media, bring about the political demise of anyone who dares to break the taboo, prevent any action that does not conform to the will of the Israeli government.
In its second part, the book shows how the lobby uses its tremendous power in practice: how it has prevented the exertion of any pressure on Israel for peace with the Palestinians, how it pushed the United States into the invasion of Iraq, how it is now pushing for wars with Iran and Syria, how it supported the Israeli leadership in the recent war in Lebanon, and blocked calls for a ceasefire when it didn't want one.
All of these assertions are backed up by so much undeniable evidence and quotations from written material (mainly from Israeli sources) that they cannot be denied.
Most of these disclosures are nothing new for those in Israel who deal with these matters.
I myself could add to the book a whole chapter from personal experience.
In the late 1950s, I visited the United States for the first time. A major New York radio station invited me for an interview. Later they cautioned me: "You can criticize the President (Dwight D. Eisenhower) and the Secretary of State (John Foster Dulles) to your heart's content, but please don't criticize Israeli leaders!" At the last moment the interview was cancelled altogether, and the Iraqi ambassador was invited instead. Criticism was apparently tolerable when it came from an Arab, but absolutely not coming from an Israeli.
In 1970, the respected American "Fellowship of Reconciliation" invited me for a lecture tour of 30 universities, under the auspices of the Hillel rabbis. When I arrived in New York, I was informed that 29 of the lectures had been cancelled. The sole rabbi who did not cancel, Balfour Brickner, showed me a secret communication of the "AntiDefamation League" that proscribed my lectures. It said: "While Knesset Member Avnery can in no way be considered a traitor, his appearance at this time would be deeply divisive." In the end, all the lectures took place under the auspices of Christian chaplains.
I especially remember a depressing experience in Baltimore. A good Jew, who had volunteered to host me, was angered by the cancellation of my lecture in this city and obstinately insisted on putting it on. We combed the streets of the Jewish quarters-mile upon mile of signs with Jewish names-and did not find a single hall whose manager would agree to let the lecture by a member of the Israeli Knesset take place. In the end, we did hold the lecture in the basement of the building of my host's apartment-and functionaries of the Jewish community came to protest.