Author Archives: Scott McConnell

About Scott McConnell

Scott McConnell is a founding editor of the American Conservative. The former editorial page editor of The New York Post, he has written for Fortune, The New Criterion, National Review, Commentary and many other publications.

Nasr firing is yet another shameful capitulation to the lobby

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Scott McConnell

In the summer heat, America’s  demonstrations of subservience to the Israel lobby are bidding to reach the parody level. First we have General David Petraeus writing  panicked emails to neocon war promoter Max Boot to explain that he didn’t actually … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 24 Comments

Christian Zionists pipe new hasbara line (glass houses)

Posted on June 10, 2010 by Scott McConnell

I saw this over at Foreign Policy. David Brog of CUFI argues that Americans have no right to criticize Israel because of Fallujah operation in Iraq. Glass houses, etc. I suspect we’ll hear more of this. My two reactions: first, … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine | 20 Comments

When it comes to war with Iran, says Perle, Netanyahu outranks American generals

Posted on May 19, 2010 by Scott McConnell

What’s the smoothest path to get the United States into a war with Iran— the nightmare scenario for most people in the military and foreign policy establishment? Iraq war impresario Richard Perle gave an answer while on a panel at … Continue reading →

Posted in Iran, Iraq, Israel Lobby, Neocons | 29 Comments

Inside the Beltway, at Cato no less, Iranian honoree says ‘gushing wound of Palestine’ is source of the radical fundamentalism

Posted on May 14, 2010 by Scott McConnell

Amazing DC event. Huge Cato Institute dinner, 800 folks in the Washington Hilton ballroom in black tie, for the awarding the bi-annual Milton Friedman award. Amusing and occasionally profound speeches by CATO head Ed Crane (plenty of Greece mockery) and … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 54 Comments

Politics is a matter of the heart, which is why the BDS social movement is important

Posted on May 10, 2010 by Scott McConnell

A couple of months ago I asked Mike Desch to do a piece on BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) for The American Conservative.  My sense of the movement was little more than impressionistic: I knew of the campaigns to bar … Continue reading →

Posted in BDS, Israel/Palestine | 102 Comments

When will the Democratic Party break?

Posted on March 26, 2010 by Scott McConnell

An important recent poll by John Zogby on American opinion and I/P was rolled out yesterday at the New America Foundation. The striking finding was the partisan divide. Democrats have negative views of Netanyahu and the settlements, and are increasingly … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine, US Policy in the Middle East, US Politics | 30 Comments

Dear Congress: What the Purim video reveals about the racism embedded in the Israeli state structure

Posted on March 12, 2010 by Scott McConnell

If granted one simple wish to raise awareness in the US Congress about where America’s annual Israel subsidy goes, it would be this: before the next pro-Israel vote, members of Congress would  sit down and watch YNET’s ninety second video … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine | 54 Comments

Left right left

Posted on March 11, 2010 by Scott McConnell

Weiss saw Scott McConnell at the IDF demonstration in New York the other day–after McConnell had participated in a demonstration against Ahava Dead Sea products in Washington–and asked him why a conservative was spending so much time with left wingers, … Continue reading →

Posted in Neocons, US Policy in the Middle East, US Politics | 26 Comments

David Brooks’s dilemma (and ours)

Posted on February 21, 2010 by Scott McConnell

Consider one of David Brooks’ dilemmas. In last Friday’s Times he wrote a pretty good column about the contemporary American power elite. As he described it, sixty and more years ago, blue blood WASPs ran America’s financial institutions and foreign … Continue reading →

Posted in American Jewish Community, Beyondoweiss, Israel Lobby, US Policy in the Middle East | 47 Comments

‘Osama prays every night for a war between the West and Iran’

Posted on February 16, 2010 by Scott McConnell

Went to see Jean-Pierre Filiu, author of “The Nine Lives of Al Qaeda” speak at the New American Foundation. Filiu a professor at Sciences Po in Paris, is a thin sensitive-looking man who devotes much of his life to studying … Continue reading →

Posted in Iran, Israel Lobby, US Policy in the Middle East | 43 Comments

David Frum considers his next sock puppet

Posted on February 10, 2010 by Scott McConnell

"Interesting — no applause for sanctions on Iran. No applause for Palin’s speculations that democracies keep the peace." –David Frum, YouTube blogging Sarah Palin’s speech to the Tea Party convention in Tennessee. Who better than David Frum to discern whether … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine, Neocons | 25 Comments

Will SCOTUS decision re campaign funding weaken lobby?

