The Israel Lobby and the Patriot’s Predicament
by Kim Petersen / October 1st, 2008
America’s Defense Line: The Justice Department’s Battle to Register the Israeli Lobby as Agents of a Foreign Government
by Grant F. Smith
(Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, Washington, D.C., 2008)
Hardcover ISBN: 0-9764437-2-4
Paperback
Grant Smith’s latest book, America’s Defense Line: The Justice Department’s Battle to Register the Israel Lobby as Agents of a Foreign Government, combines probing investigative journalism with newly released documents to produce a searing expose of the Israel lobby’s1 invasive osmosis into the seams of the US government. Readers of Smith’s previous book Foreign Agents (see review) will find it segues smoothly with his new work.
Smith filed Freedom of Information Act requests with numerous government agencies and was rewarded with over 1000 pages of formerly classified documents. He has used these to produce a well referenced book and incorporated many previously unpublished documents in its rich appendix.
While Smith focuses on the genesis and development of the Lobby in the US, his account also encompasses the rise of Zionism under Theodor Herzl and its entrenchment in historical Palestine under Chaim Weizmann, David Ben Gurion and other prominent leaders. Nonetheless, Smith only skims the surface definition of what Zionism actually is, preferring to instead reveal how it created “facts on the ground” in the Middle East and the United States. This is accomplished by relating the story of Isaiah L. “Si” Kenen, the father of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). This approach allows readers to glean deeper insights into the roots of Zionism in America and what propels the Lobby today.
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