Israel Lobby Dictates U.S. Policy

I was very impressed by the power of AIPAC after reading chapter 9 in Smith's book. It reminded me of an article that I read in Professor Cafruny's International Relations class, which talked about how the power of AIPAC was, ultimately, hurting the U.S. I do not necessarily think that this was the case when Smith was writing, but America's close relationship with Israel, coupled with our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and saber rattling toward Iran, has certainly increased tensions with the Arab world. I found this article, which is very similar to the one I read in my IR class. The article is about a Harvard study that argues that "treating Israel as America's most important ally in the campaign against terrorism and assorted Middle East dictatorships both exaggerates Israel's ability to help on these issues and ignores the ways that Israel's policies make U.S. efforts more difficult." This would make for a good debate.