Israel lobby authors in Israel

By · June 13, 2008

The authors of a controversial book about the pro-Israel lobby said Israel is pushing the U.S. to attack Iran.

Profs. John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt spoke Thursday at a forum in Tel Aviv and at Hebrew University in Jerusalem in their first visit to Israel since the publication of “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.”

Echoing their claim that pro-Israel forces in Washington had pressured the United States into attacking Iraq, the pair argued that the same forces are now pushing the country into attacking Iran.

“There is only one country in the world that is putting any pressure on the U.S. to attack Iran, and that is Israel,” Mearsheimer told a packed lecture hall at Hebrew University, according to the Jerusalem Post. “And it is putting enormous pressure on the US.”

Mearsheimer added, “Inside the United States, it is pro-Israel individuals and groups who are almost wholly responsible for pressure being brought to bear on Bush and Cheney to use military force on Iran. The idea that the lobby and Israel don’t put huge amounts of pressure on the U.S. is contradictory to the evidence.”