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In the preceding chapters we have introduced a general framework for the analysis of national interests, examined the domestic and international influences which shape the official and public perception of U.S. interests in the Middle East, and sketched an outline of actual U.S. interests in the Middle East as a whole, and with respect to specific regions and states in particular. In this chapter, we will address the gap between an objective analysis of U.S. interests in the Middle East, and the conception of U.S. interests there as held by Israelis and their sympathizers in the United States. This is a matter of special concern, since, as developed in Chapter Two of this study, Israel's American supporters, organized as the "Israel lobby," have a disproportionate influence on the shaping of U.S. policy.

This influence operates through several channels. ProIsrael formulators of analysis, both individuals and "think tanks," attempt to frame the discussion of U.S. interests in the Middle East in terms favorable to Israel, while seeking to discredit alternative frameworks. Through support for proIsraeli public speakers, events, and mass media portrayals, and opposition to proPalestinian speakers and media portrayals, American public opinion is molded in a proIsraeli (and generally antiArab) direction. Finally, by organized financial clout and propaganda, the Israel lobby poses a direct electoral threat to politicians who are perceived as insufficiently supportive of Israel (or, what amounts to the same thing, too supportive of the Arabs). Since the second chapter of this study was drafted, the power of the Israel lobby was again demonstrated by the political pressure in Congress which forced the Bush Administration to substantially scale back its planned package arms sales to Saudi Arabia  a package, ironically, designed to enhance Saudi Arabia's ability to defend itself against the same Iraqi threat against wh...