Geography of the Palestine-Israel Conflict and the USA Essay - 8

Geography of the Palestine-Israel Conflict and the USA - Essay Example This lobby and its activities should be blamed for urging America to get into a war with Iraq. There are many people in the US government who are assigned by the lobby to steer the US policies into serving Israeli interests. There are also many organizations working in the US which collect money from the US to send it to Israel. In contrast to Smith’s assertion that there are US officials working for Israel in reality, Mearsheimer and Walt argue that Israel is a close friend of the US and the US will always come to Israel’s aid when required. This does not mean in any way that every US official who supports Israel is also necessarily a part of the lobby or working for it. America is not concerned with the activities or interests of the lobby. Anyone who works to preserve America’s relationship with Israel should not be considered a member of the lobby. Frankel (2006) agrees with Smith’s viewpoint that the perceived power of the Israeli lobby in the US is just too much which is why more economic aid is received by Israel from the US than any other nation in the world. This is not only because Israeli power, rather it is the way the lobby’s power is perceived that the US gives Israel more foreign aid every year than it does to any other