuade any potential reader, it is meant only as a caution regarding the nature of the writing to be faced. The legal material is there to provide hard evidence for virtually all of Smith's statements. He has sown the seeds of his ideas carefully and provided ample fertilizer in the form of documented evidence to insure a good crop; it is certainly evidence strong enough for this reader.



4. Grant Smith's authoritative and well documented research should be required reading for all those politicians and journalists who have long been fooled and manipulated by AIPAC. Hopefully, it will compel them to rectify their past misdeeds and to seek factual information on Israel-Palestine.
   
   All Americans should rise up and demand honest journalism and a change in U.S. policy in the Middle East from the one dictated by AIPAC's foreign agents to one protecting the national interests of our own country. I highly recommend this book.



5. When traitors from New York Times, who for now reason called themselves "journalists", published several articles disclosing highly sensitive information on how CIA and FBI traced global Islamic terrorists, including Al-Qaida, and drastically damaged security of American people and the country; they were under "freedom of speech" protection. When New York Times disclosed information on CIA agent, Valerie Plame Wilson, and literally put in jeopardy her life, life of her family, lives of her colleagues and success of her operation, this organization, which is an obvious traitor, was under protection of the "freedom of speech" principle. From this point of view, the book is complete lie and hypocrisy, as entire American judicial system.

4 comments about The Zionist Idea: A Historical Analysis and Reader.

1. If you are proud of the role that Orthodox Jews have played in developing the modern Zionist movement, you will love this reader compiled more than 35 years ago (and back in print). Orthodox rabbis and Zionist leaders Yehuda Alkalai, Zvi Hirsch Kalischer, Yechiel Michel Pines, Meir Bar-Ilan, Shmuel Chaim Landau, Samuel Mohilever, Avraham Yitzhak HaCohen Kook and Isaac Reines take up a disproportionate amount of space in Hertzberg's rich work. And for good measure you will find the writings of Ben-Gurion and Jabotinsky.



2. the a hundred page introduction of this work is absolutely essential for people of every ilk who want to undertand the whole zionist idealogy in one fine, easy-read scoop. the rest of this work is a presentation of every important leader of zionism in the course of 19th and 20th centuries with a short description of the writers life, endeavors, and accomplishments in the beginning of every excerpt.
   this book serves on two fronts which makes it into a bona-fide classic of zionist literature: (a) someone who wants to throughly understand the conception of the movement must read this book because without it even fine, scurpulous research is incomplete. (b) someone who wants to cursorly scan the movement to form a capsule of the zionist idea in his mind for all practical intents and purposes.
   i'm not a zionist, but this book gave me a clearer percpective of zionism. now i'm confident to vouch that i know precisely what zionism holds and so should you!



3. What is modern Zionism? Is it Jewish nationalism? Is it simply an ideology of human rights for everyone, including Jews? These are questions that I hoped would be answered (and are answered) in a book that contains articles written from 1843 to 1948 by about three dozen leading Zionists.
   
   A doctrine of human rights for all would permit any group, including Jews, to bid on land in and near Jerusalem and (upon obtaining it) pass laws ensuring their rights of life, liberty, and property there. As well as continued immigration. I wanted to see if most Zionists saw it that way, arguing that there are many Jews (and many Jewish nationalists) and that Zion is the Jewish homeland, with Jerusalem its capital.
   
   Moreover, I wanted to know if any of these thinkers said or implied anything like the following:
   
   1) We Jews don't care for Zion, but many non-Jews do, so we'll buy Zion and displace those who really love the land.
   
   2) We Zionists love Zion, so we'll steal it from the rightful and legal owners.
   
   3) We don't care about human rights. We want special treatment, so we can have privileges that are denied to non-Jews.
   
   Not one of these authors displayed any of the above three attitudes. None of them advocated wastefulness, greed, destruction, theft, or unfairness. They did indeed argue for the rights of Jews to be equal to those of other nationalities. And they went on to discuss Jewish culture, Hebrew universities, Jewish religion, and the need for a people to have a common language and a state. These days, when the international information supply is saturated with antizionist misinformation, it's worth noting all this.
   
   In this book, we see Theodor Herzl say that the Jews are a people, one people. A people that he thinks "will not be left in peace." And, most important, that he is not aiming to arouse sympathy on behalf of the Jews: "All that is nonsense, as futile as it is dishonorable." Those who ask that we make the dubious stipulation that Zionism is merely a claim of sympathy for what has happened to the Jews of Europe might want to note that!
   
   We then see Ahad Ha-am say that he wants to focus on a national culture, with Zion providing merely a "secure refuge," rather than starting with a state and relying on it to produce a national culture. That's a good answer to those who ask today what Ahad Ha-am would have said about Israel's desire to continue to exist as a refuge for Jews.
   
   Two other authors who are often quoted by "post-Zionists" are Judah Magnes and Martin Buber. I'd advise reading what they say as well. In particular, Buber splatters Mahatma Gandhi's argument that the Levant "belongs to the Arabs" by pointing out that "God does not give any one portion of the Earth away." A powerful comment for those who might otherwise think that the Jews, not the Arabs, are the ones who are regarding the Levant as theirs by Divine Right!
   
   Vladimir Jabotinsky is often given as an example of someone who favored Jewish greed over Arab need. Guess again! Here we see him speak forthrightly about there being "no question of ousting the Arabs," And that Arabs will be a minority in Israel, but that is no hardship. And that he asks "only for the same condition as the Albanians enjoy."
   
   If you want to learn something about Zionism, read this.
   



4. This is an anthology of works by major Zionist thinkers. It introduced me to the fact that Zionism was primarily a radical project of self-criticism and not a whining diatribe against the Gentiles. The ruthless mode of thought and pitiless self criticism of the founding fathers of Zionism makes one realize that this is our strength in the face of our enemies, who clearly lack the ability to engage in self-criticism. I try to follow in the footsteps of this tradition of Zionist self-criticism in my own book "The Optimistic Jew: a Positive Vision for the Jewish People in the 21st Century"
   The Introduction by Rabbi Hertzberg is brilliant and worth the price of the book alone. If you want to know something about Zionism, Israel, and modern Jewish history, buy this book and read the Introduction!

4 comments about Emma Lazarus (Jewish Encounters).

1. With the words of the title of this review, Esther Schor introduces the reader to Emma Lazarus (1849 -1887)in her newly-published biography of this late-nineteenth Century American poet, essayist, novelist, critic, and social activist for newly-arrived immigrants. Schor is Professor of English at Princeton University, a poet in her own right, and the editor of the Cambridge Companion to Mary Shelley. Her biography of Emma Lazarus is part of a series of books called "Jewish Encounters" edited by Jonathan Rosen and "devoted to the promotion of Jewish literature, culture, and ideas."
   
