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Israel's Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power
An unflinching exposé of Israe
l
’
s lobby, showing how its outsized influence works against our national interests and threatens our freedom.
The greatest story in geopolitics and in American domestic affairs is how the far-right government of a small Middle Eastern country came to hold a controlling interest in United States foreign policy. Israel’s lobby is now in a position to police the speech of American politicians, college students and journalists, and coerce and persuade the White House to back unpopular, costly, and ultimately national security-threatening policies. From the Biden administration’s unwillingness to bring American leverage to bear an end to genocidal violence that only harmed our national security interests, to the Trump administration’s role in lifting the parole restrictions on a spy who had sold vital government secrets, American subservience to its putative client state, Israel, is a vivid and vexing example of the tail wagging the dog.
Israel’s Lobby combines investigative journalism and political science to tie together the stories of American and Israeli oligarchs capturing the policymaking process in successive presidential administrations and the geopolitical, national security and domestic consequences of American foreign policy effectively sold to the highest bidder. Eli Clifton and Ian Lustick explain how shifts in global politics, Israel’s lurch to the extreme right, and the evisceration of American campaign finance laws make the influence of Israel’s lobby more costly and more dangerous today than it ever was before, why the lobby launched an antisemitism witch hunt to suppress opponents rather than attempt to defend Israel's policies, and how the Lobby not only distorts American policy but helps make Israel a “crazy” state.
Israel’s Lobby follows the money and lifts the veil on a seemingly unassailable feature of American politics, importantly detailing how we can unite around traditional American values and the importance of substantive debate to resist Israel-first vigilantism.
The greatest story in geopolitics and in American domestic affairs is how the far-right government of a small Middle Eastern country came to hold a controlling interest in United States foreign policy. Israel’s lobby is now in a position to police the speech of American politicians, college students and journalists, and coerce and persuade the White House to back unpopular, costly, and ultimately national security-threatening policies. From the Biden administration’s unwillingness to bring American leverage to bear an end to genocidal violence that only harmed our national security interests, to the Trump administration’s role in lifting the parole restrictions on a spy who had sold vital government secrets, American subservience to its putative client state, Israel, is a vivid and vexing example of the tail wagging the dog.
Israel’s Lobby combines investigative journalism and political science to tie together the stories of American and Israeli oligarchs capturing the policymaking process in successive presidential administrations and the geopolitical, national security and domestic consequences of American foreign policy effectively sold to the highest bidder. Eli Clifton and Ian Lustick explain how shifts in global politics, Israel’s lurch to the extreme right, and the evisceration of American campaign finance laws make the influence of Israel’s lobby more costly and more dangerous today than it ever was before, why the lobby launched an antisemitism witch hunt to suppress opponents rather than attempt to defend Israel's policies, and how the Lobby not only distorts American policy but helps make Israel a “crazy” state.
Israel’s Lobby follows the money and lifts the veil on a seemingly unassailable feature of American politics, importantly detailing how we can unite around traditional American values and the importance of substantive debate to resist Israel-first vigilantism.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 11, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
August 12, 2026
Landmark book on escalating problem that increasingly threatens American democracy.
August 21, 2026
The authors frame the Israel lobby as just another instance of rich billionaires enacting their preferred policies rather than what it actually is, namely the organized Jewish community leveraging its substantial wealth, power and will in the interests of the nation-state of the Jewish people. They want us to blame a handful of named billionaires (Saban, Adelson) which conveniently allows the rest of the Jewish community to wipe their hands clean and avoid uncomfortable introspection. What in any other context would be recognized as an obvious ethnic lobby, we must tiptoe around for the Jewish community because of the deep taboo against antisemitism, a taboo that frankly appears even stronger than that taboo against genocide itself.
In trying to justify their billionaire-centric framing, the authors cite a few recent, selectively chosen polls indicating that Israel does not appear to rank amongst the top of American Jews' political priorities. There are several concerns with their reasoning. For one, perhaps the ranking isn't very high, because support for Israel is so taken for granted in the American political system that the average Jew simply doesn't need to care. As an analogy, when water is free and abundant, water may not be our highest political priority. And yet during times of genuine crisis, genuine insecurity, the Jewish community rallies for its own. The weeks after October 7 was one such time. Take a November 2023 poll by the JFNA: a full 87% of American Jews supported military aid to Israel at the time, close to 30% higher than the general population (source). It was precisely during this period that the genocide was at its highest death rate, with roughly a thousand children being killed per week, usually at home with their families, in what was the most aggressive aerial bombardment since WWII, with munitions almost entirely sourced from American military aid.
