How influential is AIPAC in shaping U.S. policy in the Middle East?
This has long been debated, but even more since the March 2006 publication by Stephen Walt of Harvard and John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago “The Israel Lobby”. We have found that even among those who oppose current U.S. policy of supporting Israeli occupation of Palestinian land there are many variations of opinion. We present many of them here. The most important point here is not to persuade people to any particular perspective on AIPAC’S influence, and how that compares to other factors (US elites hunger for empire, control of energy resources, corporate interests, and so on). People may come to different conclusions. More than anything we hope that this debate will lead to greater understanding of U.S. policy, and inspire people to challenge a lobby that supports US taxpayer subsidy of a brutal military occupation and other policies quite contrary to a commitment to peace and justice. We aim not for people to take some abstract philosophical stance, but for people to wo