   Emma Lazarus is known to most readers only as the author of the sonnet "The New Colossus" which ultimately achieved iconic status with its inscription on the Statue of Liberty. But there is much more to Emma Lazarus than this great poem, as Schor convincingly demonstrates.Schor writes in an accessible, colloquial style that shows great affection and understanding for Lazarus. Although Schor's book includes a substantial amount of analysis of Lazarus's literary work, the focus of the book lies in bringing Emma Lazarus herself to life. Schor's biography, while not constituting the last word on Emma Lazarus, fulfills its goal of showing why Lazarus is worth knowing. Even with this book, and other studies of Emma Lazarus, she remains a complex and elusive figure.
   
   Lazarus was born to an assimilated family of wealthy New York Jews who had lived in the United States for at least four generations. Lazarus received an outstanding private education and became known as a prodigy when her first volume of poems, written between the ages of 14 and 16 was published by her father. As a young woman, Emma Lazarus attracted the attention of Ralph Waldo Emerson and had a complicated relationship with him, as Schor discusses at length. Lazarus visited Emerson in Concord twice near the end of his life and became friends with his daughter Ellen. Lazarus was a highly connected woman with friends, male and female, among the most culturally and politically influential people in the United States.
   
   Lazarus made impressive contributions to poetry besides "The New Colossus" and wrote influential essays and reviews as well. Her best work, such as "The New Colossus" deals with her vision of America and with the place of Judaism in the United States. In fact her work tends to fuse together these two subects. As Schor suggests, Emma Lazarus became the first of what would become a long series of Jewish-American writers who would try to express what they deemed to be the ideals of Judaism in secular and literary rather than in traditionally religious terms. Schor argues that Lazarus's work shows an interpenetration of American and Jewish ideals, with America providing freedom, liberty, and economic and cultural opportunity, while Jewish ideals expanded upon concepts of social justice and ethics within the American framework.
   
   Schor argues that there was a Jewish undercurrent to Lazarus's works from its earliest stages, beginning with her poem "In the Jewish Synagogue at Newport." Lazarus translated Heine and medieval Jewish poets, and, in 1881 published a volume of poetry titled "Songs of a Semite" which expanded upon Jewish themes. She wrote influential essays which exposed anti-semitism and the Russian Pogroms and considered the meaning of Judaism in American. She worked actively for the well-being of Jewish immigrants to the United States and was among the first to champion the idea of a homeland for Jews in what was then Palestine to escape the ravages of European anti-semitism.
   
   Lazarus remained secular throughout her life, and her own religious convictions can, I think best be described as a sort of nebulous theism. She described herself as an "outsider" to both Judaism and Christianity and, as Schor points out, anticipated the choices and the ambiguities that many American Jews struggle with today in considering their own relationship to Judaism. The complexities of Lazarus's views of Judaism are well-illustrated in a poem she wrote late in her life, "By the Waters of Babylon", the first prose-poem to be written in English. Schor gives a good analysis of this poem, and of many others.
   
   As Schor emphasizes, Lazarus was a paradoxical figure in that she never lost her aristocratic, bearing as a member of America's privileged class and yet worked tirelessly for the health, education and culture of the new immigrants and, with her poem on the Statue of Liberty, redefined the meaning of this national symbol before it was even constructed. For all her activism, Lazarus never quite lost her basic conservatism -- a paradoxical combination that I continue to find fascinating. Emma Lazarus also remains difficult as a person, behind the ambiguities of her friendships with men and women and her Victorian reserve. Lazarus never married. She wrote, but did not publish, a remarkably suggestive sonnet, titled "Assurance" which for many readers, offers insight into Lazarus's own sexuality.
   
   Emma Lazarus has been an inspiration to me for her vision of the United States and for her commitment to an ethical, active Judaism with a deeply secular cast. Schor's book will introduce the reader to an American writer who deserves increased recognition. Schor's book also includes an excellent sampling of Lazarus's poetry. Readers who would like to read more of Emma Lazarus may be interested in the selection of her poetry titled "Emma Lazarus" edited by John Hollander in the American Poets Project series of the Library of America.
   
   Robin Friedman



2. Esther Schor has done us all a great favor by her exploration of a "forgotten" figure in American history.
   
   We all know the poem at the Statue of Liberty - certainly the last lines of it. And yet very few people know who wrote it, or what its historical context was. As is the case with many deeply ingrained elements of culture, this poem is assumed to emerged whole from a member of our citizen community.
   
   We learn here that Emma was a very, very remarkable woman. Long before women in American had anything approaching "equal rights," she asserted herself into many political dialogues and won recognition for the intellectual strength of women in America.
   
   Her life is instructive to us all - I learned a lot from this book, which is engagingly written and a real exploration of a vital element of our national culture. It's especially poignant in the current political debate about restricting immigration from Mexico...



3. A worthwhile biography by a scholar who blends critical insight with sheer enthusiasm in a very appealing manner. By the late 1870s and 1880s, Browning, Whitman, Henry James, Emerson (the latter two among her many ardent correspondents) and many others had all praised Emma Lazarus's groundbreaking translations of Heine as well as her own verse that appeared in Lippincott's and the Century. But she was fated to be memorialized exclusively for "The New Colossus," her great paean to American largesse, and by Jewish Americans for the few years of poetry, essays and political activity dedicated to their cause. Representative of this trend, Henrietta Szold (1860-1945) would celebrate her as "the most distinguished literary figure produced by American Jewry and possibly the most eminent poet among Jews since Heine and Judah Loeb Gordon." Certainly as far as Jewish women of Szold's generation are concerned, Lazarus demonstrated previously unimagined ways of intervening in American public culture. Nevertheless, her achievements have been largely forgotten; among late twentieth century scholars, Lazarus's contribution to Jewish-American history has been condescendingly noted at best. Though Lazarus played a significant proto-Zionist role, she is even ignored in major studies of American Zionism. And yet to fully understand the unusual literary and polemical pedigree of American Zionism, one must begin with a careful consideration of Lazarus's assimilationist strategies--and an acknowledgement of her cultural force. By far the most influential Jewish-American literary figure of the nineteenth century, Lazarus's reflections on the status of the Jew in gentile society and on the question of the Jews' return to Palestine offer a rich literary and historical context for examining later imaginative responses to the perpetually conflicted nature of Zionism in America.
   
   Readers who want to explore Lazarus's poetic vision in greater depth may be interested in Ranen Omer-Sherman's Diaspora and Zionism in Jewish American Literature (Brandeis UP 2002)which at times offers a deeper engagement with the poems themselves than Schor attempts. Omer-Sherman explores the poet's lack of complete confidence in the viability of Jewishness in America and demonstrates how Lazarus was torn between her belief in universalism and her proto-Zionist program, between her desire to assimilate and her pained recognition of her marginality in the wake of Emerson's rejection of her work. As for the poems themselves, the best available one is Emma Lazarus: Selected Poems and Other Writings edited by Gregory Eiselein.