Every year, and particularly following October 7th, hundreds of upper-middle-class Jewish-American youth join the IDF as lone soldiers or visit Israel through the so-called "Birthright" trip. Many others make aliyah outright. Other young American Jews, those who remain in America and attend college, often join organizations like Hillel, where they dox, bully and harass Palestinians and their supporters and falsely slander them as antisemites. Often they openly liaise with the Israeli Foreign Ministry (see documentary "The Lobby", al-Jazeera). These young people are educated and propagandized as Zionists not by any billionaire, but their own Jewish teachers, mentors and rabbis. Jewish day schools are aggressively Zionist, as shown in the recent film "Israelism". Virtually every synagogue in the US is resolutely pro-Israel and pro-genocide. Auctions for illegally occupied land in the West Bank are not infrequent at American synagogues. IDF génocidaires are invited to give talks at these synagogues. Yet the congregations do not complain and even so-called anti-Zionist Jews remain queasy about pro-Palestinian protests nearby such synagogues. This is a community-wide problem, with Zionism ingrained culturally, not just the pet project of a few billionaires. American Jews overwhelmingly support established Jewish Zionist institutions like the ADL (poll). These elite Zionist institutions are not an aberration but rather a reflection of the broader community.
It is true that support for Israel among young American Jews is decreasing in recent years. But after a genocide, after an illegal, monstrous war of aggression against Iran, is that really good enough? Is it unreasonable for the Palestinian nation, and the American public forced to fight and die for a war on behalf of the Jewish state, to expect genuine accountability and introspection? Clifton and Lustick do not provide that.
Ultimately, studying the lobby purely through the lenses of money and campaign finance law gives a misleadingly narrow perspective. It begs the question why this particular lobby happened to become so effective, as opposed to many others. Understanding the ethnic, the tribal and the ideological nature of the phenomenon is what is paramount.
In trying to justify their billionaire-centric framing, the authors cite a few recent, selectively chosen polls indicating that Israel does not appear to rank amongst the top of American Jews' political priorities. There are several concerns with their reasoning. For one, perhaps the ranking isn't very high, because support for Israel is so taken for granted in the American political system that the average Jew simply doesn't need to care. As an analogy, when water is free and abundant, water may not be our highest political priority. And yet during times of genuine crisis, genuine insecurity, the Jewish community rallies for its own. The weeks after October 7 was one such time. Take a November 2023 poll by the JFNA: a full 87% of American Jews supported military aid to Israel at the time, close to 30% higher than the general population (source). It was precisely during this period that the genocide was at its highest death rate, with roughly a thousand children being killed per week, usually at home with their families, in what was the most aggressive aerial bombardment since WWII, with munitions almost entirely sourced from American military aid.
Every year, and particularly following October 7th, hundreds of upper-middle-class Jewish-American youth join the IDF as lone soldiers or visit Israel through the so-called "Birthright" trip. Many others make aliyah outright. Other young American Jews, those who remain in America and attend college, often join organizations like Hillel, where they dox, bully and harass Palestinians and their supporters and falsely slander them as antisemites. Often they openly liaise with the Israeli Foreign Ministry (see documentary "The Lobby", al-Jazeera). These young people are educated and propagandized as Zionists not by any billionaire, but their own Jewish teachers, mentors and rabbis. Jewish day schools are aggressively Zionist, as shown in the recent film "Israelism". Virtually every synagogue in the US is resolutely pro-Israel and pro-genocide. Auctions for illegally occupied land in the West Bank are not infrequent at American synagogues. IDF génocidaires are invited to give talks at these synagogues. Yet the congregations do not complain and even so-called anti-Zionist Jews remain queasy about pro-Palestinian protests nearby such synagogues. This is a community-wide problem, with Zionism ingrained culturally, not just the pet project of a few billionaires. American Jews overwhelmingly support established Jewish Zionist institutions like the ADL (poll). These elite Zionist institutions are not an aberration but rather a reflection of the broader community.
It is true that support for Israel among young American Jews is decreasing in recent years. But after a genocide, after an illegal, monstrous war of aggression against Iran, is that really good enough? Is it unreasonable for the Palestinian nation, and the American public forced to fight and die for a war on behalf of the Jewish state, to expect genuine accountability and introspection? Clifton and Lustick do not provide that.
Ultimately, studying the lobby purely through the lenses of money and campaign finance law gives a misleadingly narrow perspective. It begs the question why this particular lobby happened to become so effective, as opposed to many others. Understanding the ethnic, the tribal and the ideological nature of the phenomenon is what is paramount.
