Israel's Lobby

“Important … Among some of the many eye-popping anecdotes and statistics that make Israel’s Lobby a compelling read are the ways in which the Lobby discusses its power so blatantly, and, in at least one case, unselfconsciously leans heavily on antisemitic and conspiratorial tropes…. Clifton and Lustick have done the hard work so you don’t have to to understand what the Israel Lobby aims to achieve and the methods through which they seek to achieve it… . As [they] make clear throughout the book, this is not your father’s AIPAC.”
–Josh Ruebner, Mondoweiss

“This alarming exposé from journalist Clifton and political scientist Lustick spotlights the significant influence of the pro-Israel lobby on American foreign and domestic policy…. Clifton and Lustick trenchantly warn that the U.S. is risking its own standing to “serve the ambitions of what has become a rogue state.” It’s a serious wake-up call.”
–Publishers Weekly

“A politically charged history of a ‘special relationship’ [between the US and Israel]. A closely reasoned argument in favor of a more balanced U.S. approach to Middle East affairs.”
–Kirkus Reviews

“Many Americans have struggled to understand why President Donald Trump launched a massive attack on Iran shortly after a presentation by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House Situation Room urged him to do so. Eli Clifton and Ian Lustick’s probing and provocative book, Israel’s Lobby, provides needed context for this major development, tracing and illuminating the sources of Israel’s unprecedented influence on modern U.S. policies.”
–Rogers M. Smith, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania and author of Civic Ideals

“For decades, Israel’s Lobby was the third rail of American political life: touch it and your career ends. Clifton and Lustick touch it anyway, and what they expose is more alarming than even its critics imagined. The Lobby they document is bigger than the NRA, more disciplined than almost any domestic interest group, and operating in direct contradiction to what the American public wants. It has redirected hundreds of billions in military aid, dragged the United States into wars it never should have fought, intimidated politicians on both sides of the aisle into voting against their constituents, and silenced universities, newsrooms, and Hollywood. It now wields antisemitism as a legal and political weapon, criminalizing the very criticism that American democracy requires. As an Israeli and as a Jew, I will say what this Lobby cannot afford to hear: it does not serve America, and it does not serve Israel. It serves its own power, at everyone’s expense. This book is the honest reckoning that Washington has refused to have for decades. Read it, wake up and act.”
–Former Speaker of the Knesset and author Avraham Burg

“Long before we were allowed to say so, we all knew that America was in the grip of a foreign power. Clifton and Lustick shed surprising new light on this most toxic of relationships – and show that it’s even worse than we thought.”
–Benjamin Moser, Pulitzer prize-winning author of Sontag and author of Anti-Zionism

“The sage authors of Israel’s Lobby bring decades of receipts from investigative journalism and political science to shed light on a phenomenon increasingly central to the American experience, touching free speech rights, plutocratic occupation of Congress, and wars and genocides abroad. It is a must-read.”
–Juan Cole, Distinguished Professor, University of Michigan, founding editor of Informed Comment, and author of Engaging the Muslim World

“The political influence of the ‘Israel lobby’ has long been the main reason the United States gives Israel generous and unconditional support, but the lobby’s strategy and tools have evolved as Israel’s actions cost it the public support it once enjoyed. In this major new study, Eli Clifton and Ian Lustick bring the story up to date and explain why the lobby remains so influential today. Anyone who wants to know why U.S. Middle East policy remains dysfunctional should start by reading this book.”
–Stephen M. Walt, Belfer Professor of International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and co-author of The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy

“Israel’s Lobby is a truly important book. It offers first-rate analysis of how that incredibly powerful lobby gets US policymakers to support Israel no matter what. Clifton and Lustick also show that the lobby’s success is bad for the United States, bad for Israel, and bad for Jews all around the world. One cannot help but think after reading this book that the world would be a better place if there was no Israel lobby.”
–John J. Mearsheimer, R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and co-author of The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy

Eli Clifton is an investigative journalist who focuses on money in politics and US foreign policy. He is a cofounder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft where he serves as a senior adviser. His work has appeared in The Guardian, The Nation, The Intercept, The South China Morning Post, LobeLog, Salon, HuffPost, The Daily Beast, Slate, Gawker, Foreign Policy, and Responsible Statecraft.

Ian S. Lustick is the Bess W. Heyman Chair, Emeritus, in the Political Science Department of the University of Pennsylvania. He served in the Carter administration as the State Department’s expert on Israel-Palestine affairs and subsequently became a regular consultant with American administrations on US foreign policy and national security affairs. He is a founder and past President of the Association for Israel Studies and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

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