4. Interesting book about activist and poet Emma Lazarus, the lady who wrote the Statue of Liberty poem. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

3 comments about A Dream of Zion: American Jews Reflect on Why Israel Matters to Them.

1. I had the great pleasure of reading Rabbi Salkin's newest book. He is one of the most thoughtful and creative rabbinic voices in America today. He has done the American Jewish community an invaluable service by collecting and editing this marvelous collection of articles--both old and new and previously unpublished--on why Israel matters to American Jews. Hopefully this invaluable book will stimulate conversation and will move a younger, often disconnected generation, closer to Israel. Thanks to Rabbi Salkin for beginning the conversation.



2. Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin, one of the leading authors, thinkers and teachers on the scene of American Jewry today has captured, in his latest book "A Dream of Zion", a myriad of feeling about what Israel means to many Americans. He has approached the impossible goal of portraying the range of reasons about why Israel is important in the emotions and even the lives of so many Americans. Complete understanding of these reasons is impossible because he is asking a question," Why Israel matters to them", to which the answer is unknown to many of the respondents. And yet, it is obvious that it does. When one reads the range of responses that this small new country has been able to engender in American Jews, one can't escape asking why and how. While being able to cite their personal history and experiences, in some cases going back to before Israel existed, many respondents admit their inability to rationally present answers to Rabbi Salkin's question. The range of individuals, young and old, living and dead, teachers and students, professionals and lay people, business people involved in Israel, and tourists serve as a tribute to both Rabbi Salkin and the importance of the question. Even though most of the writers admit their inability to verbalize their feelings, there is no question about the value that is placed upon Israel and its continued existence. Even so, there is no one author who has been able to present an adequate amalgamation that might be seen as representative of the range of responses. Perhaps they can best be represented by someone who did not appear in the book, my wife Sandi. She says that her feet feel completely at home walking the streets of Jerusalem. Julius J. Nessel.



3. In this book, more than one hundred American Jews reflect on what Israel means to them. It's fascinating.
   
   I'll mention a very few of the points made by some of the contributors. Alvin Rosenfeld says that "six decades after the founding of their state, the Jews of Israel should not have to argue for their national existence. They are at home in their land by a long-established right, and they can take justifiable pride in their country's history and achievements." And he says that the least any decent person can do is join them in affirming this.
   
   Thane Rosenbaum mentions the fact that many people who have never been to Israel derive great pleasure from knowing that it exists. But, on the other hand, many people who have no intention of ever visiting Israel are extremely animated by "intense animus over its very existence," as if Israel were a nation on some sort of probation "awaiting final global approval that will never come."
   
   Danny Siegel writes poetically that he'd "rather drive a taxi in Jerusalem than be the King of all of South Dakota." Ariel Beery says that "we Jews are not just a spiritual community - we are a people, one that will only fulfill its collective potential with a state in which we can hammer out the details." Richard Friedman says that "Israel must be now what it has stood for from the very beginning: a people seeking to bring blessing to every family on earth."
   
   There are some historical perspectives as well. We see Stephen Wise, in 1948, say that "organized gifts to the Arabs" (meaning to those who fled their homes in 1947 and 1948) would seem to him to be "acknowledgement of wrong" when in fact it is the Jews who have been wronged. As he explains, "the Arab states took part in the Partition discussion for weeks and weeks preceding the Partition decision of November 29. Immediately thereafter, they began to war upon Israel." Albert Einstein wrote in 1919 that "one can be an internationalist without being indifferent to the members of one's tribe. The Zionist cause is very close to my heart.... I am glad that there should be a little patch of earth on which our kindred brethren are not considered aliens."
   
   Lillian Hellman is quoted as saying "historically, the Zionists turned out to be right. What are they saying? That Europe is doomed for the Jews. Liberal democracy won't save us. The Socialists won't save us. The Communists won't save us. Whatever else may be wrong with the Zionists, on that fundamental insight, they were absolutely right." And Marie Syrkin, in a 1983 interview said that "Jewish self-haters, without taking the trouble to look into Zionist history, subscribe to the most outrageous statements. I think this willful ignorance and the readiness to accept the worst interpretation - that Jews were the aggressors from the first moment, they kicked out all the Arabs, etc, etc. - the acceptance of the libels, the readiness to perceive the rights of every group except one's own, which is characteristic of a great many Jews, is a form of Jewish self-hatred."
   
   At the end of the book, we see a few pages constituting "Zionism, a Centenary Platform," which was adopted by the Central Conference of American Rabbis at its annual convention in 1997. It shows the Reform movement's "unquestioning and unfading commitment to Israel."
   
   I recommend this book.

5 comments about Christian Zionism: Road-Map to Armageddon?.

1. Stephen is brilliant. He goes deep into the philosophy and the influence of some very mislead, dark, cultlike forces that are affecting our foreign policy. This is an important book that all should read and get up to date on. I am looking forward to his next book- "Christian Zionist Soldiers".



2. Forcing God's Hand: Why Millions Pray for a Quick Rapture ... and Destruction of Planet Earth
   
   This is a must read for those interested in a thorough background and history of Christian Zionism. Described by some as "the Cult of Zionism" as does Grace Halsell in her "Forcing God's Hand," this book by Stephen Sizer proves beyound doubt that Zionism in all its forms is based on racism. Contrary to all of the teachings of Jesus, Zionism makes a distinction between races and claims that God favors the Jewish race above all others. Zionism lacks spirituality and is materialistic in all of its goals. The rewards that Zionism offers are wealth, health, and material possessions. Most all Christian denominations teach this, some more openly that others. Those who oppose racism and division should expose this among the churches as a form of hatred or certainly a lack of the Love of Jesus and of his Spirit.



3. The first chapter: The Historical Roots of Christian Zionism, is devoted to an in-depth study of an obscure theology called premillennial dispensationalism. This chapter then looks at early British supporters of a Jewish homeland like Lord Shaftesbury and Lord Balfour and his famous declaration as well as Christian political support for the Jewish Zionist movement. It concludes with a discussion of contemporary Christian Zionism in the USA. I must immediately recommend two books that are more informative and less biased: The Politics of Christian Zionism by Paul Charles Merkley and Standing With Israel by David Brog. It need be said that support for Israel is widespread amongst all Christians, Catholic, Protestant and others.
   
   In the second chapter Sizer discusses the theological emphases of Christian Zionism with reference to a futurist hermeneutic, the relationship between Israel and the Church, restorationism, Jerusalem and the temple, concluding with the eschatology and "distinctive" theology of the movement. In truth, Christian Zionism is not a monolithic movement, as demonstrated by works like Christian Attitudes Towards the State of Israel by Paul Merkley, The Irrevocable Calling by Dan Juster, In Defense of Israel by John Hagee, and Don Finto's excellent book God's Promise and the Future of Israel: Compelling Questions People Ask About Israel and the Middle East. Christian support for Israel has a simple explanation: "I will bless those who bless you" of Genesis 12:3.
   