September 19, 2026
A must-read
August 11, 2026
I bought this the morning after Dr. El Sayed won in Michigan. I so wish the authors could have spoken about this toward the end! As someone whose life in America has been unfortunately defined by the Trump/Citizens United era, this was a must read. As the authors mention, the sheer disgust/horror at what we see everyday on our phones is changing the tide - Michigan's primary being an example that really emphasizes the message of hope in the last chapter. A very well-researched and important read.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Heavily researched, this book presents a thorough and careful review of a powerful influencer in the US: Israel’s Lobby.
It was captivating from the start describing how a private jet was taking a convicted spy out of US after the 2020 US election. What was going on?
This book is packed with information. It draws comparison from the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to politics of today. In President George Washington’s Farewell Address in 1796, he warned of the dangers regarding personal attachments by American citizens toward foreign countries.
It opened up with a lengthy analysis of Israel’s Lobby. A small group of wealthy Americans created AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) to cultivate a strong relationship between the US and Israel. This organization has aggressively pushed their beliefs, policies and agendas forward. It ultimately has influenced American elections.
It goes back to the Supreme Court’s case Citizen’s United v. FEC in 2010. The ruling now allows corporations and outside groups to spend unlimited amounts on elections. American billionaires took advantage of this creating super PACs. They funded candidates who followed their demands and support toward Israel.
This book references numerous dates, articles and names the ultra-rich Americans with the amounts they have donated along with threat of uncertainty it has created with world politics. It highlights the federal investigation of diversity programs in universities and organizations, devastation of Gaza and wars in Iraq and Iran. It goes back to why Israel’s demand upon US political system hasn’t been challenged.
I’d like to say that I understood everything that was mentioned. But the learning curve was steep and one has to realize that there’s a constant flow of activity happening behind the scenes at all times. It turned into an educational experience for me. It makes me think of Aristotle’s words: “The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.”
My thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for this ARC. The views I share are my own.
It was captivating from the start describing how a private jet was taking a convicted spy out of US after the 2020 US election. What was going on?
This book is packed with information. It draws comparison from the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to politics of today. In President George Washington’s Farewell Address in 1796, he warned of the dangers regarding personal attachments by American citizens toward foreign countries.
It opened up with a lengthy analysis of Israel’s Lobby. A small group of wealthy Americans created AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) to cultivate a strong relationship between the US and Israel. This organization has aggressively pushed their beliefs, policies and agendas forward. It ultimately has influenced American elections.
It goes back to the Supreme Court’s case Citizen’s United v. FEC in 2010. The ruling now allows corporations and outside groups to spend unlimited amounts on elections. American billionaires took advantage of this creating super PACs. They funded candidates who followed their demands and support toward Israel.
This book references numerous dates, articles and names the ultra-rich Americans with the amounts they have donated along with threat of uncertainty it has created with world politics. It highlights the federal investigation of diversity programs in universities and organizations, devastation of Gaza and wars in Iraq and Iran. It goes back to why Israel’s demand upon US political system hasn’t been challenged.
I’d like to say that I understood everything that was mentioned. But the learning curve was steep and one has to realize that there’s a constant flow of activity happening behind the scenes at all times. It turned into an educational experience for me. It makes me think of Aristotle’s words: “The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.”
My thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for this ARC. The views I share are my own.
September 23, 2026
Good book. Altogether not particularly novel or educational if you’re already tuned in the podcasting world and news around this subject. At times I felt the authors were too lenient in their characterization of the pro-Palestine movement (it is obvious that amongst some groups, particularly certain immigrants, a hefty amount of antisemitism guides their thinking).
October 22, 2026
I think this book does a fantastic job of cutting through the conspiracy theories and just presenting the facts by following the money trails, the advertisements, the media coverage, the data, and the history of politician testimonials.
This book doesn't advocate for real antisemitism or claim that the problem is "the Jews" or "all Jews." Rather, this book is careful to preface that the problem is the Israel Lobby, and the ultra-wealthy Israeli sympathizers who, and are by the way not always Jews themselves, invest in the lobby.
Furthermore, it is not antisemitic or a conspiracy theory to claim that Israel is a sovereign nation bound to act in, and prioritize her own interests. Thus, the problem isn't "the Jews" but rather the excessive influence by which Israel has gripped the United States, and dragged her into conflicts which are not in her own self interest, but rather, Israel's.
