REVIEWS
"A provocative analysis of a serious problem
that should be discussed and debated widely
among the U.S. public, academics, and the policy
establishment, this book succeeds in exposing in
great detail the enormous power and influence of
Israel and the Jewish Lobby in shaping U.S.
policy toward the Middle East."
Berch Berberoglu, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology, University of Nevada,
Reno
Author of TURMOIL IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
“Once again James Petras takes us on a
fearless truth trip—with lucid style, tough
factual blows, commanding research, and
compelling analysis. This is an eye-opening,
must-read book for every advocate of democracy
and every opponent of imperialism.”
—Michael Parenti,
author of The Culture Struggle
and Superpatriotism
“An outstanding analysis of the political
machinery responsible for so much suffering in
the Middle East: the social science equivalent
of John Adam´s opera “Klinghoffer”. Brilliant
and substantive”.
John Saxe-Fernandez,
Professor and Senior Researcher,
Faculty of Political Science National Autonomous
University of Mexico and leading world authority
on US foreign policy and the oil industry
”Jim Petras has been one of the few
courageous individuals, in or outside of
academia, to take a critical view of the
pro-Israel lobby and its influence over US
Middle East policy and to challenge the
“conventional wisdom” on the part of the Left
that Israel acts as a “cop on the beat” and is
simply serving America’s imperial interests.”
Jeff Blankfort,
A leading Jewish authority, writer and
critic in the US on the pro-Israel Lobby
“Jim Petras is one of the best informed
political scientists of his generation, not
given to avoiding difficult issues. Here he
addresses one such, which he tackles in a
characteristically challenging way.”
Tom Brass, Editor
The Journal of Peasant Studies
“Jim Petras, a man with vast expertise
assembled in Latin America, takes the Leftist
anti-imperialist discourse one step further,
beyond safe condemnation of American
imperialism.He begins where Chomsky and Zunes
stop. In this book, Petras turns to the Middle
East, where he discovers, through the haze of
anti-Muslim polemics, assassinations and
tortures, the identity of the decisive factor:
that of “Jewish power shaping US policy in the
Middle East against the interest of Big Oil”.
Petras’ critique of “soft Left” with its fear to
alienate wealthy and influential Jewish
supporters is a breath of fresh air; this
critique has to be internalised if the Left
wills to regain its place in society.”
Israel Shamir, Jaffa
Leading Russian-Israeli intellectual,
writer, translator and journalist
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Petras
is a Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at
Binghamton University, New York. He is the
author of 62 books published in 29 languages,
and over 560 articles in professional journals,
including the American Sociological Review,
British Journal of Sociology,
Social
Research,
and Journal of Peasant Studies. He has
published over 2000 articles in nonprofessional
journals such as the New York Times,
the Guardian, the Nation,
Christian Science Monitor, Foreign
Policy, New Left Review, Partisan
Review, TempsModerne, Le Monde
Diplomatique, and his commentary is widely
carried on the internet. His publishers have
included Random House, John Wiley, Westview,
Routledge, Macmillan, Verso, Zed Books and Pluto
Books. He is winner of the Life Time Career
Award, Marxist Section, of the American
Sociology Association, the Robert Kenny Award
for Best Book, 2002, and the Best Dissertation,
Western Political Science Association in 1968.
His most recent titles include Unmasking
Globalization: Imperialism of the Twenty-First
Century (2001); co-author The Dynamics
of Social Change in Latin America (2000),
System in Crisis (2003), co-author
Social Movements and State Power (2003),
co-author Empire With Imperialism
(2005), co-author)Multinationals on Trial
(2006).
He has a long history of commitment to social
justice, working in particular with the
Brazilian Landless Workers Movement for 11
years. In 1973-76 he was a member of the
Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Repression in Latin
America. He writes a monthly column for the
Mexican newspaper, Le Jornada, and
previously, for the Spanish daily, El Mundo.
He received his B.A. from Boston University and
Ph.D. from the University of California at
Berkeley.
SUMMARY
This book is a chapter-by-chapter analysis and
documentation of the power of Israel via the
Israeli, Jewish or Pro-Zionist Lobby on US
Middle East policy. It raises serious questions
as to the primary beneficiary of US policy, and
its destructive results for the United States.
The extraordinary extent of US political,
economic, military and diplomatic support for
the state of Israel is explored, along with the
means whereby such support is generated and
consolidated. Contending that Zionist power in
America ensured unconditional US backing for
Israeli colonization of Palestine and its
massive uprooting of Palestinians, it views the
interests of Israel rather than those of Big Oil
as the primary cause of the disastrous US wars
against Iraq and threats of war against Iran and
Syria. It demonstrates and condemns US
imitation of Israeli practice as it relates to
conduct of the war on terrorism and torture. It
sheds light on the AIPAC spying scandal and
other Israeli espionage against America; the
fraudulent and complicit role of America’s
academic “terrorist experts” in furthering
criminal government policies, and the
orchestration of the Danish cartoons to foment
antipathy between Muslims and the West. It
questions the inability in America to sustain or
even formulate a discourse related to the
subject of Israeli influence on the United
States. It calls for a review of American Mid
East policy with a view to reclaiming US
independence of action based upon enlightened
self-interest and progressive principles.
ISBN:
0-932863-51-5 $16.95 2006 |