Yes, we can talk about Jewish interests and unhealthy love for Israel

Following the recent coments by American General David Petraeus that linked the lack of progress on the Israel/Palestine conflict with perceptions of American failure in the Middle East, Andrew Bacevich writes in Salon that finally (maybe) we can start talking honestly about which interests the Zionist lobby are pushing:

What are we to make of this?

It seems increasingly clear that a thoroughgoing reappraisal of the U. S.-Israeli strategic partnership is in the offing. Much of the credit (or, if you prefer, blame) for that prospect belongs to John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, authors of the famous (or infamous) tract “The Israel Lobby.”

Whatever that book’s shortcomings, its appearance in 2007 injected into discussions of U.S.-Israeli relations a candor that that had been previously absent. Convictions that had been out of bounds now became legitimate subjects for discussion. Prejudices were transformed into mere opinions.

Out of this candor has come a rolling reassessment, with the ultimate outcome by no means clear. That David Petraeus, hitherto not known to be an anti-Semite, has implicitly endorsed one of Mearsheimer and Walt’s core findings — questioning whether the United States should view Israel as a strategic asset — constitutes further evidence that something important is afoot.

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