   In the third chapter Sizer accuses Christian Zionists of supporting Israeli colonialism, opposing peace and hastening Armageddon. These ludicrous accusations derive from the facts that the Palestinian liberation theologian Naim Ateek is a close associate of the author. Sizer's fear-mongering is merely the discredited ideas of Noam Chomsky - the apologist for Pol Pot - used as propaganda in the theological sphere. Sizer is an adherent of Displacement Theology, also called supercessionism or replacement theology. He writes: " ... There is, therefore, no evidence that the apostles believed that the Jewish people still had a divine right to the land ..." This is an example of the most arrogant anti-Judaism imaginable. It is characteristic of Christian Antisemites to deny Israel's right to life and deny the validity of the Old Testament by appealing to "fulfillment in Christ," in direct denial of Acts 15 in the Good Book. It is also a manifestation of Preterism, a doctrine holding that all Old Testament prophecy has already been fulfilled. For the firm Biblical grounds of Christian support for Israel, please see Future Israel by Barry Horner.
   
   In the Conclusion, Sizer claims that the support of Israel by American evangelicals "is inherently and pathologically destructive." In line with the Gospel of Chomsky he spews the gamut of accusations: American hegemony, racial discrimination, colonialism, apartheid and the demonization of Islam. When the mask slips, his words can be very revealing. When discussing "ethical requirements" for ownership of the land and referring to the "meek" of Psalm 37:11, he states: " ... the question may legitimately be asked whether, due to its expansionist policies, the state of Israel might not expect another exile rather than a restoration." Chilling. But I see no expansion, only withdrawal from Lebanon and from Gaza. Ronald Reagan said liberals know a lot of things that just aint so. As for Sizer's and Jimmy Carter's smear of Israel as an "apartheid state", it is a demonstrable lie. Approximately 20% of Israeli citizens are Arabs and 16% of its citizens are Muslims. For the record, at the last check its Arab citizens were represented by 10 members in the Israeli parliament belonging to three political parties: Balad, Hadash and the United Arab List - Ta'al.
   
   Sizer ignores the historical circumstances that led to the rebirth of Israel in 1948. You will find no background here of Haj al-Amin al-Husseini or how its Arab neighbors tried to strangle the Jewish state at birth. Likewise he seems oblivious to the dangers that at present face the little country: genocidal threats from Iran and Hezbollah, endless missiles from Hamas threatening the residents of Sderot and other towns plus Syrian threats of war. Then there is the antisemitic incitement in the Arab media, including those of the Palestinian Authority. How sinister of a self-styled Anglican Christian to deny the tide of Islamist violence and terrorism and the plight of Christians in Moslem countries while trying to delegitimize the only Middle Eastern state that guarantees freedom of worship to Christians and all other groups. Sizer even has the nerve to attack humanitarian organizations in Israel that assist both Arabs and Jews! How superior he is, sitting in his home in England or attending conferences of Sabeel and the Middle East Council of Churches where he no doubt looks worried and important and is considered a valuable dhimmi.
   
   The most illuminating book Christian Antisemitism by William Nicholls reveals the theology and the history behind the destructive replacement theology that has surfaced once again in Sizer's work. In this regard it is important to note what marks the Christian anti-Semite:
   
   a) Some form of (often covert) Replacement Theology.
   b) Extreme spiritualizing or allegorizing of the Jewish scriptures, in particular the twisting of Old Testament prophecies about Israel in order to usurp every promise for "the church" or arguing that the original texts refer to Christ.
   c) The blurring of the distinction between the unconditional Abrahamic Covenant regarding ownership of the land and the conditional Mosaic Covenant of laws.
   d) A formless, ethereal view of mankind's ultimate destiny wherein no distinctive cultures or national identities survive since all become "one in Christ".
   e) A cursory treatment or derisive view of the facts that led to the rebirth of Israel and of the subsequent wars.
   f) An undertone of disdain and malice towards the Jewish people that cannot be completely concealed.



4. "I wanted to congratulate you on your book ... Like yourself in one regard, I have a long history of what I call "prediction addiction" -- and its obvious flaws and failures. Your book seems to be a careful and much needed analysis of the destructive wake left by pre-millennial dispensationalism. Thank you! My particular version of dispensationalism was informed by a potent and lethal mixture of sabbatarianism and British Israelism as championed by Herbert W. Armstrong... God rescued me (and many others, thank God) from these heretical notions... What Dr. Sizer addresses is absolutely critical for Christians in North America to understand. Greg Albrecht, President of Plain Truth Ministries, and Editor-in-Chief, The Plain Truth magazine (author of Revelation Revolution & Bad News Religion).
   
   "Nearly a thousand years ago, European Crusaders tried to colonise Palestine, fuelling religious hatred and bringing the indigenous Christian community close to extinction. It is tragic, if ironic, that misguided Western Christian Zionists, by their one-sided political support for Israel, are today succeeding where the Crusaders failed. Stephen Sizer's ground-breaking new book on Christian Zionism exposes how this heretical theology is having devastating political consequences in the Middle East. It is heartbreaking to see misguided Christians identifying more with Ahaband Jezebel than with Naboth. On a daily basis we are seeing our land confiscated, our vineyards destroyed, our homes demolished, our children traumatised and our future negated for the sake of an earthly kingdom which the Lord Jesus has plainly repudiated. I commend Stephen's important and prophetic book in calling Evangelical Christians, in particular, to break the spiral of violence and hatred. Instead we must obey the teachings of the Prince of Peace who has called us to a ministry of reconciliation rather than listen to the false prophets of Armageddon whose apocalyptic message is in danger of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy." The Right Revd Riah Abu El Assal, Retired Episcopal Bishop of Jerusalem (author of Caught in Between).
   
   "I believe Stephen Sizer is one of the most authoritative scholars in the world on the vital issue of Christian Zionism. He is a very important voice speaking out against this destructive movement that is killing us [Palestinians] through its theology." Canon Naim Ateek, Founder & Director of Sabeel, Jerusalem (author of Justice and Only Justice).
   
   "I hope it will spread widely in evangelical circles and I am particularly glad that IVP have published it, thereby endorsing our judgment. [Christian Zionism] is an ultimately totally unbiblical menace." Right Revd Simon Barrington-Ward, retired Bishop of Coventry and former Principal of Crowther Hall, Selly Oak Colleges and General Secretary of the Church Mission Society. Presently Chaplain to the staff of Ridley Hall, Cambridge. (author of Love Will Out, Why God?, The Jesus Prayer and co-author of Praying the Jesus Prayer)
   
   "Having heard Stephen Sizer at the Sabeel International Conference in Jerusalem a year and a half ago, I can vouch for him as an articulate and vigorous speaker, and an expert on Christian Zionism." Right Revd Allen Bartlett, Assisting Bishop of the Diocese of Washington.
   