Posted on January 25, 2010 by Scott McConnell

My off the cuff reaction is that this Supreme Court ruling on corporate campaign giving is bad for the lobby. It might bring much money into the system from sources that have nothing to do with Israel. And it may … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel Lobby | 14 Comments

David Brooks seeks to reframe Zionism

Posted on January 18, 2010 by Scott McConnell

When David Brooks puts forth a definition of Zionism, it merits our attention. Brooks is talented and sometimes incisive, but his main gift may be his acute sense of where Commentary leaves off and the ideological mainstream begins. There he … Continue reading →

Posted in Beyondoweiss, Israel Lobby, Neocons | 36 Comments

Opinion is shifting, even inside the Beltway

Posted on December 6, 2009 by Scott McConnell

Opinion shifts at a glacial pace, but move it does. The other night I heard Patrick Tyler, author of the very good and comprehensive book “A World of Trouble” on American presidents and the Middle East. In his talk he … Continue reading →

Posted in One state/Two states, US Policy in the Middle East | 20 Comments

Tail bites the dog

Posted on November 23, 2009 by Scott McConnell

Linked is a sober analysis from a Council of Foreign Relations guy, Steven Simon, pointing out that Israel probably has the capacity to effectively strike Iran’s nukes and probably will, unless we try really hard to be nice to Bibi’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Iran, Israel Lobby | 48 Comments

McConnell: the South Africa analogy doesn’t work

Posted on November 17, 2009 by Scott McConnell

With almost stunning speed, the South Africa analogy has become part of the Israel-Palestine debate. A reference to Israel’s “apartheid” that a few years ago would have sounded shrill now seems almost commonplace. Jimmy Carter deserves much credit, and never … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine, One state/Two states, US Politics | 72 Comments

Goldstone member: Israel’s toxic munitions could leave Gaza uninhabitable

Posted on November 1, 2009 by Scott McConnell

While AIPAC maneuvers Congress into the trained seal position to condemn the Goldstone Report, it’s really important to disseminate some of what the report actually found. Ken Silverstein’s interview in Harpers with retired Irish colonel Desmond Travers, a member of … Continue reading →

Posted in Gaza | 60 Comments

McConnell: J Street may move the templates of American politics

Posted on October 29, 2009 by Scott McConnell

Scott McConnell writes: It is no small achievement to get 150 Congressmen and Senators to sign on as sponsors of J Street, all the more  because of the sustained Likudnik campaign to scare them off (and no group may scare … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine, US Politics | 8 Comments

Scott McConnell on Christopher Caldwell’s ‘Reflections’

Posted on August 30, 2009 by Scott McConnell

Somewhat against my expectations, I found  Christopher Caldwell’s “Reflections on the Revolution in Europe” extremely impressive –  complex, multifaceted, nuanced. One of its virtues is its sense of openness and uncertainty about questions which are genuinely difficult. How many Baby … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Middle East | 12 Comments

Help! Israeli hawk who praised Strangelove has ‘close friend’ on Obama’s Iran team

Posted on August 1, 2009 by Scott McConnell

Uzi Arad, Israeli hawk who believes in limited nuclear war, has a close friend in Obama adviser Gary Seymour

Posted in Beyondoweiss, Iran, Israel Lobby, US Politics | 11 Comments

Neocons– read McNamara’s obit. Reread. Again. Repeat, for 40 years

Posted on July 8, 2009 by Scott McConnell

I keep meaning to do a post on Robert McNamara’s very long persecuted old age and what that example holds for the neoconservatives, who if Richard Perle keeps his lipids down in the south of France, and Elliott Abrams gets…
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Posted in Iraq, Neocons, US Politics | 18 Comments

McConnell on the multicultural alliance that is taking on the lobby, politely

Posted on June 9, 2009 by Scott McConnell

Scott McConnell writes: I’m just back from spending parts of two days two days at Churches for Middle East Peace annual grassroots advocacy conference in Washington. I’ve always wondered why CMEP, a splendid and wise organization, isn’t larger. Everything about…
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Posted in Israel Lobby, US Politics | 24 Comments

Obama’s speech marks the beginning of a real political test

Posted on June 4, 2009 by Scott McConnell

Scott McConnell responds to Obama’s speech in Cairo: The Obama speech was terrific, for its build up and atmospherics, and for its relative specificity about Israel-Palestine. Of course it was only a speech and no one know what policies will…
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Posted in Israel/Palestine, US Policy in the Middle East, US Politics | 1 Comment

Holy Land Foundation trial reflects misguided US policy towards Hamas

Posted on May 29, 2009 by Scott McConnell

From Scott McConnell: A Dallas judge has meted out heavy sentences to five Arab American men, associated with the Holy Land Foundation, for funneling $12 million to Hamas, designated by the US government as a terror organization. The defendants maintained…
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Posted in American Jewish Community, US Policy in the Middle East, US Politics | 89 Comments

Maybe Iran isn’t following Iraq script? (Harman’s revisions)

Posted on May 22, 2009 by Scott McConnell

Scott McConnell, noting the Jane Harman news, points out that this is a wrinkle in the last neocon push: I assume that powerful Congressmen and women have a pretty good sense of political realities, so I took it as a…
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Posted in Iran, Iraq, Israel Lobby, US Politics | 4 Comments