James Petras has been regarded by many on the Left as a crank for many years, so his musings on this topic are not representative of a broader trend. Noam Chomsky criticized “The Israel Lobby” harshly, as have other respected Left intellectuals and political figures.

It is also worth noting that Mearsheimer and Walt, who wrote “The Israel Lobby,” are very far from the Left themselves. Yet your commentaries create the impression that their article was greeted with universal acclaim among U.S. radicals.

The Mearsheimer/Walt article relates to many interesting issues, such as the fevered reaction of super-Zionists like Alan Dershowitz. The supposed willingness of the Left to peddle anti-Jewish canards, though, is not among these intriguing issues.

Anna Fierling
Washington, D.C.  
 
Use of ‘anti-Semitism’
I thought your article in the May 15 issue about the academic discussion on a theory of Jewish influence over U.S. foreign policy and the myth of the Jewish lobby very important in explaining the dangers of conspiracy theory. But I was surprised that the writer prefers the term “Jew-hatred” to “anti-Semitism” because “to say anti-Semitism would be putting it mildly.”

This suggests that anti-Semitism is a mild form of Jew-hatred. The term is more explicit than anti-Semitism but surely doesn’t describe the quality, amount, or effect of action against Jews more or less mildly. I can think of many things Sam Manuel might have wanted to say. Could you please clarify?

Debbie Delange
Manchester, England
 
 
Related articles:
On ‘Israel lobby,’ Jew-hatred  
 
 
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