No doubt about it. Then again, your average American thinks all Palestinians are worthless terrorists squatting on Israeli land.

That's probably true, but the Palestinian leadership has not done very well countering that image, has it. I still have the image of Palestinian dancing in the streets after 9/11 burned into my brain. Yassir Arafat could not have set back his movement more effectively than if he had time-warped the entire region back to 300 BC.

You may be right but then why are these authors being boycotted by so many fine universities (the primary vehicle for their selling their book is to show up and lecture, etc.)? Probably the reason is money--donations--more than convictions. Pro-Israel folks probably donate a great deal more than pro-Palestinian folks.

if you a "zionist" book, you would probably see boycotts as well, but probably led by students, not faculty.

It's much easier to piss off your muslim colleagues than your jewish colleagues, because the jews outnumber the muslims at least 10 to 1.

I'm surprised the story wasn't censored by the Jewish NY Times.

I guess the linked article disproves your premise. By the way, I'm surprised at a borderline anti-semitic statement like this coming from someone who prides himself in sensitivity to race, ethnicity and gender issues.

The academy is pretty divided on the Palestinian-Jew issus. Remember how many of the professors are Jewish, especially in the Northeast.

Is your sarcasm-meter broken?

I just read Mearsheimer and Walt's book. I highly recommend it.

It is riveting (like a lot of IR books are), and very logically sequenced. You'll go through it like Harry Potter. First he provides a background of the ME conflict. Then he defines the parameters of the Israel lobby and its influence, lumping neocons in with the lobby. The he describes what the lobby did with respect to the Palestinians, Iraq war, Syria, Iran, and Lebanon.

It is a one-sided polemic. But they consider every counterargument that was raised to their original paper and are careful in their conclusions.

It did not diminish my respect for Jews or for Israel; as a matter of fact, my respect was enhanced, because Israelis and American Jews provided most of the primary source material for their evidence. Many Israelis are quite honest in their scholarship. And many Jews are Israel's most vociferous critics.