What you will see throughout the course of this book, is precisely how, and for how long, Israelis have lobbied through powerful bodies like AIPAC and other Zionist/pro-Israel coalitions to propagandize the American people into supporting Zionist/pro-Israel politicians and Zionist/pro-Israel policies. You will also see how politicians and talking-heads who dare to oppose said pro-Israel goals (regardless of whether or not the reason is to prioritize American interests) are quickly discredited, removed from office due to negative press, or labeled an antisemite based on a deliberately loose (and therefore weaponized) definition of the term.
The book also does a great job of maintaining a politically neutral stance as, having no prior knowledge of the authors, I was not able to tell whether or not the authors were a Republican or Democrat... That is, until the book neared it's end and I started to hear language that sounded more liberal-minded in some regards. On that point, I think the conclusion the authors of this book may want you to draw is that being anti-Israel means being pro-Palestine and supporting all of the radical protests and pro-Islam movements, which are all third-worldist and repulsive to me. There is, in fact, a "middle road" between the Israel-Palestine extremes, which is the "America First" movement. America First is the solution to the problems presented in this book and the light at the end of the tunnel, to which the authors hope for in the conclusion, whether they know it or not.
This book doesn't advocate for real antisemitism or claim that the problem is "the Jews" or "all Jews." Rather, this book is careful to preface that the problem is the Israel Lobby, and the ultra-wealthy Israeli sympathizers who, and are by the way not always Jews themselves, invest in the lobby.
Furthermore, it is not antisemitic or a conspiracy theory to claim that Israel is a sovereign nation bound to act in, and prioritize her own interests. Thus, the problem isn't "the Jews" but rather the excessive influence by which Israel has gripped the United States, and dragged her into conflicts which are not in her own self interest, but rather, Israel's.
What you will see throughout the course of this book, is precisely how, and for how long, Israelis have lobbied through powerful bodies like AIPAC and other Zionist/pro-Israel coalitions to propagandize the American people into supporting Zionist/pro-Israel politicians and Zionist/pro-Israel policies. You will also see how politicians and talking-heads who dare to oppose said pro-Israel goals (regardless of whether or not the reason is to prioritize American interests) are quickly discredited, removed from office due to negative press, or labeled an antisemite based on a deliberately loose (and therefore weaponized) definition of the term.
The book also does a great job of maintaining a politically neutral stance as, having no prior knowledge of the authors, I was not able to tell whether or not the authors were a Republican or Democrat... That is, until the book neared it's end and I started to hear language that sounded more liberal-minded in some regards. On that point, I think the conclusion the authors of this book may want you to draw is that being anti-Israel means being pro-Palestine and supporting all of the radical protests and pro-Islam movements, which are all third-worldist and repulsive to me. There is, in fact, a "middle road" between the Israel-Palestine extremes, which is the "America First" movement. America First is the solution to the problems presented in this book and the light at the end of the tunnel, to which the authors hope for in the conclusion, whether they know it or not.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 16, 2026
I recently interviewed the authors and wrote about it.
AIPAC has become a synonym for malign influence. This is true, but the pro-Israel lobby consists of much more than a single organization. As Clifton and Lustick discuss, there are now dozens upon dozens of organizations along with extremely wealthy individuals (such as Miriam Adelson) pouring hundreds of millions into political campaigns to either punish candidates who aren’t adequately pro-Israel or to back those who are. AIPAC and associated groups dumped $30 million (!) into the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan to try to derail Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign, for example.
The Lobby also uses social media to try to influence public opinion or publicly shame Israel’s critics. It was a major force in the Biden and Trump administrations’ efforts to crack down on campus antiwar demonstrations (in the name of fighting antisemitism) or to withhold funding from major American universities. The Lobby has fueled the false notion that campus upheaval was the result of an explosion of antisemitism. On the contrary, thousands of students, both Jews and non-Jews, are genuinely appalled by Israel’s pitiless destruction of Palestinian society in Gaza, unchecked settler terrorism in the West Bank, and the annihilation of southern Lebanese villages and farmland.
As Clifton says, Israel doesn’t have a messaging problem. It has a genocide problem. And, mercifully, the Lobby is losing the battle for public opinion. U.S. policy has yet to change.
Also covered in the podcast: the historical origins of pro-Israel (or pro-Zionist) advocacy in the United States, starting with Harry Truman. You’ll learn fascinating details about Truman’s decision to recognize the independent state of Israel against Secretary of State George Marshall’s opposition. Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger fought a losing battle against the Lobby, too, as did President George H. W. Bush.
https://martindicaro.substack.com/p/m...
