Vox Clamantis

By William Sapers '50, Allan Ryan '66, Richard Glovsky '69, Harvey Wolkoff '73 And Joseph Berman '86

Published on Tuesday, February 21, 2012

• Print
• Report an Error
• Share

To the Editor:

Regrettably, Don Casler shows his naivete by adhering to the conspiracy theory that an all-powerful “Israel lobby” controls U.S. foreign policy (“The Case Against the Israel Lobby,” Feb. 7). American military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan has been the subject of debate for years, but the allegation that it is being fought by the United States on behalf of Israel is both offensive and categorically false. Casler, like the academics he cites, would have us believe that Jewish control of Congress and the media drive American foreign policy and is responsible for our “terrorism problem.”

President Barack Obama’s recent affirmation of the “unshakeable commitment of the United States to security and well-being of the state of Israel” is consistent with every administration since 1948 precisely because the relationship is in our national interest. A survey of the opinion pages of many newspapers on any given day reflects the reality that Americans are simply not afraid to express concern over the Middle East conflict. A more pressing concern should be the perpetuation of conspiracy theories against Jews under the pretense of academic scholarship.

Support for Israel goes beyond “special interest” groups. It is not American Jews and Evangelicals who support Israel, but rather the great majority of the American people. They recognize that the conspiracy theory Casler advances is nothing more than thinly veiled anti-Semitism, and they give it no credence. Casler might think about doing the same.

William Sapers ’50 Allan Ryan ’66 Richard Glovsky ’69 Harvey Wolkoff ’73 Joseph Berman ’86