Israel’s long-term need for a viable peace deal. Why, then, is there no counter-Aipac, no dovish Israel lobby?

Aipac tries to keep US policy almost entirely on the side of security needs... For over a year, there have been reports that a “liberal Israel lobby” is on the verge of forming. The new group will face many challenges, partly because liberal Jews in America are more likely to care about general US political issues than about ethnocentric ones. But for a new lobby the first principle should be that Israel’s strategic goal is peace based on a two-state solution with the Palestinians, and that America serves its own needs by helping Israel get there. Ultimately, Israel’s goal is to be part of the Middle East, not to be a garrison state in conflict with it. To support the most bellicose possible Israeli or US policies is to damage both countries. A liberal voice is needed in Washington to press that message.

Excerpted from Gershom Gorenberg’s ‘A liberal Israel lobby’ in the current issue of Prospect magazine