   "I think your book is fantastic... I'm grateful for your advocacy of the Church as the Bride... This is a large book, as well it should be, since it addresses a large issue. At stake in the argument is the very definition of the identity of the Church. Some theologies, that make Israel central to the purposes of God and to the processes of history, reduce the Church to the status of concubine while Israel becomes the Bride. Sizer's work provides a timely reminder that, according to the New Testament, God's people is to be identified on the basis of grace, not of race." Professor Gilbert Bilezikian, Professor Emeritus, Wheaton College and founding leader of Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, Illinois, (author of The Liberated Gospel, Beyond Sex Roles, Christianity 101 and Community 101)
   
   "Sizer's well-researched study is of considerable value... Christian Zionism unearths the taproot of a belief system that exerts enormous influence in contemporary America. Based on supposedly infallible sacred texts, these beliefs help determine how millions of Americans, and millions more worldwide, view the bloody and seemingly insoluble conflicts that torment the Middle East, bringing such suffering and heartache to its peoples." Professor Paul Boyer, Merle Curti Professor of History Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison (editor-in-chief of the Oxford Companion to American History, author of Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft, Urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820-1920, By the Bomb's Early Light: American Thought and Culture at the Dawn of the Atomic Age, When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture, Fallout: A Historian Reflects on America's Half-Century Encounter With Nuclear Weapons)
   
   "Stephen Sizer has written a masterly book on a controversial subject. Some of us have soaked up teaching about Christian Zionism from the footnotes of a Schofield Reference Bible or from Hal Lindsey's bestseller The Late Great Planet Earth, or from the leaders of certain Christian tours to Israel. Probably we have read very little that critically examines its basic assumptions. Sizer sets out to evaluate Christian Zionism critically from a biblical and historical perspective... Sizer's clear thinking, scholarly and reverent critique of Christian Zionism certainly needs to be read alongside the Scriptures, with the utmost seriousness." Canon Gordon Bridger, former Principal of Oak Hill College, 1987-96, (author of The Man from Outside, A Day that Changed the World, Bible Study Commentary 1 Corinthians-Galatians).
   
   "Stephen Sizer's Christian Zionism : Road Map to Armageddon? is essential reading for any western evangelical trying to understand the religious dimensions of American support for Israel. Sizer writes as an insider within the church, not as a critic watching from afar. And he shows with exacting clarity how evangelical eschatology has now embedded itself in a modern political ideology. One quick read of this book will change anyone's perspective on the Middle East permanently." Professor Gary M. Burge, Professor of New Testament, Wheaton College & Graduate School, Wheaton (author of Whose Land, Whose Promise? What Christians Are Not Being Told About Israel and the Palestinians).
   
   "A comprehensive survey describing how Christians have embraced a theological perspective that has encouraged justice for Jews but has also led to the oppression of Palestinian people and extreme hostility between Christians and Muslims worldwide." Professor Tony Campolo, Professor of Sociology, Eastern University (My Top 5 Books on Social Justice, Christianity Today, January 2008 and author Speaking My Mind, The God of Intimacy and Action, Adventures in Missing the Point, Letters to a Young Evangelical, Twenty Hot Potatoes Christians Are Afraid to Touch, Following Jesus Without Embarrassing God, Let me Tell You a Story, Carpe Diem, How Movies Helped Save My Soul, Its Friday But Sunday's Comin, Fifty Ways You Can Help Save the Planet, The Gospel With Extra Salt)
   
   "It is very timely and ... a serious work on what is such a very troubling and troublesome issue for the Christians of the Holy Land as well as world wide." Right Revd Elias Chacour, Greek Melkite Bishop of Israel and founder of the Mar Elias Educational Institutions, Ibillin, Galilee (author of Blood Brothers & We Belong to the Land).
   
   "This is a masterly and highly readable analysis of the history, the world-view and the political implications of Christian Zionism. Sizer has thrown down the gauntlet in a way that demands a response from those who support the state of Israel for theological reasons." Colin Chapman, Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Near East School of Theology, Lebanon. (author of Whose Promised Land?, Whose Promised City? & Cross and Crescent).
   
   "The invaluable contribution of Stephen Sizer's book, Christian Zionism, is that he discusses in detail a lesser-acknowledged kind of Zionism, one that, he claims, predated political Zionism by 60 years (p. 254). Sizer, chairman of the International Bible Society in England, reveals a Christian Zionism that, for its own distinctly theological reasons, supports Israel's occupation of Palestinian land. Mark Chmiel, Adjunct professor of Theological Studies at St. Louis University and of Religious Studies at Webster University. (author of Elie Wiesel and the Politics of Moral Leadership)
   
   "I recommend the book wholeheartedly. It is timely, and really vital, in view of the present attitude of both U.S. and British governments to the Israel-Palestine conflict. It demonstrates how a firm principle of Christian hope has been distorted and misapplied in a cruel and destructive manner. Until the Christian attitude to Zionism is changed, I fear that the situation will continue to deteriorate and that those evangelicals who have embraced Zionism will continue to do immense damage to the Christian Church. I think it is a "must read" book for every serious evangelical today." Professor Ron Clements, Emeritus Professor of Old Testament Studies, King's College, London, (author of Wisdom for a Changing World: Wisdom in Old Testament Theology: Berkeley Tanner Lectures; Old Testament Theology: A Fresh Approach, Isaiah 1-13: The New Century Bible Commentary, Wisdom in Theology, Ezekiel: Westminster Bible Companion, Prophecy and Tradition, One Hundred Years of Old Testament Interpretation).
   
   "This study of Christian Zionism, based on Stephen Sizer's doctoral thesis, is of seminal significance. It provides a fascinating survey of the history of Christian Zionism and an indepth analysis of the theology of this highly important and influential movement." Rabbi Professor Dan Cohn-Sherbok, Professor of Judaism and Director of the Centre for the Study of the World's Religions, University of Wales, Lampeter. (author of Israel: The History of an Idea, Messianic Judaism & Antisemitism).



5. There ARE a few people left who are willing to speak truth to power and Dr. Sizer is certainly one of them. This book traces the history of Zionism from its secular Jewish roots to its politics in modern times. Sizer also examines the Christian theology that was born in Britain in the early 1800s and flourished in the US which was key in bringing about the birth of the nation of Israel. I found this book to be incredibly fair and just from a very learned writer. Take the time to read this; you will come away enlightened.

5 comments about Daniel Deronda (Penguin Classics).

