Lexington Books Israel and the Neoconservatives: Zionism and American Interests

For forty years, the neoconservatives have been an influential wing on the American Right. Their critics accuse them of being more loyal to a foreign government than to American interests. But is that true? In this book, the author argues that their support of Israel is rooted just as much in their liberal-democratic priorities. Review Neoconservatism is a significant and controversial ideological strand of American politics, one that, as Fuller (Youngstown State Univ.) notes, has been especially prominent among Jewish American intellectuals. Neoconservatives have endorsed stronger military presence in the US's many wars initiated throughout the Middle East, from the 1980s to today. After the 1967 Six-Day War resulted in Israel's conquest of the West Bank, neoconservatives advocated strongly that Israel should retain control of the territory until Arabs and Palestinians made "peace." In subsequent decades, when no resolution on the West Bank was achieved, neoconservatives, especially ardent Jewish American supporters of Israel, argued that Israel's retention of the West Bank, and Syria's Golan Heights, was necessary to maintain US global geopolitical dominance. In more recent years, the diminishing importance of the Middle East, and hence Israel, to American global geostrategy, has panicked neoconservatives, compelling them to consider alliances with illiberal allies, such as the right-wing monarchies of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These confounding political choices pose ideological dilemmas for neoconservatives, and for American Jews and Israelis. Ultimately, however, it is unclear what the author hoped to achieve with this short book. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and graduate students.-- "Choice""Israel and the Neoconservatives is a finely-researched study documenting the considerable diversity of opinion with respect to Israel within the ranks of neo-conservatives. More importantly, Fuller exposes the many myths and stereotypes surrounding neo-conservatism propounded by the movement's detractors."--Steven Bayme, American Jewish Committee About the Author Adam L. Fuller is associate professor at Youngstown State University.