At this MIT event, Riedel asserts that “neither Israel nor its supporters in the U.S. were a juggernaut always getting what they wanted.” In particular, he disputes that Israel pushed for a war with Iraq: “Israel stood on the sidelines and said you got the wrong ‘IRA’ country, you should go after the other one.” He also says that while Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians have alienated most of the Muslim world, the policy issue for these countries is not how much of Gaza or the West Bank Israel should give back, but American support for the very existence of Israel.
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Commentary
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
October 3, 2007