Morton and Deanna Goldstein of Princeton
Regarding the Mearsheimer-Walt book presentation, “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,” that took place Monday evening at the Woodrow Wilson School of Political Science:
During the “morning after” breakfast discussions, we agreed that these two academics — political scientists from Chicago and Harvard — peppered their talks with enough disclaimers to convince us that they were not anti-Semitic. However, their book title — like Jimmy Carter’s use of “apartheid” in the title of his recent book — appeals to anti-Semites.
Ad hominem book titles like Jewish Apartheid and singling out the Israeli lobby form the entire American lobby system influencing our government – may sell books, but it also give false “proofs” to those who would believe and foster unfounded myths of sinister influence long leveled against “the Jews.”
Leaving the sole attack on the Israel lobby out of the title would have been welcomed by academics, but then perhaps no one else would be reading and talking about their thick books.
Morton and Deanna Goldstein
Linwood Circle
Princeton