AIPAC has become a synonym for malign influence. This is true, but the pro-Israel lobby consists of much more than a single organization. As Clifton and Lustick discuss, there are now dozens upon dozens of organizations along with extremely wealthy individuals (such as Miriam Adelson) pouring hundreds of millions into political campaigns to either punish candidates who aren’t adequately pro-Israel or to back those who are. AIPAC and associated groups dumped $30 million (!) into the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan to try to derail Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign, for example.
The Lobby also uses social media to try to influence public opinion or publicly shame Israel’s critics. It was a major force in the Biden and Trump administrations’ efforts to crack down on campus antiwar demonstrations (in the name of fighting antisemitism) or to withhold funding from major American universities. The Lobby has fueled the false notion that campus upheaval was the result of an explosion of antisemitism. On the contrary, thousands of students, both Jews and non-Jews, are genuinely appalled by Israel’s pitiless destruction of Palestinian society in Gaza, unchecked settler terrorism in the West Bank, and the annihilation of southern Lebanese villages and farmland.
As Clifton says, Israel doesn’t have a messaging problem. It has a genocide problem. And, mercifully, the Lobby is losing the battle for public opinion. U.S. policy has yet to change.
Also covered in the podcast: the historical origins of pro-Israel (or pro-Zionist) advocacy in the United States, starting with Harry Truman. You’ll learn fascinating details about Truman’s decision to recognize the independent state of Israel against Secretary of State George Marshall’s opposition. Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger fought a losing battle against the Lobby, too, as did President George H. W. Bush.
https://martindicaro.substack.com/p/m...
October 16, 2026
Eli Clifton is one of the most dogged, obsessive reporters out there when it comes to following the small universe of pro-Israel megadonors and their outsized influence on U.S. foreign policy. (DISCLAIMER: He’s also my former colleague.) Ian Lustick is one of the most perceptive thinkers on Israeli political attitudes towards the outside world. So I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were writing a book together. And it doesn’t disappoint.
Israel’s Lobby does a lot to demystify exactly how Israel and pro-Israel ideologues move U.S. politics. AIPAC giving money directly to politicians (a pretty recent phenomenon!) often overshadows the role of other pro-Israel organizations shaping the environment in which those politicians operate. The experts who testify to Congress and staff mid-level government positions are often drawn from the a small pool of private research institutes (“think tanks”) that are, surprise surprise, funded by the same donors. There are also pretty intense, intrusive astroturf campaigns to shout down any kind of pro-Palestine sentiment in elite spaces such as academia and the media.
One gripe I had about the book is that it spent too much space trying to rehash old debates about Israel before getting into its thesis about the Lobby. That made the book feel unfocused and took space away from the kind of nitty-gritty reporting that Eli excels at. But perhaps that’s just a normal consequence of this book being a primer to the subject. If you don’t follow U.S. debates on Israel and Palestine closely already, Israel’s Lobby is an excellent introduction to the landscape — and should open the door to a whole universe of reading.
Israel’s Lobby does a lot to demystify exactly how Israel and pro-Israel ideologues move U.S. politics. AIPAC giving money directly to politicians (a pretty recent phenomenon!) often overshadows the role of other pro-Israel organizations shaping the environment in which those politicians operate. The experts who testify to Congress and staff mid-level government positions are often drawn from the a small pool of private research institutes (“think tanks”) that are, surprise surprise, funded by the same donors. There are also pretty intense, intrusive astroturf campaigns to shout down any kind of pro-Palestine sentiment in elite spaces such as academia and the media.
One gripe I had about the book is that it spent too much space trying to rehash old debates about Israel before getting into its thesis about the Lobby. That made the book feel unfocused and took space away from the kind of nitty-gritty reporting that Eli excels at. But perhaps that’s just a normal consequence of this book being a primer to the subject. If you don’t follow U.S. debates on Israel and Palestine closely already, Israel’s Lobby is an excellent introduction to the landscape — and should open the door to a whole universe of reading.
September 10, 2026
In the US, corruption is legal. They just call it "lobbying".
Israel's Lobby is defined as "a panoply of organizations, groups, and individuals (including Jews, Christians, and others) who advocate for American policies that favor the interests of Israel."
It is astonishing to see the billions spent to sway one of the largest countries in the world in favor of one of the smallest. Literally, the tail wagging the dog.
Although a large portion of these funds have flowed to Republicans, particularly in recent years, the lobby has influenced both sides of the aisle.
