A Dangerous Exemption: "A Dangerous Exemption | By Zbigniew Brzezinski | July/August 2006

Given that the Middle East is currently the central challenge facing America, Professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt have rendered a public service by initiating a muchneeded public debate on the role of the “Israel lobby” in the shaping of U.S. foreign policy.

The participation of ethnic or foreignsupported lobbies in the American policy process is nothing new. In my public life, I have dealt with a number of them. I would rank the IsraeliAmerican, CubanAmerican, and ArmenianAmerican lobbies as the most effective in their assertiveness. The Greek and TaiwaneseAmerican lobbies also rank highly in my book. The PolishAmerican lobby was at one time influential (Franklin Roosevelt complained about it to Joseph Stalin), and I daresay that before long we will be hearing a lot from the Mexican, Hindu, and ChineseAmerican lobbies as well.

Mearsheimer and Walt are critical of the proIsrael lobby and of Israel’s conduct in a number of historical instances. They are outspoken regarding Israel’s prolonged mistreatment of the Palestinians. They are, in brief, generally critical of Israel’s policy and, thus, could be labeled as being in some respects antiIsrael. But an antiIsrael bias is not the same as antiSemitism. To argue as much is to claim an altogether unique immunity for Israel, untouchable by the kind of criticism that is normally directed at the conduct of states.

Anyone who recalls World War II knows that antiSemitism is the unbridled and irrational hatred of Jews. The case made by Mearsheimer and Walt did not warrant the hysterical charges of antiSemitism leveled at them by several academics in selfdemeaning attacks published in leading U.S. newspapers. Sadly, some even stooped to McCarthyite accusations of guilt by association, triumphantly citing the endorsement of Mearsheimer and..."
- posted by Editor @ 8:09 AM

Excite News - Israel Strike in Gaza Kills 8 Civilians: "Israel Strike in Gaza Kills 8 Civilians | Jun 13, 10:37 PM (ET) | By IBRAHIM BARZAK and SARAH EL DEEB

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - An Israeli airstrike killed a top Palestinian rocket launcher and an accomplice Tuesday. The missile attack also claimed the lives of eight civilians, inflaming Palestinian anger already aroused over the deaths of Gaza beachgoers.

Israel's military said Tuesday's civilian deaths, including those of two children, came as the group rapidly converged on the target of the attack - a disabled van carrying the militants - too late for pilots to divert a missile.

The violence coincided with bloody infighting among Palestinian gunmen, and could hurt attempts by President Mahmoud Abbas and the West to pressure the Hamas government to moderate its virulently anti-Israel stance.

Abbas accused Israel of "state terrorism," and the Islamic Jihad militant group vowed to avenge the death of its chief rocket launcher, Hamoud Wadiya. ...

- posted by Editor @ 9:30 PM

Jewish and Israel News from New York - The Jewish Week: "Middle East Wars Flare Up At Yale | Liel Leibovitz - Staff Writer"

Controversial academic shot down for appointment; was campaign against him politically motivated?

Juan Cole, one of the country’s top Middle East scholars, was poised for the biggest step of his career.

A tenured professor at the University of Michigan, Cole was tapped earlier this year by a Yale University search committee to teach about the modern Middle East. In two separate votes in May, Cole was approved by both the sociology and history departments, the latter the university’s largest.

The only remaining hurdle was the senior appointments committee, also known as the tenure committee, a group consisting of about a half-dozen professors from various disciplines across the university.

Last week, however, in what is shaping up as the latest in a series of heated battles over the political affiliations of Middle Eastern studies professors, the tenure committee voted down Cole’s nomination. Several Yale faculty members described the decision to overrule the votes of the individual departments as “highly unusual.”
...
Often favoring a pugilistic tone and consistently criticizing Israel’s policies in the West Bank, Cole has attracted a visibility that has made him a favorite target of several conservative commentators.

When Cole’s potential hiring became publicly known, several of his detractors, including the American Enterprise Institute’s Michael Rubin and Washington Times columnist Joel Mowbray, took various steps to protest the decision. They wrote op-ed pieces in various publications and Mowbray went as far as to send a letter to a dozen of Yale’s major donors, many of whom are Jewish, urging them to call the university and protest Cole’s hiring. ...
- posted by Editor @ 8:55 PM