JOURNALfor the STUDYof ANTISEMITISM

What Walt and Mearsheimer Got Wrong
Mitchell Bard, The Arab Lobby: The Invisible Alliance that
Undermines America’s Interest in the Middle East
(New York: Harper Collins, 2010), 362 pp., $27.99
Samuel M. Edelman*
Walt and Mearsheimer got it wrong. Their work on the so-called Israel
“lobby” published as an article in 2006 and full book in 2007 accused the
lobby of overwhelming influence on American foreign policy. Their accusation
was unwarranted and unsubstantiated, their research finding flawed.
Yet, their work has become one of the theoretical underpinnings for anti-
Israel boycotts, divestment, and sanctions. It has also been used by
antisemites. Israel remains a staunch ally of the United States, and economic,
educational, military, and cultural relations between the two countries
have been and continue to be beneficial to both.
The relationship between the United States and the Arab world has not
been so beneficial. Billions have been spent by the United States on military
solutions to conflicts with the Arab world; 9-11 caused the deaths of
thousands of America citizens; today we spend more than ever on gasolineand
oil-based products; and our homeland security costs have gone up dramatically.
Yet, there remains a lobbying effort paid for by the Arab nations,
which spend in the billions of dollars to influence American public opinion
and to shape policies in Congress, and have affected a generation of Middle
East scholars through Arab-funded Middle East Studies programs. Libya,
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