This Week In Palestine: Walter Hixson on the history of the powerful Israeli Lobby

The power of the Israeli lobby is manifesting itself all through American society today. It certainly has been felt locally, as Cambridge and Somerville experienced when activist groups tried diligently for months to get Israel-boycott legislation and resolutions through their City Councils only to witness a last minute blitzkrieg by the well-financed Israeli lobby that faced down both city councils. We also see the power of the Lobby in systematically flooding state legislatures all across the country, including Massachusetts, with unconstitutional anti-BDS legislation. (BDS = Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions.) And of course we see the power of the Lobby almost daily on college campuses as pro-Palestinian programs and speakers are censored and professors attacked. We need look not further than attempts by the Lobby to pressure Tufts to terminate Professor Tom Abowd. So this week we feature Professor Walter Hixson of Akron University, who has studied the Israeli Lobby for years, speaking in Washington DC. Hixson's most recent book is "Israel's Armor: The Israel Lobby and the First Generation of the Palestine Conflict" (2019). From Amazon's description: "A critical component of the special relationship is the pro-Israel lobby. Although the lobby has been a controversial topic in public affairs, it has been widely understudied. Israel's Armor fills a gap in the existing literature by examining the origins and early history of the Israel lobby, looking at its influence on American foreign policy, and weaving its activities into the diplomatic history of the first generation of the Palestine conflict. ..."