1. OHMYGOD- this book rocks! Quit work for a week and dive in- Every sentence will enrich your soul- She's THAT amazing.



2. I read this book as part of a graduate class on the "study of the novel" and was absolutely blown away by it. This was my first attempt at George Eliot and though I had been wanting to read her for some time, the sheer girth of most of her works prevented me from adding them to my "leisure reading" list.
   The character of Gwendolen Harleth is strong and commanding, Henleigh Grandcourt is perhaps one of the best villains ever written into literature, and Daniel Deronda is unequivocally the most inherently flawless character ever created who does not bore the reader with his goodness.
   This is a big book to be sure, but it reads fast and there is much said about the appearances and prejudices of Victorian society. There are many recurring themes and parallels to be on the lookout for. This is an intensely "smart" read, and for that reason it is one of my favorite Victorian novels ever---next to Dickens' "Dombey and Son" and "David Copperfield," that is.
   I look forward to reading more of Eliot's work in the future. She was a brilliant writer and observer.



3. Imagine a crowd of men and women of various age, stature, and alibi assemble in a place where you the spectator are going to infer an observation as to their true sentiment. This task is difficult in a train packed with commuters, but easy in a casino where gamblers share one and only desire; to extract gain from someone's loss. This is where the two main characters of George Eliot's final novel "Daniel Deronda" first catch a glimpse of each other.
   
   Gwendolen Harleth, young and vivacious, full of beauty but low on luck in a game of roulette resorts to gambling in order to help her destitute mother. With the last whirl of the disk comes the hope of big win amongst the sybarites vying for bestowal from the mindless wheel. The sight of the ill-fated creature bewitches Daniel. For is it not true that attraction is at its superb when mixed with sympathy?
   
   In this classic, George Eliot creates an exemplar in the character of Daniel Deronda, a fine English man with chiseled look. His magnanimity is put to the test with the introduction of Mirah Lapidoth, a poor Jewish woman whose striking beauty emanates from the person who wishes to see it. Her magnificent feature is like the underwater world visible only to the diver.
   
   Oh, if only our heart came in two like most parts of our body; so that we continue to live if we lose one. While our brain chooses as many objects to fill its contentment, our heart chooses singularly when it comes to truest love. Moreover, why is it when we lose this true love our head which houses our big brain does not hurt yet our heart feels inexplicable pain, what a power this organ as small as our fist has on our being.
   
   Like Daniel, we face ultimate decision, which puts our susceptibility in check. Nevertheless, most of us are not as steadfast as he is. We continue to err because our values change with whoever we are with now akin to chameleon in search of prey and acceptance.



4. This is a classic novel by Mary Anne (Marian) Evans. Soon after writing the excellent article, "Silly Novels by Lady Novelists," Evans decided to write some novels herself. It seems to me that while she admired the works of great lady novelists such as Jane Austen, her style was in part a reaction not only to superb works but to awful ones. She adopted the pen name "George Eliot" for her first novel. Although her actual identity was made clear to everyone fairly quickly, she kept that pen name for her remaining novels, including this one.
   
   This fine work gives us an interesting look at English society of the 1860s (the book appeared in 1876). And it includes an intriguing look at Zionism. While Theodor Herzl said he did not read her book, one key Zionist did, and he drew a real-life inspiration from it. That real-life person was Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (born in 1858), who was the individual most responsible for the revival of Hebrew as a language of everyday speech. Evans thus made a significant contribution to Zionism with this book.
   
   Evans basically applauds a Jewish character in her book who argues for Zionism, saying that "there is store of wisdom among us to found a new Jewish polity, grand and simple, like the old - a republic where there is equality of protection." And the character continues by saying:
   
   "Then our race shall have an organic centre, a heart and brain to watch and guide and execute; the outraged Jew shall have a defence in the court of nations, as the outraged Englishman or American. And the world will gain as Israel gains."
   
   I think it is a clever plot element when Evans winds up having Deronda take up this challenge of trying to implement Zionism.
   
   Daniel Deronda, who is raised by a Christian baronet and becomes an Etonian and Cantabrigian, is not sure that he is Jewish until he then gets to meet his actual mother (having last seen her at the age of two). That raises a couple of questions. Given that Daniel has no problems with his Jewish wedding, I think Marian Evans intends us to assume that Daniel was indeed circumcised soon after his birth, was not baptised (either as a Christian or a Jew), and that he eventually confirmed what his Hebrew name was (probably Daniyye'l, after his grandfather).
   
   Daniel's classmates (and Daniel himself) would thus suspect that he might be Jewish. However, the issue might at least be in doubt, especially with Daniel participating in Christian activities at Eton.
   
   Given that Daniel's Jewishness is a surprise to some of his acquaintances, I think it is also safe to assume that the author wants us to picture Deronda as not having what might be thought of as obviously Jewish facial features.
   
   Henry James wrote a very amusing review of this book back when it first came out. In his review, three characters comment on the book, one of them liking it very much, another liking some parts better than others, and the last, "Pulcheria," declaring herself to be a Judeophobe and disliking the whole thing.
   
   More recently, Ed Said, while not quite as silly as Pulcheria, still missed the opportunity to comment intelligently on the book because he was so averse to the idea of abiding human rights for Levantine Jews that he simply could not avoid substituting anti-Zionist propaganda for a serious discussion of the book. I mind the silliness of his comments even more than I do the ill will. To see what I mean, here are the first two lines of the book:
   
   "Men can do nothing without the make-believe of a beginning. Even Science, the strict measurer, is obliged to start with a make-believe unit, and must fix on a point in the stars' unceasing journey when his sidereal clock shall pretend that time is at Nought."
   
   Try to picture a silly astronomer writing about these two lines as if they were representing a critique of Big Bang cosmology.
   
   At one point, Deronda gets some easy but excellent advice from the baronet who has raised him: "my dear boy - it is good to be unselfish and generous; but don't carry that too far. It will not do to give yourself to be melted down for the benefit of the tallow trade; you must know where to find yourself." Later, Deronda gives very similar easy but excellent advice to Gwendolen, telling her to accept some money that is rightfully hers and show her generosity only in the way she uses the money.
   
   I think this is not merely good advice for us all, but especially good advice for Zionists: some of us are a little too inclined to refuse for ourselves what we might gladly award to anyone else.
   
   The second paragraph of the novel begins with a question about Gwendolen: "Was she beautiful or not beautiful? and what was the secret of form or expression which gave the dynamic quality to her glance?"
   
   Obviously, she was beautiful.
   
   Was this novel excellent or not excellent? Oh, it was excellent in both form and expression, with a dynamic aspect no less, and, for what it is worth, I recommend it.



5. Am I the only person who really really really wished that this book had been about Catherine Arrowpoint?
   
   Don't get me wrong, I loved Daniel Deronda, but I struggled for a long time with the fact that I did not actually like either of the two main characters. Gwendolen is insufferable, although I take the point that Eliot was making about the options open to high-spirited women. Daniel was worse-- as mealy-mouthed and moralizing as Gwendolen thought him to be in the casino at the beginning. And don't let me get started on the mincing wincing Mirah.
   
