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"Israel Lobby" Critique Roils Academe

(Boston Globe) Charles A. Radin - A paper co-written by the academic dean of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government is setting off a firestorm in academic and political circles because of its assertions that U.S. foreign policy is dominated by an ''Israel lobby" that ignores U.S. national interest and makes the U.S. a target of Muslim terrorists. The significance of the paper, according to those who condemn it, as well as those who embrace it, lies in the Harvard and University of Chicago credentials of the authors and in the fact that it has been presented in a high-level academic forum, in a heavily footnoted style associated with accurate, objective scholarship. Ronald A. Heifetz, the King Hussein Bin Talal lecturer in public leadership at the Kennedy School, said Tuesday that Mearsheimer and Walt had exceeded the bounds of academic freedom and that the dean of the Kennedy School should look into the matter. ''When a member of the Harvard faculty speaks, people are inclined to view us as credible sources of analysis and insight," Heifetz said. ''We have a special responsibility to clarify the difference between voicing an opinion and presenting a work of scholarship....It behooves us to be careful about what we say...if we express a point of view that can be embraced by David Duke and the Muslim Brotherhood to justify racist, terrorist activities." Alex Safian, associate director of the pro-Israel Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting, said there were numerous factual errors such as overstatement of the proportion of U.S. foreign aid received by Israel. Safian also asserted that the authors' real issue is that U.S. foreign policy is subject to public politics and the give and take of interest groups. ''Their problem is not that a cabal is running U.S. foreign policy," he said. ''It is that they would like to be in the cabal."
2006-03-30 00:00:00
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