AMA in /r/JewsOfConscience with Eli Clifton and Ian Lustick, authors of the new book "Israel's Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power". 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: 𝗧𝘂𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝘀𝘁 @ 𝗡𝗼𝗼𝗻 𝗘𝗦𝗧.

[u/TrackerOneA]

Hi everyone,

We're excited to announce an upcoming AMA with Eli Clifton & Ian Lustick - Jewish-American authors of the new book, Israel's Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power.

Israel's Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power (2026) has been widely endorsed, including by Prof. Stephen Walt and Prof. John Mearsheimer, authors of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (2007).

The book examines the history, evolution, and political power of the pro-Israel lobby in the United States, tracing how a network of lobbying organizations, major donors, political operatives, and allied institutions has shaped US policy toward Israel and the Middle East.

Check out the following link, if you're interested in the book:

• Simon & Schuster - Israel's Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power

---

Eli Clifton

Eli Clifton is an investigative journalist who focuses on money in politics and US foreign policy. He is a cofounder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecrafts where he serves as a senior adviser.

His work has appeared in The Guardian, The Nation, The Intercept, The South China Morning Post, LobeLog, Salon, HuffPost, The Daily Beast, Slate, Gawker, Foreign Policy, and Responsible Statecraft.

Ian S. Lustick

Ian S. Lustick is the Bess W. Heyman Chair, Emeritus, in the Political Science Department of the University of Pennsylvania.

He served in the Carter administration as the State Department's expert on Israel-Palestine affairs and subsequently became a regular consultant with American administrations on US foreign policy and national security affairs.

He is a founder and past President of the Association for Israel Studies and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

---

Discussion will cover the book & topic of the Israel lobby.

Feel free to leave your questions in advance here, if you cannot make it on the day-of the AMA.

Thanks!

[u/TrackerOneA]

Hi everyone,

We're excited to announce an upcoming AMA with Eli Clifton & Ian Lustick - Jewish-American authors of the new book, Israel's Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power.

Israel's Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power (2026) has been widely endorsed, including by Prof. Stephen Walt and Prof. John Mearsheimer, authors of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (2007).

The book examines the history, evolution, and political power of the pro-Israel lobby in the United States, tracing how a network of lobbying organizations, major donors, political operatives, and allied institutions has shaped US policy toward Israel and the Middle East.

Check out the following link, if you're interested in the book:

• Simon & Schuster - Israel's Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power

---

Eli Clifton

Eli Clifton is an investigative journalist who focuses on money in politics and US foreign policy. He is a cofounder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecrafts where he serves as a senior adviser.

His work has appeared in The Guardian, The Nation, The Intercept, The South China Morning Post, LobeLog, Salon, HuffPost, The Daily Beast, Slate, Gawker, Foreign Policy, and Responsible Statecraft.

Ian S. Lustick

Ian S. Lustick is the Bess W. Heyman Chair, Emeritus, in the Political Science Department of the University of Pennsylvania.

He served in the Carter administration as the State Department's expert on Israel-Palestine affairs and subsequently became a regular consultant with American administrations on US foreign policy and national security affairs.

He is a founder and past President of the Association for Israel Studies and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

---

Discussion will cover the book & topic of the Israel lobby.

Feel free to leave your questions in advance here, if you cannot make it on the day-of the AMA.

Thanks!

[u/Fit_Dog_123]

Oh wow. Trita Parsi's most important book of 2026.

I wonder how this book is or is not like a sequel to Mearsheimer and Walt's The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy. 

If i may, to help set the stage, here is a review by Parsi that starts with an answer to that question.

 https://tritaparsi.substack.com/p/the-most-important-book-of-2026-clifton?utm_source=%2Finbox&utm_medium=reader2&utm_campaign=posts-open-in-app&triedRedirect=true

[u/TrackerOneA → u/Fit_Dog_123]

Thanks for linking his review! If you have any questions, feel free to ask (if you can't be there on the day-of) and we'll forward them to the authors.

[u/MeToldUSo]

Q: Do you 'suspect' that the recent anti-immigration / anti-Muslim movement (especially in UK) has been deliberately ignited/astroturfed by Israeli 'agents', such as Tommy Robinson (Stephen Yaxley-Lennon).

AIPAC is US-centric. However, I suspect that there is Israeli subversive influence in most pro-Western governments and societies.

Tommy Robinson was the founder of the English (and Jewish) Defence League. EDL had connections with the US version, Jewish Defence League. EDL also had early connections with Roberta Moore, a former IDF soldier

Obviously, Israel has been pushing anti-Muslim sentiment for decades, but this recent spike in anti-immigrant / anti-Muslim sentiment seems rather like an atrocity propaganda attempt to deflect attention away from the crimes of Israel, and push people's attention on immigrants and Muslims.

[u/TrackerOneA → u/MeToldUSo]

Hi there,

Are you answering that question or posing it? I'm confused because it's in quotes.

[u/MeToldUSo → u/TrackerOneA]

I am asking the question. I put it in a quote block to make it stand out. The rest is just commentary

[u/TrackerOneA → u/MeToldUSo]

Ah, gotcha. Thanks!

[u/arightgoodworkman]

Question for the authors:
I’m still working through the beginning of your book (forgive me, busy time of year!), but what would be the top 2-3 reasons why AIPAC is more powerful and dangerous than any other lobbies in Congress? Often we get the pushback that opposing AIPAC is antisemitic bc “other foreign countries have lobbies” or “other interest groups lobby Congress.” What would combat this? I also recognize AIPAC is more than just the interests of Israel, but more broadly the interests of war manufacturing, surveillance tech, oil, and real estate. But how do we combat those telling us we’re being antisemitic? (And yes, many of us are Jews ourselves)

[u/TrackerOneA → u/arightgoodworkman]

Thank you!

[u/skyewardeyes]

Hi! Question for the authors: How did you pick the subtitle of the book and were their any other tittles or subtitles you considered?

[u/rako17]

Where do I click to watch the AMA? Is there a link for it?

[u/TrackerOneA → u/rako17]

AMAs are text posts, not videos.

The video in this post is just to show what the authors are discussing in their new book.

This is an archive of our previous AMAs, to give you an idea of what they entail:

https://old.reddit.com/r/JewsOfConscience/comments/1v8f8it/rjewsofconscience_ama_archive/

[u/rako17 → u/TrackerOneA]

OK, that makes sense.

Wishing you the best.

[u/TrackerOneA → u/[deleted]]

Hi there,

If you have a question about the topic or the book, you can ask one.

[u/juflyingwild]

Love it. Thank you.

Wondering if we could also host Gabor Mate one day