   This isn't a very forgiving novel. There is not very much room for redemption.
   
   I guess that is why I had hoped that it could be about Catherine Arrowpoint-- she seemingly the only character in the position to make healthy choices.
   
   Miss Arrowpoint invents herself, Daniel discovers himself. Gwendolen, well, it's hard to talk about Gwendolen without giving away too much of the plot.
   
   Difficult for me to imagine that some see the book as two separable halves and prefer the Gwendolen part. There's a thread of linked themes running through the novel. It all fits together, as a single whole.
   
   A phenomenal book, really. Read it if you haven't already.

5 comments about They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby.

1. Reading this was an eye-opening experience. If you are interested in the Middle East, I would highly recommend this.



2. Extremely well written and informative book about the powerful Israel lobby that operates under the radar--often times against the interests of the US.



3. If readers want to read a book that evinces a pathological obsession with Israel and its American supporters and blames them for every problem under the sun, then by all means buy this book. But if you don't, avoid this book like the plague. Paul Findley is a former Congressman who now serves as a pro-Arab propagandist and Palestinian apologist. When I read reviews that refer to him as objective, I have to laugh. Findley is as one-sided and biased in his views as they come.
   
   The absurdity of Findley's thesis is easy to prove. People and institutions are constantly "speaking out" to attack Israel and the pro-Israel lobby in the most vicious terms. What punishment do they face for doing this from the Israel lobby? None whatsoever. No one is suppressing their free speech. Jimmy Carter and Professors Walt and Mearsheimer, among others, are free to present their biased and distorted views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the influence of the Israeli lobby without retaliation. Some criticism, yes, but no suppression of free speech.
   
   One might ask why Findley was defeated in his Congressional reelection bid some years ago by a candidate supported by AIPAC? I would submit that it was Findley's greater concern for Yasir Arafat's interests than those of his own constituents that was responsible for his defeat, not any conspiracy on the part of Israel's supporters.
   
   I note that many of the reviewers have repeated the standard and tired line that one can't criticize Israel without being labeled anti-Semitic. One can criticize Israel and the Israeli lobby without being anti-Semitic. Unfortunately, many of the reviews posted here show that some of the people who criticize Israel and the Israeli lobby resort to anti-Semitic stereotypes and cross the line into open anti-Semitism and bigotry, a la the Protocols of the Elders of Zion forgery. If you believe that there's a sinister Jewish conspiracy to control the U.S. government and media for nefarious purposes, you hold anti-Semitic views. For those of you who don't hold those views, stay away from this awful book.



4. This book is a perfect counter-point to The Power of Israel in the United States. I review that book also, and recommend both books to every American, just as I also recommend the books that document how the Saudis have bought the Bush Family and the Republican and Democratic parties, neither of which represents We the People. Completely apart from the venal immorality of Dick Cheney (see my review of Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency in which I itemized the 23 high crimes and misdemeanors documented by that book), the fact is that Congress has been bought by multiple parties, and no longer represents We the People.
   
   This book is a harder, longer read, so I recommend you start with the other book. As with the other book, this book is a strongly documented and very lengthy catalog of the sins of the Zionists and the Israeli Government, not at all against the moderate Jews and their legitimate concerns. I have seen Gaza and Beirut, and what Israel has done to the Palestinians, to the former "Paris" of the Middle East, combined with their Assault on the Liberty, is unforgivable.
   
   This book logically catalogs how the Zionists intimidate even such a person as Ted Turner, who was forced to back down when he said both sides were committing terrorism (there is in fact a UN Resolution that finds Israel guilty of genocide and racism, but then that is one of those "fog facts" that our totalitarian monsters choose to ignore.
   
   The author organizes the book around how Zionists silence the small and the weak, while buying out the Oval Office, the Congress, the media, while also subverting academic freedon.
   
   I especially like the author's conclusion, "What Price Israel?" The US taxpayer is subsidizing Israeli genocide and Israeli idiocy, and the US and Israel appear to be the last two countries to continue to believe in the value of force that is both unaffordable and unsustainable in an unconquerable world.
   
   Congressman Tom Moran, who represents my district, has personally said that Zionish have too much influence on Congress, and I agree. Tom Moran has been a very good representative, and he speaks the truth.
   
   Here are some books and a DVD that can put the totally unacceptable Zionist influence on the USA in a larger context:
   
   Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Conquered Our Government--And How We Take It Back
   The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised As Freedom
   The Global Class War: How America's Bipartisan Elite Lost Our Future - and What It Will Take to Win It Back
   The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
   Fog Facts : Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin (Nation Books)
   Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
   The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track (Institutions of American Democracy)



5. Findley, a pure PRO-AMERICAN is one of the rare congressman with a backbone who,... puts America first. He was and is the pioneer of bringing attention to Americas getting off course with a spineless and cowardly Legislature - especially today. I feel Findley's courageous and 'making America' aware of the cancer within it book should be read and taken VERY seriously. Outstanding and other A+ scholarly works on this topic are: Jimmy Carter's: Palestine:Peace Not Apartheid; ans most recent is "The Israel Lobby," by Mearshiemer and Walt. These are also excellent objective reads that bring true clarity to what's really going on today.

No comments about Rulers and Ruled in the US Empire: Bankers, Zionists and Militants.

5 comments about Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001.

1. Don't be fooled by the deceptive calm of the apparent "even-handed" tone of this book. Although it is aimed at being the comprehensive history of the land that has become Israel/Palestine from 1881-2001, and is certainly long enough, I was impressed with what it left out rather than what it added to the existing histories, and what it leaves out is telling as to where the author's sympathies lie. He admits he's a Zionist and this book is really an apologia for what Zionists have done since 1881 - I believe that is the reason this book exists. He also reveals his political affiliations and shows more of his colours towards the end of the book - I really don't think a historian needs to lead readers to fabricated conclusions based on his opinions - we should be clever enough to do that if he just shows us the facts. Although he is a lot more honest than most historians of the ongoing conflict, and includes much detail that casts both Zionists and Arabs in a morally reprehensible light, the author doesn't tell the half of it.
   
