many, if not most, legislators who vote with AIPAC complain about its strong-arm tactics - but only in private. In fact, some of the most zealous defenders of Netanyahu and faithful devotees of the lobby complain most of all. Among staff,
AIPAC's arrival in their offices during the conference is a source of dread. Hill staff, much like legislators themselves, like to think they are perhaps a little important. AIPAC eliminates that illusion.
Although AIPAC calls its requests "asks", they are, in fact, "tells" - and
"no" is not a permissible response. (Staffers who like AIPAC, and there are a few, tend to work with it hand-in-glove, which is how AIPAC invariably knows what is going on even before the elected representatives do.)
Despite all this, I do not think that either Netanyahu or his lobby are all that eager to go to war. After all, Israel's
intelligence
community opposes it for a host of reasons - starting with the fact that it would not eliminate Iran's nuclear programme. There is also the fear that Iran's Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, on Israel's northern border, have tens of thousands of missiles that they can let fly if Iran is attacked. Above all is the understanding that no one knows if an attack would make Israel safer or threaten its very existence.
If we completely left Iraq, then I missed something.
