Fawaz A. Gerges
Says More…
This week in Say More, PS talks with Fawaz A. Gerges, Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and the author of What Really Went Wrong: The West and the Failure of Democracy in the Middle East.
Project Syndicate: In January, you lamented that for many in the Middle East and across the Global South, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza is “as much US President Joe Biden’s war as it is Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s,” and Biden will be remembered as “just another American leader whose actions betray a lack of concern for Arab lives.” When the next US administration takes over, is there a US policy approach toward Israel that is both realistic, from a domestic political perspective, and more responsive to the needs of Arabs?
Fawaz A. Gerges: Any discussion of what is politically “realistic” within the United States, in terms of responding to the needs of the Arab people, runs up against a fundamental problem: America’s Middle-East policy is shaped significantly by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). This precludes an approach that is fair, balanced, and even-handed.
And it is not just AIPAC: special interests and lobbyists have a stranglehold on US foreign policy, in what amounts to a crisis of democracy. Until their grip is broken – through campaign-finance reform and the broadening and diversification of the foreign-policy community (a generational aspiration) – any substantive change in American policy is unlikely.