   For example, he doesn't document from when, how, and how much Zionists obtained their massive support from America during this period - America's relationship with Israel is only glancingly mentioned and only becomes prominent during the excitement of the first Camp David. The deal made with the Hashemites and the Arab Legion to limit themselves largely to Jerusalem in 1948 is not sufficiently covered, making their relative docility seem part of the "miracle" of 1948. There's hardly any analysis regarding the refugee question "did they run or were they forced to leave?" We are just left with "fled or were expelled" - note which word was used first. The Occupation material didn't cover exactly why the Palestinians were so angry at the multifarious ways in which their basic living conditions were continually eroded in Gaza and the West Bank (which the author refers to, tellingly, as Judea and Samaria) from 1967 onwards. Indeed, the second Intifada seems to be a complete mystery to the author as to why it happened at all - as if things had got any better for them since the first - though the author is never short of reasons why they might be themselves to blame for their own frustration. At one point, on p565, he suggests that the Occupation brought good things to the West Bank and Gaza, including access to Israeli hospitals "which lead to a dramatic expansion of the population and overcrowding, especially in Gaza" - you sense the author rues the fact that they didn't just die off naturally..."but none of this sufficed to erase...the inhabitant's political frustration or anger". Some people are hard to please.
   
   The author continues by glossing over the reasons why Arafat could not come to an agreement with Barak at Camp David II, Sharm El-Sheikh, or Taba - far from the 27 pages devoted to who said what to whom at the first Camp David talks in 1979, the second Camp David in 2000 got 1 page (in a 700 page work), Sharm El-Shiekh talks got one paragraph and Taba was not even mentioned at all - I got the distinct sense that the author was furious with Arafat for rejecting "the best deal he was ever going to be offered" - and refusing to explore why he might have done so.
   
   Structurally, once the author finishes with the interesting early history of the region, he basically lurches from one war to the next as a way of relating "history". This is clever, because since the Jews and then Israel "won all its wars" (and far too much of the book is devoted to admittedly exciting, blow-by-blow accounts of those winning wars), whether they deliberately provoked them or not, it presents one side in a glowing, winning light - which is disappointing because there's a lot more to history than the number of planes one can shoot out of the sky in an exhilirating afternoon - it is more about under the table alliances and vote buying support for resulting political and material gain, and covert subversion of opposing state apparatus. It's about media manipulation so the public only hear one side of the story. It's about sucking the water out from under Palestianians' feet in Gaza and elsewhere - it's all the interwar plotting and planning that goes on that results in wars. It's about straitjacketing their land and livelihoods and then wondering why there are suicide bombers and intifadas.
   
   In his conclusions, the author decides to tell it straight as to why the Palestinians lost to Israel because (p680) "It was Europeans versus Third World people". I've lost count of the number of times he basically blames the Palestinians for losing because their own culture was backward and primitive and it basically got what it deserved. In the final analysis, Morris concludes that Israel is in the position it is in right now (in terms of holding all the cards, winning wars against Palestinians and Arabs in general - "So the Zionists have been winners in this conflict" he writes in his final page) because it has and has had a superior culture and social structure - as if successful US lobbying and massive financial and materialsupport had nothing to do with it. The Arabs only have themselves to blame for their current situation. The book's thrust is a detailed retelling of Palestinian aggression, for the most part, and, with only rare though honest exceptions, the Jewish response to those aggressions (paraphrasing the book's final sentence). Small wonder the book is called "Righteous Victims". We are left in no doubt as to who the righteous victims are.
   
   This is an apologia.



2. If you want to understand the Arab Israeli conflict this is the best book that you can get. Covers the relevant history and deals evenly with both sides. Points out Israel's start of the suicide bombings and shows the ineffective nature of the PLO in getting their demands through unreasonable leadership. Overall it is just an excellent book that gets straight to the point about its topic. If you are looking for a book that talks about terrorism or the conflict in the Middle East this is a great place to start. This was a wonderful textbook for a class on the Arab Israeli conflict. The history was clearly outlined and made for useful discussions of how the conflict evolved.



3. I have read several works on the historical roots of the conflict, but this book is probably the best overall history in one work. Morris does pretty well at taking an even hand with his writing; although he probably could have shortened it by a couple hundred pages by leaving out some of the "breathless" play-by-play commentary of battle tactics in the various wars. Overall, it is well worth the time invested if you want a better understanding of the subject.



4. Benny Morris rose to the forefront of Israel's 'New Historians' in the 1980's with the publication of 'Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem,' which provided radically new evidence which altered modern perceptions of the region forever. Morris retains his important findings in Righteous Victims and expands on them, covering virtually the entire history of the Israel-Palestine conflict. I found the earlier chapters leading up to the creation of the State of Israel on the earliest Zionist settlers to be particularly interesting; Morris presents a picture which indicates that the current bloodshed is by no means a product of natural necessity. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine and subsequent military occupation is the cause. However, Morris becomes overly ideological in the concluding sections of the book, allowing his harsh realist politics to creep in. Nevertheless, this is arguably the most comprehensive single volume about the history of the conflict.



5. Like every treatment of the Arab Israeli conflict, this book will not please everyone (or anyone?). The book is brisk. Fortunately, Morris has an even tone throughout and does not remain fixed on any one subject for too long. As anyone knows who has written on a broad topic, this is an exceptional accomplishment. Even at 600 plus pages, this book could have easily gotten bogged along the way on the wealth of detail about this well researched conflict. And this book shows that despite some of Morris' more inflammatory interviews recently, he can still present a work of historical research that is even handed and fair.

5 comments about The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.

1. It saddens me that our government in the United States is so manipulated by a foreign government (Israel) - It doesn't take much research to find what Israel's true intentions are. We provide billions of dollars EVERY YEAR in aide and weapons to a country the size of New Jersey (multiple times more then entire Sub-Saharan Africa)
   
   Research topics "USS Liberty" or "Lavon Affair" to find Israel's true intentions.
   
   When will America realize our shortcomings and fix it? We are letting Israel destroy our country.



2. This book makes a very strong case for the
   Zionist Lobby and it's out-of-proportion-to
   -it's-size influence in Washington. I am still
   not convinced that the zionist-khazars are the
   main power behid the throne, so to speak, but
   their influence is very far and wide and this
   book is better than anything the numbskull W.
   A. Carto and his jew-baiter/half-jew Bernard
   Pi(e?)per have ever come out with. Highly rec-
   ommended to me by the Producer R. Jaeger of the
   prestegious 'Fiat Empire' / Ron Paul DVDs series.



3. They displayed the highest level of academic integrity as well as an unbiased look into the influence of the Israeli Lobby.



4. This book initially angered me so much that I had to stop reading it for awhile. I could not, or did not, want to believe what it said. A week or two after the initial anger, I decided to sit down and read it and it is an eye opener.
   I find the evidence compelling and I agree to the extent that I believe our government has been manipulated into a lop-sided foreign policy favoring only Israel -- something that has to change if we are to become an honest broker in any peace attempt in the region. I've seen too much of the destruction rendered by Israel's bombs in Lebanon to believe anything else.
   That these authors had the courage to swim against the tide of popular opinion in the U.S., however misguided that opinion may be, is a credit to their effort. Whether all of their statements are fact will be up to the historians. But what they say is, for me, substantive.



5. A splendid, well researched tome on how money buys influence to pander to dogma. The annotations are impeccable.