This is an important, deeply researched, and detailed account of the what, why, who and how that will sicken you.
In light of the recent turning tide of public opinion against Israel, the concluding chapter reveals their latest strategy:
Israel's Lobby is defined as "a panoply of organizations, groups, and individuals (including Jews, Christians, and others) who advocate for American policies that favor the interests of Israel."
It is astonishing to see the billions spent to sway one of the largest countries in the world in favor of one of the smallest. Literally, the tail wagging the dog.
Although a large portion of these funds have flowed to Republicans, particularly in recent years, the lobby has influenced both sides of the aisle.
This is an important, deeply researched, and detailed account of the what, why, who and how that will sicken you.
In light of the recent turning tide of public opinion against Israel, the concluding chapter reveals their latest strategy:
As the Israeli government and the Lobby come to realize the diminishing returns of campaigns to suppress critics and silence Palestine’s supporters, they are forced to embrace a radically new propaganda line. To do so, they need both an enemy and a narrative — an enemy to portray Israel as a crucial American ally and a narrative to transform the rationale for a special relationship. The chosen enemy is radical Islam and “jihadi terrorism.” The new narrative is to save Judeo-Christian values and Western civilization by whatever means necessary.
October 8, 2026
Not a lot of new shocking stuff in this for me which is why it’s 4 not 5 but I’m pretty locked in on this so I guess there’s probably not a lot of stuff I haven’t already read about elsewhere. Nicely framed around concerns of Washington / Declaration of Independence and fears when America was founded. AIPAC truly has its claws in America politics. the greed in Washington is immeasurable. Israel got to go blud
September 12, 2026
If the truth is antisemitic then let us all be antisemites and be proud of it. For context, according to Israeli government and IHRA criticizing Israel is antisemitic which means criticizing an active genocide is antisemitic. Coincidentally, investigating or being skeptical about the Holocaust is also antisemitic and even illegal. It's pretty convenient since according to these psychos all white non-jews are potential Nazis because of the Holocaust and if they try to talk back at all they can be thrown in prison. What it comes down to is that Israel is a crazy state, which means they will do anything, no matter how brutal, to achieve their aims. The good news is that the power of their lobby is weakening, let's just see how this progresses. This power is still very strong in politics, academics and mainstream NPC media.
October 24, 2026
This is an unnecessarily long political polemic and piece of advocacy journalism. I was expecting more explanation of the mechanics behind the effectiveness of that pro-Israeli government lobby. Wanted a better understanding of how Israeli lobbying bypasses the normal restrictions, checks and balances regarding foreign influence on US elections.
August 19, 2026
A great analysis of AIPAC's impact on U.S. foreign policy, particularly its support for Israel's policies of permanent warfare, the occupation of Palestine, and the genocide in Gaza. Written in a very engaging way.
October 31, 2026
This book is very well researched. FOr those who still think the U.S. relationship with Israel and how it affects the rest of the world is “complicated”, this is a great book to read.
Thank you NetGalley and Atria/One Signal Publishers. #NetGalley
Thank you NetGalley and Atria/One Signal Publishers. #NetGalley
August 25, 2026
I look forward to the last time the phrase “Israel has a right to exist” is uttered
August 28, 2026
Eventually there will be an emperor has no clothes moment.
September 18, 2026
Solid base of facts, not dripping in political bias despite the genre.
September 23, 2026
For a complete overview, first read mearsheimer's book. This book serves to give an updated view, from the left, on the desperate measures of the lobby.
October 20, 2026
Wow…… it’s worse than we thought.
October 23, 2026
An extremely well written and informative expose.Every US citizen, tax payer…. should read it. No matter what the Lobby says, Israel is no one’s friend, and only cares about itself.
August 14, 2026
A collaboration between radical political scientist Ian Lustick and anti-interventionist Quincy Institute co-founder Eli Clifton, this book is mainly an expose of AIPAC and its influence on American policymakers. The authors do go to great lengths to discuss specific policies and avoid antisemitic tropes, though the title does not do them any favors. They make some good points, and their analysis of Israeli internal (?) politics was very good, but it is also difficult to objectively measure the "influence" of any lobbying group since money spent does not necessarily translate directly into policy. On the other hand, it would be idiotic to deny that political spending has a major impact on congressional politics. In the unpredictable era of Trump and in the aftermath of Citizens United, lobbying is a major issue for many Americans. This book was uneven but informative, largely focusing on domestic debate about Israel without providing any future roadmap for Israel/Palestine conflict resolution.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews