MODERN HISTORY AND POLITICS: American Policy toward Israel: The Power and the Limits of Beliefs

MODERN HISTORY AND POLITICS American Policy Toward Israel: The Power and Limits of Beliefs, Michael Thomas. London, UK and New York: Routledge, 2007. viii + 192 pages. Notes to p. 222. Refs. to p. 244. Index to p. 253. $150. Reviewed Michelle Mart Michael Thomas' contribution to ongoing scholarly debates about nature of US-Israeli asserts that cultural ideology is starting point for understanding ties between two nations, but that recent American policies favoring Israel have often been adopted due to a powerful lobby in Washington. Unlike John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's recent study of domestic political support for Israel,1 6American Policy Toward Israel finds that pro-Israel lobby derives much of its power from an American population predisposed to support Jewish state for cultural reasons. Moreover, Thomas reminds his readers numerous times that lobby is not representative of American Jews as a whole or multiple parties in Israeli governments. Thomas's study focuses mainly on 1980s and early 1990s, arguing that US policy and nature of Israel lobby changed greatly during administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. At outset of his book, Thomas contrasts his views with those of most international analysts who rely on rationalist models to make sense of foreign relations. Instead, Thomas argues that cultural ideology matters in how one understands world, provid[ing] default positions when strategic analysis yields only ambiguous answers. He adds that by defining policies over time and becoming embedded in political institutions, beliefs can shape policy long after evidence originally relied upon is obsolete or discredited (p. 2). In case of US-Israeli ties - the extra-special relationship - Thomas finds that a whole set of ideas about Jewish state became part of political organizations and thus have shaped as much as did external events and contemporaneous preferences of president and other participants in process (p. 3). As have other students of American-Israeli relationship, Thomas identifies key themes in American ideology concerning Israel, including American tendency to see US as new Zion and Americans as new Chosen People; idea that modern-day Israelis resemble biblical heroes of old; and conviction that Israelis are pragmatic, moral, skilled fighters, and liberal democrats. After introduction on underpinnings of US-Israeli relationship, remainder of book into three main sections, focusing on detailed policy maneuvering. First, he discusses political situation prior to 1981, including dynamics of pro-Israel community, inside and outside of Washington. Second, he turns to Israeli policies during Reagan Administration, examining beliefs of president, controversial AWACS sale and its aftereffects, and revolutionary changes in pro-Israel lobby. …