"The problem, Mr. Mearsheimer and Mr. Walt argue, is that Israel has become a strategic liability with the end of the cold war and a moral pariah in its dealings with the Palestinians and, most recently, the Lebanese. Uncritical American support for its closest Middle East ally has damaged American credibility in the Arab world, encouraged terrorism, stymied the search for a solution to the Palestinian problem, and in every way made America’s international position weaker and more dangerous.
"Coolly, not to say coldly, Mr. Mearsheimer and Mr. Walt mount a prosecutorial brief against Israel’s foreign and domestic policies, and against the state of Israel itself. They describe a virtual rogue state, empowered by American wealth and might, that blocks peace at every turn, threatens its cowering neighbors with impunity, crushes the national aspirations of the Palestinians and, whenever the opportunity arises, bites the hand that feeds it."
However, that phrase "cooly, not to say coldly" provides the tip-off where the review is heading. After conceding that Mearsheimer and Walt make a conclusive case against supporting Israel on rational grounds, reviewer Grimes points out the fatal flaw in their argument -- i.e., it isn't "sentimental" enough! Aficionados of propagandistic hooey in its most audacious form should treasure the conclusion to Grimes' review, i.e.:
"The general tone of hostility to Israel grates on the nerves, however, along with an unignorable impression that hardheaded political realism can be subject to its own peculiar fantasies. Israel is not simply one country among many, for example, just as Britain is not. Americans feel strong ties of history, religion, culture and, yes, sentiment, that the authors recognize, but only in an airy, abstract way.
"They also seem to feel that, with Israel and its lobby pushed to the side, the desert will bloom with flowers. A peace deal with Syria would surely follow, with a resultant end to hostile activity by Hezbollah and Hamas. Next would come a Palestinian state, depriving Al Qaeda of its principal recruiting tool. (The authors wave away the idea that Islamic terrorism thrives for other reasons.) Well, yes, Iran does seem to be a problem, but the authors argue that no one should be particularly bothered by an Iran with nuclear weapons. And on and on.
"'It is time,” Mr. Mearsheimer and Mr. Walt write, 'for the United States to treat Israel not as a special case but as a normal state, and to deal with it much as it deals with any other country.' But it’s not. And America won't. That’s realism."
<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/books/06grim.html>
Carl
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