The Passionate Attachment: America's Involvement with Israel, 1947 to the Present

Ever wondered why US politicians like to so often proclaim the mantra "Israel is our ally, I will always stand by Israel, etc."? Ever wondered why the US continues to grant Israel billions of dollars each year despite Israel's behavior and despite international condemnation of its actions? Then you must read this book, for in here you will find the answers. "The Passionate Attachment" explores the intricate relationship between the US and Israel, on many levels, and the sources and roots of this special relationship and passionate attachment. The text is very well-written and reads with the suspense of a good detective story, except this describes history.Also Recommended: The Samson Option by Seymour Hersh, and They Dare to Speak out by Paul Findley.

This excellent review of our relationship with Israel explains a great deal about how and why we find ourselves the enemy of so many people in the Middle East. Our unqualified backing of Israel has led to disaster. Sadly, support for Israel is seen by many Jews as a litmus test for a person's views on Jews - and is the reason why so many Jews who oppose Israel's policies have been called "self-hating" Jews. There is little doubt that the organizations that Israel has set up to influence American policy has fostered this idea. All too many American Jews have bought into this propaganda.The other reviewers have told you what this book is about so I won't repeat what they have said.What fascinates me is that you cannot find this book - copies of it are more rare that first editions of "Light In August". Why is that? Why hasn't this book been read, reviewed and studied as should be? Written by one of the few heroes of the Vietnam era who were part of the State Dept, this book has been "suppressed" in the way that almost all books or writers who question our policy toward Israel have been. How can that happen, and why has it happened?

"The Passionate Attachment" is an in depth study of the relationship between the United States and Israel. The title is derived from George Washington's warning against "Passionate attachments" with foreign nations. Such attachments result in:"Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists...It leads also to concession to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt...to injure the nation making the concessions...by exciting jealousy, ill will, and disposition to retaliate in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld...It gives to...citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation) facility...to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils."The authors then proceed to explain how the relationship between the United States and Israel violates Washington's warning and proves all his predictions of the consequences of a "Passionate attachment."The first section of the book covers the history of the relationship from the foundation of Israel in 1947 to the date of writing in 1992. The Balls explain how the inordinate influence of Israel began when a politically weak Harry S Truman capitulated to Israeli pressures to ensure Jewish support in the crucial 1948 election.The only President who seems to have earned the respect of the authors is Dwight D. Eisenhower who, unlike Truman, owed no political debt to Jewish voters and who was sufficiently rich in political capital to permit an adherence to a principled policy.Beginning with the Kennedy administration, the Balls indicate that American administrations have repeatedly sacrificed American interests on the altar of Israeli demands. Among the low points of the relationship was the 1967 attack by Israeli forces on the USS Liberty, a U. S. Navy intelligence ship whose existence threatened Israeli plans to occupy the Golan Heights before international pressure could force a cease-fire. Rather than responding to this attack on the U.S. Navy as it would if directed from any other quarter, the Johnson administration wrote it off as a case of mistaken identity. In subsequent administrations the retreat from principle has continued.The authors illustrate how, as the relationship developed, supporters of Israel were able to create the illusion that Israel served as a valuable American asset the Cold War struggle against Soviet expansionism. The authors explain how the Coalition which won the Gulf War proved that Israel's days as a strategic American asset, if they ever existed, were over.Much attention is devoted to the relationship between Israel and its Arab neighbors. It is refreshing to read an analysis of the recent history of the Middle East which is not filtered through Israeli apologists. The authors explain the background of developments in Israel and the Arab portions of Palestine.

George Ball, with his son, does another heroic service to the USA and all persons interested in understanding USA foreign relations. His analysis and recommendations to President Johnson against early USA involvement in VietNam, considered by itself, would support his stature as statesman. In this book, the authors review and analyze events leading up to and following the origin of Israel with particular attention to USA policies, foreign aid, changing Israeli political constituencies, the Israeli economy, aims of Israel and connections with the American Jewish lobby. Readers may learn about respected USA statesmen advising President Truman against supporting partitioning of Palestine to create the state of Israel, the jewish terrorist organizations and acts created before the state of Israel was formed, as well as after, Israeli policies regarding expelling Palestinians, fear by USA politicians of the American Jewish lobby, the trend of Israeli politics toward control and manipulation by the religious right (some of these organizations make the Taliban look like the PTA) and the sad state of the Israeli economy.The basic message of the book is taken from George Washington's farewill address: America should avoid passionate attachments to other countries, as well as passionate hatreds, since such emotions do not lead to clear-thinking about the country's interests with respect to the rest of the world. Reading this book will help you understand and evaluate our current policies and actions with respect to Israel and the formation of a new Palestinian state. This book, although written in the early 1990's, is more timely than ever given events of the last six months. It should be reprinted and read by anyone expressing or evaluating opinions on USA policy towards the Israeli / Palestinian conflict and our subsequent policies should that conflict ever terminate.

The Passionate Attachment, though I read it a few years ago, is a book I often refer back to when haveing any discussion about the middle east. George Ball was a talented and eloquent civil servant who thoroughly researched and understood his topic. Anyone who wants to know more about the US involvement in Israel should read this book. Mr. Ball draws on personal contacts and experience to point out America's failure to admonish the State of Israel when it blatantly violates international law, US law (regarding foreign military sales) and partipates in acts of aggression. His primary conclusions are that the United States is the loser in its middle east policy and that since Israel is the benefactor, it has no interest in changing its policies (why should it?) since the US is not forcing it to.